Sustainable Energy and the Environment: A Clean Technology Approach

N.D. KaushikaK.S. ReddyKshitij Kaushik

Sustainable Energy and the Environment: A CleanTechnology Approach

N.D. Kaushika • K.S. Reddy • Kshitij Kaushik

Sustainable Energy and theEnvironment: A CleanTechnology Approach

N.D. KaushikaWorld College of Technology& Management

Gurgaon, India

K.S. ReddyDepartment of Mechanical EngineeringIndian Institute of Technology MadrasChennai, India

Kshitij KaushikSky PowerToronto, OntarioCanada

ISBN 978-3-319-29444-5 ISBN 978-3-319-29446-9 (eBook)DOI 10.1007/978-3-319-29446-9

Library of Congress Control Number: 2016939232

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Foreword

We are a scientific civilization whose health and wealth depend heavily on the

power of knowledge. The key to the knowledge power lies with translational higher

education. While science is a search for truth and is moral and ethics neutral, its

applications through engineering and technology invariably have both positive and

negative societal effects. As a result of very rapid exploitation of many of our

natural resources, the world has nearly reached the limits of sustainability in several

areas such as our environment. Today, it is generally recognized that human

activities are significantly changing the composition of the earth’s atmosphere,posing an imminent threat of catastrophic climate change globally. Critical con-

tributors to this change are the concentrations of carbon dioxide (CO2), methane

(CH4), short-lived trace gases like CO, NOx, SO2, and HCs; particulate material,

both scattering aerosols (e.g., sulphates, nitrates, etc.) and absorbing aerosols (black

carbon, organic carbon, etc.); etc. In many countries, emissions of these pollutants

are already at a dangerous level. Consequently, the atmosphere is being increas-

ingly loaded with undesirable pollutants. Energy in a variety of forms derived from

non-renewable sources, being the major driver of global economic activities, is also

a significant contributor to the pollution of our biosphere. Creative and transfor-

mational solutions for developing renewable and sustainable energy systems are

already a central challenge for the world. This ambitious goal calls for substantial

progress in the growth of energy production from renewable sources, judicious mix

of various energy sources, and increased energy efficiency. Energy and environ-

mental sustainability is, therefore, a central challenge for the whole world.

The book Sustainable Energy and the Environment: A Clean TechnologyApproach, authored by N.D. Kaushika, K.S. Reddy, and Kshitij Kaushik, intro-duces a unique approach to the concept of sustainability and energy conservation

with emphasis on the relationship between scientific principles and those employed

in engineering solutions. The authors have a wide experience in teaching and/or

conducting research in the subject matter. This book is intended for professional

v

engineers and university students dealing with the effects of environmental degra-

dation on ecological processes and climate change, energy-related environmental

problems, energy efficiency, energy conservation, renewable energy, and technol-

ogies of pollution control.

Indian Institute of Technology

Kharagpur, India

Nov 12, 2015

K.L. Chopra

vi Foreword

Preface

It is now widely recognized that human sustenance and developmental activities are

not only provoking the imminent threat of catastrophic climate change but also

threatening the security of energy and other resources and making complex changes

in the entire earth system. Indeed, energy, environment, and ecosystems are

dynamically and interactively connected. It, therefore, makes sense to consider

the energy environment system in its totality and adopt sustainable solutions that

balance economic growth and environment conservation. Furthermore, it is also

almost certain that no single energy resource will be able to ensure energy security

on a long-term basis, and the fossil fuels will remain an important part of energy

mix for the next 20–40 years. The solution, therefore, needs diverse range of

approaches and technologies. It includes making existing fossil fuel technologies

cleaner and affordable with transition to greener power generation based on waste,

water, and renewable resources. Furthermore, to cope up with the changing

global energy scenario, we need transformational changes in how we use and

how we deliver energy services.

This book titled Sustainable Energy and the Environment presents a widespectrum of available knowledge on these topics. Chaps. 2 and 3 present an

introduction to the physical and biological environment and the processes related

to the existence and sustenance of life on earth. An outline of conventional energy

and power systems and related environmental degradations are discussed in

Chaps. 4 and 5. Clean coal technologies for power generation and sustainable

energy and power technologies based on such renewable resources as solar, bio-

mass, and wind are covered in Chaps. 6, 7, 8, 9, 10 and 11. Finally, topics on

management of waste and water, pollution control schemes, and energy conserva-

tion are outlined in Chaps. 12, 13 and 14.

