Copy of Lab 11 Energy Resources
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University of Wisconsin, Madison *
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106
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Date
Dec 6, 2023
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GEOSCI/ENVIR ST-106: Environmental Geology
Lab 11: Fossil Fuels & Renewable Energy
Assignment Overview:
In this lab, you will read about fossil fuel resources and perform basic
computations to assess the feasibility and cost of transitioning to fully renewable energy in the
US.
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, and paste the link address to your
Google Doc in the assignment comments.
1
Assignment Questions and Responses
Instructions:
Fill out each red highlighted field (_________)
Part 1: Fossil Fuels - Methane
Background
Read the article from National Geographic Magazine, “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 1 paragraph or less. Fill in
all highlighted fields.
1.
According to the article, how much of a greenhouse effect does methane have on the
earth, relative to the same amount of CO2? (1 point)
____25 times as much as CO2_____
2.
Describe two ways in which humans actions contribute to methane in the atmosphere,
and two other methane sources that do not involve human actions. (2 points)
____One source of methane from humans is fracking and the release of natural gas, some also
comes from leaking of pipes and wells. Methane is also benign released naturally from bubbling
out of lakes and from swamps and marshes. It can also come naturally from cows. _____
3.
Describe two benefits and two negative impacts that hydraulic fracturing has had in
Pennsylvania. (2 points)
____Two benefits of hydraulic fracturing are its cheap and created 18000 jobs. Two impacts are
contamination of water and effects on the miners like black lung disease. _____
4.
Describe the trends observed in the arctic, and how these trends could contribute to
positive feedback loops for the climate. (2 points)
____Emissions cause temperatures to rise, causing ice to melt, the melted ice releases
methane which causes temperatures to rise, causing more ice to melt causing more methane to
be released increasing the temperature more. _____
2
Part 2: Renewable Energy Computations
Background
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 (1kWh) of electricity. (
Recall: If it’s been a while
since you’ve taken a math or physics class, quantities with units that are multiplied result in
multiplied units. For example, 1 [meter/second] * 15 [seconds] = 15 [meters*second/second] =
15 [meter]. Similarly, 1 kW * 1 hour = 1 [kW*hour])
The U.S. electricity usage, according to the latest statistics, is roughly 13,000 kWh per person
per year (World bank, 2014:
Electric power consumption in kWh per capita
).
Using multiplication, we can estimate that total electricity use in the U.S. is:
13, 000
𝑘𝑊ℎ
?????? 𝑦?𝑎?
× 330, 000, 000 ??????? = 4, 290, 000, 000, 000
𝑘𝑊ℎ
𝑦?𝑎?
That is, a total of approximately 4.3 Trillion kWh per year for the entire country
(
or 4,300,000,000,000 kWh per year)
4. 3 × 10
12
Solar Energy in Wisconsin?
Important Facts & Figures: 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
per panel (e.g.,
1. 5 ?
2
see the example from
this vendor
). If purchased at retail price, these solar panels cost about
$300. On average, simple solar arrays in Wisconsin could be expected to receive roughly 5
hours per day of sunlight (
Solar Power Information in Madison
)
1.
How many kWh would a commodity panel produce over a year in Madison, WI? Show
the formula you used to calculate this number! (1 point)
___0.3kW*5h/day*365 days/yr=547.5 kWh in a year______
2.
How much area would be required to produce the entire country’s electricity demand via
solar panels in Wisconsin, given the numbers you calculated above? Show your
calculations and give the number in square miles. (You may look up conversions
between units in Google or another resource. (1 point)
Hint: 1
= 1,000,000
, and 2.59
= 1
)
𝑘?
2
?
2
𝑘?
2
?𝑖
2
____4.3*10^12 kWh/yr / 547.5 kWh/yr = 7.85*10^9 panels *1.5m^2/panel= 1.18*10^10 m^2(
1km^2/ 1000000 m^2)~ 11800km^2(1mi^2/2.59km^2)=4548.8mi^2_____
3
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3.
Use Google Earth to create a polygon that is close to the area computed above (you
may even do this using the online “Google My Maps” tools). The area should match the
area you computed to at least the two largest significant digits. Take a screen capture of
your region and paste it below. Would it be theoretically possible to produce all electricity
for the U.S. within Wisconsin using solar? (2 points)
__Yes it would be possible_____
4.
Based on this, and your answers above, how much would it cost to purchase the solar
panels to produce all U.S. electricity needs in Wisconsin using solar energy? (1 point)
7.85*10^9 panels*300$/panel= $2.355*10^12
Wind Energy in Wisconsin?
Important Facts & Figures: Current grid-scale wind turbines (90m 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 at their given power, 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
of open land.
𝑘?
2
5.
How much energy would a single grid-scale wind turbine generate in a year? To do this,
use the formula
. Based on
?????𝑦/𝑦?𝑎? = ??𝑤?? × ℎ????/𝑦?𝑎? × 𝑐𝑎?𝑎𝑐𝑖?𝑦 ?𝑎𝑐???
this, how many wind turbines would be needed to generate all of the U.S. electricity
demand? (1 point)
____2000kW*8765hours/yr*.35=6.14*10^6 kWh/yr _____
6.
How much land would be needed to generate all U.S. electricity demand from wind
power? Provide your answer in square miles. (1 point)
4
____4.3*10^12/6.14*10^6=7*10^5*0.5 km^2*1mi^2/2.59km^2= 135198 mi^2_____
7.
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)
___
___It is not possible.___
8.
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)
____7*10^5 turbines*$3.5million/turbine= $2.45*10^12_____
9.
While not exact, the numbers you calculated in questions 1-8 give a sense of the
feasibility of transition to a completely renewable electricity infrastructure. In ~1
paragraph, comment on these results. For example, you can discuss: i) other factors that
may increase or decrease the actual cost; ii) how this plan would contribute to reducing
greenhouse gas emissions, as well as greenhouse gas emissions that would still occur;
and iii) Other benefits or drawbacks of pursuing one of these plans. (3 points)
____Factors that may increase or decrease the cost include terrain, and whether or not it's flat,
where the location is and getting tools and equipment out there. This would decrease
greenhouse emissions released by coal and natural gas plants, but there would still be some
emissions from humans and animals breathing/respiration and methane from cows. The solar
panels would work better than the wind turbines because they are not only slightly cheaper but
also take up a lot less room. _____
5