Ahmad Usman Khan GTiD: 903433050 February 19, 2019

Exercise 1b
Energy Technology and Policy ISYE/PUBP 6701 2019
Due Wed. Feb 20 (Atlanta) and Wed. Feb 27 (Distance Learning)
If you have questions you may post them to Piazza on Canvas; students you may provide hints to
each other through these discussions, and you may use these discussions to help complete the
exercise.

1. Land intensity of biofuel production. Miscanthus is a perennial grass that can

be a feedstock for biofuel. Miscanthus has a dry weight yield of about 2.5 kg/m2-
year1 and a dry weight energy density of about 17 MJ/kg.2 Assume all the
miscanthus could be converted to petroleum-equivalent with no loss. What is the
corresponding lower bound on the acres per person would be needed to grow
enough miscanthus to displace all US petroleum consumption?
Answer
From Exercise 1a, we know that Petroleum power demand for the US population
is 4.326 kW/person.
𝑘𝑔 𝑀𝐽
𝑀𝑖𝑠𝑐𝑎𝑛𝑡ℎ𝑢𝑠 𝑎𝑛𝑛𝑢𝑎𝑙 𝑒𝑛𝑒𝑟𝑔𝑦 𝑝𝑒𝑟 𝑢𝑛𝑖𝑡 𝑎𝑟𝑒𝑎 = 2.5 × 17
𝑚2 . 𝑦𝑟 𝑘𝑔
𝑀𝐽 42.5 𝑀𝐽 𝑊
= 42.5 2
= 2
= 1.348 2
𝑚 . 𝑦𝑟 31536000 𝑚 . 𝑠𝑒𝑐 𝑚
𝑘𝑊
4.326 𝑝𝑒𝑟𝑠𝑜𝑛 𝑚2 𝑎𝑐𝑟𝑒𝑠
𝐴𝑐𝑟𝑒𝑠 𝑝𝑒𝑟 𝑝𝑒𝑟𝑠𝑜𝑛 = = 3209.2 = 0.79
𝑊 𝑝𝑒𝑟𝑠𝑜𝑛 𝑝𝑒𝑟𝑠𝑜𝑛
1.348
𝑚2
The acres per person needed to grow miscanthus to displace all US petroleum
consumption are 0.79 acres/person.

2. Comparing potential biofuel feedstock land use with US crop land use. Total
US planted cropland is about 250 million acres as of 2016.3 What fraction of US
cropland would need to be planted in miscanthus to supply enough energy to
replace all current US petroleum consumption? (N.B. It is not the US approach to
use much current cropland: US biofuel goals are to produce 1 billion tons of
feedstock using a combination of forest (wood) biomass, crop wastes, and
biomass crops such as miscanthus.4).
Answer
US population in 2016 = 323.4 million

1 Penn State Extension. Miscanthus Budget for Biomass Production. 2013.

http://extension.psu.edu/publications/ee0081/extension_publication_file
2 Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland. Miscanthus Fact Sheet. 2007.

http://www.seai.ie/Publications/Renewables_Publications_/Bioenergy/Miscanthis_Factsheet.pdf
3 USDA Farm Service Agency, 2017 https://www.fsa.usda.gov/news-room/efoia/electronic-reading-

room/frequently-requested-information/crop-acreage-data/index
4 US DOE. 2016 Billion Ton Report. https://energy.gov/eere/bioenergy/2016-billion-ton-report
Ahmad Usman Khan GTiD: 903433050 February 19, 2019

𝑇𝑜𝑡𝑎𝑙 𝑀𝑖𝑠𝑐𝑎𝑛𝑡ℎ𝑢𝑠 𝑝𝑙𝑎𝑛𝑡𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛 = 0.79 𝑎𝑐𝑟𝑒𝑠 × 323.4 𝑚𝑖𝑙𝑙𝑖𝑜𝑛 𝑝𝑒𝑜𝑝𝑙𝑒

= 255.49 𝑚𝑖𝑙𝑙𝑖𝑜𝑛 𝑎𝑐𝑟𝑒𝑠
The total Miscanthus plantation required to replace all petroleum consumption is
255.49 million acres, which is more than the total US planted cropland in 2016, or
102% of the total planted cropland in 2016.

