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Friday Night Lights

Published

Daniel B

on November 11, 2009

in Energy

. 0 Comments

Hydrogen Fuel Cell

This past Friday, I was able to attend a lecture featuring Mr. Shogo Watanabe from the Hydrogen Energy Test and Research Center, located in the Fukuoka Prefecture, Japan. There they are able to use hydrogen, the byproduct of the steel industry to set up hydrogen fuel stations and small hydrogen units to power people’s homes.

Because of where they are located they are able to set up a 10 kilometer (6.2 miles) pipeline between Kyushu University Ito campus and Higashida area, Yahatahigashi Ward, Kitakyushu. They are also able to power 150 household using hydrogen fuel cells.

Now you may ask, “Why is this important?” (other then we all got free sushi after the lecture)?

So what’s the big deal about hydrogen?

photo credit: Sailor Coruscant

Hydrogen is the most abundant element in the universe. It is the first fuel of stars. But other then the sun, this star stuff is important down on the ground. It’s important because it can be used as fuel to power cars, homes, or anything else that uses electricity.

You may have heard of hydrogen fuel cells. These devices use hydrogen and oxygen atoms to create electricity. Current hydrogen fuel cell vehicles can range from 30% to 50% fuel efficiency, while the internal combustion engine only uses 20% of the fuel to make a vehicle run. The rest is given off in heat energy into the atmosphere.

So why hasn’t the hydrogen fuel cell replaced gasoline yet?

There are a number of reasons. There are only 65 hydrogen stations in the United States. We have been building gas stations for 100 years (with the first station being built in 1905 and the second in 1907). It will take a while to replace gas stations with hydrogen stations.

Also, hydrogen cells are still cutting edge technology and will stay that way until it becomes proven and affordable. Only then will it get put into mass production. It took around 50 years for the car to take off (not literally yet, but I am still waiting for my flying DeLorean.

There is also the problem of making the hydrogen. While it is the most abundant element in the universe, it is rare on rocky blue and green planets like the one we happen to live on. One of the ways to produce hydrogen is to use natural gas, which still leaves all the carbon around.

When I lead groups of children through the Wiess Energy Hall I stop by the hydrogen cell, tell them about it, and tell them that they are the ones who will be responsible for adopting or not adopting the hydrogen fuel cell. But all in all, I like the idea of driving around and having a fresh cup of cool water as the fruits of my journey.

Post Script

Here is an interesting article with a fun graphic that depicts how much energy each state uses vs how much they produce.

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Light Up My Life

Published

Daniel B

on October 19, 2009

in Energy

. 2 Comments

photo credit: Tony Wan Kenobi

Having recently moved, I found myself thinking about all the stuff we accumulate through our lives. And all the time and effort it takes to box everything I own and move it a few miles, just to unpack it all. All good things must end and some things are left behind. I thought of all the things I would be leaving behind, such as the refrigerator, microwave, washer and dryer, and light bulbs. Then I got to thinking about how much energy and money I could save if I had only energy efficient light bulbs.

Light bulbs are not the most important things in the world. Few of us move them from house to house, or even think about them as long as they work, but we have all made pilgrimages to the store solely to satisfy our light dependent needs. Lighting makes up 8% of a household’s electric bill. So what are the different light bulbs available? Which one uses the least energy? Or produces the most light?

photo credit: Jeff Kubina

First is the incandescent light bulb. It is the one that most people use. This is much the same as when it was invented by Edison. It works by running an electrical current though a filament. When the filament gets hot enough, it produces light. It comes in lots of shapes and sizes (and appears over your head when you have a good idea) and uses different amounts of electricity.

Compact Fluorescent lights (CFLs) are fluorescent lights that have been created to be used in light fixtures that use incandescent bulbs. They work by running an electrical current from the ballast (the part that has the circuit board and transistors) and through the mercury vapor which emits ultraviolet light. When ultraviolet light goes into the tube it creates visible light. These create a lot more light at lower wattage and last longer then the incandescent bulbs

photo credit: Myself248

The third type of light is the light emitting diode (LEDs ). They work by using the principle of electroluminescence in which a semiconductor diode has an electrical current run through it and the electrons are able to recombine with the electron holes to produce light. If you’re like me and don’t understand that, when the switch is turned on, the light also comes on. The LEDs use less power then the other two and will last much, much longer (possibly 100 times longer then an incandescent bulb), but they also cost a lot more.

So now its math time!

A 60 watt incandescent bulb will emit 890 lumens (a measurement of light ) for 750 – 1000 hours and costs $0.75 a bulb.

A 15 watt CFL will emit 900 lumens for 6,000 – 15,000 hours and costs $3.

A 13 watt LED will emit 900 lumens for 25,000 – 100,000 hours and costs $50.

That means a CFL will use 1/4th of the electricity of an incandescent bulb and last at least 12 times as long (6,000/750=8; 15,000/1000=15; 6,000/1,000=6;1 5,000/750=20; 8+15+6+20=49; 49/4=12.25,) so for every 12 incandescent I have to buy one CFL (12*.75=9.) I would save 6 dollars from not having to buy more light bulbs.

Does the same hold true for the LED? Lets find out.

The LED uses 2 watts less then the CFL and lasts 5 times longer (25,000/6,000=4.16r; 100,000/15,000=6.6r; 25,000/15,000=1.6r; 100,000/15,000=6.6r; 4.16+6.6+1.6+6.6=18.36; 18.36/4=4.59.) So I have to buy 5 CFLs for each LED (5*3=15.) I would be losing 35 dollars if I bought just the one LED.

So how much energy can I save?

An incandescent bulb can use 52,500 watts or 52.5 kilowatts over its life time.

