Midterm Flashcards
How much of the energy in burning coal reaches the consumer as electricity?
33%
Roughly the efficiency
causes: waste heat, transmission, Rankine cycle - thermodynamics, machine losses, generation losses/
Are losses higher in transmission or distribution systems?
Distribution
P_loss=i^2r
the transmission we use very high voltage which means a low current - preventing loss. Distribution lines have to use a lower voltage creating a higher current, thus higher loss.
Which state consumes the most energy?
Texas
What state produces the most coal?
Wyoming
What country produces the most coal?
China
What country generates the most electricity from nuclear power?
United States
What country generates the greatest share of its electricity from wind power
Denmark
Most of the energy we use originally came from?
The sun
- everything comes back to nuclear other than nuclear which relies on gravitational pull
primary energy
gross energy - before transmission into more useful forms like electricity
% of total energy utilized to produce electricity
38.1%
overall efficiency of electric power generation
37%
power units
watts (W) or kilowatts (kW - W/1000) or joules/second or ampere*volt
voltage
electrical potential - the energy (E) required to move a unit charge through an element
Electrical Energy (E)
the power multiplied by the time the power is used - usually measure in kWh.
AC
both current and voltage are sinusoidal waveforms
decarbonize the grid
electricity huge demand for energy, tech for other services.
green house gases
carbon (CO2)
Methane (CH4)
Nitrous oxide (N20)
Fluorinated gas (F-gas)
July 2021
1.67F above 20th-century average - the last 7 July's have been the highest temperatures in history. Sea ice concentration species extension increase temperatures water supply
Top 3 CO2 emitting countires
what share of global co2 do they emit
China, US, EU
what percent of GHG emissions worldwide are from electricity and heat generation
what percent of US CO2 emissions are from the power sector?
global - 25%
US electricity 27%
US generation mix
ng 40% renewables 21% coal 19% nuclear 20% other <1%
US electricity generation
renewable 17% (wind - 7.3%, hygro-6.6%, solar-1.8%, biomass 1.4%, geothermal 0.4%)
nuclear 20%
coal 23%
ng 38%
Electricity flow conversion losses
25.22
if the load is purely resistive
current and voltage are in phase and the product of voltage and current is positive or zero