The book covers the material required for energy and environment courses

currently being taught at engineering colleges and environmental sciences depart-

ments of various universities.

vii

http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-29446-9_2http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-29446-9_3http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-29446-9_4http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-29446-9_5http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-29446-9_6http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-29446-9_7http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-29446-9_8http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-29446-9_9http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-29446-9_10http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-29446-9_11http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-29446-9_12http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-29446-9_13http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-29446-9_14

The authors, Prof. N.D. Kaushika and Prof. K.S. Reddy, have taught this subject

in the Indian Institute of Technology (IITs) for over three decades and Mr. Kshitij

Kaushik has on hand professional experience of working with the corporate sectors

for over two decades. This has helped them in preparing the book which intends to

serve scientists, engineers, policy experts, programme managers, and students.

Research scholars were involved in the writing of this book through extending

their cooperation in proof checking and drawing of the figures. The contribution

extended by IIT Madras has also been highly encouraging. We particularly thank

Capital Publishing Company for bringing out this book in an expeditious manner.

New Delhi, India N.D. Kaushika

Chennai, India K.S. Reddy

Toronto, ON, Canada Kshitij Kaushik

viii Preface

Contents

1 Introduction to Sustainable Energy and Environment . . . . . . . . . . 1

1.1 Energy and Development . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1

1.2 Energy Reserves and Resources . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2

1.3 Classification of Energy Resources . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4

1.4 Energy Security Aspects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5

1.4.1 Energy Resource Availability . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5

1.4.2 Changing Resource Use Patterns . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9

1.4.3 Foreign Trade Constraints . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11

1.5 Environmental Degradations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11

1.6 Concept of Sustainability . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13

1.7 Energy Futures: Scope of the Book . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14

References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15

2 The Environment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17

2.1 Basic Constituents of the Environment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17

2.2 Earth’s Physical Environment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 182.2.1 Earth’s Differentiation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 182.2.2 Oceans and Continents . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18

2.2.3 The Atmosphere . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19

2.2.4 Atmospheric Composition . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20

2.2.5 Atmospheric Stratifications . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21

2.3 The Biosphere . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24

2.4 Natural Cycles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24

2.4.1 The Hydrologic or Water Cycle . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25

2.4.2 Carbon Cycle . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25

2.4.3 Nitrogen Cycle . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27

2.4.4 Phosphorous Cycle . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27

2.4.5 Sulphur Cycle . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28

2.5 Ecological Balance and Biodiversity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28

References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29

ix

3 Earth’s Planetary Temperature . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 313.1 Simple Model of Earth’s Planetary Temperature . . . . . . . . . . . . 313.2 Variation of Temperature with Latitude . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32

3.3 Changing Global Temperature . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34

3.4 Radiations in the Atmosphere . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34

3.5 Albedo and Earth’s Planetary Temperature . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 363.6 Green House Effect . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37

