SOLE

1
SOLE

• Presented by
• MingJane Wu
• Carlos Ayala
• Nick Gasnier
• Tesfa Mael
• Elana Mayer

2
Demographic facts about SLO County

• Population is about 240,000 people
• Main economic background agriculture, tourism,
  recreation, state institutions
• One of the least affordable housing markets in
  the nation

http//www.co.slo.ca.us/SLOCo_InterPortal.nsf/inde
x.htm?OpenForm
3
General Outline

• Combined solar energy and hydrogen technologies
• Solar
• Residential
• Commercial
• Hydrogen
• Methane
• Algae

4
Photo-Voltaic Power Generation for San Luis
Obispo County Residences
5
Integration of PV with Traditional Electric
Utility Companies

• Solar generation systems sold and maintained by
  traditional electric utility companies
• As opposed to pure stand-alone off the grid
  type of PV systems which fundamentally conflict
  with electric companys monetary interests
• Most people have little qualms with paying bills
  to utility companies. Why not electric utility
  companies sell all PV generation equipment and
  maintenance services?

6
Residential roof solar panels

• Residential houses and condos come standard with
  stand alone solar power generation systems (just
  as they come standard with central heat and air
  conditioning)
• Fixed use of roof solar panels

7
Residential Electricity Demands

• Average monthly residential household electricity
  demands in kilo-watt hours
• 278-750kwr per residence
• At 93,000 residences (year 2000 census)
  2585469750 Megawatt hours or
  25.869.8 Gigawatt hours

8
Price per Kwh Solar Power

• Price for solar generated electricity decreases
  with time from inception

9
Breakdown for SLO County Residential Power
Consumption

• City Population Kwh
• San Luis Obispo 19.5 15
• Paso Robles 16.0 22
• Atascadero 12.5 14
• Arroyo Grande 7.0 7
• Los Osos 6.0 6
• Grover 5.5 5
• Nipomo 5.0 6
• Morro Bay 4.5 4
• Pismo 3.5 3

10
Net Metering

• New utility agreement where customers return
  electric power to utility companies during
  periods of low use
• With net metering, the customer's electric meter
  will run backward when the solar electric system
  produces more power than is needed for the homes
  immediate needs.
• Eliminates need for expensive batteries
• Increases the value of the electricity produced
  by PV generation and allows customers to "bank"
  their energy

11
Problems with Net Metering

• Infrastructure to return electric power to the
  grid not set up
• Problem arises if everyone in a local area is
  using net metering. Where will excess electricity
  go during times when everyone is generating more
  than they need?

12
Photo-Voltaic Power Generation for Commercial
San Luis Obispo County
13
Solar Hot Water in San Luis Obispo

• Hot water represents the second largest energy
  consumer in America Households.
• 80 gallon/family four consumes 150Million BTUs
  in seven year life time. (1 barrel(42 gallons) of
  crude oil 5.8 Million Btu)
• Costs 4,000 (at US0.09 per KWh)

14
Overview

• Solar Hot Water System types.
• Passive
• Open-loop re-circulation
• Close-loop heat exchange
• Close-loop drain back
• Cost
• Benefits
• Economics
• Air quality

15
Solar Water Heating
16
Large Scale Solar Thermal Systems
17
Components of a solar Water Heating System

• Collector
• Storage Tank
• Pumps
• Controllers
• Heat exchangers

18
Passive Solar Water Heating Systems
19
Open Loop Re-circulation System
20
Closed Loop Heat Exchange
21
Closed loop Drain-back
22
Cost

• Residential systems cost range 2000 to lt 5000
  average 3000 to 3500
• Commercial system cost -variable dependent on
  size and recovery parameters

23
Economic Development Benefits

• (55)(80 gallons/day-four people)(44,174people/4)
  (4,000/seven-years)(1/7year)(1year/12months)
  23138761monthly
• Money saved is kept in our community
• (after the first 7-years), Monthly 23 million
  saved by SLO families.
• Increased property values for SLO homeowners
  and businesses.
• Creates jobs in a variety of sectors.

