Gross Production of Electricity and Carbon Dioxide Emission Camilo Soto Eric Duda Anthony A. Zea

What This Presentation Will Cover What we wanted to get out of this project. What we initially thought the data would tell us. Background information needed to make sense of the data. Who and where are the top 10 countries producing electricity? How much electricity do they produce and how much is from renewable resources? Analysis of the data. Quick view at some countries leading the way of using renewable resources to produce electricity. Summary of how we approached this project.

What We Would Like To Know What are the top 10 countries that produce the most electricity? What type of fuel do they use to produce their electricity? How much carbon dioxide do these countries produce? Do these countries possess a high percentage of land covered by forest to counteract their CO2 emissions? Is there any relation between CO2 emission, population density and life expectancy?

What the Data Might Suggest North America produces more renewable electricity than any other continent. Countries that have a higher production of renewable electricity will have a lower CO2 emission. China and the United States produce the most CO2 out of the countries that produce the most electricity.

Background Information In order to make a relation between the data, here is some back ground information on: Effects of CO2 emission produced by human activity and its effects on the atmosphere. Amount of CO2 produced per kW-h of electricity produced from different sources. Importance of slowing down global warming. World wide sources of carbon dioxide emissions. Fossil fuels as a source of electricity and how they stack up against renewables. Area, availability and cost requirements for renewable fuels.

Why is it important to identify the countries that produce the most amount of electricity? The process of producing electricity emits carbon dioxide and other by-products. The addition of carbon dioxide by humans to the “carbon cycle” (the natural circulation of carbon among the atmosphere, oceans, soil, plants, and animals) is affecting its ability to remove CO2 form the Earth’s atmosphere by forests. Excess CO2 levels combined with other green house gasses in the atmosphere are contributing to global warming.

The Importance of Slowing Down Global Warming Global warming contributes to… The melting of Polar ice caps. Sea levels will rise by 230 feet (National Snow and Ice Data Center). Global ecosystem will be thrown off balance after the fresh water in the polar caps desalinate the sea waters changing the golf current pattern. The current golf current pattern regulates temperature around the world. The ice caps are needed to reflect sun light back into space keeping the earth cooler. **White reflects sun light while darker colors absorb it.

The Importance of Slowing Down Global Warming cont. Global warming contributes to… Climate change Some areas of the world will become dryer while others will become wetter. Areas of the world may become inhabitable due to long droughts. Warmer water will yield more hurricanes. Dryer landscape will result in more wild fires. Economy Higher population density The end of costal economies

Sources of CO2 Emission Electricity Transportation Industry Makes up 37% percent of total emission Mostly from combustion of fossil fuels in power plants Transportation Makes up 31% From combustion of gasoline and diesel (fossil fuels) Industry Makes up 15% Combustion form fossil fuels and chemical reactions Residential and Commercial Makes up 10% Other (non fossil fuel combustion) Makes up 6%

What is the big deal using Fossil Fuels as a source of electricity? Fossil Fuels make up 67% of the total electricity generated by fuel. (EPA) Producing 1 kW-h of electricity from fossil fuels on average produces 2.2kg of CO2. Fossil fuels are non-renewable.

In Comparison: Renewable Fuels Kilograms carbon dioxide per kW-h by generation method: Geothermal: 0.045 Hydro electric: 0.004 Solar/PV: 0.105 Wind: 0.013

So why do most countries still use fossil fuels over renewable fuels for their electricity needs?

Area Requirements Hydro electricity power plants use an average of 95 L of water to produce 1 kW-h of electricity. Therefore, dams that consume significant surface areas and water are needed. The most efficient solar panel will produce 345 watt-hours of energy for every 17.5 ft2. This means that if California wanted to rely only on the sun for their electricity needs, the whole state would be covered by solar panels. Area requirement for wind are very similar to solar to produce 1 kW-h.

Availability Fossil Fuels Abundant and easy to access. Hydro electricity Massive source of water needed to power a country. No source of water = No hydro power to harness Solar Parts of the world do not get consistent solar exposure (e.g. Alaska). Wind Speed of wind needed to turn a wind turbine is not constant either.

Cost Cost from producing electricity from fossil fuels is significantly lower than any renewable fuel.