3.6.1 Thin Spherical Shell Greenhouse Model . . . . . . . . . . . 38

3.6.2 Greenhouse Model with Leakage . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41

References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42

4 Conventional Energy and Power System . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43

4.1 Characteristics of Power Systems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43

4.2 Fossil Fuel Based Power Plants . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44

4.2.1 Steam Based Power Plants . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45

4.2.2 Gas Turbine Power Generation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48

4.3 Nuclear Power . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51

4.3.1 Nuclear Fusion and Fission Energy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51

4.3.2 Nuclear Fission Power Generation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53

References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60

5 Energy Environment Interactions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61

5.1 Environmental Pollution . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61

5.2 Mining and Transportation of Fossil Fuels . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62

5.2.1 Soil Erosion and Land Use . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62

5.2.2 Oil Spills . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63

5.3 Combustion of Fossil Fuel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63

5.3.1 Liquid and Gaseous Fuels . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64

5.3.2 Solid Fuels . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65

5.4 Waste Heat Generation: Thermal Pollution . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66

5.5 Atmospheric Air Pollution . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67

5.5.1 Primary and Secondary Pollutants . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67

5.5.2 Dispersion of Pollutants . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68

5.5.3 Enhancement of Greenhouse Effect . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71

5.5.4 Damage to Vegetation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71

5.5.5 Damage to Built Structures . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 72

5.5.6 Smog . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 72

5.5.7 Acid Rain . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73

5.6 Water Contamination . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74

References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 76

6 Clean Coal Technologies for Power Generation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77

6.1 Importance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77

6.2 Environmental Issues . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77

x Contents

6.3 Emission Control in Power Plants . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78

6.3.1 Pre-combustion Controls . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78

6.3.2 Combustion Control Techniques . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 79

6.3.3 Post Combustion Technologies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81

6.4 Clean Power Plant Configurations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 82

6.4.1 Integrated Gasification Combined Cycle (IGCC)

Power Plant . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 82

Reference . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83

7 Solar Thermal Energy and Power Systems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85

7.1 Solar Thermal Conversion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85

7.1.1 Non-Focussing Collectors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 86

7.1.2 Focussing Type Solar Collector . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 88

7.1.3 Non-imaging Collectors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 91

7.1.4 Solar Thermal Applications . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 91

7.2 Solar Active Systems for Buildings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 92

7.2.1 Basic Components of Solar Active Systems . . . . . . . . . 92

7.2.2 Collector Array . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 92

7.2.3 Thermal Storage and Utilisation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93

7.2.4 Heat Exchangers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93

7.2.5 Auxiliary Heat and Protection . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 94

7.3 Solar Space and Water Heating . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 94

7.4 Solar Heat Pumps . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 95

7.5 Solar Thermal Electric . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 96

7.5.1 The Concept . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 96

7.5.2 Solar Thermal Power Technologies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 97

References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 104

8 Solar Photovoltaic Power . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 107

8.1 Pollution Free Power Generation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 107

8.2 Solar Cells . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 108

8.2.1 Mono-crystalline Cells . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 108

8.2.2 Polycrystalline Cells . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 108

8.2.3 Amorphous Silicon Cells/Thin Film Cells . . . . . . . . . . 109

8.3 Solar Pv Modules and Arrays . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 109

8.4 Balance of System . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 110

8.5 Systems and Applications . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 111

8.5.1 SPV System Design Considerations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 112

8.5.2 SPV Plant Operating Experiences . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 114

8.6 Building Integrated Photovoltaics (Bipv) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 115

8.6.1 BIPV as Glazing Material . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 116

8.6.2 BIPV Projects in India . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 116

8.6.3 Environmental Aspects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 117

8.7 Concentrating Solar Photovoltaic . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 117

8.8 System Reliability . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 119

References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 120

Contents xi

9 Biomass Energy and Power Systems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 121

9.1 Importance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 121

9.2 Biomass Spectrum . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 122

9.3 Fuels from Biomass . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 123

9.3.1 Thermo-Chemical Conversion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 123

9.3.2 Physico-Chemical Conversion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 129

9.3.3 Biological Conversion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 130

9.4 Barriers in Biomass Power Generation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 133

9.4.1 Economic Barriers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 134

9.4.2 Logistic Barriers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 134

9.4.3 Technical Barriers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 134

9.5 Strategies for Removal of Barriers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 135

References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 137

10 Wind Energy Conversion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 139

10.1 Wind Energy Conversion Systems (WECS) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 139

10.2 Theory of Wind Energy Conversion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 143

10.2.1 Power in the Wind – Betz Model for Expanding

Airstream . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 144

10.3 Aerodynamic Aspects of Wind Turbines . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 146

10.3.1 Thrust on Turbines . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 146

10.3.2 Torque on Turbines . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 147

10.3.3 Stalling of Wind Turbine Blades . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 149

10.3.4 Blade Planform – Solidity of Practical Turbines . . . . . 149

10.3.5 Drag Machines . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 149

10.3.6 Characteristics of the Wind . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 151

10.4 Wind Power Installations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 151

10.5 Offshore Wind Power Systems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 151

10.6 Hybrid Wind Energy Systems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 152

References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 152

11 Energy Efficient Architecture . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 153

11.1 General . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 153

11.2 Energy Balance in Building System . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 154

11.3 Passive Solar Building Technologies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 155

11.4 Basic Cooling Concepts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 156

11.4.1 Reduction of Heat Flux through the Roof . . . . . . . . . . 156

11.4.2 Induced Ventilation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 156

11.5 Basic Heating Concepts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 158

