Class Session 17>

I. Energy

Of all the resources consumed by humans, perhaps the most important is energy. Energy is critical to modern, industrialized societies because it undergirds almost all of the other economic sectors. Without energy, many of these other economic activities would not be nearly so productive or profitable. In this weeks notes, we’ll look at the different kinds of energy, examine the changes brought about by the Industrial Revolution, assess energy consumption trends, and learn how energy use impacts the environment.

There are two major types of energy, animate energy and inanimate energy. Animate energy is the energy contained in living organisms. Both human and animals contain animate energy. Inanimate energy is the energy from non-living sources, such as the wind, sun, and fossils fuels. Wood and other forms of biomass are living, but when the tree is burned it is dead and so is considered to be a form of inanimate energy.

The industrial age was ushered in via the use of inanimate energy and its substitution for animate energy. Civilizations had used inanimate energy for thousands of years prior to the industrial revolution in the late 1700's. The ancient Greeks sailed thousands of miles and the Egyptian used solar power for many kinds of tasks. These forms of energy, wind, sun and falling water, are fairly diffuse and variable in terms of amount and duration. So in addition to these diffuse, natural forms of energy, humans also used their own hands and feet as well as animal power.

Inanimate energy has enabled human societies great advances in the quality of life. Some forms of inanimate energy, however, have more environmental impact than others. Coal, for example, burns far less cleanly than natural gas. We need to move toward those inanimate energy forms that are less polluting. We also need to extract as much useful service from every bit of energy we consume. This concept is referred to as energy efficiency and there are thousands of ways in which we can extract the desired function or service out of the energy we consume and use less energy at the same time. Last, we need to develop new forms of non-polluting energy. Energy sources such as hydrogen are in their infancy and need to be fully developed. We need to become smarter about how we use energy .

II. Gearing Up - Transportation
It may sound funny to examine the consumption of transportation, but by examining transportation over time, then we can get a sense of energy consumption over time as well. Before the industrial age, the speeds at which fortunate and unfortunate traveled varied little, although their modes were dissimilar. The rich rode either or horses or in carriages and the poor walked. This dichotomy endured for centuries. Industrial Revolution with its substitution of inanimate energy for animate energy changed all that .

The industrial revolution fundamentally changed human society in varied and diverse ways. These notes will not attempt to focus on all the changes brought about by the industrial revolution. There are texts and treatises on the Industrial Revolution and the interested student is advised to search these out in local libraries and/or the Internet. These notes, rather, will focus on one particular, and important, aspect of industrialization - the substitution of inanimate energy sources for animate energy.

Spinning wheels in England in the early 1700's were devices which were powered by pedal power. The father of the industrial revolution, Richard Arkwright, was a clock maker. He designed a horse drawn and then a water driven spinning wheel in the mid 1700's. About the same time, an inventor by the name of James Watt was experimenting with using coal to create steam which powered an engine known as a steam engine. The advantage of coal, in comparison to the other inanimate forms of energy in use at the time as well as animate energy, is that it is abundant, the amount of energy can be controlled, and it is a fairly concentrated form of energy. The substitution of the steam engine, driven by inanimate energy, for tasks formerly conducted by animate energy, is really what the industrial revolution was all about and what much of the technological energy of the last 200 years has been focused on. We now live in a world where just about every task we formerly did by hand or feet, we now do with the assistance of inanimate energy such as the electric knife used to carve the Thanksgiving turkey, to electric leaf blowers and toothbrushes. The machine that I'm typing these notes on is powered by inanimate energy and has largely replaced the pen, powered by hand and mechanical typewriters .

To get some idea of how inanimate energy changed to nature of transportation and how far we moved ourselves and our material possessions, let's look at the table below. The railroad was invented in England in the 1820,'s. The first incorporated railroad company in the United States was the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad, the B&O. The first 11 miles of railroad track in the United States ran from Mount Clare station in West Baltimore out to a little town west of Baltimore called Ellicotts Mills. The rails reached Ellicotts Mills in 1828. The amount of rail traffic increased greatly between 1830 to 1850. Table One shows how quickly the use of rail and steam ships increased in the United States.