3. Size of a solar thermal plant to power a small city: As a very rough rule of
thumb, 1 kWe is about enough power for one typical US house, so 1 GWe might
be enough to provide a substantial fraction of the power for a small city. Calculate
the land area needed for a full time 1 GWe solar thermal plant based on the
following: 50% collector efficiency, 15% generation efficiency, 95% storage
efficiency, and average flux of 6 kWth/m2-day. Express your answer in square
kilometers. (Note that in Atlanta the average solar flux is more like 3 kWth/m2day.
Also, if you don’t know, look up what a solar thermal power plant is.) (from
Hafemeister 2013, 13.2).
Answer
𝑃𝑜𝑤𝑒𝑟 × 𝑇𝑖𝑚𝑒 1 𝐺𝑊 × 24 ℎ𝑜𝑢𝑟𝑠
𝐴𝑟𝑒𝑎 𝑅𝑒𝑞𝑢𝑖𝑟𝑒𝑑 = =
𝑆𝑜𝑙𝑎𝑟 𝐹𝑙𝑢𝑥 × 𝐸𝑓𝑓𝑖𝑐𝑖𝑒𝑛𝑐𝑦 6 𝑘𝑊ℎ × (0.5 × 0.15 × 0.95)
𝑚2
= 56.14 𝑘𝑚2
56.14 km2 of land will be required to generate 1 GW of power from a solar thermal
plant.
4. Hydro power. The Grand Inga Dam is a proposed hydroelectric power plant on
the Congo River in the Democratic Republic of Congo. The mean annual flow
rate of the Congo River at Inga Falls is about 42,000 cubic meters per second.
Given this flow rate and a fall of 96 meters, how much power is available for
electricity production at the proposed Grand Inga dam? Express your answer in
MW.
Answer
Assuming density of water to be 997 kg/m3 and acceleration due to gravity to be
9.8m/s2.
𝑃𝑜𝑡𝑒𝑛𝑡𝑖𝑎𝑙 𝐸𝑛𝑒𝑟𝑔𝑦 𝑚𝑔ℎ 𝑚3 𝑘𝑔 𝑚
𝑃𝑜𝑤𝑒𝑟 = = = (42000 × 997 3 ) × 9.8 2 × 96 𝑚
𝑇𝑖𝑚𝑒 𝑡 𝑠 𝑚 𝑠
= 39395.06 𝑀𝑊
Power available for electricity production at Grand Inga Dam is 39395.06 MW.

5. Wind turbine efficiency. The 1.8 MW Vestas V80 is a wind turbine widely
deployed in many countries. The rotor diameter is 80 meters (V80 indicates the
rotor diameter). The power rating of 1.8 MW is based on a reference wind sped of
16 m/s, and Vestas’ technical documents confirm that at a wind speed of 16 m/s
Ahmad Usman Khan GTiD: 903433050 February 19, 2019

and air density of 1.225 kg/m3, it will produce 1.8 MW of electrical power.
Calculate:

(a) the power of wind into the turbine at a wind speed of 16 m/s,
𝑘𝑔 80 2 𝑚 3
(1.225 × (𝜋 × ( ) ) × (16
𝜌. 𝐴. 𝑣 3 𝑚 3 2 𝑠) )
𝑃𝑜𝑤𝑒𝑟 = = = 𝟏𝟐. 𝟔𝟏 𝑴𝑾
2 2

(b) the maximum power available to be converted to turbine motion due to the
Betz Limit of 0.593,
𝑀𝑎𝑥𝑖𝑚𝑢𝑚 𝑃𝑜𝑤𝑒𝑟 = 12.61 × 0.593 = 𝟕. 𝟒𝟖 𝑴𝑾

(c) the fraction of the Betz limit power that this turbine actually produces at a
wind speed of 16 m/s.
1.8
𝐹𝑟𝑎𝑐𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛 𝑃𝑟𝑜𝑑𝑢𝑐𝑒𝑑 = = 𝟎. 𝟐𝟒𝟏 𝒐𝒓 𝟐𝟒. 𝟏%
7.48

