K10998_FM.indd 1 10/14/09 1:10:15 PM K10998_FM.indd 2 10/14/09 1:10:16 PM Eric Jeffs Boca Raton London New York CRC Press is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business K10998_FM.indd 3 10/14/09 1:10:16 PM CRC Press Taylor & Francis Group 6000 Broken Sound Parkway NW, Suite 300 Boca Raton, FL 33487-2742 © 2010 by Taylor and Francis Group, LLC CRC Press is an imprint of Taylor & Francis Group, an Informa business No claim to original U.S. Government works Printed in the United States of America on acid-free paper 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 International Standard Book Number: 978-1-4398-1892-3 (Hardback) This book contains information obtained from authentic and highly regarded sources. Reasonable efforts have been made to publish reliable data and information, but the author and publisher cannot assume responsibility for the validity of all materials or the consequences of their use. The authors and publishers have attempted to trace the copyright holders of all material reproduced in this publication and apologize to copyright holders if permission to publish in this form has not been obtained. If any copyright material has not been acknowledged please write and let us know so we may rectify in any future reprint. Except as permitted under U.S. Copyright Law, no part of this book may be reprinted, reproduced, transmit- ted, or utilized in any form by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying, microfilming, and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without written permission from the publishers. For permission to photocopy or use material electronically from this work, please access www.copyright. com (http://www.copyright.com/) or contact the Copyright Clearance Center, Inc. (CCC), 222 Rosewood Drive, Danvers, MA 01923, 978-750-8400. CCC is a not-for-profit organization that provides licenses and registration for a variety of users. For organizations that have been granted a photocopy license by the CCC, a separate system of payment has been arranged. Trademark Notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks or registered trademarks, and are used only for identification and explanation without intent to infringe. Library of Congress Cataloging‑in‑Publication Data Jeffs, Eric J. Green energy : sustainable electricity supply with low environmental impact / Eric Jeffs. p. cm. Includes index. ISBN 978-1-4398-1892-3 (hardcover : alk. paper) 1. Electric power distribution--Environmental aspects. 2. Interconnected electric utility systems. 3. Renewable energy sources. 4. Sustainable engineering. I. Title. TK3001.J44 2010 333.79’4--dc22 2009035203 Visit the Taylor & Francis Web site at http://www.taylorandfrancis.com and the CRC Press Web site at http://www.crcpress.com K10998_FM.indd 4 10/14/09 1:10:16 PM CONTENTS Acknowledgements............................................... vii 1 Introduction..............................................................1 2 Global warming......................................................13 3 Carbon capture and storage.................................41 4 The end of coal?....................................................59 5 A nuclear energy revival ........................................83 6 Combined cycle...................................................131 7 New energy technologies....................................157 8 Renewable uncertainties ....................................169 9 The truth about America......................................195 10 What is in the future?...........................................217 Index.....................................................................225 v Green Energy.indd 5 14/10/2009, 18:52 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS vi Green Energy.indd 6 14/10/2009, 18:52 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would like to thank the many people throughout the electricity supply indus- tries and their plant suppliers who have helped me over the years, providing information and arranging site visits around the world. In particular I would mention three people who have reviewed my manuscript and thank them for their valuable comments. Dick Foster Pegg was born in the United Kingdom and served an appren- ticeship at Rolls-Royce at the time of their early gas turbine models, before emigrating to the United States where he worked for Bechtel Corporation on power plant design, including some of the early combined cycle projects there. Later he joined Westinghouse to work on gas turbine reseach and development in Pennsylvania. Louis Codogno was Managing Director of the Energy Division of Cockerill Mechanical Industries until his retirement in 2005. I thank him in particular for not only arranging site visits but also introducing me to many of his clients which gave me an insight into the energy policies of those countries, notably in the Middle and Far East. Dr Maher Elmasri, was Professor of Mechanical Engineering at Massachu- setts Institute of Technology until 1987, when he left to start his own company, Thermoflow Inc. It is now the leading company supplying a powerful suite of software for the design of combined cycle, and steam plants of different types including integrated gasifier combined cycles. vii Green Energy.indd 7 14/10/2009, 18:52 viii Green Energy.indd 8 14/10/2009, 18:52 1 Introduction For all but the last 250 years mankind has depended mainly on natural sources of energy. Today that would mean the sun, wind, water and biomass (fire). Where oil and coal had been found near the surface they had also been used but only as a basic source of heat, and there were fewer than 500 million people on the Earth. The industrial revolution was founded on coal and coincided with advances in agriculture and medicine which, in little more than a century, transformed the way of life of the people of Europe and North America. Before 1800, ships were built of wood and propelled by sails, wind and water mills ground corn and transport on land was on horseback, or in a horse-drawn carriage. As soon as coal was recognized as a fuel to generate steam the inventions followed that made it the fuel for transport and for powering industry. At the beginning of the twentieth century, the basic elements of contemporary infrastructure were already in place. The first telephones were in use, coal-derived town gas was piped to homes, and electricity for lighting and urban transport was starting to appear on the scene in the major cities. The railway networks had been established; Charles Parsons had built the first steam turbine, which he demonstrated as the engine of a ship. Marconi had transmitted the first radio signal across the Atlantic. The first cars were on the roads. In Germany Rudolf Diesel had developed the engine which bears his name. The first powered flight was in December 1903. The twentieth century will surely be remembered as the time when energy transformed human effort and understanding of the world as at no other time in history. But it has also been a century of war with two World Wars and several large regional conflicts. These accelerated technical developments and carried energy demand to higher levels so that in the years that followed the entire population of the developed Green Energy.indd 1 14/10/2009, 18:52