Engineering a Low Carbon Energy Future

Transcription

1 Engineering a Low Carbon Energy Future Professor Nigel Brandon OBE FREng Director Energy Futures Lab RCUK Energy Senior Research Fellow

2 Introduction to Imperial College London 3,300 academic and research staff 3,100 support staff 2,000 honorary staff 1,000 academic visitors and visiting researchers 13,000 students: 8,300 undergraduates 2,200 taught postgraduates 2,500 research postgraduates PG students (masters and doctoral): 36% of total student population 46% UK 24% Europe (outside UK) 30% overseas (outside Europe) Our Founding Charter in 1907 to give the highest specialised instruction and to provide the fullest equipment for the most advanced training and research in various branches of science especially in its application to industry

3 Introduction Global Energy Drivers and Trends. Energy in the UK. Energy Futures Lab at Imperial College London Engineering Options Transport sector Domestic sector Conclusions.

4 Global Energy Drivers: 1 Population Growth 2005 (million) 2030 (million) Canada France Germany Italy Japan Russia United Kingdom United States Brazil China 1, , India 1, , Mexico South Africa World Total 6, , World Population prospects: the 2006 revision. UN Dept. Economics and Social Affairs

5 Global Energy Drivers: 2 Energy Security Increasing reliance on imported oil and gas. Shift in power from energy consumers to energy producers. Link between energy, water and food. 400 million people in India have no access to electricity.

6 UK Energy Trade and consumption Source: UK Energy Sector Indicators DECC.

7 Population (billion) Global Energy Drivers: 3 Urbanisation Source: ARUP

8 toe per capita Energy consumption per capita World Energy Outlook 2007: China and India Insights. International Energy Agency

9 million tonnes oil equivalent Global energy demand continues to rise 18,000 16,000 World energy use is expected to grow 50% from 2005 to ,000 12,000 10,000 8,000 6,000 4,000 2, Coal Oil Gas Nuclear Hydro Biomass and Waste Other renewables IEA World Energy Outlook

10 Major investment in new energy infrastructure $22 Trillion of investment in energy infrastructure is needed out to 2030 to meet demand. Cumulative Investment in Energy Infrastructure World Energy Outlook 2007: China and India Insights. International Energy Agency

11 The UK Energy Challenge The UK faces two long term energy challenges: Tackling climate change by reducing carbon dioxide emissions both within the UK and abroad. Ensuring secure, clean and affordable energy as the UK becomes increasingly dependent on imported fuel. The UK is seeking to develop a diverse low carbon energy mix including renewables, nuclear power and carbon capture and storage, and to promote energy efficiency and demand reduction.

12 The UK Energy Challenge One third of UK electrical generating capacity needs to be replaced in the next 20 years. The UK is seeking to reduce its CO 2 emissions by 80% by 2050 it is expected that this will require complete decarbonisation of the electricity sector. In the April 2009 budget the UK Govt. committed to legally binding targets to reduce CO 2 emissions to 34% below 1990 targets by In January 2008, energy companies were invited to bring forward plans to build and operate new nuclear power stations. The UK has committed to EU targets to deliver 15% of its energy from renewable sources by 2020.

13 UK: Share of fuels contributing to primary energy supply 2007 UK CO 2 emissions were 544Mt Heat: 39% UK CO 2 Power: 33% UK CO 2 Source: UK Energy Sector Indicators DECC. Transport: 28% UK CO 2

14 Source: UK Energy Sector Indicators DECC. UK: Energy consumption by sector

15 Energy Futures Lab: an institute of Imperial College London Established in 2005 to promote and stimulate multi-disciplinary research, education and translation in energy at Imperial College London. Imperial has around 600 researchers undertaking energy research, plus dedicated energy Masters programmes. A flagship Global Challenge institute of Imperial College London with the remit to: Build strategic energy research programmes with partners - 67M of industry funding has been invested in energy research through EFL to date, 60M from industry. Support and widen participation in energy research across the College. Develop energy professionals of the future. Engage with business and policy makers. Offer an award-winning Outreach programme with the Outreach Lab.

16 Research networks 18 research networks to enable internal cross-departmental communication and provide external focal point Energy systems Bioenergy Carbon capture & storage Electric & hybrid vehicles Energy business Energy efficiency Energy policy Energy storage Fuel cells Transport Energy Futures Lab Future fuels Smart networks Solar Oil and gas Marine renewables Nuclear fission Nuclear fusion Green aviation

17 Smart Networks Appliances Smart grids Control and power electronics Integrated heat strategy Smart Networks Business strategy Manufacturing And services efficiency Gas Utilisation & networks Communications Transport Systems & policy Vehicles Consumer behaviour

18 Energy storage Charging Integration Systems Battery control Battery failure analysis Redox flow batteries Hydrogen & fuel cells New chemistry & materials

19 UK: Energy consumption by transport type Source: UK Energy Sector Indicators DECC.

20 Low Carbon Transport Options Reduce demand. Increase efficiency of current technology. Bio-derived fuels. Hydrogen fuel cell Electric Vehicles. Battery Electric Vehicles.