24
(No Transcript)
25
Air Quality Benefits

• Pollution-free water heating
• 0.553 million tons of pollution avoided by using
  solar energy in place of electricity and natural
  gas water heater
• Above figures based on 55 of 80gal. Per day load
  at 120 degrees

26
Air Quality Benefits

• One solar water heating system (average cost
  3000)
• The average solar swimming pool heating system
  avoids the production of 10,000 pounds of
  emissions.
• A neighborhood of 500 homes heating water with
  solar in place of natural gas would avoid 300
  tons of emissions annually.

27
Bottom Line

• Development of a strong solar water heating
  industry in San Luis Obispo benefits SLOs
  families, SLOs environment and SLOs economy.
• SLO should take advantage of its greatest
  resource, the sun.

28
Manure to Hydrogen
29
Methane Source Human Waste

• 10,000 treated dry tons produced in SLO county
  yearly1
• Currently used as farm fertilizers
• Potential health hazards from use
• Unknown levels of pathogens
• Family in Robesonia, PA sues state after son dies
  of staph infection2
• Heavy metal hazards
• High concentrations of hazardous chemicals
• Home use of cleaners, pesticides, etc. higher
  than farms per acre

1. Treated Sewage Sludge/Biosolids and its
Application to Land in San Luis Obispo County,
San Luis Obispo County Public Health
Department 2. Sewage Fertilizer Under Fire
www.cbsnews.com/stories/2003/10/29/eveningnews
30
Disadvantages of Methane

• Burning still contributes significant problems
• Gas needs to be purified
• Potential for decreasing local air quality
• CO2 produced still relatively high compared to
  other gases and renewable energy sources

31
Possible solutionMethane to Hydrogen

• Experimental plant in Renton, Washington
• Uses molten carbonate fuel cells
• Heats methane to produce 2H2 and CO2
• CO2 recirculated to produce carbonate
• Carbonate recombined with H2 to produce
  electricity, H2O, CO2 and heat
• Currently at 80 efficiency

32
Methane to Hydrogen

• Conversion to Hydrogen reduces CO2 emissions
• Uses 10 million solute gallons to create 1MW
• Using 18.31 dilution ratio

1. Methane Generation From Livestock Waste, R.
W. Hansen, Colorado State University Figure
assumes that dry human solid waste can be
approximated with chicken manure
33
Drawbacks

• Still produces potentially hazardous biosolids
• Expensive
• Molten carbonate fuel cells prone to break-down
• Requires methane capture devices on water
  treatment tanks
• Still experimental

34
Photobiological Hydrogen Production

• A piece of the Hydrogen economy

35
Chlamydomonas Reinhardtii

• Specific Algae most linked with hydrogen
• Discovered in 1999 by NREL and UC Berkeley
  scientists
• Genetic alteration underway

36
Inside the Algae

• Grown in light with media containing sulfur
• Placed in centrifuge and washed in media deprived
  of sulfur
• Soaked in media lacking sulfur will produce
  Hydrogen after 24-48 hours
• Over 4 days production will decrease to zero, due
  to side effect of sulfur deprivation

37
PS-I, PS-II

• Sulfur deprivation slows the first step of
  photosynthesis (PS-II) ,where electrons are
  pulled from water to make oxygen.
• No excess oxygen, save for respiration
• Total lack of sulfur will result in less Hydrogen
  production!
• Electrons drop to lower level, yielding energy
  for metabolic activities, then go to PS-I
• PS-I leads to ATP, cell growth, or Hydrogen
  production. But, no sulfur for ATP or growth.

38
Electron Pathway for Hydrogen Production
39
Continuous Growth Production
40
Algal Hydrogen Start up Costs
41
Production Operating Costs
42
Design Configurations and Cost
43
Results of Cost Analysis

• Produces Hydrogen for 100 cars daily
• Large initial investment does not warrant current
  output
• Increased Hydrogen production from algae needed
  for sustainability

44
Concluding Remarks

• Mutation antennae length
• Photo-Bioreactor cost

45
References

• C. Elam, IEA Agreement on the production and
  utilization of Hydrogen, NREL, 2000
• W. Amos, Update Cost Analysis of Photobiological
  Hydrogen Production, NREL, January 2004
• www.nrel.gov/news/sorty_ideas.html

46
Total Review

• This plan for SLO county will take at least 10
  years to mature.
• Combines photo-voltaic systems with methane and
  algae hydrogen production.
• Hydrogen can be used many different ways
• The photo-voltaic systems will eventually break
  even.
• The methane and algae recycle waste once thought
  not recyclable