16
Robert Bryce,
Pipe Dreams: Greed, Ego, and the Death of Enron
(New York: PublicAffairs, 2002), 241.
25
All data provided by personnel who worked on the Milford project. Note that in addition to the massive amounts of steel and concrete needed for the project, it also consumed about 700 tons of copper, or about 2.3 tons per megawatt. When accounting for wind's intermittency, that means that each reliable megawatt of wind-power capacity requires about 6.9 tons of copper.
26
Per F. Peterson, “Issues for Nuclear Power Construction Costs and Waste Management,” September 16, 2008,
http://www.ostp.gov/galleries/PCAST/PCAST%20Sep.%202008%20Peterson%20slides.pdf
, 4. Wind's resource intensity is also far greater than coal's. Peterson's report says that coal requires 98 tons of steel and 160 cubic meters of concrete per megawatt of capacity. That means that wind power's steel requirements are 4.7 times as great as those of a coal plant, and its concrete requirements are 5.4 times as great as those of a coal plant.
27
Rybczynski, “The Green Case for Cities.”
30
The entire STP facility covers 12,000 acres. STP Nuclear Operating Company, “About Us,” n.d.,
http://www.stpnoc.com/About.htm
. The math is straightforward:
12,000 acres is equal to 48 million square meters. The plant produces 2.7 billion watts. Thus 2,700,000,000 / 48,000,000 = 56.2.
31
Based on author calculations. Assumes that the average U.S. gas well produces 4.8 million Btu per hour. Converted to electricity (assuming a loss of two-thirds of the heat energy), that yields about 470 kilowatts. Assuming each well covers 2 acres, it works out to about 235,000 watts per acre.
32
Here's the math: 60,000 cubic feet = 60,000,000 Btu = 60,000 MJ, and 60,000 MJ / 86,400 = 694,444 W. So, 694,444 times 0.33 = 229,166 W, and 229,166 W / 746 W = 307 hp. Assuming a 2-acre well site: 307 / 2 = 153/5 hp per acre.
33
This definition of stripper well comes from ConocoPhillips,
http://www.conocophillips.com/newsroom/other_resources/energyglossary/glossary_s.htm
. Here's the math: 10 bbls = 58,000,000 Btu, and 58,000 MJ / 86,400 seconds = 671, 296 W. So, 671,296 times 0.33 = 221,152 W (221 kW), and 221,152 / 746 = 297 hp. Again, assuming 2 acres: 297 / 2 = 148.5 hp per acre.
34
The calculations for the energy densities of the renewable sources is based on work done by Jesse Ausubel. See Ausubel, “The Future Environment for the Energy Business.”
Chapter 9
2
When asked for data, officials at the American Wind Energy Association pointed to a report by the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) that estimates possible carbon reductions. The report, “Analysis of Transmission Alternatives for Competitive Renewable Energy Zones in Texas,” dated December 2006, is available at
http://www.ercot.com/news/presentations/2006/ATTCH_A_CREZ_Analysis_Report.pdf
. The American Wind Energy Association officials also pointed to a report from the U.S. Department of Energy projecting that if wind power in the United States reached 20 percent of electricity generation, then some 825 million tons of carbon dioxide would be “saved.” See U.S. Department of Energy, “20% Wind Energy by 2030: Increasing Wind Energy's Contribution to US Electricity Supply,” May 2008,
http://www.20percentwind.org/20percent_wind_energy_report_05-1
1-08_wk.pdf, 12.
3
Global Wind Energy Council, “Global Wind Energy Outlook 2008,” 46.
4
Lawrence J. Makovich, Patricia DiOrio, and Douglas D. Giuffre, “Renewable Portfolio Standards: Getting Ahead of Themselves?” Cambridge Energy Research Associates, February 2008, summary page.
14
Electric Reliability Council of Texas, “Report on the Capacity, Demand, and Reserves in the ERCOT Region,” 13.
16
Makovich et al., “Renewable Portfolio Standards,” 15.
18
Renewable Energy Foundation, “Wind Power Study Reveals Hidden Cost and Reliability Issues,” press release, June 7, 2008,
http://www.ref.org.uk/Files/pr.07.07.08.pdf
. The full article, by James Oswald, Mike Raine, and Hezlin Ashraf-Ball, appeared in
Energy Policy
36 (2008): 3212â3225, and is available at
http://www.wind-watch.org/documents/wp-content/uploads/oswald-energy-policy-2008.pdf
.
22
Global Wind Energy Council, “Global Wind Energy Outlook 2008,” 39.
24
The math is straightforward: 731/18,708 = 3.9%.
Chapter 10
13
International Energy Agency,
World Energy Outlook 2008
, 166.
14
BP Statistical Review of World Energy 2009. One ton of coal is equal to 7.33 barrels of oil.
15
BP Statistical Review of World Energy 2009.
16
Energy Information Administration, “Denmark Energy Data.”
18
David Pimentel, ed.,
Biofuels, Solar and Wind as Renewable Energy Systems
(Ithaca, NY: Springer, 2008), 147.
19
Lodge, “Wind Chill,” 7.
20
Hugh Sharman, e-mail to author, August 11, 2008.
21
BP Statistical Review of World Energy 2009, data from 2007.
23
According to BP, Denmark's total primary energy consumption in 1981 was 18.2 million tons of oil equivalent per year. That's about 365,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day. By 2007, the figure was 18.1 million tons of oil equivalent per year. Source: BP Statistical Review of World Energy 2009.