Energy and Society
Energetics of Human Societies
 We are currently living off of stored energy
capital of millions of years ago.
– The storage of organic matter in sediments and fossil
deposits created the concentration of petrochemical
fossil fuels
 There are low and high level societies which
require different levels of energy consumption to
maintain their needs:
– MDC are high
– LDC are low
Energy becomes an environmental
problem
 The oil crises of the early 1970s marked a transition
where we began to realize the social, political and
economics costs of such a heavy dependence on
petroleum.
 Oil prices were low in the 1980s and 1990s but have
steadily risen since thyen.
World Oil Prices 1973-2003
This has increased domestic pressure for
drilling-the dispute over drilling in the
Arctic National Wildlife Refuge
Energy Crisis or Energy Predicament?
(ongoing problem that can result in crisis if
not attended
Four dimensions of the energy predicament.
1.
2.
3.
4.
Source Problems-how much do we have?
Scale of energy consumption (population growth and
economic growth)
Global Policy and geopolitical problems
Sink Problems
Commercial Energy
 3 ways to define Energy:
1.
2.
3.
Non-renewable: exist in a fixed quantity in the
earth’s crust and can be used up (oil, gas, fossil
fuels).
Renewable: resources in unlimited supply
(Solar, wind, tides, hydro)
Potentially Renewable: resources that can be
used, but not faster than they can be
replenished (biomass)
Commercial Energy
 75% nonrenewable:
oil, natural gas, coal
 6% Nuclear energy
 6% renewablehydropower, wind,
solar, and geothermal
 Also biomass
How long will the oil last?: Hubbert’s Peak
When did we peak?
Will new discoveries always push the peak
forward?
 the estimated crude reserves in ANWR-largest known in
US-would meet world demand only six months.
 2) Saudi Arabia alone could only supply world for ten
years
 Shell Oil has forecast that alternative energies will be
competitive with petroleum by 2020.
Scale of Consumption: Population Growth,
Economic Development, and Inequity
 MDCs have
about 1/5th
of the
world’s
people but
consume
almost ¾’s
of the
world’s
energy.
Americans are 5% of the world’s population
and use 24% of the energy
On average, one American consumes as
much energy as
 2 Japanese
6 Mexicans
13 Chinese
31 Indians
128 Bangladeshis
307 Tanzanians
370 Ethiopians.
Policy and Geopolitical Problems
 The US has
promoted a
“supply side”
policy of
keeping oil
cheap.
Government Subsidies for Oil
Companies
 Non-oil industries are taxed at a rate of 18 percent, the oil
industry is taxed at a mere 11 percent.
 This reduced rate equates to $2 billion in federal
corporate income tax benefits per year.
 They also benefit from low state and local sales tax rates
on gasoline, an indirect subsidy exceeding $4 billion a
year.
 Direct government funding of oil and motor vehicle
infrastructure and services tops off at $45 billion a year.
 And taxpayers, not the oil industry, are left to pay the
cleanup bill for oil-related health and environmental
damage, which could be as high at $232 billion annually.
More on Subsidies
 Defense of Persian Gulf Oil Supplies. Defense of Persian
Gulf oil shipments and infrastructure comprises two-thirds
of the total high estimate, conferring a subsidy of $10.5 to
$23.3 billion per year.
 Provision of the Strategic Petroleum Reserve. Stockpiling oil
to protect against supply disruptions provided between $1.6
and $5.4 billion in subsidies to oil markets in 1995.
 Tax Breaks for Domestic Oil Exploration and Production.
Three tax breaks benefiting oil exploration and production
(the expensing of exploration and development costs, excess
of percentage over cost depletion, and accelerated
depreciation of oil-related capital) reduced oil industry tax
payments by between $1.1 and $2.3 billion during 1995.
 Support for Oil-related Exports and Foreign
Production.
