Lesson 3 Electricity Flashcards
What will de-carbonizing in the electricity sector allow us to do?
De-carbonize in other sectors like manufacturing and transportation.
Why is electricity cheap?
It’s generated by burning low-cost fossil fuels.
Which fossil fuels are used to generate electricity?
Oil, coal and natural gas generate about 2/3 of electricity.
Why are fossil fuels cheap?
1. We are better at extracting them.
2. Governments subsidize them.
What percentage of annual greenhouse gases come
from generating electricity?
27%
How are wind and solar power costs trending?
They are getting lower.
How is wind energy growing since 2010?
It has quadrupled and its cost is decreasing.
How has solar increased since 2010?
Increased 17 times
What is the biggest challenge with solar and wind power?
Reliability →
The Intermittency Problem.
How can we fix this?
Either
1. Develop storage or
2. Develop other clean technologies.
What is the current storage medium of choice?
Lithium-ion batteries.
This does not have the capacity for long-duration storage.
What does Malta Inc do?
They have developed a way to convert it to thermal energy for storage for 10-12 hours.
What is the longest Malta can store energy now?
About 1 week.
What technology are they working on?
How long can a system stay in a state of charge? - just like your phone
What is Malta’s “hot store”?
How much heat does Malta storage currently lose?
565°
About 1°/day
When does Malta expect the Green Premium compared to natural gas to be 0?
Around 2030
With population growth and rising living standards how much more electricity will we need in just a few decades?
3 times as much
What is the only carbon-free energy source that can reliably deliver electricity 24-hours/day?
nuclear energy
What percentage of its electricity does the US get from nuclear plants?
around 20%
How much of France’s electricity is provided by nuclear plants?
> 70%
What are the 2 types of nuclear reaction that can used to generate electricity?
Nuclear fission and Nuclear fusion
How does nuclear fission work?
Atomic particles are split apart.
How does nuclear fusion work?
Combines atomic nuclei.
How do all current nuclear plants work?
nuclear fission
What is the holy grail of nuclear technology?
nuclear fusion
What nuclear technology is MIT working on?
Portable microreactors
How much power will a portable microreactor generate?
Enough power for about 10,000 homes.
What can it be used for?
It can be used for desalinating water for about 150,000 people.
How big is a portable microreactor?
About the size of a shipping container.
How are they flexible?
You can stack them up for the amount of power you need?
How long can they go withour re-fueling?
5-10 years
How do you keep from interrupting service when they are re-fueled?
They ship you a re-fueled one to replace it.
How are nuclear batteries like nuclear power plants?
They are dispatchable - power is transmitted on demand.
Are solar and wind dispatchable?
No
They are intermittent.
What is the other advantage of nuclear batteries?
They don’t take up a lot of space.
Wind and solar do.
How much space does a nuclear battery need?
About an acre including the control and security areas.
How much land do wind and solar need to give the same amount of electricity?
About 1,000 times as much as nuclear batteries.
What are the 3 components of Nuclear Safety?
1. Shut down reliably
2. Provide cooling to fuel
3. Prevent release of radioactivity.
How will the nuclear battery provide safety?
The safety function will not require external intervention. They are passively safe.
How will you manage the waste?
The volume of waste is very small compared to the energy generated.
What is better about fusion reactors?
1. They are inherently safe.
2. Very little waste by-product.
What is MIT doing about fusion?
They are working on an ultracompact system.
What intermediate technology may be needed to bridge the times before the other technologies can do the job?
Carbon recapture.
MIT is also working on this.
Why do some worry about carbon recapture?
They think it may make the use of fossil fuels more acceptable.
Can we eliminate all CO2 emmisions?
No.
This is why we need carbon recapture.
How does Direct Air Carbon recapture work?
It uses filters to extract it from air.
What would be easier than Direct Air Capture?
Catching it at the source.
What is a sorbent?
A material used to absorb liquids or gases.
How do sorbents help at the source?
The gas being emitted is run through the sorbent for carbon capture.
What is the Amine Process?
They capture the CO2.
It is a gas scrubbing process.
What is the problem with this process?
It takes a lot of energy.
What is MIT working on?
Developing a isothermal (constant temperature) process rather than a thermal process.
What do they do with it?
Bury it in old aquifers and depleted oil and gas reservoirs.
What happens to it when buried?
It eventually becomes immobilized.
What else are they trying?
To capture carbon from the ocean.
Can we make our 2050 goals without removing carbon from the atmosphere?
No.
