Improving Energy Efficiency

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Improving Energy Efficiency

• Carly Mackay
• Morgan Stewart
• Haley Soelberg
• Lauren Young

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Textbook Information Summary

• Energy efficiency is the percentage of total
  energy input into an energy conversion device or
  system that does useful work and is not converted
  to low quality essentially useless heat.
  Improving the energy efficient of car motor, home
  heating system of other energy conversion devices
  involves using less energy to do more work.
• 84 of all commercial energy used in the Unites
  States is wasted. About 41 of this energy is
  waster automatically because of the degradation
  of energy quality imposed by the second law of
  thermo dynamics. 43 is wasted unnecessarily,
  mostly by using fuel wasting motor vehicles,
  furnaces, and other devices and by living and
  working in leaky poor insulated, poorly designed
  buildings.
• Life cycle cost initial cost plus lifetime
  operating costs.

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Advantages of reducing energy waste

• Prolongs fossil fuel supplies
• Reduces oil imports
• Very high net energy low cost
• Reduces pollution and environmental degradation
• Buys time to phase in renewable energy
• Less need for military protection of middle east
  oil resources
• Improves locals economy by reducing flow of money
  out to pay for energy
• Creates local jobs.

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How can we use wasted heat?

• The second law of energy tells us that we cannot
  recycle energy.
• The best way to slow the rate at which heat flows
  into the environment when high-quality energy is
  degraded is-
• Insulate it thoroughly
• Eliminate air leaks
• Equip it with an air-to air heat exchanger to
  prevent buildup of indoor air pollutants.

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How can we save energy in the Industry?

• Three important ways to save energy and money in
  industry are
• Cogeneration, or combined heat and power systems,
  in which two useful forms of energy are produced
  from the same fuel source.
• Replacing energy-easting electric motors. Running
  electric motors consumes about half of all
  electricity produced in the United States. Most
  of these motors are inefficient because they run
  only at full speed with their output throttled to
  math the task.
• Switching to high-efficient lighting.

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How can we save energy in transportation?

• The best way to save energy and money in
  transportation is to increase the fuel efficiency
  of motor vehicles.
• Are electric cars the answer?
• Conventional battery powered electric cars are
  extremely quiet, need little maintenance and can
  accelerate rapidly. They produce no air
  pollution, but using coal and nuclear power
  plants to produce the electricity needed to
  recharge their batteries produces air pollution
  and nuclear waste. Oh the negative side, electric
  cars can travel only 81-161 kilometers before
  needing a 3 to 8 hour recharge and batteries must
  be replaced about every 48000 kilometers at a
  cost of at least 2000. Because of high cost and a
  lack of consumer interest, in 1999 major car
  companies abandoned their production of electric
  cars.
• Are hybrid and fuel cell cars the answer?
• One type of highly efficient car uses a small
  hybrid electric internal combustion engine that
  runs on gasoline or some other liquid fuel and a
  small battery to provide the energy needed for
  acceleration and hill climbing. Another type of
  super efficient car is an electric vehicle that
  uses fuel cells. Fuel cells consist of two
  electrodes immersed in a solution that conducts
  electricity.

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Improving Energy Efficiency in Buildings

• Urban Options
• On a smaller scale, Urban Options, in Lansing
  Michigan, renovated a house built in the 1920s
  with modern energy conservation and renewable
  energy equipment. Foam insulation was added to
  the walls and attic, better windows were put in
  to capture the suns heat, and high efficiency
  heating and lighting were installed. They also
  used special photovoltaic shingles on the roof
  that convert sunlight directly into electricity.
  Compared to a typical home in the area, the Urban
  Options house keeps warm with only one quarter
  the natural gas used in a typical home. In other
  words, over three quarters of their heating bill
  has disappeared! In addition, the solar shingles
  supply more than half the homes electricity.10
  You can visit Urban Options and see its
  educational displays in person or via the
  Internet (www.urbanoptions.org).
• There are numerous examples of energy efficiency
  breakthroughs right here in Michigan. For
  example, in downtown Detroit, General Motors
  overhauled the Renaissance Center office complex
  of 5.5 million square feet. They installed more
  efficient heating and cooling equipment, lights,
  and office equipment. They installed
  window-shading devices to reduce the amount of
  air conditioning the building needs each year.
  They redesigned the offices located near the
  outside of the building to let the light from the
  outside further into the building, reducing the
  need for electric lights. They also started using
  waste heat from a Detroit Edison power plant to
  heat the building in the winter. As a result,
  they save 500,000 per year in energy bills.
• The money they save on electric and gas bills
  will pay for the energy efficiency improvements
  in less than 5 years. It will also prevent the
  release of 12,000 tons of carbon dioxide (CO2),
  157 tons of sulfur dioxide (SO2), and 53 tons of
  nitrogen oxides (NOx) each year.9

