Lecture 1 Review
The
first lecture was an introductory lecture, which set out the objectives
of the course. The
format of the course was given, with the main topics to be covered
being Solar Thermal, Solar Photovoltaic, Wind Energy, Ocean Energy and
Geothermal Energy.
The
way that we convert energy into a useable form was the next topic.
Nearly all energy forms require some form of processing, whether they
are Fossil Fuels, Nuclear or Renewable Sources. Generally they then
need to be stored in some way, before the are finally converted into a
useable form of energy, whether it is for transportation, industry or
residential/commercial needs.
This
then led us to sustainable energy, and why it is becoming vital for
future energy needs. The human population is growing exponentially
increasing by a factor of 6 in the last 200 years. That is combined
with our increasing energy needs due to technological advances. On the
other side we are running out of fossil fuels (e.g. Oil is predicted to
run out within the next 50 years), and the pollution from our use of
fossil fuels is generating more and more concern in terms of our
health, and the health of our planet. So we need to find new ways of
generating energy that produce less pollutants, and this is where
renewable sources come in.
After
explaining the units that we work with when dealing with energy and the
conversions between them, the energy needs of the world was examined.
Currently 85% of the world's energy comes from Fossil Fuels. The main
reason for this is that it is currently much cheaper to generate energy
in this way (less than 10 cents /kilowatt-hour) compared to renewable means. The
United States use 25% of the energy generated in the world, even though
they only have 5% of the population. This gives an indication of the
energy needs of the future, as third world countries develop and start
living lifestyles comparable to Americans. The lecture ended by looking
at a Sankey Diagram which showed the ways in which the United States
used the large amount of energy it requires, along with how much is
wasted - 57.8%.
The
way that we convert energy into a useable form was the next topic.
Nearly all energy forms require some form of processing, whether they
are Fossil Fuels, Nuclear or Renewable Sources. Generally they then
need to be stored in some way, before the are finally converted into a
useable form of energy, whether it is for transportation, industry or
residential/commercial needs.This
then led us to sustainable energy, and why it is becoming vital for
future energy needs. The human population is growing exponentially
increasing by a factor of 6 in the last 200 years. That is combined
with our increasing energy needs due to technological advances. On the
other side we are running out of fossil fuels (e.g. Oil is predicted to
run out within the next 50 years), and the pollution from our use of
fossil fuels is generating more and more concern in terms of our
health, and the health of our planet. So we need to find new ways of
generating energy that produce less pollutants, and this is where
renewable sources come in.After
explaining the units that we work with when dealing with energy and the
conversions between them, the energy needs of the world was examined.
Currently 85% of the world's energy comes from Fossil Fuels. The main
reason for this is that it is currently much cheaper to generate energy
in this way (less than 10 cents /kilowatt-hour) compared to renewable means. The
United States use 25% of the energy generated in the world, even though
they only have 5% of the population. This gives an indication of the
energy needs of the future, as third world countries develop and start
living lifestyles comparable to Americans. The lecture ended by looking
at a Sankey Diagram which showed the ways in which the United States
used the large amount of energy it requires, along with how much is
wasted - 57.8%.
