Chapter 1 - Introduction

1.1 Energy as a Necessity

Virtually every aspect of our modern lifestyle requires energy. The systems that supply our food
and water, build and maintain our housing and transportation all require substantial energy
inputs. Most of the energy that we use comes from fossil fuels (oil, coal and natural gas), but
significant amounts also come from nuclear fission and water power, with much lesser amounts
from solar collectors, windmills and geothermal steam. In some cases we use energy directly
from the source with some level of refining (e.g. natural gas for heating or gasoline to operate
our automobiles) but in other cases, we convert the source energy to electricity, which is easy to
distribute and utilize. One common characteristic of the various forms of energy is that all can
be converted to thermal energy, in common language usually referred to as heat*. In some
countries including the United States, in common usage, thermal energy is measured in units of
British Thermal Units, or Btu’s†. The Btu is the amount of energy required to raise the
temperature of one pound of water one degree Fahrenheit. An equivalent unit for measurement
of thermal energy is calorie, which is the amount of energy required to raise the temperature of
one gram of water one degree Centigrade. Since all forms of energy are convertible to thermal
energy, quantities of energy in any form can be expressed in Btu’s or equivalent units.

Early humans supplied their low need for energy for heating and food by hunting and gathering.
As humans developed, the need for energy increased as shown in Table 1.1.

Rapid development of the industrialized societies in the 19th and 20th centuries, and emerging
economies in the second half of the 20th century have greatly increased the rate of growth in the
consumption of various forms of energy. Oil started to become significant in the early 20th
century whereas coal had dominated the 19th century. The United States, the leading force in
development of technology in modern history, has gone through a dramatic increase in energy
usage in its short history as shown in Figure 1.1.

The year 1850 is roughly the start of the industrialization in the US. Industrialization, combined
with an increasing population, caused the total consumption of energy to increase significantly in
the 19th century. In the 20th century energy consumption increased ten fold. In the past few
decades, the use of non-renewable sources of energy and the environmental impact has raised the
flag of concern among environmentalists, politicians, economists, industrialists and various other
concerned groups all over the world.

*
In the field of physics, heat has a different meaning than common usage so we will use the term thermal energy in
this book.
†
Energy can also be expressed in other units such as joules and kilowatt-hours as discussed in Chapter 2
© 2006 Ganji & Wheeler 1
 Table 1.1 - Average Daily per Capita Energy Consumption in Different Historical Eras*

Food Home and Industry Trans- Total per World Total Daily
Historical Era (incl. animal commerce and portation capita population consump-
feed) agriculture (millions) tion
Technological society 10 66 91 63 230 6,000 1,380,000
(now)
Industrial society 7 32 24 14 77 1,600 123,200
(100 B.P.)
Advanced agricultural 6 12 7 1 26 250 6,500
society
(1000 B.P.)
Early agricultural society 4 4 4 12 50 600
(5000 B.P.)
Hunting society 3 2 5 6 30
(10,000 B.P.)
Protohumans 2 2
Based on I. G. Simmons, Changing the Face of the Earth: Culture, Environment, History, 2nd ed. (Oxford:
Blackwell, 1996), p. 27.
*units of energy =1,000 calories per day, B.P. = before present

History of US Energy Consumption

120

100
Quadrillion Btu

80

60

40

20

0
1850 1860 1870 1880 1890 1900 1910 1920 1930 1940 1950 1960 1970 1980 1990 2000

Year

Figure 1.1. History of the US energy consumption in the past one and half century
Note: one Quadrillion Btu (or Quad) is 1015 Btu’s. (Source: US Energy Information
Administration data)

1.2 Energy as a Measure of Affluence

© 2006 Ganji & Wheeler 2

Since practically all goods and services produced and consumed by humans involve energy
usage, the communities that produce and/or consume more goods and services per capita
correspondingly use more energy. Consumption of goods and services is an indicator of the
standard of living in communities. Communities with low per capita income do not have the
buying power to purchase goods and services, and thus do not use as much energy. Table 1.2
shows the population, gross domestic product (GDP) per capita and energy use per capita for
some representative countries in each continent. This table clearly shows that energy
consumption increases with affluence, as measured by per capita gross domestic product (GDP).
One can also note the tremendous disparity between the poorest countries and the developed
countries:– for example, the US uses almost 100 times more energy per capita than does
Bangladesh and has almost 100 times the per capita GDP.