6. Calculate Heat Loss from Ventilation of a Residential Building.

• A house has an area of 1200 square feet (30 ft by 40 ft) and 10-foot high walls.
(Ignore the thickness of the walls and ceilings.)
• The house has 8 air changes per hour.
• The interior is maintained at 65°F.
• Consider a time when the outdoor temperature is 30°F
• The density of air is 1.3 kg/m3.
• The heat capacity of air is 1004 J/kg °C.
What is the power loss in kilowatts (kW) due to the ventilation (air changes per
hour)?
𝑉𝑜𝑙𝑢𝑚𝑒 𝑜𝑓 𝐻𝑜𝑢𝑠𝑒 = 30 × 40 × 10 = 12,000 𝑓𝑡 3 = 339.8 𝑚3
𝑎𝑖𝑟 𝑐ℎ𝑎𝑛𝑔𝑒𝑠 𝑚3 𝑚3
𝐴𝑖𝑟 𝑠𝑝𝑒𝑒𝑑 = 339.8 𝑚3 × 8 = 2718.4 = 0.755
ℎ𝑜𝑢𝑟 ℎ𝑜𝑢𝑟 𝑠
𝑇𝑒𝑚𝑝𝑒𝑟𝑎𝑡𝑢𝑟𝑒 𝐷𝑖𝑓𝑓𝑒𝑟𝑒𝑛𝑐𝑒 = 65°𝐹 − 30°𝐹 = 18.33°𝐶 − (−1.11°𝐶) = 19.44°𝐶
𝐽 𝑚3 𝑘𝑔
𝑃𝑜𝑤𝑒𝑟 𝐿𝑜𝑠𝑠 𝑓𝑟𝑜𝑚 𝑉𝑒𝑛𝑡𝑖𝑙𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛 = 19.44°𝐶 × 1004 × 0.755 × 1.3 3
𝑘𝑔. °𝐶 𝑠 𝑚
= 𝟏𝟗. 𝟏𝟔 𝒌𝑾

7. Calculate the Heat Loss from Conduction of a Residential Building.

• A house has an area of 1200 square feet (30 ft by 40 ft) and 10-foot high walls.
(Ignore the thickness of the walls and ceilings.)
• The house has an average insulation value of R=10 ft2 °F h/Btu.
• Heat is lost by conduction via the floor, ceiling, and walls.
• The interior is maintained at 65°F.
• Consider a time when the outdoor temperature is 30°F.
What is the conduction power loss in kilowatts?
Heat lost by conduction is through the physical boundaries of the house.
𝑇𝑜𝑡𝑎𝑙 𝑆𝑢𝑟𝑓𝑎𝑐𝑒 𝐴𝑟𝑒𝑎 = 𝑊𝑎𝑙𝑙 𝐴𝑟𝑒𝑎 + 𝐹𝑙𝑜𝑜𝑟 𝐴𝑟𝑒𝑎 + 𝐶𝑒𝑖𝑙𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝐴𝑟𝑒𝑎
= (2 × 10 × 30) + (2 × 10 × 40) + (30 × 40) + (30 × 40) = 3800 𝑓𝑡 2
Ahmad Usman Khan GTiD: 903433050 February 19, 2019

𝑇𝑒𝑚𝑝𝑒𝑟𝑎𝑡𝑢𝑟𝑒 𝐷𝑖𝑓𝑓𝑒𝑟𝑒𝑛𝑐𝑒 = 35°𝐹

35°𝐹 × 3800 𝑓𝑡 2 𝐵𝑡𝑢
𝑃𝑜𝑤𝑒𝑟 𝐿𝑜𝑠𝑠 𝑡ℎ𝑟𝑜𝑢𝑔ℎ 𝑐𝑜𝑛𝑑𝑢𝑐𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛 = 2 = 13,300
𝑓𝑡 . °𝐹 ℎ𝑜𝑢𝑟
10 𝐵𝑡𝑢
= 𝟑. 𝟖𝟗𝟕 𝒌𝑾

8. Costs for a battery-electric delivery truck and a diesel-fueled delivery truck are
shown in the table below. Assume that both trucks are driven 50 miles for each of
300 days per year.
a. What is the Operating Cost per mile of driving each truck, including only
the Energy supply cost and the Maintenance Cost? (Put answers in the
table.)
For Electric Truck:
$0.1 𝑘𝑊ℎ $0.18 $𝟎. 𝟑𝟏
𝐶𝑜𝑠𝑡 = ( × 1.3 )+ =
𝑘𝑊ℎ 𝑚𝑖𝑙𝑒 𝑚𝑖𝑙𝑒 𝒎𝒊𝒍𝒆
For Diesel Truck:
$3 1 𝑔𝑎𝑙𝑙𝑜𝑛 $0.22 $𝟎. 𝟓𝟗𝟓
𝐶𝑜𝑠𝑡 = ( × )+ =
𝑔𝑎𝑙𝑙𝑜𝑛 8 𝑚𝑖𝑙𝑒𝑠 𝑚𝑖𝑙𝑒 𝒎𝒊𝒍𝒆

