The Energy Landscape
II部II The Energy Landscapeを読み終えました。loc.2056まで。
II The Energy Landscape
energy security
The challenge is to address both of these in reasonable and balanced ways, and much of that involves educating the public on the difference between effective policy and feel-good policy.
fossil fuel amounts used by the average US citizen, including industrial use:
- Coal: 18 pounds per day per person
- Oil: 16 pounds per day per person
- Natural gas: 10 pounds per day per person
第4章 The Natural-Gas Windfall
shale gasの伸び
In 1966, 1.6% of US natural gas was produced from shale. By 2005, the number had grown to 4%. By 2011, the fraction was 23%. Now it is about 30% of the total US gas production.
natural gasのメリット
Natural gas produces only half the greenhouse gases that coal does, for the same energy.
Nobody knows how large the methane hydrate deposits really are, but "conservative" estimates suggest that they exceed those of shale gas by a factor of 10!
For now, I think of the undersea methane hydrates as a potential long-term source for the distant future.
第5章 Liquid Energy Security
アメリカの埋蔵資源の状況
We don't have an energy crisis; we have a transportation fuel crisis. We don't have an energy shortage; we have an oil shortage. We're not running low on fossil fuels; we're running low on liquid fuels.
アメリカの実際のエネルギー調達
The program(energy independence by Jimmy Carter) iniitially succeeded; by 1984, imports had dropped by 50%. But lower oil prices encouraged a reversal of this trend, and by 1994, imports exceeded the 1977 peak. Then, for the first time, imports surpassed US domestic production.
第6章 Shale Oil
アメリカのshale oilの埋蔵量
with plausible estimates of over 1.5 trillion, 5 times the reserves of Saudi Arabia!
第7章 Energy Productivity
リスクのない改善
install insulation in your attic
は
invest for a 17.8% annual return, tax-free, with no risk
。
replace incandescent lightbulbs with compact fluorescent lights
は
invest for a 209% annual return, tax-free, with no risk
になる。
LEDへの交換も有効で
I've bugun the switch to LEDs.
。
"decoupling plus"
The idea is to get the utilities to make the investment of behalf of the public, and to share in the enormous profits.
the utility could subsideze energy-efficient refrigerators, better air condditioners, compact fluorescent lights, or the installation of insulation. As we explained earlier, such investments have huge returns, but those returns usually go to the consumer, not to the utility. The most accurate estimate, based on the California experience, is this: the return is about 2.5 times greater than the return on a new power plant.
Their rates have gone up! Yes, the rates have gone up, but the bills from the utilities have gone down, at least on average from what they otherwise would have been. Their electricity use, instead of being 31 gigawatts, is only 30 gigawatts - a 3.3% drop from what otherwise would have happened. So the average use (through conservation) reduces consumption by 3%, and the rate of payment has gone up from 15¢ per kilowatt-hour to only 15.05¢; that's a rise of only 0.3%.
このほかのアイディア
- cool roof
- more efficient auto
- energy-efficient refrigerator
公共交通機関は
it(bus) can waste energy when used in suburbs and countryside.
If there are more than 15 households per acre, then public transportation works.
と意外に悪い面も多く、一方、紙のリサイクル使用は
virtually all paper used in the United States comes from trees specifically grown for that purpose, so recycling paper doesn't save trees.
recycling paper neither saves trees nor reduces greenhouse emissions.
と意外に中立的。
停電の問題点
The problem is that if one plant fails, there is a sudden load on the others. If they are already at maximum capacity, then they have to shut down too. The collapse spreads like a chain reaction. The industry calls it a "cascading blackout."
停電の回避策
- rotating brownout
- smart grid
smart grid
With a smart meter you could preprogram your home or building to turn down your usage when the price gets too high. You might, for example, decide to turn off your air conditioners if the price rises above $1 per kilowatt-hour. Or you could set your system to turn off only those appliances that you can temporarily do without;
マイクロ波の人体リスク
How many rem does a microwave cause? The physics calculation is well knwon: zero. Microwaves do not cause cancer.