Table 1.2 – Energy and Economic Data for Some Typical Countries in the World*
(Source: US Energy Information Administration, 2005 Data)

Country Population GDP per Capita Energy Use Per

(Millions) ($) Capita (million Btu)
North America
US 293.0 $39,931 339.1
Canada 32.5 $29,507 418
Mexico 102.9 $6,084 65
Europe
Denmark 5.4 $39,444. 165.5
United Kingdom 60.3 $35,157. 162.2
Sweden 8.9 $33,932. 234.2
Germany 82.4 $32,767. 172.7
Russia 143.25 $4,533 202.9
Asia
Japan 127.3 $36,887 172.3
South Korea 48.6 $17,119. 177.0
Iran 69.0 $2,252. 86.1
Pakistan 162.4 $2,138. 12.4
China 1,300 $1,454. 34.9
India 1,100 $509. 13.3
Bangladesh 144 $417. 4.2
Africa
South Africa 45 $4,736 108.8
Chad 8.6 $1,244. 0.3
Egypt 72 $1,064. 32.3
Nigeria 124 $463. 7.9
Senegal 10.1 $455. 6.5
South America
Chile 15.8 $10,702 69.8
Brazil 186.1 $8017 47.3
Venezuela 25.4 $5,716. 113.4
Argentina 38.4 $4,356 69.5
World 6,319.3* 66.7
* Data for the table are mostly from 2003 and 2004 statistics.

© 2006 Ganji & Wheeler 3

1.3 Energy Resources

While energy is a necessity for our modern life, with the exception of direct solar energy, the
resources for all forms of energy are limited, either in the total amount of the resource, such as
natural gas and petroleum, or the rate that useful energy can be produced such as wind, biomass
fuels and hydroelectric power. Table 1.3 shows the known recoverable non-renewable sources of
energy in the world, and the current rate of the use of these resources. While the data in this table
may change as new resources are identified and new technologies are developed, it definitely
shows the limitation of the resources on which we so heavily depend. At the present rate of
consumption, we have a 66 year supply of petroleum and somewhat more than 100 year supply
of natural gas‡. The strain on non-renewable energy resources, its environmental, political and
economical consequences has become more obvious as more rapidly developing economies such
as China and India show an increasing need for energy. It is worth mentioning that Indonesia; the
fourth most populous country in the world became a net oil importer in 2004 while as a member
of OPEC it had historically been an oil exporter.

Table 1.3 – Estimated World Non-Renewable Energy Resources and Annual Consumption

World Energy Equivalent Energy Content Annual Usage Percentage of

Resources of Recoverable Amount (Quadrillion Current
Quadrillion Btu * Btu/year)* Annual Usage
Non-Renewable
Petroleum 9,634 146 36.0%
Coal 120,854 144 35.5%
Natural Gas 8,663 78 19.2%
Uranium 1,960 38 9.3%
Oil Shale 20,130 0 negligible
Tar Sand 5,600 – 9,000 0** negligible
*Source: Brown (2002), 1 Quadrillion Btu = 1015 Btu where a Btu is the energy required to heat 1 pound of water 1
degree Fahrenheit.
**By 2006 Canada has been producing about 1.2 million barrels of oil per day from oil sands,
http://www.eia.doe.gov/emeu/cabs/canada.html , which is equivalent of about 2.5 Quad Btu/year.