b. Assume that both trucks are used for 10 years and use a discount rate of
7%. What is the present value of the Total Cost of Ownership of each
truck, including all costs shown in the table? (Put answers in the table.)
1 − (1 + 0.07)−10
𝐷𝑖𝑠𝑐𝑜𝑢𝑛𝑡 𝐹𝑎𝑐𝑡𝑜𝑟 = = 7.02
0.07
𝑇𝑜𝑡𝑎𝑙 𝑁𝑢𝑚𝑏𝑒𝑟 𝑜𝑓 𝑀𝑖𝑙𝑒𝑠 = 50 𝑚𝑖𝑙𝑒𝑠 × 300 𝑑𝑎𝑦𝑠 × 10 𝑦𝑒𝑎𝑟𝑠
= 15,000 𝑚𝑖𝑙𝑒𝑠

For Electric Truck:

$0.31
𝑃𝑟𝑒𝑠𝑒𝑛𝑡 𝑉𝑎𝑙𝑢𝑒 = $90,000 + $5,000 + ( × 15,000 𝑚𝑖𝑙𝑒𝑠 × 7.02)
𝑚𝑖𝑙𝑒
= $𝟏𝟐𝟕, 𝟔𝟒𝟖

For Diesel Truck:

$0.595
𝑃𝑟𝑒𝑠𝑒𝑛𝑡 𝑉𝑎𝑙𝑢𝑒 = $60,000 + ( × 15,000 𝑚𝑖𝑙𝑒𝑠 × 7.02)
𝑚𝑖𝑙𝑒
= $𝟏𝟐𝟐, 𝟔𝟓𝟒

c. The relative cost of electric trucks versus diesel trucks depends on many
factors. For the set of parameters in parts a and b, the present value of the
total cost of ownership is larger for the electric truck than for the diesel
truck. While truck buyers may not be able to control the purchase price,
they may vary in terms of their discount rate (e.g. loan rate that is
available for truck purchases), and some may be able to charging their
vehicles at a lower cost by using low night-time rates for electric vehicle
charging. Holding all other variables constant, at what discount rate would
the electric truck and diesel truck have equal total cost of ownership?
Ahmad Usman Khan GTiD: 903433050 February 19, 2019

Let discount rate be equal to ‘r’ and discount factor be ‘d’.

For Electric Truck:
$0.31
𝑃𝑟𝑒𝑠𝑒𝑛𝑡 𝑉𝑎𝑙𝑢𝑒 = $90,000 + $5,000 + ( × 15,000 𝑚𝑖𝑙𝑒𝑠 × 𝑑)
𝑚𝑖𝑙𝑒
= $(95,000 + 4650𝑑)

For Diesel Truck:

$0.595
𝑃𝑟𝑒𝑠𝑒𝑛𝑡 𝑉𝑎𝑙𝑢𝑒 = $60,000 + ( × 15,000 𝑚𝑖𝑙𝑒𝑠 × 𝑑)
𝑚𝑖𝑙𝑒
= $(60,000 + 8925𝑑)

When their present values are equal,

95,000 + 4650𝑑 = 60,000 + 8925𝑑
𝑑 = 8.187

Hence the discount rate is:

1 − (1 + 𝑟)−10
= 8.187
𝑟
𝒓 = 𝟑. 𝟖𝟐%

d. Similarly, holding all other variables constant, at what average electricity

price would the electric truck and diesel truck have equal total cost of
ownership?
Let electricity cost be ‘x’.
Where their total cost of ownership is equal,
$122,654
$𝑥 𝑘𝑊ℎ $0.18
= $95,000 + ((( × 1.3 )+ ) × 15,000 𝑚𝑖𝑙𝑒𝑠 × 7.02)
𝑘𝑊ℎ 𝑚𝑖𝑙𝑒 𝑚𝑖𝑙𝑒
$122,654 = $(95,000 + 136,890𝑥 + 18,954)
$𝟎. 𝟎𝟔𝟑𝟔
𝒙=
𝒌𝑾𝒉