http//www.urbanoptions.org/RenewableEnergy/Energy
EfficiencySuccessStories.htm
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Diagram for Improving Energy Efficiency in
Processing
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Energy Efficient
Vehicles
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5 Test Questions

• 1. How much commercial energy used in the United
  States is wasted?
• 2. How much energy is wasted automatically
  because of degradation of energy quality imposed
  by the second law of thermodynamics?
• 3. What is DEO?
• 4. What is the life cycle cost?
• 5. The net energy efficiency of the entire energy
  delivered process for a space heater, water
  heater, or car is determined by?

1. 84 2. 41 3. Department of Energy 4.
Initial cost plus lifetime operating costs 5.
The efficiency of each step in the energy
conversion process.
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U.S. Energy Secretary Change Can Happen
FastMichelle Nijhuis for National Geographic
MagazineMarch 2, 2009

• Steven Chu, the nations new Secretary of
  Energy, sat down with National Geographic to
  outline his plans for greater energy efficiency.
  Secretary Chu expressed the need to develop an
  inexpensive way to capture and store the carbon
  dioxide emissions from coal-fired power plants.
  He suggests that the United States should be
  taking a leadership position in developing
  technologies for all types of carbon capture and
  that there are new technologies that need to be
  looked at. When asked whether the U.S. should
  focus on building nuclear reactors or more
  coal-fired power plants, Secretary Chu responded,
  I think nuclear power has its problems But the
  safety is better and will continue to get better,
  and nuclear power is far better for climate than
  coal. Regarding the need for greater efficiency
  now to counteract some of the impending
  environmental repercussions, Secretary Chu cited
  that energy efficiency can be improved very
  quickly. Appliance standards and using fuels made
  from gases and biowaste would yield almost
  instant results, but capturing carbon will take
  some time. In the next four years the Department
  of Energy hopes to garner research that will lead
  to really new ideas about sources of energy and
  ways of using our energy more efficiently.
• http//news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2009/03/09
  0302-steven-chu-interview.html

By Haley Soelberg
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The Energy Challenge Turing Glare Into Watts
Matthew L. Wald for The New York Times March 2,
2009

• In this article Matthew Wald reports on a source
  of energy that is gaining popularity solar
  power. But this isnt the standard shiny panels
  bolted to the roofs of houses. This kind of solar
  power involves covering acres of desert with
  mirrors that focus intense sunlight on a fluid,
  heating it enough to make steam which turns a
  turbine and generates electricity.This idea isnt
  new, but due to increasing worry for the
  environmental repercussions of fossil fuels, its
  being looked at as the energy alternative with
  the most promise. According to Wald, solar
  plants do tend to produce peak power during the
  hottest part of the day, when demand is highest
  and electricity is costly, so at certain times
  they are already competitive with plants using
  natural gas. And they have an advantage over the
  other widely available form of renewable power,
  wind turbines they are more predictable.
• http//www.nytimes.com/2008/03/06/business/06solar
  .html?_r1

By Haley Soelberg
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China, US Look to Energy Efficiency 

