Worldwide energy crisis: energy trends in Brazil
Transcription
Worldwide energy crisis: energy trends in Brazil
INVITED LECTURES REVISTA MEXICANA DE FÍSICA S 56 (2) 34–39 JUNIO 2010 Worldwide energy crisis: energy trends in Brazil A.S. Schlachter Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and American Physical Society, Berkeley CA 94720 USA, e-mail: [email protected] Recibido el 14 de julio de 2008; aceptado el 23 de octubre de 2008 A world-wide energy crisis is threatening our energy security, and economy, and the well-being of the planet. This crisis is evident in every country of the world. Brazil is adapting primarily through the supply side: oil, hydroelectric power, and ethanol from sugar cane. It is necessary to adapt to a new world of energy security and global climate change. The sustainable energy challenge requires innovative solutions and new technologies, as well as greatly increased energy efficiency. Keywords: Energy; Brazil. Una crisis energética mundial amenaza a nuestra seguridad de energı́a, economı́a, y el bienestar del planeta. Esta crisis es evidente en cada paı́s del mundo. Brasil se adapta principalmente por el lado de suministro: aceite, potencia hidroeléctrica, y etanol de caña de azúcar. Es necesario adaptarse a un nuevo mundo de seguridad de energı́a y el cambio de clima global. El desafı́o de energı́a sostenible requiere soluciones innovadoras y nuevas tecnologı́as, ası́ como la eficacia de energı́a enormemente aumentada. Descriptores: Energı́a; Brasil. PACS: 42.60.Lh; 89.30.-g; 89.60.k 1. Introduction Our dependence of fossil fuels to provide energy has significant consequences for citizens of the world. The price of fossil fuels is presently rising very quickly (US$140 per barrel of oil, June 2008), which is likely to damage the economy of many countries; the outflow of money to countries which have oil and whose regimes are not necessarily friend is significant; disruption of the oil supply could cause world-wide chaos; and the ongoing increase of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere is believed to be responsible for the threat of global climate change. Brazil has very significant supplies of petroleum, thanks in part to recently discovered oil fields. Brazil also has considerable hydroelectric capacity for electricity generation; and finally Brazil has a long history of production of ethanol from sugar cane for transportation. However, the world-wide crisis is responsible in some measure for ongoing destruction of the Amazon rain forest. The solution to the energy crisis is both a vigorous emphasis on renewable supplies of energy and reduction of energy consumption by greater efficient in the end-use of energy. America is the greatest consumer of energy: less than 5% of the world’s population consuming 25% of the world’s energy. China contributes more carbon dioxide to the atmosphere than any other country. It will be necessary for America to considerably reduce its per capita energy consumption, necessary for China, India, and other Asian countries with growing economies to produce energy in a more clean fashion, and necessary for every citizen of the planet to follow a path to more wise use of energy. Brazil has a more favorable position regarding energy than many other developing countries, thanks to oil, hydro- electricity, and relatively low per-capita energy consumption at present. However, it will be essential for Brazil, and for all developing countries, to not follow the poor example of the United States, to develop sustainable sources of energy, and to utilize energy efficiently. 2. Drivers for the energy crisis There are several major areas of concern (“drivers”) for the present energy crisis: growth in demand, challenges to energy supplies, security of our energy supply in some cases, and the environmental impacts of energy utilization. Each of these areas overlaps technology (where we as scientists can make significant contributions) and policy (where we as citizens have a voice). This is shown schematically in Fig. 1 (adapted from Steve Koonin). F IGURE 1. Koonin). Drivers for the energy crisis (adapted from Steve WORLDWIDE ENERGY CRISIS: ENERGY TRENDS IN BRAZIL 35 F IGURE 3. Primary sources of energy world-wide. F IGURE 2. Energy demand and per-capita GDP (Gross Domestic Product). Each of these topics will be discussed, first from a global perspective, then from the perspective of Brazil. Demand growth: The most critical factor for world-wide increase of energy consumption is the empirical relationship of per-capita energy use with per-capita GDP. Figure 2 shows that developed countries, and especially the United States, have much greater per-capita energy consumption than developing countries such as Brazil. As GDP continues to increase, especially in countries with rapidly developing economies like China and India, we can expect ongoing increases in per-capita energy consumption, creating stress on energy supplies worldwide. A second important factor in the increase of energy consumption is a growing world population. Predictions are that the world population will grow from 6.3 billion people at present to 8.9 billion by 2050. These additional three billion people will all become consumers of energy, thus further increasing energy demand. Fossil fuels (oil, coal, and natural gas) account for more than 80% of the primary energy used worldwide (Fig. 3). Supplies of oil and natural gas are limited, coal is highly polluting, and all contribute to global climate change. Supply challenges: The world has significant resources of fossil fuel. However, the geographical distribution is highly non-uniform; most of the consumption of oil, for example, is in developed countries, while much of the supply is in the Middle East. There is considerable demand for oil, which results in geopolitical tension, a vast transfer of wealth, and even war in some cases. Coal is more widely distributed, as are renewables; nonetheless the distribution is uneven and the resulting tensions are