A CFL can use 157,500 watts or 157.5 kilowatts over its life time.

A LED can use 780,000 watts or 780 kilowatts.

So if one CFL is equal to 12 incandescent then I would use 157.2 kilowatts instead of 642 kilowatts.

And with electricity being $0.14 a kilowatt hour in Texas (see my previous post ) then I can save (642*.14=89.88; 157.5*.14=22.04; 89.88-22.04) $67.85 in electricity by buying the CFL over the incandescent.

Since one LED is equal to 5 CFLs I could use 780 kilowatts instead of 787.5 kilowatts. I would be saving $1.05 in electricity.

So does this mean the CFL is the perfect new light source? Nope. CFLs use a very tiny amount of mercury (3-5 mg) vapor in each lamp. Most countries have a recycling program set up to help safely dispose of them (in the United States Home Depot offers a recycling program.)

Now that you have read the blog (and become a light bulb expert) which light bulb will you choose?

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A Pipe Dream

Published

Daniel B

on October 2, 2009

in Energy

. 0 Comments

photo credit: nestor galina

On my recent post “Au reservoir: A Guide to New Oil Discoveries,” Zh asked “Very interesting. Thank you. An appropriate follow up would be to explain how the oil flows from the reservoir, up the borehole and into the pipeline.”

That is a very good idea, thanks.

In some reservoirs, the natural pressure is enough to send the oil (and natural gas) up to the surface. The best example of this is the blow out at Spindletop in Texas (also called a gusher). As more and more oil is removed form the reservoir, natural pressure can decline . When this happens, there are a number of ways to maintain the pressure. One of the ways to raise the pressure (secondary oil recovery) is to inject water into the reservoir . Another way is to inject carbon dioxide. Both methods will bring the pressure back up. The amount of oil flow will depend on the viscosity of the oil (how thick it is) and the porosity of the rock (how many tiny hoes are in the rock) and permeability (ability for liquids to move through the rock).

Kuwait, Persian Gulf Region, and Bechtel Construction; about 1950

photo credit: David C. Foster

But how does the oil move from the well to the pipeline? There are two devices that help do this. The first is a wellhead. It serves as an interface between the well and the outside world. It can also help to maintain a steady pressure and flow. The other is a Christmas tree – which controls the flow (who has the best Christmas spirit? People in the oilfields – they have a Christmas tree up all year long). It has valves on it that can be opened up or closed to change the amount and pressure flowing through it, so a well can be connected directly to a pipeline. Some of the deep water wells may not have a pipeline running to them. In that case they can use specially constructed ships to take the oil from the well to where it can be offloaded

Since a pipeline’s path is not always downhill, how do they keep it flowing? The pipelines have pumps that keep the product (crude oil, natural, gas, etc) moving along. Crude oil contains a waxy substance so a device known as a PIG (pipeline inspection gauge) (this little pig went to market, this pig went to town, this pig cleaned the Alaskan Pipeline all the way home) is run through every now and again to clean it up.

A Christmas Tree, on display
in the Wiess Energy Hall

The pipeline network will move the oil from the well to a refining area or a distribution area. There are also pipelines that take finished products out to where they are needed or can be distributed.

I hope that answers your question, zh! If this post – or any other, inspires a question in your mind, pleasepost in the comments or send us an e-mail at blogadmin@hmns.org.

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Au reservoir: A guide to new oil discoveries

Published

Daniel B

on September 18, 2009

in Energy

. 2 Comments

photo credit: Robnas Monster

Many of you have read the article in the Houston Chronicle where BP announced they have found 3 billion barrels of crude oil off the coast of Texas. Many of us instantly think, how do they find that oil? How do they determine how much oil is there? And how does that compare with other fields around the world?

So, I thought I’d answer some of those questions. Companies find oil fields by using many different types of scientists and surveying tools. Geologists and geophysicists (two types of scientists that really rock) use a variety of surveying methods such as 3D and 4D seismic scans, magnetic surveys, and gravity surveys. All of these scans and surveys help them to examine rock cores to see what the permeability and porosity of the formations are. These are not the only scientists or tools used for oil fields, but they are some that are mentioned in our Wiess Energy Hall.

photo credit: nestor galina

Once the scientists think they know where the oil will be, a test well is drilled. If oil is found in the rock formation, then the scientists go back to the seismic data to see how large the formation is. They will drill more wells (well, well, well) to find more information on the formations such as where the oil comes into contact with the water. They will also go back to the core sample to look at the characteristics of the rock the oil was found in.

Now that they have found the oil and looked at the characteristics of the reservoir, how do they estimate the number of barrels of oil? There are the proven reserves which is the amount of oil that the scientists are sure of getting out of the field using current methods. The unproven reserves are the amount oil that the scientists think are there but cannot be reached yet.

photo credit: tvol

But how does that new field off the coast of Texas rate with the others in the world? Well, its not the biggest. That award goes to the Ghawar field in Saudi Arabia. It is estimated that the field has 71 billion barrels of oil. Saudi Arabia claims to have over 200 billion barrels of oil in its fields, while America, before this new discovery, claimed to have 21 billion barrels of oil still in its fields. But what it really comes down to is production; or how many barrels of oil does a field produce a day. The Ghawar field produces 5 million barrels a day! The world produces 80 million barrels a day. America only produces 5 million barrels a day but uses 19 million barrels a day. Most of which is used for gasoline (America uses about 378 million gallons a day.)

So the scientists use a variety of surveying methods to find oil fields and to determine their size. The new find off the coast of Texas increases America’s crude oil reserves by 33%, but what will really matter is how much the new field can be made to produce. (How much crude could a crude field churn out if a crude field churns out crude?)

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