We want to determine how much energy demand might be reasonably expected in the

Question

We want to determine how much energy demand might be reasonably expected in the future, whether current fossil fuel reserves are sufficient to meet demand, and whether investment in alternative energy technologies may be warranted. Determine how much additional energy, beyond the current world primary energy consumption, would be required each year for every nation to achieve a high level of human development (4 kW/person). . .Determine, based on the proportion of each fuel we use globally, how long it would take before the coal, natural gas, and petroleum reserves are fully depleted at 1) current global energy consumption rates and 2) at the global energy consumption rate required to achieve a high HDI. Please refer to the BP (British Petroleum) annual energy report. How does the gap between current and high HDI energy consumption compare to our current global renewable and nuclear energy production? . .Discuss briefly your findings. What do they mean? Do you think that the company should or should not invest in nuclear and renewable energy technologies?

Explanation / Answer

a. population of earth N = 7.4421*10^9

power requirement per person, p = 4kW/person

hence

in one year energy required = E

E = pN*24*3600*365.25 J

E = 4*10^3*7.4421*10^9*3600*24*365.25

E = 9.3941925984*10^20 J per year

world primary energy consumption, Eo = 168.519*10^12*3600 = 0.006066684*10^20 J

EXTRA ENERGY = E - Eo = 9.3881259144*10^20 J per year

b. at current global consumption rate

Energy per year used via

coal = 0.3Eo

Natural Gas = 0.24Eo

Oil = 0.33Eo

Totoal energy in all of these ( from wikipedia) = Et

Et = (19.8 + 36.4 + 8.9)*4 *10^21 J = 260.4*10^21 J

hence at current rate, total time to consume all the reserves = t

t = Et/0.87Eo = 49336.7290644 years

at high HDI, number of years = t'

t'= Et/(E - EO) = 277.37165263 years only

c. there is a gap of over a factor of 100 between the current produced toptal energy and the energy required for HDI

d. as we can expect the population of earth to rise, the number of years left for the fossil fuels to be utilised will fall from the calculated value and hence it is wise to invest in nucleart energy as investment in energy for future

Related Questions

Navigate

• Browse (All)
• Browse W
• Subjects

---

---

Integrity-first tutoring: explanations and feedback only — we do not complete graded work. Learn more.