[SOLVED] Despite a decade of subsidies and considerable

Despite a decade of subsidies and considerable success in Denmark, Germany, and Britain, renewable energy in the U.S. accounts for only 7 to 8 percent of total energy consumption. Hydroelectric power remains the most successful source of renewable energy in the United States where it accounts for 2.8 percent at a cost of $0.89/kwh (see Figure 1.4). Ethanol and other biofuels account for 1.6 percent, and surprisingly wind power and solar power are good for only 0.7 percent and 0.1 percent, respectively. Part of the explanation is that the EU is more ambitious, setting a stretch goal of 20 percent of energy consumption from renewable by 2020. Electricity from renewables in the United States must compete against conventional fossil fuels averaging approximately $.11/kwh costs nationwide. Land-based wind turbines, for example, have now become as inexpensive as conventional coal and natural gas at $.096/kwh and $.098/kwh, respectively, accounting for plant construction, fuel, maintenance, and other operating costs (again see Figure 1.4). Of course with carbon capture and storage, coal becomes much more expensive at $.141/kwh. The extensive shale gas discoveries in the U.S. have made combined-cycle natural gas-fired power plants cheaper than coal at $.092/kwh. Solar energy remains a huge disappointment. Photovoltaic technology and storage has progressed but remains in its infancy such that the ratio of yield onto the electric grid relative to 24-day potential capacity is only 25 percent. Steam-generating solar farms have an even lower energy conversion factor of 20 percent. Consequently even though solar capacity can be dispersed to individual rooftop installations and transmission costs are therefore much lower than wind or geothermal power, solar energy remains the most expensive source of renewable energy at $.153/kwh. With much better technology, geothermal and biomass are major RE successes at $.098/kwh and $.115/kwh, respectively. Wind farms and massive solar collector arrays already provide 20 percent of the electric power generation in Denmark and 15 percent in Germany. Hydro, a Norwegian aluminum company, has established wind turbine pilot projects where entire communities are electricity self-sufficient. At 80 meters of elevation, class 3 wind energy (steady 22 kph breeze) is available almost everywhere on the planet, implying wind power potential worldwide of 72 million megawatts. Harvesting just the best 5 percent of this wind energy (3.6 million megawatts) would make it possible to retire several thousand coalfired power plants, 617 of which operate in the United States today. So-called alternative energy is: (1) renewable, (2) in abundant local supply, and (3) generates a low carbon footprint. Renewables are naturally replenishing sources including wind, solar, hydro, biofuel, biomass, geothermal, tidal, ocean current, and wave energy. Nuclear energy is not renewable because of the waste disposal issues. To date, by far the most successful renewables are hydroelectric power plants and ethanol-based biofuels, each accounting for about 2 percent of energy worldwide. New sources of renewable energy such as wind and solar power are often judged against fuel oil at $15, natural gas at $6, and coal at $4 per million BTUs (see Figure 1.5)â€¦â€¦â€¦â€¦â€¦.. Figure 1.4:

Figure 1.5:

Electric power generation is responsible for 43 percent of all energy consumption in the United States. Coal provides the preponderant fuel (38 percent), with nuclear power (19 percent) and natural gas (30 percent) providing most of the rest. Renewable energy provides only 12 percent. Recently, T. Boone Pickens proposed converting the trucking fleet in the United States to liquefied natural gas (LNG) and using windpower to replace the missing LNG in electric power production. What infrastructure issues do you see that must be resolved before the Pickens plan could be adopted?

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FIGURE 1.4 U.S. Average Cost for Electricity Generation 2012 (equilibrium P = $0.11/kwh) 0.300 0.250 0.200 0.150 0.100 0.050 0.000 T Hydro Wind Geothermal Biomass cents/kwh Natural Gas Fired w/CCS Conventional Coal Advanced Nuclear Advanced Coal with CCS Solar PV Solar Thermal © Cengage Leaning 2014 FIGURE 1.5 RE < C? Can Renewable Energy Cost Less Than Coal?, 1999–2011 USD price per million BTU 20 Fuel oil 15 Natural gas 10 Coal 1999 2001 2003 2005 2007 2009 2011 Source: Thomson Datastream; U.S. Energy Information Administration.

Question: Despite a decade of subsidies and considerable

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