21 UK: Average new car CO 2 emissions and Car use per person Non freight transport contributes MtCO 2 pa (70%); freight transport 40 MtCO 2 pa (30%) 57% of car journeys are < 5 miles and account for 20% of CO 2 emissions 43% of CO 2 emissions arise from trips of 5 to 25 miles 7% of journeys are > 25 miles and account for 38% of CO 2 emissions Source: Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency; Department for Transport: and Carbon pathways analysis July 2008.

22 Biofuels Biofuels from waste products, and second generation biofuels from ligno-cellulose rich energy crops, do have the potential to make a positive environmental impact. The UK is very unlikely to achieve high levels of fuel security by growing bio-fuels on its own land, though we could make more use of waste. Sustainability in this area needs to be addressed at a global level as there is likely to be international trade in these commodities. Biofuels need to be combined with other developments. such as hybrid and fuel cell vehicles. Sustainable biofuels: prospects and challenges. Royal Society. Jan 2008

23 Why do we need Fuel Cell EVs and Battery EVs? EU passenger car tailpipe CO 2 trajectories David Howey, Robin North, and Ricardo Martinez-Botas. Road transport technology and climate change mitigation. Technical report, Grantham Institute for Climate Change, Imperial College London,

24 Fuel cell - battery electric vehicles Petrol Hydrogen Electricity (2008) CO 2 emissions / gco 2 MJ Fuel consumption / MJ mile Emissions / gco 2 mile Emissions / gco 2 km G J Offer, M Contestabile, D A Howey, R Clague, N P Brandon, Techno-economic and behavioural analysis of battery electric, hydrogen fuel cell and hybrid vehicles in a future sustainable road transport system for the UK, Energy Policy, 39 (2011)

25 Routes to Hydrogen Production Nuclear Energy Non-Fossil Energy (Solar. Water. Wind) Fossil Energy Heat Photoelectrolysis Biomass Mechanical Energy Electricity Biophotolysis Fermentation Thermolysis Electrolysis Chemical Conversion Hydrogen Carbon dioxide adapted and modified from J.A.Turner. Science (1999)

26 Solar Routes to Hydrogen high cost

27 Solar Routes to Hydrogen low cost? Photo-electrodes capable of H 2 production Green Alga capable of H 2 production H 2 O 2e - + 2H + + 1/2O 2

28 Scale-up of Photo Reactors Design, construction and system integration of larger scale photoreactors for solar hydrogen production and utilization. Roof design for distributed systems or large area facilities.

29 Carbon Intensity of Electricity Options

30 Low Carbon Transport Options Electric vehicles powered by low carbon electricity attractive for urban travel. Gasoline (and in time biofuel/hydrogen) battery hybrids are attractive for longer journeys. Precious hydrocarbons should be saved and used only for very long journeys (e.g. long haul freight) or air transport. Integration will be needed between electricity generation, distribution and demand side management.

31 UK: Domestic energy consumption Source: Derived from BREHOMES. taken from the Domestic Energy Fact File. Building Research Establishment

32 UK: Ownership of central heating Source: GfK Home Audit from the Domestic Energy Fact File. Building Research Establishment.

33 Fuel Cell Boilers for the Home (micro-chp) Conventional Fuel Energy 100% Power station 60% losses Transmission 5% losses Delivered 35% Micro-CHP Fuel Fuel Cell Electrical Heat 40% 50% Energy 100% Fuel Cell 10% losses Delivered 90%

34 Ceres Power SOFC micro-chp unit Spun out from Imperial in 2001 after 10 years basic materials research. Developed in collaboration with British Gas (with natural gas fuel) and Calor Gas (with LPG fuel). Prototype unit now on test in 5 UK homes. Reduces the energy bill of a customer by around 25% and saves around 1.5 tonnes of CO 2 pa. In addition, under the new UK feed in tariff (FIT), a household installing a SOFC mchp product will receive, for a period of ten years, a generation payment of 10p/kWh for all electricity generated plus an additional export payment of 3p/kWh for any electricity that is not consumed in the home and is fed back into the grid.

35 Current status of Ceres mchp units Five units on trial in UK homes in collaboration with British Gas. Issues have been reported from the field trials associated with fuel cell stack degradation, ingestion of debris from insulation into the air sub-system, boiler ignition and stack interconnect corrosion. On July 28 th Ceres issued a statement that significant progress has been made in addressing these.

36 Conclusions Huge challenges face us in terms of both the impact and security of our energy supplies. Innovative science and engineering lies at the heart of tackling these challenges, along with an understanding of behaviours and attitudes, supported by new business models and relationships. We need to carefully manage our resources, implementing technologies to reduce demand and emissions, whilst we develop transformational technologies that make us less dependent on current carbon based fuels and/or allow us to use current fuels with minimum environmental impact. Partnerships between research institutions, industry and Government are key to enabling the development and deployment of these transformational technologies. Training and motivating the next generation of technicians, scientists and engineers to tackle these challenges is essential.

37 Thank you