Renewable energy resources (such as solar, biomass and water power) are now becoming more
attractive in the light of the depletion and environmental problems of non-renewable energy
sources. The most developed form of renewable energy is hydroelectric generation, which
supplies about 16% of the world and 6.4% of the US electrical energy needs (BP, 2005). Other
renewable energy resources supply about 2% of electric generation in the US and a similar small
fraction of the electric generation in the world. The rise in energy costs and instabilities in the

‡
Years of supply are a somewhat simplistic measure of the availability of a resource. As supplies dwindle, price will
increase and usage will decrease due to switching to other energy sources or conservation.
© 2006 Ganji & Wheeler 4
energy market have provided the opportunity for further development of renewable resources. It
should be noted that in some regions of the US renewable energy sources, excluding large
hydroelectric sources are already significant – for example, in Northern California about 12% of
electrical power is from such sources1. Major renewable resources under development are shown
in Table 1.4. An estimate of the potential for economical global production of energy from these
renewable resources based on research by Belyaev, et. al. (2002) is also presented in Table 1.4.
More details on various renewable energy technologies are provided in Chapters 3 and 5. It
should be noted that for the renewables, the limitation of resource depends on the natural
occurrence and the cost. As an example, solar energy is available all over the world, but its
economics is much more feasible in the more sunny climates closer to the equator than areas in
Northern latitudes.

Table 1.4 World Major Renewable Energy Resources

Renewable Stage of Availability and Deployment Potential for Global

Resource Economic Production,
Quad Btu/yr*
Wind Availability depends on location, highly developed 167
technologies, expanding in various countries with
extensive use in Northwest Europe.
Solar An available resource in most of the world, still 174
fairly expensive technology, but rapidly expanding
in various parts of the world.
Geothermal Availability depends on the location, a limited 13.6
resource in certain countries including US,
Philippines and Iceland.
Wave and Availability depends on the location; the Not Available
Tide technology is under development, no significant
commercial production.
Biomass Technologies for use of biomass (e.g. wood chips, 91
municipal waste, biogas, nut shells) are well
developed. Production of biomass fuels particularly
alcohol and oils for transportation are rapidly
gaining ground.
Hydroelectr Availability depends on location, highly developed 24.7 - 28.4
ic technologies, and one of the most used renewable
resource.

1
In 2006 the electricity supplied by Pacific Gas & Electric Co. included 12% renewable resources comprising of
biomass and waste (4%), geothermal (3%), small hydroelectric (3%), wind (2%) and solar ,1%. PG&E power mix
also included 12% power from large hydroelectric plants.
Source: www.energy.ca.gov/consumer.

© 2006 Ganji & Wheeler 5

* Source:Belyaev, et. al. (2002), World Energy and Transition to Sustainable Development, Kluwer Academic
Publishers, Norwell, MA, 2002.

1.4 The Importance of Energy to the Economy

The energy industry (production and distribution of energy) constitutes a significant part of the
world economy. Since energy is used in production and distribution of all goods and services as
well as people’s comfort, energy availability and price influence every aspect of people’s lives,
and consequently social and political issues in communities. Major events in the past few
decades such as the Arab Oil Embargo of 1973, the Iranian revolution of 1979 (Brown, 2002),
the California energy crisis of 2001 and the Katrina hurricane of 2005 all showed the level of
influence of availability of energy and its price on local, national and international politics.
Figure 1.2 shows the price (based on 2006 US dollar value) of crude oil from the year 1900 to
2006. As an example, the figure clearly shows the influence of the major political events on oil
prices. In 2006, due to uncertainties of adequate supply, the price of crude oil rose to over $70
per barrel.

Oil Price - Dollars per Barrel

100 Iranian Re volution
90
2006 US Dollars ($)

80
70
60 Arab Oil Embargo

50
40
30
20
10
0
1900
1904
1908
1912
1916
1920
1924
1928
1932
1936
1940
1944
1948
1952
1956
1960
1964
1968
1972
1976
1980
1984
1988
1992
1996
2000
2004

Year

Figure 1.2 – Variation of average oil price (based on 2004 US dollar value) from 1900 to 2006,
BP (2007.).

