Problem 1
The US generated 4494 Terawatt-hours of electricity in 2023 . Do each of the unit conversions:
- Quadrillion BTUs in 2023
- Gigawatts (GW)
- Number of average size (world) coal power plants at 878 MW each ; use a capacity factor of 0.8.
- Number of wind turbines at 3 MW ; use a capacity factor of 0.3.
- Number of olympic size swimming pools vaporized per minute (heated from 25 C, then boiled).
- Number of cubic miles of oil (oil equivalent, that is, needed to produce the electricity).
Problem 2
Part A
Compute the number of nuclear power plants equivalent to 1 CMO per year of energy use. Use the size of the world’s largest nuclear plant. Use a capacity factor of 0.9
Part B
Do this again for hydrodynamic power plants based on the world’s largest hydro plant. Use a 35% capacity factor .
Problem 3
What is the rate of increase of world energy consumption over the last 50 years in units of CMO/year, and as %/year based on current use?
Problem 4
Some people are still arguing over whether global warming is man-made or not. What is one argument against global climate change made by skeptics. Of course, where there is an argument, there is a rebuttal. Find and describe a corresponding rebuttal to the argument. As usual, cite your sources. There are many sites online. Here are a couple:
- Global Warming Petition Project
- Skeptical Science, getting skeptical about global warming skepticism
Problem 5
The coal-fired Hunter Power Plant in central Utah has a capacity of 1577 MW and burns a bituminous coal from the Sufco mine . Assume a 35% thermal efficiency. How many train cars of coal per day is this? How many lbm of CO2 is emitted for every lbm of carbon burned? A proposal for carbon capture from fossil plants is to inject CO2 into underground reservoirs. Find an article on this, read it, and write a one paragraph summary. Include a link to the source in your homework submission.