Week 9-11

Question 1

Reserves

Answer 1

are those quantities commercially recoverable by developing known accumulations under defined conditions. Reserves must be:
o discovered through one or more exploratory wells
o recoverable using existing technology
o commercially viable
o remaining in the ground.

Question 2

Resource

Answer 2

all the energy that is ”out there” in nature

Question 3

Production

Answer 3

volume of crude oil produced from oil reservoirs during given period of time.

Question 4

Depletion

Answer 4

diminishment of productive capacity

Question 5

Supply elasticity

Answer 5

degree of responsiveness of the quantity supplied to a change in price. It is calculated as Es = % change in quantity / % change in price

Question 6

Unconventional oil

Answer 6

petroleum produced or extracted using techniques other than the conventional (oil well) method.
o Oil sands, extra heavy oil, gas to liquids…

Question 7

Shale oil

Answer 7

subset of tight oil. Produced form shale formations with low permeability, that must be harnessed by hydraulic fracturing

Question 8

Tar sands oil

Answer 8

an unconventional type of oil, which is part of a natural mix of sand or clay, water and oil. The process of extracting it is expensive.

Question 9

Peak oil

Answer 9

Peak oil is the point in time when the maximum rate of extraction of petroleum is reached, after which the rate of production is expected to enter terminal decline.

Question 10

Natural Gas Liquids (NGL)

Answer 10

are naturally occurring elements found in natural gas. They are used as petrochemical feedstocks (ethane), in residential, commercial and autogas applications (propane), and for gasoline blending (butane). NGLs are sourced from gas wells or associated with crude oil.

Question 11

Refining

Answer 11

Process of transforming the crude into the end product, removing impurities

Question 12

Passenger-Kilometers (pkm)

Answer 12

unit of measurement presenting the transport of 1 passenger by a defined mode of transport (road, rail, air..) over 1 km.

Question 13

Tonne-kilometer (tkm)

Answer 13

unit of measure of freight transport, which represents the transport of 1 tonne of goods by a given transport mode (road, rail..) over 1 km.

Question 14

CAFE Standards

Answer 14

= Corporate Average Fuel Economy
o Regulation that aims to improve average fuel economy of cars and light trucks produced for sale. In 2012, they raised the average fuel economy to up tp 54.5 mpg for model year 2025.

Question 15

Fleet efficiency

Answer 15

using fleet owners as the testing grounds for new innovative vehicle technologies as they can amortize the costs over many vehicles

Question 16

Asset Lock-in

Answer 16

switching fuel types require behavioral or operational changes that customers are unable or unwilling to make (i.e. reduced access to fuel charging station)

Question 17

Issues with Biodiesel and Ethanol

Answer 17

• Infrastructure issues: limited cropland
• Biofuels (ethanol) have less energy per gallon- lower energy density than #2 diesel, gasoline, etc. by as much as 1/3
• Carbon emissions saved by using biofuels is variable
• Capital constraints: RPS standards support biofuels financially
• Alternative effects: sugar is competing with food
• Impact on other commodities: ethanol drives corn prices

Question 18

Ethanol

Answer 18

alternative fuel fermented from corn, grains, wheat, barley, potatoes, sugar cane. It is primarily used as a supplement to gasoline. Pure ethanol is not sold, it’s always mixed with gasoline.

Question 19

Biodiesel

Answer 19

fuel made by chemically reacting lipids esters (e.g. veggies) with an alcohol. Replaces Diesel.

Question 20

Cellulosic biofuel

Answer 20

2nd generation biofuels. Derived from a wide variety of sources of cellulose plant fiber. Usually results in cellulosic ethanol (from wood , waste etc)

Question 21

Algae-based fuels

Answer 21

3rd generation biofuels. Substitutes oil (Jetfuel and diesel) and in the production process accrue many co-products. Requires CO2 injection – no feedstock, hence no competition with 1st & 2nd generation.

Question 22

Feedstock

Answer 22

any renewable, biological material that can be used directly or converted as/to a fuel or energy product.

Question 23

Rapeseed

Answer 23

oilseed crops, which is cultivated for the production of animal feed, vegetable oil for human consumption, biodiesel.

Question 24

Jatropha

Answer 24

Biofuel feedstock which comes from tropical plant whose sees contain a type of oil that can be converted into a substitute for refined petroleum products

Question 25

Energy content

Answer 25

description of the potential energy contained in a given biofuel, measured per unit mass of that fuel

Question 26

GHG balance

Answer 26

ratio of GHG production in CO2eq emitted when producing biofuel to the amount of CO2 eq when burning same end-use amount of fossil fuels.

Question 27

RFS/ RFS 2

Answer 27

=renewable fuel standard:
o Establishes min. volumes of renewable fuels that must be included in US transportation fuels. RFS2 requires 36 bn gallons of RE fuel annually by 2022, cap of 15 bn gallons of corn ethanol starting in 2015.

Question 28

RIN

Answer 28

=renewable identification number

serial number assigned to a batch of biofuel for production, use and trading tracking purposes.

Question 29

Blend wall

Answer 29

limit of blending biofuel into conventional oil-based products)due to logistical and infrastructural short-comings.

Question 30

Food vs. Fuel

Answer 30

debate centered upon the premise the global food security, i.e. agriculture land, is in competition with land for biofuel feedstock

Question 31

Co-products

Answer 31

by-products. Happens a lot in production of biofuels

Question 32

BEV

Answer 32

=battery electric vehicles. EVs with no ICE

Question 33

EV

Answer 33

an electric vehicle run entirely off of electricity from the grid

Question 34

PHEV

Answer 34

has both an ICE and an electric motor

Question 35

Range Anxiety

Answer 35

idea of running out of electricity when going for a long drive. But 78% commuters travel less than 40 miles each day, which is the expected range with a PHEV battery.

Question 36

Range-Assisted Vehicle

Answer 36

similar to PHEVs with electric and ICE motor

Question 37

Regenerative Braking

Answer 37

refers to using an electric motor as an electric generator and storing the energy from braking (bremsen) back in the battery of the vehicle or on a rotating flywheel. EVs can recover around 25% of braking energy.

Question 38

Level 2 Charger

Answer 38

Chargers with 240 V as opposed to common 120V system in US. Allows faster charging

Question 39

Excess Demand Hypothesis

Answer 39

Hypothesis that current demand is higher than what would actually

Question 40

Asset Lock-in

Answer 40

decisions new need to avoid a “lock-in” situation meaning that investments in new oil production will make it more difficult to change to a renewable energy pathway in the future.