Table One

		Merchant vessels (thousand gross tons)
Year	Rail (1,000 miles)	sailing ships	steam ships	total tons
1850	24	9,100	280	9,380
1860	67	13,000	780	13,780
1870	130	13,500	2,050	15,050
1880	230	13,870	4,400	18,270
1890	380	10,540	8,285	18,825
1900	490	7,245	22,370	29,615
1910	640	4,625	37,290	41,915
1930	775	1,585	68,025	69,610
1950	770	720	84,580	85,300

As you can see in Table One, the use of rail increased greatly in the United States between 1860 and 1910. During this fifty year period rail mileage in the U.S. increased tenfold. During the same period, a transition was occurring is shipping. Not only was the sailing ship being replaced by the steam ship, but the total tons of material moved was increasing as well. Both rail and steam ships used coal as the principal energy source.

Many of the transportation uses of coal were replaced by oil, which is easier to transport. Table Two below provides some indication of the increasing use of oil as a transport fuel in the U.S. for the ten year time period between 1967 to 1977.

It is difficult to get comprehensive, consistent information and data on energy consumed for transportation over time. Often, the picture has to be pieced together with data from several different sources. We've already looked at the patterns of transportation from the 100 year period from 1850 to 1950. Now let's take a look at the period of time between 1967 to 1977 to get a sense of the growth of transpiration, and the energy used for transportation, for this ten year period

Mode	Fuel	Units	1967	1977	%change
Rail	deisel oil	gals*10/6	3,883	3,890	+.1
Air	jet fuel	gals*10/6	7,621	11,113	+45.8
Auto	gas	gals*10/6	55,077	80,225	+45.7
Trucks	gas	gals*10/6	21,673	37,964	+75.2

As you can see from Table Two, while growth in rail traffic was relatively flat between 1967 and 1977, both air and auto increased 45% and truck traffic by 75%. This indicates how much more mobile the U.S. had become during this time period.

To get a sense of the growing consumption of energy, let's go back along ways in time, before the domestication of fire. Remember we said that a calorie was the amount of energy required to raise the temperature of 1 gram of water 1 degree centigrade and that 1000 calories equaled 1 food or kilocalorie. Humans we know need at least 2,000 food or kilocalories daily to sustain active adult life. So, we can say that prior to the domestication of fire that the average human consumed about 2,000 kilocalories of energy per day. The domestication of fire increased human consumption to around 4,000 kilocalories per day. The basic early agricultural society, with some domestic animals, probably consumed somewhere around 10,000 to 15,000 kilocalories. This was pretty much the case until the Industrial Revolution.

To get some idea of how energy use changed because of the Industrial Revolution, let's look at the production of coal in the U.S. between 1800 and 1950. Remember, coal was used to run the steam engine, which was used for railroads, ships, cars, machinery .

U.S. Coal Production 1800 - 1950

Year	Production in tons	Megawatt Hours Equivalent	%change
1800	15,000,000	120,000,000	-
1860	132,000,000	1,057,000,000	780%
1890	701,000,000	5,608,000,000	431%
1950	1,454,000,000	11,632,000,000	107%

So, as you can see, coal use in the U.S. increased sharply in the 1800's. Production in 1800 was at 15 million tons. Ninety years later, in 1890, production was at 701 million tons.

The History Of Oil
In 1857, Col. Edwin L. Drake bluntly told the world, 'I can strike oil by drilling through solid rock'. He began drilling and on 27 August 1859 Drake's drill suddenly dropped six inches into a crevice and oil came roaring to the surface. By the next year, 1860, over 600 oil companies were incorporated in Pennsylvania. The use of coal and oil, in it's early stages, was considered part of the "low technology" industrial revolution between 1850-1870. Average energy consumption in America during this time period, per capita, had increased from the 15,000 kilocalories of simple, domestic agriculture to around 70,000 kilocalories per person per day.

III. The Electric Slide
The great increase in energy consumption, however, followed the evolution of the incandescent lamp. This stimulated the growth of network distribution and the production of huge quantities of electricity in power plants, lowering the cost per kilowatt-hour until other electrical appliances became economical to use. Under the impact of all these discoveries, the process quickened. The more energy was produced, the more energy was sought.

The total world production of inanimate commercial energy amounted to about a 1.1 milliard megawatt-hours in 1860. By 1900 it had risen to about 6.1 milliard and by 1960 it had reached about 33 milliard. The curve indicates an overall average rate of growth of about 3 1/4 per cent compounded annually, a growth rate much greater than that of population. By 1970 in the U.S., per capita energy consumption had reached around 230,000 kilocalories per day. Table 4 shows the increase in U.S. energy consumption from 1949 to 1994. Total consumption for all fuel types increased from 30.457 quadrillion BTU's in 1949 to 88.450 quadrillion BTU's in 1994, an increase of 190%.