11.5.1 Direct Gain . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 158

11.5.2 Indirect Gain . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 159

11.5.3 Isolated Gain . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 161

11.6 Heating and Cooling Concepts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 162

11.6.1 Ground Heating and Cooling . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 162

11.6.2 Skytherm . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 162

xii Contents

11.6.3 Variable Emittance Roof . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 163

11.6.4 Ventilation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 164

11.7 Day Lighting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 165

11.7.1 Principles and Processes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 165

11.7.2 Conventional Methods of Daylighting . . . . . . . . . . . . . 166

11.8 Architectural Implementation and Experience . . . . . . . . . . . . . 168

11.9 Thermal Evaluation of Passive Concepts:

Sol–Air Temperature . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 169

References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 171

12 Energy Conservation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 173

12.1 Terms and Definitions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 173

12.2 Energy Management Strategies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 174

12.3 Energy Management Programme (EMP) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 174

12.3.1 Initiation Phase . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 178

12.3.2 Audit and Analysis Phase . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 178

12.3.3 Implementation Phase . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 178

12.4 Energy Audit (EA) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 180

12.5 Energy Conservation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 181

12.6 Energy Conservation in Various Sectors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 181

12.6.1 Building and Site Energy Surveys . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 181

12.6.2 Management of Heating and Cooling (HVAC)

Systems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 183

12.6.3 Electrical Load Management . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 184

12.6.4 Lighting System Management . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 184

12.6.5 Electric Heat Management . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 186

12.6.6 Process Energy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 187

12.6.7 Recovery Heat Management . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 188

12.6.8 Electrolytic Process Management . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 188

12.6.9 Energy Management in Manufacturing Processes . . . . . 188

12.7 Energy Efficiency: Exergy Analysis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 189

12.8 Energy Efficiency Technologies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 192

12.8.1 Thermal Energy Efficiency . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 192

12.8.2 Industrial Sector: Electrical Energy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 194

References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 196

13 Solid Waste Management . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 197

13.1 Solid Waste . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 197

13.2 Solid Waste Generation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 198

13.3 Classification and Sources of Solid Waste . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 198

13.3.1 Municipal Solid Waste . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 199

13.3.2 Electronic Waste . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 199

13.3.3 Agriculture Waste . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 200

13.3.4 Industrial Solid Waste . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 200

13.3.5 Waste from Mining Activities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 200

13.3.6 Hazardous and Military Waste . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 201

Contents xiii

13.4 Solid Waste Management (SWM) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 201

13.5 Solid Waste Disposal Practices . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 202

13.5.1 Open Dumps . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 202

13.5.2 Landfills . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 203

13.5.3 Incineration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 203

13.5.4 Composting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 204

13.5.5 Recycling . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 205

13.6 Waste to Energy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 205

13.6.1 Low Grade Wastes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 206

13.6.2 Washery Wastes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 206

13.6.3 Cultivated Fuels . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 206

13.6.4 Derived from Waste . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 206

13.7 Waste to Energy Conversion Technologies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 207

13.7.1 Gasification . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 207

13.7.2 Incineration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 208

13.7.3 Densification . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 209

References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 209

14 Air and Water Pollution . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 211

14.1 Trade-Off Between Energy And Environment . . . . . . . . . . . . . 211

14.2 Pollution . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 212

14.3 Air Pollution . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 212

14.3.1 Causes of Air Pollution . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 212

14.3.2 Sources of Air Pollution . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 213

14.3.3 Classification of Pollutants . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 214

14.3.4 Air Pollution Control Methods and Equipment . . . . . . 215

14.3.5 Air Pollution Control . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 216

14.4 Water Pollution . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 226

14.4.1 Sources . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 226

14.4.2 Pollution Categories . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 226

14.5 Water Treatment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 230

14.5.1 Physical Treatment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 230

14.5.2 Chemical Treatment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 233

14.5.3 Biological Treatment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 234

References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 235

Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 237

xiv Contents

About the Authors

N.D. Kaushika former Professor, Centre for Energy Studies, Indian Institutes of

Technology Delhi, subsequently Director of reputed engineering institutions in

Delhi and National Capital Region, is a specialist in renewable energy and envi-

ronment. He is a Recipient of the S.S. Bhatnagar Research Endowment Award

(Hariom Ashram Prerit) for research in Energy Conservation in 1987. He is

presently a Consultant at Innovation Centre, Ansal University, Gurgaon. He was

earlier been author of two books and has contributed articles in several reputed

journals and authored chapters in books by international publishers including

Academic Press, USA, and Elsevier Science major reference work.

K.S. Reddy Professor of Mechanical Engineering at IIT Madras, Chennai, is a

specialist in solar energy, energy efficiency, and environment. Presently, he is also

an honorary Professor at the University of Exeter, UK, and Adjunct Professor at

CEERI-CSIR. He has authored more than 150 research papers in reputed interna-

tional journals and conferences. Dr. Reddy has executed several research projects

on solar energy sponsored by various national and international agencies. He is

actively involved in the development of concentrating solar power technologies in

India. He has filed couple of patents on solar CPV and CSP systems. He is

associated with several industries on power generation, process heat, energy effi-

ciency and conservation and characterization of engineering materials. He has also

organized several national and international workshops on advanced renewable

energy technologies at IIT Madras.

Kshitij Kaushik Associate Vice-President in Sky Power in Canada, is specialized

in energy efficiency and solar photovoltaic. He is a co-author of one book and has

contributed research articles in reputed international journals.

xv

Chapter 1

Introduction to Sustainable Energyand Environment

1.1 Energy and Development

All nations of the world envision having sustainable and equitable growth. The

actualization of sustainable and equitable growth encompasses various securities

including that of five key elements: livelihood, economy, energy, ecological balance,

national defence and internal peace. Energy is the prime mover of all these securities

and has now become the essential component of economic development and social

transformation for all the developed and developing countries of the world. Simul-

taneously, the advances in human health care and local life support system have led to

unprecedented reproductive success and growth of population. The world’s growthrate peaked in the 1960s at 2% and a doubling time of 35 years (US Census 2005).

