IEEE and lame climate thoughts
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Keith Henson
Jul 26, 2023, 8:18:08 PM7/26/23
to Power Satellite Economics
I have been a member of the IEEE so long it is silly.
Several years ago they had a decent article on power satellites.
However, this one is underwhelming.
Simple, effective solutions that can help lessen the impact of climate
change already exist. Some of them still need to be implemented,
though, while others need to be improved.
That’s according to 2023 IEEE President Saifur Rahman, who was among
the speakers from engineering organizations at the COP27 event held in
Egypt in November. The IEEE Life Fellow spoke during a session
addressing the role of technology in delivering an equitable,
sustainable, and low-carbon resilient world.
Rahman, a power expert and professor of electrical and computer
engineering at Virginia Tech, is the former chair of the IEEE ad hoc
committee on climate change. The committee was formed last year to
coordinate the organization’s response to the global crisis.
About one-third of emissions globally are produced through electricity
generation, and Rahman said his mission is to help reduce that amount
through engineering solutions.
At COP27, he said that even though the first legally binding
international treaty on climate change, known as the Paris Agreement,
was adopted nearly a decade ago, countries have yet to come to a
consensus on how to stop burning fossil fuels, among other issues.
Some continue to burn coal, for example, because there are no other
economically feasible choices for them.
“We as technologists from IEEE say, ‘If you keep to your positions,
you’ll never get an agreement,’” he said. “We have come to offer this
six-point portfolio of solutions that everybody can live with. We want
to be a solution partner so we can have parties at the table to help
solve this problem of high carbon emissions globally.”
The solutions Rahman outlined were the use of proven methods that
reduce electricity usage, making coal plants more efficient, using
hydrogen and other storage solutions, promoting more renewables,
installing new types of nuclear reactors, and encouraging cross-border
power transfers.
Energy-saving tips
One action is to use less electricity, Rahman said, noting that
dimming lights by 20 percent in homes, office buildings, hotels, and
schools could save 10 percent of electricity. Most people wouldn’t
even notice the difference in brightness, he said.
Another is switching to LEDs, which use at least 75 percent less
energy than incandescent bulbs. LED bulbs cost about five times more,
but they last longer, he said. He called on developed countries to
provide financial assistance to developing nations to help them
replace all their incandescent bulbs with LEDs.
Another energy-saving measure is to raise the temperature of air
conditioners by 2 °C. This could save 10 percent of electricity as
well, said Rahman.
By better controlling lighting, heating, and cooling, 20 percent of
energy could be saved without causing anyone to suffer, he said.
Efficient coal-burning plants
Shutting down coal power plants completely is unlikely to happen
anytime soon, he predicted, especially since many countries are
building new ones that have 40-year life spans. Countries that
continue to burn coal should do so in high-efficiency power plants, he
said.
One type is the ultrasupercritical coal-fired steam power plant.
Conventional coal-fired plants, which make water boil to generate
steam that activates a turbine, have an efficiency of about 38
percent. Ultrasupercritical plants operate at temperatures and
pressures at which the liquid and gas phases of water coexist in
equilibrium. It results in higher efficiencies: about 46 percent.
Rahman cited the Eemshaven ultrasupercritical plant, in Groningen,
Netherlands—which was built in 2014.
Another efficient option he pointed out is the combined cycle power
plant. In its first stage, natural gas is burned in a turbine to make
electricity. The heat from the turbine’s exhaust is used to produce
steam to turn a turbine in the second stage. The resulting two-stage
power plant is at least 25 percent more efficient than a single-stage
plant.
“IEEE wants to be a solution partner, not a complaining partner, so we
can have both parties at the table to help solve this problem of high
carbon emissions globally.”
Another method to make coal-fired power plants more environmentally
friendly is to capture the exhausted carbon dioxide and store it in
the ground, Rahman said. Such carbon-capture systems are being used in
some locations, but he acknowledges that the carbon sequestration
process is too expensive for some countries.
Integrating and storing grid and off-grid energy
To properly balance electricity supply and demand on the power grid,
renewables should be integrated into energy generation, transmission,
and distribution systems from the very start, Rahman said. He added
that the energy from wind, solar, and hydroelectric plants should be
stored in batteries so the electricity generated from them during
off-peak hours isn’t wasted but integrated into energy grids.