Purchase Energy Energy Maintenance Electric Operating Total cost

Price ($) Use Supply Cost Cost $/mile Vehicle Cost of
Charging ($/mile) ownership
Station ($)
Electric 90,000 1.3 $0.1/kWh 0.18 $5000
Truck kWh/mile 0.31 $127,648

Diesel 60,000 8 miles $3.00/gallon 0.22 0

0.595 $122,654
Truck per gallon

9. Bulb switch. Six 100-watt incandescent lights are replaced by 40-watt fluorescent
tubes that produce five times the lumens/watt.
(a) How many tubes are needed to retain the same illumination?
Let illumination per watt from one incandescent light be ‘z’.
Ahmad Usman Khan GTiD: 903433050 February 19, 2019

Illumination per watt from one fluorescent tube will be ‘5z’.

Hence,
𝟔 × 𝟏𝟎𝟎 × 𝒛
𝑵𝒖𝒎𝒃𝒆𝒓 𝒐𝒇 𝒕𝒖𝒃𝒆𝒔 𝒏𝒆𝒆𝒅𝒆𝒅 = = 𝟑 𝒕𝒖𝒃𝒆𝒔
𝟒𝟎 × 𝟓𝒛

(b) What are electric-lighting energy savings for a year’s full time operation, in
kWh/year?
𝑃𝑜𝑤𝑒𝑟 𝑠𝑎𝑣𝑒𝑑 = 600 𝑊 − 120 𝑊 = 480 𝑊
𝑑𝑎𝑦𝑠 ℎ𝑜𝑢𝑟𝑠 𝒌𝑾𝒉
𝑬𝒏𝒆𝒓𝒈𝒚 𝒔𝒂𝒗𝒊𝒏𝒈𝒔 = 480 𝑊 × 365 × 24 = 𝟒𝟐𝟎𝟒. 𝟖
𝑦𝑒𝑎𝑟 𝑑𝑎𝑦 𝒚𝒆𝒂𝒓

(c) What are the air conditioning savings with a coefficient of performance (COP)
of 3? Assume that air conditioning is used for half the year.

𝐸𝑛𝑒𝑟𝑔𝑦 𝑆𝑎𝑣𝑒𝑑
𝐶𝑜𝑒𝑓𝑓𝑖𝑐𝑖𝑒𝑛𝑡 𝑜𝑓 𝑃𝑒𝑟𝑓𝑜𝑟𝑚𝑎𝑛𝑐𝑒 =
𝑆𝑎𝑣𝑒𝑑 𝑊𝑜𝑟𝑘
𝒌𝑾𝒉
𝟒𝟐𝟎𝟒. 𝟖 𝒚𝒆𝒂𝒓 × 𝟎. 𝟓 𝒚𝒆𝒂𝒓𝒔
𝑺𝒂𝒗𝒆𝒅 𝑾𝒐𝒓𝒌 = = 𝟕𝟎𝟎. 𝟖 𝒌𝑾𝒉
𝟑
= 𝑨𝒊𝒓 𝒄𝒐𝒏𝒅𝒊𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒔𝒂𝒗𝒊𝒏𝒈𝒔

(d) If the electricity were produced from coal, how much coal is saved over 10
years with 1 kWhe = 0.4 kg of coal? Express your answer in kilograms or
metric tons. (From Hafemeister 11.2)

𝑇𝑜𝑡𝑎𝑙 𝑠𝑎𝑣𝑒𝑑 𝑒𝑛𝑒𝑟𝑔𝑦 = 700.8 𝑘𝑊ℎ + 4204.8 𝑘𝑊ℎ = 4905.8 𝑘𝑊ℎ

𝑘𝑔
𝐶𝑜𝑎𝑙 𝑠𝑎𝑣𝑒𝑑 𝑝𝑒𝑟 𝑦𝑒𝑎𝑟 = 4905.8 𝑘𝑊ℎ × 0.4 = 1962.32 𝑘𝑔
𝑘𝑊ℎ
𝑪𝒐𝒂𝒍 𝒔𝒂𝒗𝒆𝒅 𝒐𝒗𝒆𝒓 𝟏𝟎 𝒚𝒆𝒂𝒓𝒔 = 𝟏𝟗𝟔𝟐. 𝟑𝟐 𝒌𝒈 × 𝟏𝟎 = 𝟏𝟗, 𝟔𝟐𝟑. 𝟐 𝒌𝒈