The world’s current growth rate is about 1.3% representing a doubling time of54 years. Many Asian and African countries have relatively higher growth rates.

Afghanistan has a current growth rate of 3.5%, representing a doubling time of

20 years. According to a study by United Nations, Department of Economic and

Social Affairs, one can expect the world’s population to become 11 billion by 2050.This has resulted in the growing need for energy. Owing to the population growth and

economic progress, energy demand will increase from 17.7 terawatts in 2011 to

30–60 terawatts (450–900 million barrels of oil/day) in 2050. Approximately 75% of

this growth in energy demand will occur in Organization of Economic Co-operation

and Development (OECD) countries. OECD is an international organization of

34 countries founded in 1961 to stimulate economic progress and global trade.

Studies of annual global energy consumption patterns in terms of tons of oil

equivalent (toe) corresponding to year 2000 are shown in Fig. 1.1 (Boyle et al. 2004)

which indicates that the developing countries have a significantly lower consump-

tion of energy per capita as compared to the affluent countries. For example, the

developing countries of Asia, Africa and Latin America where about 70% of the

world population lives, consume energy less than that in Western Europe which has

9% of the world’s population. These developing countries consume about one tenth

© Capital Publishing Company 2016N.D. Kaushika et al., Sustainable Energy and the Environment: A Clean TechnologyApproach, DOI 10.1007/978-3-319-29446-9_1

1

of the energy consumed by North America. It is noticeable that all the developed

countries have significantly higher energy consumption. The commercial energy

consumed by the developing countries accounted for only 17.5% of global energy

consumption. This shows that the living standards are positively correlated with

energy consumption. The high production levels of industry and agriculture in

affluent countries may be attributed to mechanisation and higher energy consump-

tion. It has been estimated that approximately three-fold increase in per capita

energy consumption is required in developing countries to raise their standard of

living to a reasonably acceptable level.

Over many years, the energy use pattern across the countries has changed. In

Table 1.1, the industrialised and Asian nations are compared with respect to their

per capita Gross Domestic Product (GDP) as well as energy use and Human

Development Index (HDI). GDP is expressed in terms of Purchasing Power Parity

(PPP) dollars. One can see a strong correlation between quality of life and energy

consumption.

1.2 Energy Reserves and Resources

The terms ‘Energy reserves’ and ‘resources’ are intimately connected. ‘Reserves’are quantities whose existence has been established and that are producible with

existing technology under present economic conditions. ‘Resources’ include pre-sent reserves as well as deposits that have been identified but are not producible

under present technological and economic conditions. However, the continual

advances in extraction technology and higher acceptable prices keep on shifting

the resource numerals into the reserve category. For example, U.S. oil reserves in

0

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

DevelopingCountries (DA)

World average NorthAmerica

FSU Europe

FSU:Former Soviet UnionDA: Asia, Africa, Latin America

Ene

rgy

Con

sum

ptio

n (t

oe/y

ear)

Fig. 1.1 Global per capita energy consumption patterns (Boyle et al. 2004)

2 1 Introduction to Sustainable Energy and Environment

1970 were estimated as 47 billion barrels (BB) and after a total consumption of

40 BB, the reserves were estimated as 35 BB in 1984 (Masters 1994). In mineral

resource context it is, therefore, conventional to say that the resources being

produced rather than being consumed.

The basic energy resources available as gifts of nature on earth include the

following:

(i) Fossil fuels (coal, oil and Natural gas)

(ii) Fissionable and fertile isotopes (Nuclear) and fusionable isotopes

(iii) Renewable/Non-depletable sources (Solar, Wind, Biomass and Ocean)

(iv) Geothermal energy

Natural and manmade processes give rise to several usable energy resources

(Chapman and Reiss 1995; Thorndike 1979; Kaushika and Kaushik 2005) as

follows:

Fossil fuels are available in three forms, solid, liquid & gaseous. Most com-

monly used solid fossil fuels are coal, lignite, peat coke, wood, rice husk, sawdust

and charcoal. These fuels have varying amounts of moisture, ash, volatile matter

and fixed carbon. Yet another solid fuel, which could be used in coming times, is

Oil Shale; these are shale (layered rocks) containing solid hydrocarbon (kerogen).

The hydrocarbon content is about 65 gal of oil equivalent in 1 ton of shale. Huge

deposits of oil shale exist in earth’s crust. Besides the oil shale, in recent years, largedeposits of sand impregnated with about 15% oil have been reported to exist in

Alberta (Canada). This is referred to as Tar Sand.

