Power Density: A Key to Understanding Energy Sources and Uses

by Vaclav Smil

Overview

The first systematic, quantitative appraisal of power density, offering detailed reviews of power densities of renewable energy flows, fossil fuels, and all common energy uses.

“There's no author whose books I look forward to more than Vaclav Smil.”
—Bill Gates

In this book, Vaclav Smil argues that power density is a key determinant of the nature and dynamics of energy systems. Any understanding of complex energy systems must rely on quantitative measures of many fundamental variables. Power density—the rate of energy flux per unit of area—is an important but largely overlooked measure. Smil provides the first systematic, quantitative appraisal of power density, offering detailed reviews of the power densities of renewable energy flows, fossil fuels, thermal electricity generation, and all common energy uses.

Smil shows that careful quantification, critical appraisals, and revealing comparisons of power densities make possible a deeper understanding of the ways we harness, convert, and use energies. Conscientious assessment of power densities, he argues, proves particularly revealing when contrasting the fossil fuel–based energy system with renewable energy conversions.

Smil explains that modern civilization has evolved as a direct expression of the high power densities of fossil fuel extraction. He argues that our inevitable (and desirable) move to new energy arrangements involving conversions of lower-density renewable energy sources will require our society—currently dominated by megacities and concentrated industrial production—to undergo a profound spatial restructuring of its energy system.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780262529730
Publisher:	MIT Press
Publication date:	09/02/2016
Series:	The MIT Press
Edition description:	Reprint
Pages:	318
Product dimensions:	5.90(w) x 8.90(h) x 0.70(d)
Age Range:	18 Years

About the Author

Vaclav Smil is Distinguished Professor Emeritus at the University of Manitoba. He is the author of forty books, including Energy and Civilization, published by the MIT Press. In 2010 he was named by Foreign Policy as one of the Top 100 Global Thinkers. In 2013 Bill Gates wrote on his website that “there is no author whose books I look forward to more than Vaclav Smil."

Table of Contents

Preface vii

Acknowledgments xi

1 How Power Density Matters 1

2 Quantitative Keys to Understanding Energy 7

Power of Rates 8

Power Density: Sorting Out the Rates 14

Typology and Caveats 23

3 Renewable Energy Flows 41

Solar Radiation and Its Conversions to Heat and Electricity 42

Wind and Wind-Generated Electricity 61

Water Power and Hydro Generation 71

Phytomass for Traditional and Modern Uses 79

Geothermal Energy 91

4 Fossil Fuels 97

Coal Extraction, Preparation, and Transport 99

Crude Oils, Refining, and Long-Distance Deliveries 108

Natural Gas, Pipelines, and Liquefied Natural Gas 122

5 Thermal Electricity Generation 129

Coal-Fired Power Plants 130

Hydrocarbons in Electricity Generation 140

Nuclear Generation 144

Transmission 156

6 Energy Uses 159

A Brief Historical Perspective 162

Hierarchy of Modern Energy Uses 169

The Challenges of Heat Rejection 182

7 Making Sense of Power Densities 189

Recapitulations 190

Comparisons 202

Aggregate Land Claims 208

8 Energy Transitions 221

Biofuels 224

Wind and Solar Electricity 238

What It Would Take 243

Appendix 257

References 261

Index 297

What People are Saying About This

Donald R. Sadoway

Provocative, refreshingly quantitative, and mandatory reading for decision makers.

Endorsement

Vaclav Smil highlights power density as an essential ingredient for evaluating energy systems that is often forgotten or neglected in making sound energy choices. Smil correctly points out with numerous examples the importance of power density in determining how energy recovery and utilization systems are designed and operated.

—Jefferson Tester, Croll Professor of Sustainable Energy Systems and Cornell Energy Institute Director, Cornell University

From the Publisher

Provocative, refreshingly quantitative, and mandatory reading for decision makers.

—Donald R. Sadoway, John F. Elliott Professor of Materials Chemistry, MIT

Vaclav Smil highlights power density as an essential ingredient for evaluating energy systems that is often forgotten or neglected in making sound energy choices. Smil correctly points out with numerous examples the importance of power density in determining how energy recovery and utilization systems are designed and operated.

—Jefferson Tester, Croll Professor of Sustainable Energy Systems and Cornell Energy Institute Director, Cornell University

Jefferson Tester

Vaclav Smil highlights power density as an essential ingredient for evaluating energy systems that is often forgotten or neglected in making sound energy choices. Smil correctly points out with numerous examples the importance of power density in determining how energy recovery and utilization systems are designed and operated.