Lesson 3 Electricity

Question 1

What will de-carbonizing in the electricity sector allow us to do?

Answer 1

De-carbonize in other sectors like manufacturing and transportation.

Question 2

Why is electricity cheap?

Answer 2

It’s generated by burning low-cost fossil fuels.

Question 3

Which fossil fuels are used to generate electricity?

Answer 3

Oil, coal and natural gas generate about 2/3 of electricity.

Question 4

Why are fossil fuels cheap?

Answer 4

1. We are better at extracting them.
2. Governments subsidize them.

Question 5

What percentage of annual greenhouse gases come
from generating electricity?

Answer 5

27%

Question 6

How are wind and solar power costs trending?

Answer 6

They are getting lower.

Question 7

How is wind energy growing since 2010?

Answer 7

It has quadrupled and its cost is decreasing.

Question 8

How has solar increased since 2010?

Answer 8

Increased 17 times

Question 9

What is the biggest challenge with solar and wind power?

Answer 9

Reliability →
The Intermittency Problem.

Question 10

How can we fix this?

Answer 10

Either
1. Develop storage or
2. Develop other clean technologies.

Question 11

What is the current storage medium of choice?

Answer 11

Lithium-ion batteries.
This does not have the capacity for long-duration storage.

Question 12

What does Malta Inc do?

Answer 12

They have developed a way to convert it to thermal energy for storage for 10-12 hours.

Question 13

What is the longest Malta can store energy now?

Answer 13

About 1 week.

Question 14

What technology are they working on?

Answer 14

How long can a system stay in a state of charge? - just like your phone

Question 15

What is Malta’s “hot store”?
How much heat does Malta storage currently lose?

Answer 15

565°
About 1°/day

Question 16

When does Malta expect the Green Premium compared to natural gas to be 0?

Answer 16

Around 2030

Question 17

With population growth and rising living standards how much more electricity will we need in just a few decades?

Answer 17

3 times as much

Question 18

What is the only carbon-free energy source that can reliably deliver electricity 24-hours/day?

Answer 18

nuclear energy

Question 19

What percentage of its electricity does the US get from nuclear plants?

Answer 19

around 20%

Question 20

How much of France’s electricity is provided by nuclear plants?

Answer 20

> 70%

Question 21

What are the 2 types of nuclear reaction that can used to generate electricity?

Answer 21

Nuclear fission and Nuclear fusion

Question 22

How does nuclear fission work?

Answer 22

Atomic particles are split apart.

Question 23

How does nuclear fusion work?

Answer 23

Combines atomic nuclei.

Question 24

How do all current nuclear plants work?

Answer 24

nuclear fission

Question 25

What is the holy grail of nuclear technology?

Answer 25

**nuclear fusion**

Question 26

What nuclear technology is MIT working on?

Answer 26

**Portable microreactors**

Question 27

How much power will a portable microreactor generate?

Answer 27

**Enough power for about 10,000 homes.**

Question 28

What can it be used for?

Answer 28

**It can be used for desalinating water for about 150,000 people.**

Question 29

How big is a portable microreactor?

Answer 29

**About the size of a shipping container.**

Question 30

How are they flexible?

Answer 30

**You can stack them up for the amount of power you need?**

Question 31

How long can they go withour re-fueling?

Answer 31

**5-10 years**

Question 32

How do you keep from interrupting service when they are re-fueled?

Answer 32

**They ship you a re-fueled one to replace it.**

Question 33

How are nuclear batteries like nuclear power plants?

Answer 33

**They are dispatchable - power is transmitted on demand.**

Question 34

Are solar and wind dispatchable?

Answer 34

**No They are intermittent.**

Question 35

What is the other advantage of nuclear batteries?

Answer 35

**They don't take up a lot of space. Wind and solar do.**

Question 36

How much space does a nuclear battery need?

Answer 36

**About an acre including the control and security areas.**

Question 37

How much land do wind and solar need to give the same amount of electricity?

Answer 37

**About 1,000 times as much as nuclear batteries.**

Question 38

What are the 3 components of Nuclear Safety?

Answer 38

**1. Shut down reliably 2. Provide cooling to fuel 3. Prevent release of radioactivity.**

Question 39

How will the nuclear battery provide safety?

Answer 39

**The safety function will not require external intervention. They are passively safe.**

Question 40

How will you manage the waste?

Answer 40

The volume of waste is very small compared to the energy generated.

Question 41

What is better about fusion reactors?

Answer 41

**1. They are inherently safe. 2. Very little waste by-product.**

Question 42

What is MIT doing about fusion?

Answer 42

**They are working on an ultracompact system.**

Question 43

What intermediate technology may be needed to bridge the times before the other technologies can do the job?

Answer 43

**Carbon recapture. MIT is also working on this.**

Question 44

Why do some worry about carbon recapture?

Answer 44

**They think it may make the use of fossil fuels more acceptable.**

Question 45

Can we eliminate all CO2 emmisions?

Answer 45

**No. This is why we need carbon recapture.**

Question 46

How does Direct Air Carbon recapture work?

Answer 46

**It uses filters to extract it from air.**

Question 47

What would be easier than Direct Air Capture?

Answer 47

**Catching it at the source.**

Question 48

What is a sorbent?

Answer 48

**A material used to absorb liquids or gases.**

Question 49

How do sorbents help at the source?

Answer 49

**The gas being emitted is run through the sorbent for carbon capture.**

Question 50

What is the Amine Process?

Answer 50

**They capture the CO2. It is a gas scrubbing process.**

Question 51

What is the problem with this process?

Answer 51

**It takes a lot of energy.**

Question 52

What is MIT working on?

Answer 52

**Developing a isothermal (constant temperature) process rather than a thermal process.**

Question 53

What do they do with it?

Answer 53

**Bury it in old aquifers and depleted oil and gas reservoirs.**

Question 54

What happens to it when buried?

Answer 54

**It eventually becomes immobilized.**

Question 55

What else are they trying?

Answer 55

**To capture carbon from the ocean.**

Question 56

Can we make our 2050 goals without removing carbon from the atmosphere?

Answer 56

**No.**