He also said low-cost, low-carbon hydrogen fuel should be considered
as part of the renewable energy mix. The fuel can be used to power
cars, supply electricity, and heat homes, all with zero carbon
emissions.
“Hydrogen would help emerging economies meet their climate goals,
lower their costs, and make their energy grid more resilient,” he
said.
Smaller nuclear power plants
Rahman conceded there’s a stigma that surrounds nuclear power plants
because of accidents at Chernobyl, Fukushima, Three Mile Island, and
elsewhere. But, he said, without nuclear power, the concept of
becoming carbon neutral by 2050 isn’t realistic.
“It’s not possible in the next 25 years except with nuclear power,” he
said. “We don’t have enough solar energy and wind energy.”
Small modular reactors could replace traditional nuclear power plants.
SMRs are easier and less expensive to build, and they’re safer than
today’s large nuclear plants, Rahman said.
Though small, SMRs are powerful. They have an output of up to 300
megawatts of electricity, or about a quarter of the size of today’s
typical nuclear plant.
The modular reactors are assembled in factories and shipped to their
ultimate location, instead of being built onsite. And unlike
traditional nuclear facilities, SMRs don’t need to be located near
large bodies of water to handle the waste heat discharge.
SMRs have not taken off, Rahman says, because of licensing and technical issues.
Electricity transfer across national borders
Rahman emphasized the need for more cross-border power transfers, as
few countries have enough electricity to supply to all their citizens.
Many countries already do so.
“The United States buys power from Canada. France sells energy to
Italy, Spain, and Switzerland,” Rahman said. “The whole world is one
grid. You cannot transition from coal to solar and vice versa unless
you transfer power back and forth.”
Free research on climate change
During the conference session, Rahman said an IEEE collection of 7,000
papers related to climate change is accessible from the IEEE Xplore
Digital Library. IEEE also launched a website that houses additional
resources.
None of the solutions IEEE proposed are new or untested, Rahman said,
but his goal is to “provide a portfolio of solutions acceptable to and
deployable in both the emerging economies and the developed
countries—which will allow them to sit at the table together and see
how much carbon emission can be saved by creative application of
already available technologies so that both parties win at the end of
the day.”
Keith
Several years ago they had a decent article on power satellites.
However, this one is underwhelming.
Simple, effective solutions that can help lessen the impact of climate
change already exist. Some of them still need to be implemented,
though, while others need to be improved.
That’s according to 2023 IEEE President Saifur Rahman, who was among
the speakers from engineering organizations at the COP27 event held in
Egypt in November. The IEEE Life Fellow spoke during a session
addressing the role of technology in delivering an equitable,
sustainable, and low-carbon resilient world.
Rahman, a power expert and professor of electrical and computer
engineering at Virginia Tech, is the former chair of the IEEE ad hoc
committee on climate change. The committee was formed last year to
coordinate the organization’s response to the global crisis.
About one-third of emissions globally are produced through electricity
generation, and Rahman said his mission is to help reduce that amount
through engineering solutions.
At COP27, he said that even though the first legally binding
international treaty on climate change, known as the Paris Agreement,
was adopted nearly a decade ago, countries have yet to come to a
consensus on how to stop burning fossil fuels, among other issues.
Some continue to burn coal, for example, because there are no other
economically feasible choices for them.
“We as technologists from IEEE say, ‘If you keep to your positions,
you’ll never get an agreement,’” he said. “We have come to offer this
six-point portfolio of solutions that everybody can live with. We want
to be a solution partner so we can have parties at the table to help
solve this problem of high carbon emissions globally.”
The solutions Rahman outlined were the use of proven methods that
reduce electricity usage, making coal plants more efficient, using
hydrogen and other storage solutions, promoting more renewables,
installing new types of nuclear reactors, and encouraging cross-border
power transfers.
Energy-saving tips
One action is to use less electricity, Rahman said, noting that
dimming lights by 20 percent in homes, office buildings, hotels, and
schools could save 10 percent of electricity. Most people wouldn’t
even notice the difference in brightness, he said.
Another is switching to LEDs, which use at least 75 percent less
energy than incandescent bulbs. LED bulbs cost about five times more,
but they last longer, he said. He called on developed countries to
provide financial assistance to developing nations to help them
replace all their incandescent bulbs with LEDs.