not healthy for a stable world. F IGURE 4. Projected energy demand. There are many sources of energy available beyond fossil fuel. The sources are: • the sun: solar radiation, solar energy stored as fossil fuel, wind, hydroelectric, and waves • nuclear energy (both fission and fusion) • geothermal energy (leftover from the formation of the earth or generated by decay of radioisotopes) • tides (caused by the gravitational attraction of the moon and sun). Although we shall not explore these topics in detail here, all deserve attention, especially renewable sources, the use of which will be essential for a sustainable energy future. Note that every source of energy also has a price. Harnessing wind power and solar energy are not generally cost effective at present, nuclear energy produces long-lived radioactive waste, combustion of coal releases copious amounts of radioactivity, mercury, and other toxic substances, and so on. We will discuss the effect of combustion of fossil fuels when discussing environmental impact. Rev. Mex. Fı́s. S 56 (2) (2010) 34–39 36 A.S. SCHLACHTER Solar energy deserves particular attention because the sun is the source of most energy on earth, either directly (solar, wind etc) or through fossil fuels. In fact, more energy from sunlight hits the earth in an hour (4.3×1020 J) than all the energy consumed on the planet in a year (4.1×1020 J) [=13 TW]. At the present time, solar electricity provides less than 0.1% of the world’s electricity, and biomass (primarily wood burned in third-world countries) provides less than 1.5% of the world’s energy. Security of our energy supply. Our energy security is threatened by global events and by the eventual depletion of fossil fuels, especially depletion of petroleum. The present political unrest in Iraq and the Middle East, coupled with potential unrest in Iran, could well threaten the oil supply to the United States and to other developed countries. Part of the oil supply also comes from troubled areas, such as Nigeria and Venezuela. The supply of oil to developed countries could easily be disrupted by political action (e.g. boycott, embargo) or by hostile action (military or terrorist activities). America’s reliance on imported oil, especially the need for liquid fuel for transportation, leaves us vulnerable to serious disruption and the economic chaos which would result from disruption of our oil supply. A second threat to our supply of fossil fuels is depletion. It is widely believed that world-wide oil production will peak in a generation (around 2040) and will decline thereafter. Although the supplies of natural gas and coal are more extensive, eventually they will be depleted. Environmental impact. The correlation of increasing CO2 concentrations since the beginning of the industrial revolution with increasing temperatures is widely taken as evidence for an anthropogenic cause of global climate change, which threatens our lives on earth as we know them today. The widely accepted viewpoint is that we must reduce combustion of fossil fuels to stabilize the concentration of CO2 in the atmosphere. This has been very widely discussed, and will not be further discussed here. A second environmental issue concerning combustion of fossil fuels is the production of smog, related to oxides of sulfur and nitrogen, with their accompanying risks to human health. We must be able to breathe clean air. Furthermore, combustion of coal in particular puts large quantities of both radioisotopes and mercury, along with other heavy metals, into the atmosphere, with the obvious hazards to health. There is yet another environmental aspect to energy production, which is damage to the ecosystem. Every strip mine, every oil spill, every leak of radioactive waste, every wind farm which despoils the landscape and kills birds and bats, and every other insult to our environment threatens life as we know it on our planet. Figure 7 shows greenhouse gas emissions by source. Although two-thirds of the emissions come from energy production, 35% are from non-energy sources, primarily agriculture. Figure 8 shows emission of CO2 as a function of percapita GDP. The richer the country, the more the CO2 emissions. Note however the low CO2 emissions by France, due primarily to the large use of nuclear energy to generate electricity. F IGURE 5. Projected oil production showing expected peak around 2040. F IGURE 6. Correlation of global mean temperature with atmospheric CO2 concentration. F IGURE 7. Greenhouse gas emissions by source. Rev. Mex. Fı́s. S 56 (2) (2010) 34–39 WORLDWIDE ENERGY CRISIS: ENERGY TRENDS IN BRAZIL 37 willing to pay, as the economy of their country is somewhat local, while climate change is global. International agreements are essential so that developed and developing countries can share the economic burden of change and so no noncomplying country can have an economic advantage over another country which complies with international agreements to reduce emission of greenhouse gases. Reduction of the growth of demand for energy. Efficient utilization of energy is our best resource. We can build more efficient buildings, use more efficient appliances, replace incandescent lamps with compact fluorescent lamps, plan our cities to be more compact, encourage public transit, drive smaller cars, and so on. Technology is essential to reducing energy use, and scientists and engineers have a significant role to play. Reducing energy use and conserving energy now will buy time for development of more long-term methods of reducing energy use, such as electric cars. More efficient energy use and conservation will also reduce production of greenhouse gases, although major effort is required in most countries to produce electricity using renewable resources rather than combusting fossil fuels. F IGURE 8. CO2 emissions as a function of GDP. F IGURE 9. Domestic energy supply in Brazil compared with OECD and the world. There are significant barriers to meaningful reduction of greenhouse gas emissions. Climate