The liquid fossil fuel is mainly Crude Oil, which is a complex mixture of

alkaline hydrocarbons with water salt and earth particles. Upon refining (fractional

distillation), it yields several liquid fuels and other petroleum products. For exam-

ple, crude oil boils at 400 �C and yields fuel oil at 350–400 �C, diesel oil at250–300 �C, Kerosene oil at 170–250 �C, gasoline/petrol at 40–170 �C and

Table 1.1 GDP and Human Development Index across Countries (Power line 2000; HD Report2004; UNDP; Masters 1994)

Country GDP per capita (PPP $) Energy use per capita (toe) HDI (2010–2011)

Industrial

Canada 21,916 7.854 0.908

USA 26,977 7.819 0.910

Sweden 19,297 5.723 0.904

Germany 20,370 4.128 0.905

France 21,176 4.042 0.884

Asian

China 2935 0.664 0.898

India 1422 0.248 0.630

Pakistan 2209 0.254 0.504

Bangladesh 1382 0.064 0.515

Nepal 1145 0.028 0.463

1.2 Energy Reserves and Resources 3

petroleum gas at 40 �C. Often the crude oil reservoir contains both oil and naturalgas; the gas is predominantly methane (CH4); gradually diminishing amounts of

heavier members of hydrocarbon series represented by CnH2n+2 are also present.

The members with n� 5 are gaseous in the oil well but are liquid at STP (oneatmosphere pressure and 293 K). The members ethane (C2H6), propane (C3H8) and

butane (C4H10) are gaseous at STP but may be liquefied by the application of

modest pressure. In general by the application of modest pressure, the natural gas

separates into two parts; (i) Natural Gas Liquid or Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG)

and (ii) Dry Natural Gas or Compressed Natural Gas (CNG). It has been estimated

that in nature, the oil and gas existence is characterized as follows:

CNG þ LPGð Þ : Oil : : 1:3 : 1

Energy may also be obtained from two nuclear phenomena: Fission and Fusion.

Fission fuels include a rare isotope of Uranium U235 and U238 or Thorium Th232. U235 is commonly used whereas U238 or Th232 are usable only in breeder reactors. In

natural ore, U235 is 0.7% and U238 is 99.3%. Deuterium and Lithium have been

proposed as fusion fuels. The largest sources of Deuterium are oceans. There is one

atom of deuterium for every 6500 atoms of hydrogen in nature.

1.3 Classification of Energy Resources

Fossil and nuclear fuels are the major suppliers of commercially available energy in

the present day world; they are referred to as commercial resources of energy. Fuel

wood, vegetable waste and cow dung etc. provide nearly half the total energy

requirement of developing countries; these are called non-commercial resources

of energy.

Yet another classification of resources of energy is based on the basic premise

that fossil fuels reserves are finite in magnitude and their consumption is increasing

at an escalated rate. These are referred to as conventional resources of energy. The

escalating use of fossil fuels has adverse effects on land, air and water environment

as well as on the ecological balance of earth. Environmentally benign energy

alternatives are therefore very important and classified as alternate resources of

energy.

Furthermore, all the resources of energy can also be broadly classified as

follows: (a) Stored resources and (b) Continuous resources. The resources that are

not replenished as fast as they are used are classified as stored resources. Fossilfuels and Uranium are the examples of stored resources. The time span of replen-

ishment and use of fossil fuels are 108–103 years respectively. In contradistinction

to these are the continuous resources of energy which are replenished at about the

same rate as they are used like direct solar energy, tidal, hydro-potential and wind

etc (Tiwari and Ghosal 2005). These are often referred to as Renewable resources of

energy.

The fuel wood may be classified in either of the two categories. If the wood is

used at the same rate as it is grown in energy forestry, it is regarded as continuous

4 1 Introduction to Sustainable Energy and Environment

resource. If the utilization is faster than growth, it is referred to as stored resource.

The energy resource classification based on above considerations and adopted by

International Standardisation (ISO and IEC committees) is illustrated in Fig. 1.2

(Kaushika and Kaushik 2005). Corresponding expected life span (in years) of

reserves at an assumed constant consumption rate (1996 exploration rate) is also

shown therein.

1.4 Energy Security Aspects

In view of the fact that energy is the prime mover of all activities, it is imperative to

develop a strategy for obtaining inflow of energy resources from whatever origin

possible to secure us against energy shortage at global, national as well as regional

levels. However, securing energy supply in the present day uncertain world would

involve consideration of several factors such as energy reserves and resources,

resource availability and access, technology advances, fuels for the future, role of

nuclear energy, renewable energy, last but not the least implication of changing

geopolitical environment and foreign trade as follows:

1.4.1 Energy Resource Availability

Total available supply of an energy resource will directly influence the cost as well

as market price of energy required to maintain the living standards. The available

Energy Resources

Depleting Energy Resources

Fossil Energy Nuclear Energy Direct Solar Indirect Solar Ocean Geo-thermal

OceanGradient

WindBioEnergy

HydroAlmost

inexhaustible200-300

Yrs

supply depends on the resource magnitude and the rate of resource consumption. At

this stage, it may be noted that there is an important distinction between the reservesand resources of a mineral (such as coal etc.). Furthermore, in mineral resourcecontext, it is conventional to say that the resource is being produced (rather than

consumed). In what follows, we, therefore, explore to model the rate of production

and the remaining lifetime for the energy resources (Masters 1994; Chapman and

Reiss 1995; Kaushika and Kaushik 2005).