Fuel	1949	1994
Coal	11.981	19.541
Natural Gas	5.145	21.156
Oil	11.883	34.653
Total Fossil Fuels	29.002	75.373
Nuclear	0	6.519
Hydroelectric	1.449	3.177
Geothermal	0	0.260
Biofiels	0.006	2.738
Solar	0	0.071
Wind	0	0.035
Total Renewable	1.454	6.282
Total all Fuels	30.457	88.450

If we look at the current pattern of energy consumption in the world, we see that there are great inequalities in world distribution of consumable energy. The USA, other countries of OECD, the former Soviet Bloc, with about 20% of global population, account for roughly 75% of all commercial energy consumed in the world. Korea, Taiwan, Middle East and Latin America account, with about 15% of global population, consume 9.2% of the total. Africa, China, and the rest of Asia, with about 65% of global population, account for 16.1% of the total energy consumed.

The global fuel mix, not surprisingly, is dominated by fossil fuels. Oil, coal, and natural gas account for over 80% of total world energy consumption. Hydropower supplies about 7% and nuclear fission about 5%. It is important to note, however, that these figures represent just commercially traded energy, which is energy that is bought and sold. Not reflected in these figures are traditional fuels such as fuelwood, crop waste, and dung which account for 11.4% of total world energy consumption of both commercial and non-commercial energy supplies.

IV. Energy and Air Pollution
Urban air quality issues have been on the forefront of environmental news for the past several decades. Of particular concern are pollutants such as carbon monoxide (CO), sulfur dioxide (SO2), nitrogen oxides (NOx), tropospheric ozone (O3), volatile organic compounds (VOCs) or hydrocarbons such as benzene, heavy metals such as lead and suspended particulate matter such as smoke and soot. These pollutants affect air quality, visibility and human health in cities around the world.

It is estimated in 1980 that human activities released 110 million tons of sulfur oxides, 69 million tons of nitrogen oxides, 193 million tons of carbon monoxide, 57 million tons of hydrocarbons, and 59 million tons of particulate into the atmosphere. The 24 industrial nations belonging to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) account for about half of these pollutants.

The air pollution term "smog" is a combination of the words "smoke" and "fog." Smog can be thought of a combination of pollutants that occur in urban areas where many sources of air pollution exist. Urban air pollutants come from a variety of human sources, processes and activities. The process responsible for the majority of the emissions is the combustion of fossil fuels -- coal, oil, and natural gas. Urban air pollutants can also be grouped in a number of ways such as, gaseous or particulate, primary or secondary, and stationary or mobile.

Gaseous air pollutants include carbon dioxide (CO2), carbon monoxide (CO), hydrogen sulfide (H2S), hydrocarbons (HC), nitrogen oxides (NOx), ozone (03), and sulfur oxides (SOx). Other gaseous air pollutants can include most any other man-induced chemical vapor. Particulate air pollutants include dusts, fumes, mists, and smoke. Dusts are solid particles that typically result from the physical or mechanical handling or processing of materials (e.g., crushing and grinding). Fumes are solid particles created when solids are volatilized by high temperature, and then condensed by cooler air (e.g., welding). The term "fume" is often misused and confused with the term "vapor." Mists are liquid particles formed when vapors condense. Mists also can be formed by a chemical reaction. Smoke is a solid particle resulting from the incomplete combustion of carbon-containing materials.

Primary air pollutants are those that are discharged directly into the atmosphere (e.g., automobile exhaust). In most cases, primary air pollutants are the precursors for the formation of secondary air pollutants. Secondary air pollutants are formed in the atmosphere through a variety of chemical reactions, such as the photochemical reaction that creates tropospheric ozone. Ozone, or O3, is created naturally in the stratosphere as sunlight reacts with oxygen molecules. The oxygen (O2) molecule is broken apart and combines with other oxygen molecules to form ozone. Stratospheric ozone, since it performs the valuable function of screening ultraviolet radiation, is known as "good" ozone.

Tropospheric ozone, also known as "bad" ozone is not directly emitted from human activities, but is formed when volatile organic hydrocarbons and nitrogen oxides react with oxygen in the presence of sunlight. Tropospheric ozone is a respiratory irritant and affects lung function of asthmatics and the elderly.