• The United States and China are both prioritizing
  the issue of climate change. They are looking to
  energy efficiency as a primary means to reduce
  carbon emissions and as an area for new jobs and
  economic growth. President Obama promised
  government investment in three areas that he
  called "absolutely critical" to America's
  economic future. The first one on his list was
  energy. However, President Obama went on to
  praise China, and not the United States, for
  making the greatest strides towards the goal of
  energy efficiency. Some scientists say the two
  countries also contribute the most to climate
  change. They are the top two emitters of
  greenhouse gases, producing one half of the
  world's carbon-dioxide emissions from fossil fuel
  use. Liu Qi, a vice administrator at China's
  National Energy Administration, says China will
  continue to push energy conservation to reduce
  emissions and fight climate change. Both the
  United States and China are promising big
  spending on economic stimulus packages in the
  coming years. Their commitment to addressing
  climate change will in part be tested by how much
  money they are willing to allocate to the
  development, implementation and monitoring of
  energy-efficient programs.
• http//www.voanews.com/english/2009-03-05-voa11.cf
  m

By Morgan Stewart
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San Antonio is a leader in energy-efficient
buildings

• San Antonio is the third-largest metropolitan
  market for energy-efficient buildings. San
  Antonio has 53 Energy Star-rated buildings,
  according to the EPA. H-E-B, has the single most
  number of Energy Star facilities in San Antonio
  with 38 properties. Houston has the most number
  of Energy Star buildings in the state with 168
  properties. The Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex has
  the second-highest number of buildings with 81
  properties. Austin has the fourth-highest number
  of buildings with 51 properties. These four
  metropolitan areas had a total of 404 Energy
  Star-qualified buildings in 2008, which
  collectively resulted in 130.7 million in energy
  cost savings.
• http//www.bizjournals.com/sanantonio/stories/2009
  /03/02/daily31.html

By Morgan Stewart
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Project Aims To Improve Energy Efficiency Of
Computing

• Surprisingly, the information technology energy
  has the same carbon footprint as the airline
  industry. This article discusses how scientists
  are teaming together to redesign computers to be
  more efficient. This project is called the Green
  Light Project and its plan is to connect
  scientists and their labs to more
  energy-efficient green computer processing and
  storage systems using photonics - light over
  optical fiber. This project is much needed and
  will likely reduce the technology industrys
  carbon footprint drastically.
• http//www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/07/08072
  8193231.htm

By Carly Mackay
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Energy efficiency must be major part of US energy
policy

• This article discusses how improving energy
  efficiency is vital and how it is critical for it
  to be part of the U.S.s energy policy for any
  progress to be made. It also talks about how
  improving energy efficiency will allow the U.S.
  to stop importing so much oil from foreign
  nations and develop our own methods and
  ultimately help our economy. We are behind the
  time and need to desperately pick up with greener
  technologies and be more eco-friendly in our
  daily lives since the U.S. is the number one
  emitter of CO2 in the atmosphere.
• http//www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2008-09/aps
  -eem091608.php

By Carly Mackay
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In today's computers, energy efficiency trumps
speed

• Today consumers are more worried about energy
  efficiency over speed of the item. Because
  technology has come such a long way, people
  aren't concerned with speed when it comes to
  phones, computers, and video games. They are more
  worried about the quality of the picture and how
  much can the processor do using a certain amount
  of watts. A typical PC sold today has two or four
  processing cores, but Intel is now working on a
  new architecture for graphics processing units
  (GPU), a lightning-fast processor used to deliver
  sharp graphics. The architecture, dubbed "
  Larrabee, will be based on more cores than any
  processor they have ever released. Products made
  using this architecture are expected to hit the
  market later this year or early in 2010.
• http//www.sciam.com/blog/60-second-science/post.c
  fm?idin-todays-computers-energy-efficien-2009-02-
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By Lauren Young
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Obama orders new energy standards for household
productsBy Jordan Lite

• Obama ordered the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE)
  to set standards to improve the energy efficiency
  of bulbs and other power-sucking household
  appliances, including air conditioners, ovens and
  dishwashers. The Energy Policy and Conservation
  Act of 1975 (EPCA) required DOE to establish
  efficiency standards for household appliances by
  a series of dates in 1988, 1989 and 1992. The
  agency missed the deadline for 22 categories of
  products. Obama's order requires the agency to
  set tougher rules by this summer on fluorescent
  and reflector lamps, microwaves, gas ovens and
  stoves, drink vending machines and commercial
  boilers and air conditioners.
• http//www.sciam.com/blog/60-second-science/post.c
  fm?idobama-orders-new-energy-standards-f-2009-02-
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By Lauren Young