If E(t) represents production rate of an energy resource at time, t, the totalresource produced (Q) during the time interval between t1 and t2 can be determinedas follows:

Q ¼ðt2t1

E tð Þdt ð1:1Þ

If the time interval of interest begins at t¼ 0, Eq. 1.1 reduces to:

Q ¼ðt

0

E tð Þdt ð1:2Þ

Following cases are often of interest

Case I: Production rate remains constant:

E tð Þ ¼ E0Q ¼ E0 t ð1:3Þ

Case II: Production rate has linear growth:

E tð Þ ¼ E0 þ f 0 t

Q ¼ E0 tþ f 0 t2

2

ð1:4Þ

Case III: Production rate grows in exponential manner:

E tð Þ ¼ E0 ert

Q ¼ E0rer t � 1½ � ð1:5Þ

where

Q¼ total resource produced by time t.E0¼ the initial production ratef0¼ rate of growth in Er¼ rate of growth (fraction per year)

6 1 Introduction to Sustainable Energy and Environment

The Eq. (1.5) may also be expressed in terms of the length of time (say T)required using an amount Q as follows:

T ¼ 1rln

rQ

E0þ 1

� �ð1:6Þ

This equation may also be used to estimate the life span of the reserves of a

particular resource as follows:

Example 1.1 World oil production in 1970 was equal to 30 billion barrels per year

and the estimated total recoverable reserves were estimated at 2500 billion barrels.

The production per year is doubling every 20 years. How long would it take to

consume total reserves if the growth rate in production remains unchanged?

Solution The oil production rate is doubling every 20 years; so following the

exponential growth formulation we have

2E0 ¼ E0 ert

or

r ¼ 69:320

¼ 3:465%

and from Eq. (1.6) the life span (T) of the reserve is given by

T ¼ 1:03465

ln:03465 � 2500

30þ 1

� �

T ¼ 39:2years:

For comparison, if there were no growth in production rate, the total oil reserve

would last 83.3 years.

Example 1.2 (Thorndike 1979): The world coal reserves in 1986 were estimated

as 1.0 trillion (1012) tons; the coal production in 1986 was 5.0� 109 t per year andhas since been doubling every 25.67 years. How long the reserves would last if the

growth rate remains unchanged?

Solution As in Example 1.1, r is given by

r ¼ 0:69325:67

¼ 0:027

and the total life span of the reserves is given by

1.4 Energy Security Aspects 7

T ¼ 10:027

ln:027� 1:0� 1012

5:0� 109 þ 1� �

T ¼ 68:75year

For comparison, for constant production rate of 5.0� 109 t/year the coal reserveswould last for 200 years.

Example 1.3 In India coal was the first fossil fuel utilized in second half of

nineteenth century. In 1984 its production (per year) and the total reserves were

estimated as 140� 106 and 1.56� 1011 t respectively. With current rate of con-sumption the coal production in year 2004 is estimated to be 4.50� 106 t. Calculatethe life span of coal reserves in India.

Solution Using the exponential growth function formulation we have

450� 106 ¼ 140� 106 ¼ er 20

or

r ¼ 120

ln450

140¼ 0:058

The total life span of coal reserves in India is given by:

T ¼ 10:058

ln:058� 1:56� 1011

140� 106 þ 1� �

T ¼ 72:1year

Example 1.4 Assuming the initial production of 5.0� 109 t calculate the span ofworld coal resources in the range of 0.5–2.0 trillion (1012) tons for various growth

rates in the range of 0–6% (Masters 1994).

Solution From Table 1.2 it may be noted that in the exponential growth function

the total life span of a resource is quite insensitive to the magnitude of available

resource. For example, at 5% growth a total resource of 0.5� 1012 t would last for35 years whereas a four times larger resource would last for only 61 years which

means another 26 years. Therefore, for practical situations the exponential growth

for the production rate of any finite resource seems rather unlikely. Some authors

(Masters 1994; Chapman and Reiss 1995) have argued that a resource production

profile following a Gaussian function is more likely because initially the production

might follow the exponential growth as the resource is abundant and cheap but

subsequently as the availability decreases, consequently the prices go up and sub-

stitutions begin to appear. In this situation, the production profile tends to become S

Shaped (or Sigmoidal) which in long term might become bell shaped. This aspect of

production of resources is illustrated in Fig. 1.3.