Tax credits for foreign royalties paid, deferrals
of U.S. income taxes due for multinational oil
companies, and credit subsidies through the
Export-Import Bank and the Overseas Private
Investment Corporation, provide between $0.8
and $1.6 billion per year in subsidies for
exports and foreign production.
National Security Issues
The Sink Problems
 Global warming already discussed.
 Oil spills
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uzY92y
FWKys
More on Oil Spills
 Big oil tanker spills
get the most publicity.
 But between 50-90%
of oil reaching oceans
comes from land-waste
oil dumped on land by
cities, individuals, and
industries ends up in
streams
Energy: Hard paths and soft paths
Amory Lovins
Hard path-fossil fuels
produced in
centralized ways.
Soft path- alternative
energy sources
produced in
decentralized ways
Energy Consumption Behavior
 Economic rational model: humans rationally
respond to changing energy prices
 Attitude behavioral model: education and
information could change energy-use behavior
 Energy consumption and intensity are far too
complex to be accounted for by either model.
The Need for Energy Use Information

Household energy use is invisible
and until recently difficult to
quantify and analyze.
 But more feedback mechanisms
are technologically available, i.e.
little screens on your refrigerator
and dryer that tell you how much
energy they are using and the cost.
 Refrigerators are hard to do
without (but don’t stand around
with the door open a long time!)
but dryers have a cheap solar
substitute, the clothes line (clothes
dryers are 8-10% of household
energy consumption)
Thus
Accurate feedback
Modeling (videotapes showing people
what to do have been effective)
“Framing” messages-Americans more
receptive to “energy efficiency” than
energy conservation
The Fossil Fuels
Coal
Petroleum
Natural Gas
Composition of U.S. energy use.
Fossil Fuels: Coal
High net energy yield
Most abundant and dirtiest of all fossil
fuels
Harmful environmental and health effects
associated with extraction, processing, and
use
Extraction pollutes water supplies
Contributes to global warming
Coal
Facts









Percentage of the world's coal reserves located in the U.S.: 25%
Coal's percentage of U.S. energy reserves: 90%
Percentage of electricity in the U.S. generated by coal: 50%
Cost of a megawatt of energy produced by coal: $20 to $30
Cost of a megawatt of electricity produced from natural gas: $45 to
$60
1980 U.S. coal production in million of tons: 890
2001 U.S. coal production in million of tons: 1,121
Percentage of coal production from surface mining, 2000:
65% Percentage decline in coal industry employment 1986 to
1997: -47.29%
A Crimp in the Eastern Coal
Supply Chain?
.
Litigation and permitting delays sidetrack
mountaintop removal and longwall mines
Several temporary shutdowns in 2003 due
to fires, accidents, or MSHA regulations
Six major bankruptcies over 24 months,
four ongoing, affect prices and deliveries
In the Long Term (to 2025) . . .
Electricity demand will rise
Natural gas prices in real dollars will rise
Coal mining productivity will improve
further, keeping coal prices relatively low
Emission caps will shift even more demand
to the West
Industrial coal demand and coal exports
decline, coal imports rise
Figure ES3. Share of Electric Power Sector
Net Generation by Energy Source, 2004 vs.
2005
A typical (500 megawatt) coal plant burns
1.4 million tons of coal each year. There
are about 600 U.S. coal plants.
Natural gas is a gaseos fossil fuel
consisting primarily of methane. Found in
oil fields and natural gas fields.
Fossil Fuels: Natural Gas, the
transitional fossil fuel
For an equivalent amount of heat, burning
natural gas produces about 30% less
carbon dioxide than burning petroleum and
about 45% less than burning coal.
In 1999, Natural gas eclipsed coal as a
world source of energy, 2nd to oil
Hyper Car
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZiA4cp
Jb0uw&mode=related&search=Amory%20
Lovins%20Rocky%20Mountain%20Institu
te%20Winning%20the%20Oil%20Endgam
e%20Fiberforge%20Hypercar
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tXUnlc
LJzLM&mode=related&search=
Amory Lovins
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6PcVO
D14nOE