In these times of political upheaval, divided opinions and values, and general unease, it is important to reflect on those things which we can potentially agree are in our best interest. There should be some consensus on evaluating energy demand and supply options that move us toward an overarching better state. This state would essentially be dictated by accurate economic analysis that include all known costs -both direct and indirect ones. Of course the issue is that indirect costs are difficult to estimate and tend to be dependent on politics and some interpretation of scientific data. That leaves us with the direct economic measures which are basically dictated by free market pricing, to the extent a free market exists. We must also incorporate the changes in price in the future due to resource depletion, technology improvements, and perhaps public acceptance. This analysis should lead to an energy future that has lower impacts to the environment and raises our quality of life from a local and global perspective. Here is my list of energy oriented issues that we should agree on. Please feel free to add yours in the comments.
- The use of any energy source requires conversion from a primary energy source such as wind, sun, or fuel to the end energy state which is power, heat, or cooling. Things however get complicated as we include external impacts such as grid and pipeline reliability, real time pricing, demand charges, incentives, and fuel quality.
- Distributed generation of power has distinct advantages that can be economically attractive. It allows for harnessing of already available primary energy sources (sun, wind, waste fuels, waste heat), higher efficiencies due to thermal coupling potential (combined heat and power), reduction of transmission losses, and is known to create higher levels of employment per KW. It also gives the customer more flexibility and control over their energy costs.
- Energy conversion technology continues to improve. Especially renewables like PV and wind, but also organic rankine cycle engines, back pressure turbines, cooling towers, recovery boilers, gasifiers, combined cycle natural gas turbines, etc. Use of energy also is continuously improving (lighting, heat recovery and integration, chillers, compressors, motors, pumps, fans, drives, controls, etc).
- Energy efficiency will always be a worthwhile endeavor regardless of where energy comes from. It has always been to lowest cost option, highest ROI, and most unassailable strategy to reduce energy and environmental footprints, carbon use, and cost. It requires an in-depth analysis of what we are trying to do and how we can effectively do it while keeping risk low and flexibility high. It also demands a solid system to track savings and monitor usage over time to ensure benefits are captured.
- Pandas are cute. And probably energy efficient.