Another energy-saving measure is to raise the temperature of air
conditioners by 2 °C. This could save 10 percent of electricity as
well, said Rahman.
By better controlling lighting, heating, and cooling, 20 percent of
energy could be saved without causing anyone to suffer, he said.
Efficient coal-burning plants
Shutting down coal power plants completely is unlikely to happen
anytime soon, he predicted, especially since many countries are
building new ones that have 40-year life spans. Countries that
continue to burn coal should do so in high-efficiency power plants, he
said.
One type is the ultrasupercritical coal-fired steam power plant.
Conventional coal-fired plants, which make water boil to generate
steam that activates a turbine, have an efficiency of about 38
percent. Ultrasupercritical plants operate at temperatures and
pressures at which the liquid and gas phases of water coexist in
equilibrium. It results in higher efficiencies: about 46 percent.
Rahman cited the Eemshaven ultrasupercritical plant, in Groningen,
Netherlands—which was built in 2014.
Another efficient option he pointed out is the combined cycle power
plant. In its first stage, natural gas is burned in a turbine to make
electricity. The heat from the turbine’s exhaust is used to produce
steam to turn a turbine in the second stage. The resulting two-stage
power plant is at least 25 percent more efficient than a single-stage
plant.
“IEEE wants to be a solution partner, not a complaining partner, so we
can have both parties at the table to help solve this problem of high
carbon emissions globally.”
Another method to make coal-fired power plants more environmentally
friendly is to capture the exhausted carbon dioxide and store it in
the ground, Rahman said. Such carbon-capture systems are being used in
some locations, but he acknowledges that the carbon sequestration
process is too expensive for some countries.
Integrating and storing grid and off-grid energy
To properly balance electricity supply and demand on the power grid,
renewables should be integrated into energy generation, transmission,
and distribution systems from the very start, Rahman said. He added
that the energy from wind, solar, and hydroelectric plants should be
stored in batteries so the electricity generated from them during
off-peak hours isn’t wasted but integrated into energy grids.
He also said low-cost, low-carbon hydrogen fuel should be considered
as part of the renewable energy mix. The fuel can be used to power
cars, supply electricity, and heat homes, all with zero carbon
emissions.
“Hydrogen would help emerging economies meet their climate goals,
lower their costs, and make their energy grid more resilient,” he
said.
Smaller nuclear power plants
Rahman conceded there’s a stigma that surrounds nuclear power plants
because of accidents at Chernobyl, Fukushima, Three Mile Island, and
elsewhere. But, he said, without nuclear power, the concept of
becoming carbon neutral by 2050 isn’t realistic.
“It’s not possible in the next 25 years except with nuclear power,” he
said. “We don’t have enough solar energy and wind energy.”
Small modular reactors could replace traditional nuclear power plants.
SMRs are easier and less expensive to build, and they’re safer than
today’s large nuclear plants, Rahman said.
Though small, SMRs are powerful. They have an output of up to 300
megawatts of electricity, or about a quarter of the size of today’s
typical nuclear plant.
The modular reactors are assembled in factories and shipped to their
ultimate location, instead of being built onsite. And unlike
traditional nuclear facilities, SMRs don’t need to be located near
large bodies of water to handle the waste heat discharge.
SMRs have not taken off, Rahman says, because of licensing and technical issues.
Electricity transfer across national borders
Rahman emphasized the need for more cross-border power transfers, as
few countries have enough electricity to supply to all their citizens.
Many countries already do so.
“The United States buys power from Canada. France sells energy to
Italy, Spain, and Switzerland,” Rahman said. “The whole world is one
grid. You cannot transition from coal to solar and vice versa unless
you transfer power back and forth.”
Free research on climate change
During the conference session, Rahman said an IEEE collection of 7,000
papers related to climate change is accessible from the IEEE Xplore
Digital Library. IEEE also launched a website that houses additional
resources.
None of the solutions IEEE proposed are new or untested, Rahman said,
but his goal is to “provide a portfolio of solutions acceptable to and
deployable in both the emerging economies and the developed
countries—which will allow them to sit at the table together and see
how much carbon emission can be saved by creative application of
already available technologies so that both parties win at the end of
the day.”
Keith
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