8 1 Introduction to Sustainable Energy and Environment

1.4.2 Changing Resource Use Patterns

The energy resource use pattern has been continually changing since man

appeared on earth. The primitive man used only muscular energy for transporta-

tion. With the advent of fire, the use of heat generated from the burning of wood

became prevalent. Subsequently with the dawn of agriculture era the energy was

used in three forms: human power, animal power and heat. The need for human

power has been the cause of slavery for all the period of known history. The heat

energy was obtained from fallen tree branches, charcoal and colza oil which were

supplied each year by the growth of plants. The global energy consumption

scenario was therefore based on renewable energy resources. From 1 to 1850 AD,

global energy consumption per year is estimated to be about 0.004 Q. Energy policy

and planning estimates use ‘Q’ as unit of energy 1Q¼ 1.05� 1021 J¼ 293 PWh(1 peta¼ 1015).

Table 1.2 Life span of world coal resources with various growth rules

S. no. Growth rate % Life span (year) for coal resource (1012 t) 0.5 1.0 1.5 2.0

1 0 100 200 300 400

2 1 69 110 138 160

3 2 55 80 97 109

4 3 46 65 78 85

5 4 40 55 64 71

6 5 35 48 55 61

7 6 32 43 49 54

ENERGY[PWh]

E

200

100

-1000 0 1000 2000

SUSTAINABLE ENERGY SUPPLY

TOTAL ENERGY CONSUMPTION

TIME [YEARS]3000 4000

OPTION A

OPTION B

MAXIMUM 0.7 Q

5000

FOSSIL & FISSILEENERGY CONSUMPTION

RENEWABLE ENERGY CONSUMPTION

Fig. 1.3 S shaped curves for the production (consumption) of various resources usable on theEarth

1.4 Energy Security Aspects 9

With the passage of time and introduction of mechanization, the work of muscles

has been transferred to machines (e.g. steam engine and internal combustion

engine) driven by energy from coal, oil, gas as well as fissile materials (Uranium,

Thorium), wind and water. Consequently the world energy consumption over the

period 1850–1950 has increased to an yearly average value of 0.04 Q which is an

order of magnitude higher than the value in previous 100 years. Subsequently the

world energy consumption has increased at an accelerated rate and started depleting

the resources of fossil and fissile energy; the use of these resources also proved to be

environmentally hazardous. In recent years there has thus been growing realization

on utilization of new energy resources like solar, tidal, geothermal, ocean thermal

and ambient energy.

Fossil and nuclear fuels are the major suppliers of energy in industrial nations. In

developing countries the contribution of biomass energy is also significant (35%).

Irony, however, is that fossil fuel reserves are finite and it has been estimated that all

proven resources that are recoverable with today’s technology will be exhausted inabout 40–200 years. It is feared that in the beginning of twenty first Century world

would face a serious lack of pace between the energy demand and supply. World,

therefore, is faced with fossil fuel energy crisis. Furthermore, wood has been the

oldest source of heat required for cooking and other applications in developing

countries and its continual use has resulted in the felling of trees and serious

deforestation. Consequently, in developing countries the fuel crisis would further

aggravate the energy situation. Some authors refer to it as the dual energy crisis of

developing countries. However, in the beginning of twenty first century when fossil

energy resources are scarce the immediate available alternative with demonstrated

technology might include the liquid and gaseous fuels obtained from coal, oil shale

and/or tar sands. Nuclear energy is yet another option for twenty first century. The

demonstrated technologies include fission and fusion. The fission technology is

already commercial. Nuclear fission power in 2012 provides about 12.3% of

world’s electricity out of which 13 countries relied on nuclear energy to supply atleast one-quarter of their total electricity. In actual number the global nuclear power

generation translates into 372,751MWe as of January 2015 (World Statistics 2015).

Nuclear power plants also do not emit large quantities of particulate that cause air

pollution.

Most of the present day nuclear reactors use the rare isotope U-235 as fuel,

which will not last for a very long period. The natural uranium ore contains

0.7% U-235 and 99.3% U-238 with breeder reactor technology U-238 and

Thorium would be usable as fuels which could be available for about

200 years. In Table 1.3 potential of various resources for power generation in

Table 1.3 Potential of resources for power generation in India having total installed capacity of124,000 MWe in 2007

Resource Coal Oil Natural gas Hydro Nuclear

Potential (GWe � year) 41,000 300 250 84 (GW at 60% PLF) 412,420Source: Public awareness group, Nuclear Power Corporation of India Limited

10 1 Introduction to Sustainable Energy and Environment