One of the main factors that influence sustaining the standard of living in the developed
countries and improving the standard of living in the developing countries is availability of
energy. Many developing countries are striving to attain and enjoy a life style and standard of
living similar to the developed countries and hence demand on the available and deployable
world energy resource is steadily increasing. For the world as whole to be able to deal with this
ever-increasing demand on energy resources, all possible methods should be explored and
exploited. The recognized and globally accepted methods include, energy conservation -
© 2006 Ganji & Wheeler 6
avoiding energy waste, energy efficiency - best usage of available resources, development and
utilization of renewable energy resources, and exploitation of energy resources that are more
abundant through environmental friendly methods.

1.5 This Book – A Source for Energy Education

This book has been designed to contribute to college level general education in energy resources,
generation, consumption, conservation and environmental consequences. First we will introduce
some basic aspects of physics of energy and its different forms to establish a unified approach to
measurement and expression of energy generation and consumption (Chapter 2). Discussion of
the world’s energy resources and how much of these resources are utilized by different countries
and different sectors of the economy follows in Chapter 3. Chapter 4 is dedicated to a historical
perspective of energy use in the world and how energy is influencing our way of life at this age.
Since electrical energy is the most prominent form of energy in our modern style of living,
Chapter 5 discusses various forms of production of electrical energy, elaborating on renewable as
well as non-renewable resources. Chapters 6 and 7 discuss the major users of energy in modern
world, including the transportation, industrial, commercial and domestic sectors of the economy.
A major concern in production of energy from non-renewable and some of the renewable energy
forms is the environmental effects, which are discussed in Chapter 8. Energy efficiency and
conservation have been identified as the main approach to lengthen the life of non-renewable
resources, and reduction of significant capital investment in the energy production, as discussed
in Chapter 9. Effect of life-cycle of the products on energy consumption is discussed in Chapter
10. Whether we can, and possibly how we can sustain the generation and use of energy for
modern day living, as well as the projected trends are the subjects of Chapters 11 and 12. Energy
legislation as one of the main mechanisms for altering the energy consumption patterns in
different segments of the economy is briefly discussed in Chapter 13.

1.6 References

Brown, C. E. (2002), World Energy Resources, Springer, New York, NY..

Belyaev, L.S., Marchenko, O.V., Filippov, S.P., Solomin, S.V., Stepanova, T.B. and Kokorin,
A.L. (2002), World Energy and Transition to Sustainable Development, Kluwer Academic
Publishers, Norwell, MA.

BP (2007), British Petroleum, BP Global Reports and Publications, Statistical Review

Downloads, http://www.bp.com/.

EIA (2007), US Energy Information Administration, US Department of Energy,

http://www.eia.doe.gov/.

© 2006 Ganji & Wheeler 7

Simmons, I. G. (1996), Changing the Face of the Earth: Culture, Environment, History, 2nd ed.
Oxford: Blackwell.

1.7 Study Questions

1. Would you think that the world is facing a major challenge in meeting its energy needs?
Why?
2. Would you think that the US is facing a major challenge in meeting its energy needs?
Why?
3. What could be the reasons behind the dip in the US energy consumption in certain
periods? Can you identify the periods?
4. What are the main reasons for increase in energy consumption in the world?
5. What are the main reasons for the increase in use of petroleum and natural gas in the past
few decades, but no significant change in use of coal?
6. What are the major factors that affect per capita energy consumption of a community?
7. Does reducing the per capita energy consumption necessarily mean that the standard of
living will be reduced? Support your response with available data.
8. Why social and economic progress is directly associated with energy consumption?
9. Can all countries of the world be held responsible to reduce their non-renewable energy
consumption to combat environmental consequences by the same percentage? Why?
10. Why is the increase in energy consumption from most of non-renewable resources
considered harmful to the environment?
11. What can be considered as major limitations on production of energy from renewable
resources?
12. Imagine that standard of living in China equals that of the US, will the world have
enough energy to support its population? Note that the US consumes about 24% of the
world’s energy resources.

© 2006 Ganji & Wheeler 8