The Clean Air Act of 1970 and its subsequent amendments regulate tropospheric ozone levels in cities across the U.S. Many cities, particularly in the south and southwest where summers are hot, regularly violate the E.P.A. ozone standard. In fact, in many urbanized, industrialized cities around the world, such as those in Europe and Japan, ozone concentrations regularly exceed the levels considered safe by the World Health Organization.

Stationary sources of air pollution are usually discrete industrial sites and other fixed sources of emissions. It is estimated that approximately 40% of the air pollution is attributed to stationary sources. Of this amount, about one-third is a result of electricity generation. Historically, stationary sources of air pollution have accounted for approximately 98% of the sulfur oxides, 95% of the particulate, 56% of the hydrocarbons, 53% of the nitrogen oxides, and 22% of the carbon monoxide present in the atmosphere.

Stationary sources include electricity generating power plants, residences heated by wood, incinerators and industrial facilities such as refineries, chemical factories, iron and steel production and processing plants, glass factories, food production plants, cement works, and large fuel or oil storage facilities.

Most urban air pollution is attributed to mobile sources with their contribution estimated to be 60%. Historically, mobile sources of air pollution have accounted for approximately 78% of the carbon monoxide, 47% of the nitrogen oxides, and 44% of the hydrocarbons present in the atmosphere. Mobile sources typically are responsible for only small portions of particulate (5%) and sulfur oxides (2%). The vast majority of air pollutants attributed to mobile sources are the result of the burning of fuels in the internal combustion engine. The principal mobile source is the automobile, although other fuel burning mobile sources, such as ships, boats, aircraft, and rockets contribute as well.

Air pollution is responsible for widespread damage to human health, plant and animal life, as well as property and structures. Symptomatic factors include both acute (short-term) effects and chronic (long-term) effects. Air pollution has proven itself to be a killing agent and an illness-causing agent as evidenced by the Donora, Pennsylvania and London, England pollution episodes, as well as several others.

Air pollutants target the skin, eyes, respiratory tract, and lungs. The primary damage occurs in the respiratory tract and lungs. Secondary damage can occur throughout the body due to the inhalation of pollutants into the lungs with subsequent transfer into the circulatory system. Common diseases and illnesses caused by, and/or aggravated by, air pollutants include asbestosis, asthma, bronchitis, and emphysema.

Plant life effects can be grouped into three categories: necrosis, chlorosis, and growth alteration. Necrosis is the collapse of leaf tissue. Chlorosis is the bleaching of, or other color changes to, the leaves or needles. Growth alteration usually involves stunted growth. Necrosis-causing air pollutants include fluoride, ozone, and peroxy- acetyl nitrates. Chlorosis-causing air pollutants include sulfur dioxide, nitrogen dioxide, fluoride, and ozone. Growth-altering pollutants include magnesium oxide and ethylene Overall, ozone is the most damaging air pollutant to plant life.

Animal life effects can be similar to human health effects with respect to the inhalation of air pollutants. Of more concern, however, is contaminated forage and the resultant chronic harm to grazing animals such as cattle, horses, and sheep. A number of herd poisoning incidents occurred in the mid-1950s involving hay contaminated by arsenic and lead emissions from nearby ore smelter and foundry operations.

Air pollution technologies, for the most part, either remove particulate or gaseous emissions or convert them to a less polluting form before discharge into the atmosphere. A number of different processes are used including absorption, adsorption, separation, condensation, combustion, filtration, scrubbing, catalytic reduction, conditioning, and recovery. Technologies utilized to accomplish these processes include filters, gravity settlers, cyclones, electrostatic precipitators, mechanical collectors, bag houses, and scrubbers. Auxiliary technologies include fans, hoods, ducts, stacks, as well as handling and storage equipment. In addition, there are a number of technologies designed to monitor, detect, measure, sample and analyze both gaseous and particulate pollutants.

The air pollution control technologies mentioned above involve, for the most part, "add-on" or "end-of-pipe" applications. "Front-end" approaches deserve some mention as well. These typically deal with the original source of the pollutants, especially when fuel combustion is involved. Cleaner grades of fuel can be burned and alternative fuels, which are typically cleaner, can also be used. Process modifications can also effectively reduce air pollutants and can be used together with the "add-on" pollution control devices. This dual approach of air pollution control technologies can effectively reduce the majority of air polluting discharges.