GEOSCI 106 Lab 12_ Energy resources- MARCH
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School
University of Wisconsin, Madison *
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Course
106
Subject
Geology
Date
Dec 6, 2023
Type
Pages
5
Uploaded by MateBraveryOyster20
GEOSCI/ENVIR ST 106: Environmental Geology
Lab 12: Fossil fuels and renewable energy resources
Assignment overview:
In this lab, you will read an article about the benefits and drawbacks of methane
as a fossil fuel energy resource. You will then perform basic computations to calculate the feasibility and
cost of transitioning the U.S. over to entirely renewable energy resources.
Instructions:
Fill out each red highlighted field (_________) according to each question’s instructions.
Submission:
To submit the assignment on Canvas, use the following steps:
1.
In Google Docs, generate a PDF: File → Download as → PDF Document
2.
In Google Docs, use Share → Get Shareable Link, and copy the link address
3.
In Canvas, upload your PDF to the assignment.
4.
In Canvas, paste the link address to your Google Doc in the assignment comments.
Potentially useful things:
1 megawatt (MW) = 1000 kilowatt (kW) = 1,000,000 watt (W)
1 km
2
= 1,000,000 m
2
1
Part 1: Fossil fuels: methane
Read the article from National Geographic, “Good Gas, Bad Gas” about natural gas and methane
emissions posted on Canvas, and complete the following questions. In all cases, your answers should
consist of complete sentences, and should be less than one paragraph. Fill in all highlighted fields.
1.
How strong is methane’s greenhouse effect on Earth’s temperature relative to the same amount of
CO
2
? (1 point)
25 times stronger_________
2.
Describe two ways in which human actions contribute to methane in the atmosphere, and two
other methane sources that do not involve human actions. (2 points)
Leaking from gas lines and fracking. Non human actions include the leaking from Arctic mud and from
the Goldstream lake_________
3.
Describe two benefits and two negative impacts that hydraulic fracturing has had in Pennsylvania.
(2 points)
Deforestation and contaminated water however natural coal burns cleaner and it has created 18,000
jobs._________
4.
Describe the trends observed in the arctic, and how these trends could contribute to positive
feedback loops for the climate. (2 points)
_Methane has increased and thus it has caused lakes to grow and new ones to form.________
Part 2: Renewable energy computations
Energy consumption is commonly measured as a product of power (in watts) and the amount of time that
power is used. For example, a microwave with a power of one kilowatt (1 kW), running for 1 hour, uses
1 kilowatt-hour (1 kWh) of electricity. Recall that when two quantities are multiplied together, their units
are multiplied together too. For example:
meter
/
second
5
seconds
5
meters
econd
/
second
5
meters
1
× 1
= 1
×
s
= 1
kW
hour
kWh
1
× 1
= 1
The U.S. electricity usage, according to the latest statistics in 2018, is roughly 12,750 kWh per person per
year (
US Department of Energy
). By multiplying this by the US population (331 million), we can
estimate that total electricity use in the US is:
2
2,
50
31,
00,
00
persons
4,
20,
00,
00,
00
1
7
kWh
person
year
× 3
0
0
=
2
0
0
0
year
kWh
That’s approximately 4.2 trillion kWh per year for the entire country.
Solar Energy in Wisconsin?
Commodity solar panels commonly are rated to produce 300 W (0.3 kW) of power under full sunlight,
and commonly have an area of about 1.5 m
2
per panel (e.g., see the example from
this vendor
). If
purchased at retail price, these solar panels cost about $370. On average, simple solar arrays in
Wisconsin can be expected to receive ~5 hours per day of sunlight (
Solar Power Information in Madison
).
5.
How many kWh would a commodity panel produce over a year in Madison, WI? Show the
formula you used to calculate this number. (1 point)
_5hr/dayx365day/year= 1825hr/yearX0.3 kW=547.5kWh/yr________
6.
How much area would be required to produce the entire country’s electricity demand via solar
panels in Wisconsin, given the numbers you calculated above? Show your calculations and report
the answer in square km. (1 point)
_4.2trillion/547.5kWh/yr=7,671,232,877 solar panelsX0.000015km^2/panel=11,506.85sqkm________
7.
Use Google Earth to create a polygon that is close to the area computed above. (Note: The
browser version of Google Earth (
https://earth.google.com/web/
) allows you to draw polygons
with the “Measure distance and area”, so you are welcome to use either the browser version or the
stand-alone Google Earth Pro app to do this.) The area of your polygon should match the area
you computed in the previous question to within at least 1% (i.e., the polygon should be no
smaller than 99% and no larger than 101% of the area you computed in the previous question).
Take a screen capture of your region and paste it below. Would it be theoretically possible to
produce all electricity for the US within Wisconsin using solar power? (2 points)
_
________
3
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8.
Based on this, and your answers above, how much would it cost to purchase the solar panels to
produce all US electricity needs in Wisconsin using solar energy? (1 point)
7,671,232,877 solar panelsX$370/panel=$2,838,356,164,490_________
Wind Energy in Wisconsin?
Current grid-scale wind turbines (90-m diameter!) are rated at a power of about 2 MW (2,000 kW), and
cost about $3.5 million installed. The “capacity factor” for current wind turbines is about 35% (
EIA
Renewable Capacity Factors
), which means that the turbines generate power at this rate, on average,
about 35% of the year. To maintain efficiency and avoid turbulence, it’s estimated that each such wind
turbine should have about 0.5 km
2
of open land.
9.
How much energy would a single grid-scale wind turbine generate in a year? To do this, use the
following formula.
nergy
/
year
ower
ours
/
year
apacity
factor
E
=
p
×
h
×
c
Based on this, how many wind turbines would be needed to generate the entire US electricity
demand? (1 point)
=2000kWx8760hours/yearx0.35capacity factor=6,132,000kW per year_________
10.
How much land would be needed to generate all US electricity demand from wind power?
Provide your answer in km
2
. (1 point)
4.2 trillion kW/year6,132,000 kW/year/turbine= _684932 turbines/2 turbines per sq km=342466 square
km________
11.
Draw a polygon in Google Earth that has roughly this area (at least the first two digits should
match). Would it be possible to generate all needed wind energy within Wisconsin, based on your
numbers? (2 points)
4
__
_______
12.
Given your answers above, what would it cost to install the towers needed to generate all
electricity demand for the U.S. via wind power? (1 point)
_684932turbinesX3.5 million dollars/turbine= __2397262 million dollars______
5