is highly variable, thus changes over time are difficult to see. Global climate change takes place over decades and centuries, while the political process generally has a time scale no longer than a few years. And there are costs associated with dealing with reduction of emission of greenhouse gases, which not all countries will be Technology and policy. For the future, capturing and harnessing solar energy is a clear path to a secure energy future, although much research and development needs to be done to make solar energy economically viable. Nuclear energy, wind, and biomass are all feasible, and all must be explored for us to have a sustainable energy future. A carbon-free transportation system will require using electricity for transportation, assuming a “green” grid. This is not feasible at present, as there are no cost-effective batteries capable of powering a family car at a reasonable price. Research on batteries is essential. Another possible avenue to carbon-free transportation is the use of hydrogen and fuel cells to generate electricity on-board a vehicle. Again, there are no cost-effective ways of producing, distributing, and F IGURE 10. Brazil’s primary energy supply: 1971-2005, and pie chart for 2005. Rev. Mex. Fı́s. S 56 (2) (2010) 34–39 38 A.S. SCHLACHTER F IGURE 11. Energy from oil is much more important than energy from ethanol in Brazil. in fact, the entire annual world-wide production of platinum would not be sufficient to make the 15 million cars sold annually in the United States equipped with fuel cells. Research on catalysis and fuel cells is clearly essential, as is research on storing hydrogen in solids at densities exceeding the density of liquid hydrogen. There are many more research areas which relate to energy. Examples include developing more efficient photovoltaic materials, capture and sequestration of carbon, applications of biology to energy production (including artificial photosynthesis), and many other topics. We as scientists can play a leading role in our energy future. We as citizens also have a role to play. We need to inform policy makers so they are technically informed and can create coherent, stable, reasonable government policies. Participation in informing government can help minimize misguided policy, such as the mandate in the United States to produce large quantities of ethanol from corn. Not only does this not help produce energy or reduce emission of greenhouse gases, it is also in part responsible for the world-wide increase of the price of corn, soy, beef, and other foods. An enlightened government, advised by scientists, and with pressure from citizens and voters, can make more constructive policy which does not result in a destructive outcome, as in the case of turning food into fuel on a planet with billions of starving people. F IGURE 13. World energy supply 2006. F IGURE 14. Energy consumption by sector in Brazil. 3. Brazil storing hydrogen on-board a vehicle at present, nor are PEM fuel cells inexpensive enough for widespread use (the sixty grams of platinum used as a catalyst in a typical fuel cell for automotive use costs over $4000 at present market prices); Brazil is a country with about half the population of the United States. The energy situation in Brazil is very different from that in the United States and the developed world, because nearly half of its energy comes from renewable sources. Rev. Mex. Fı́s. S 56 (2) (2010) 34–39 WORLDWIDE ENERGY CRISIS: ENERGY TRENDS IN BRAZIL F IGURE 15. Electric energy generation in Brazil: by source. F IGURE 16. Electric energy generation in world: by source. The primary energy supply in Brazil has a large fraction of oil and renewables. Although Brazil is well known for production of ethanol from sugar cane, in fact oil is a much more important source of energy in Brazil than is ethanol. Nonetheless, cars in Brazil can run on any mixture of gasoline and ethanol, providing fuel flexibility which is lacking in most countries. Brazil is also the world leader in ethanol production (Fig. 11). 1. American ficiency: Physical Society Report on “Energy Future—-Think Energy EfEfficiency”. 39 Energy consumption in Brazil is shown by sector in Fig. 14. Note the steep increase in energy consumption in the time period 1970-2002. This increase is continuing. The number of cars in Brazil is 23 million for 49 million households. This contrasts with the United States, where there are 204 millions cars for 107 million households. Thus there are more than four times as many cars per household in the United States than in Brazil. Electricity production in Brazil is different than in the world, as a huge fraction of electricity in Brazil is produced by hydroelectric plants—74%—-compared with 16% worldwide (Figs. 15 and 16). Although we shall not discuss ethanol production in detail, it is worth noting that the ratio of energy output per unit of fossil-fuel energy input is 8-10; the corresponding ratio for corn is about 1 (meaning as much energy is put into producing ethanol from corn as is contained in the ethanol produced). There are many causes of deforestation in the Amazon. One is the ethanol-from-corn policy in the United States. Although sugar cane cannot be grown in the Amazon, beef can, and the rising price of beef on the world market due in large measure to misguided American policy is encouraging slashand-burn agriculture in the Amazon for beef production. There are many opportunities for scientists and engineers to contribute to finding solutions to the global energy crisis. It is particularly important for scientists in developing countries to help their governments not emulate the unfortunate trends set in developed countries. Rather, intelligent applications of technology can advance Brazil and other developing countries to achieve or maintain energy independence, reduce the emission of greenhouse gases, and make our planet safe for future generations. http://www.aps.org/energyefficiencyreport/index.cfm Rev. Mex. Fı́s. S 56 (2) (2010) 34–39