Now that we have some background information we can dig into the data…

Top 10 Countries Gross Production of Electricity (million kW-h)

Top 10 Countries Producing Electricity and Renewable Production NAME Gross Production (million kW-h) Geothermal Production Hydro Production Solar Production Wind Production Other (%) Brazil 531759 428333 2705 18.94 Canada 636989 375797 260 10187 39.36 China 4713019 698945 23691 70331 83.17 France 561960 49893 2050 12235 88.58 Germany 608665 19 23514 19340 48883 84.93 India 973006 103741 89.34 Japan 1051251 2676 91709 5160 4559 90.10 Korea, Republic of 523286 7831 917 863 98.16 Russia 1054765 522 167608 5 84.06 United States 4349571 17892 344679 6153 120854 88.74

Analyzing the Data (Indicators) Most of Brazil’s and Canada’s gross production of electricity comes from Hydro and Wind. Most countries in the top 10 produce less than 20% of their electricity from Geothermal/Hydro/Solar/Wind (Renewables) Producing electricity from geothermal sources are not very popular in the top 10 except for the United States. Hydro electricity production is the most popular renewable fuel being used by the Top 10 countries. Germany and China produce a lot more solar electricity than the other top 10 countries. United States produces a lot more wind electricity than the other top 10 countries.

What Links Can Be Made Between Renewable Fuels and Social and Environmental Indicators?

Top 10 Countries Producing Electricity: Population & Environment Indicators NAME G/H/S/W Production (%) Other (%) Population Density (population/mi2) Life Expectancy (years) Land Area Covered by Forest (%) Carbon Dioxide Emissions (metric tons CO2/capita) Brazil 81.06 18.94 23 73.802 62.40 419754 Canada 60.64 39.36 3 81.411 34.10 499137 China 16.83 83.17 142 75.245 21.95 828689 France 11.42 88.58 115 81.713 29.00 361273 Germany 15.07 84.93 233 80.650 31.76 745384 India 10.66 89.34 367 66.275 23.02 200882 Japan 9.90 90.10 337 83.499 68.53 117071 Korea, Republic of 1.84 98.16 489 81.367 63.02 567567 Russia 15.94 84.06 411 67.863 47.32 467561 United States 11.26 88.74 33 78.857 33.18 543305

Analyzing the Data The average population density for the top 10 countries is 215 people per square mile compared to the world’s 116 people per square mile (high demand for electricity per square mile). Average life expectancy from the top 10 countries producing electricity is 77.03 years compared to the world’s 71.0 years. Brazil, China, India, and Russia are all below the life expectancy average and on the higher end of the CO2 emission spectrum. The average total land covered by forest (%) of the top 10 countries is 41.4 More trees lowers CO2 emissions. Brazil, Japan and the Republic of Korea contribute the most trees to the carbon cycle The country that contributes the most CO2 towards global warming is China.

Executing the Project

FLOW CHART

Execution of The Project We used most of the software knowledge gained through out the semester and some to facilitate the analysis of the data. There was abundant amounts of the data so the scope of the project kept on changing as we analyzed the data. The number of countries being analyzed changed from all to the top 10 only. Besides what we just presented, we wanted to analyze the top 10 countries leading the way using renewable resources and their environmental and social indicators but due to time constraints we could not.

What we can do is show a list of those countries and their location on the globe. Here are some of the countries leading the way, producing electricity from renewable fuels.

Top 10 Countries Producing Geothermal Electricity (million kW-h) Unites States is leading the way

Top 10 Countries Producing Hydro-Electricity (million kW-h) A lot of hydro electricity is being produced by China, Brazil, Canada and the United States.

Top 10 Countries Producing Solar Electricity (million kW-h) A lot of solar electricity is being produced in western Europe.

Top 10 Countries Producing Wind Electricity (million kW-h) Again, the US leading the way.

So, what should you take away from this presentation… There is room for improvement! Most of the top 10 countries producing electricity appear in the top 10 countries emitting the most carbon dioxide yet on average those same countries only use 10-15% renewable and cleaner fuels.

Questions?

Sources http://www.epa.gov/climatechange/ghgemissions/gases/co2.html https://saferenvironment.wordpress.com/2008/10/31/global-warming-greenhouse-gases-and-their-harmful-effects-%E2%80%93- urgent-reduction-of-these-are-essential-to-save-our-environment/ http://www.insitepartners.com/Newsletters/2009/Newsletter_2009_10.htm http://blueskymodel.org/kilowatt-hour http://www.ucsusa.org/clean_energy/our-energy-choices/renewable-energy/environmental-impacts-geothermal- energy.html#.VTU6j2PN58E http://www.lightsonsolar.com/solar-basics-kw-and-kwh/ http://spectrum.ieee.org/energy/environment/how-much-water-does-it-take-to-make-electricity