Problem 1.: ME 433/AUTO533 Advanced Energy Solutions Homework Set #1 Winter 2021 32 Points

ME 433/AUTO533
Advanced Energy Solutions

Homework Set #1
Winter 2021
32 points
Problem 1. The Earth's energy balance is roughly as follows. 5.4  1021 kJ/year of solar radiation in the
visible segment of the electromagnetic spectrum is incident on the earth, of which 1.6  1021 kJ/year is
reflected back into space, resulting in 3.8  1021 kJ/year of net incoming solar radiation. Also,
approximately the same amount of heat (3.8  1021 kJ/year) is re-radiated back to space in the infrared.
Hence the rates are balanced, at least to two significant figures (i.e. not completely balanced!)
a) (2 points) When ice melts, it absorbs heat (called the "heat of fusion") of 6.0 kJ/mole without any change
in temperature. Approximately half of the arctic ice cap has melted in the past 50 years. The mass of the
remaining half is approximately 1.51016 kg. How much of an imbalance between the net incoming solar
radiation and the infrared re-radiation into space in one year would be required in order to provide enough
heat to melt the remaining half? Put your answer in terms of kJ/year and as a percentage of the net incoming
solar radiation in one year. Water has a molar mass of 18 g/mol.
b) (2 points) Between pre-industrial times, when the CO2 concentration was 270 ppm, and the present, when
the CO2 concentration is 410 ppm, the increase in the greenhouse effect has cut down on the net re-radiation
into space. This change in CO2 concentration is responsible for an excess retained heat flux (i.e., reduced
heat loss per unit area per unit time) by the earth, averaged over its entire surface, of approximately 1.5
W/m2. Express this excess retained heat both in kJ/year and as a percentage of the net incoming solar
radiation. This excess retained heat goes into melting ice and raising the temperature of the air, land, and
oceans. The radius of the Earth is 6.371  106 m.
c) (2 points) Greenland sits under about 2.5  1018 kg of ice. 70% of the Earth's surface is ocean. If the ice
on top of Greenland were to melt, how much would global sea levels rise? Assume water has a density of
1000 kg/m3.
d) (2 points) How much heat would be required to melt all that ice? Express your answer in kilojoules/year
and as a ratio with the excess retained heat per year due to the change in the greenhouse effect.
e) (2 points) Atmospheric temperatures near the surface of the earth have gone up by about 0.5 °C over the
past 50 years. Temperature rise T is related to absorbed heat Q by the expression Q  mC p T , where m
is the mass of the atmosphere, and Cp is called the "specific heat at constant pressure". Cp of air is 1.004
kJ/(kgK) and the mass of the atmosphere is about 5  1018 kg. With the very crude assumption that excess
retained heat flux has been 0.75 W/m2 over the past 50 years, what percent of the excess heat has gone into
raising the atmospheric temperature?
f) (2 points) If the arctic ice cap had not been there to absorb some of this latent heat, and the portion of the
excess retained heat flux that had gone into melting the ice went instead into raising the temperature of the
atmosphere, what would the increase in temperature T of the atmosphere have been over the past 50 years?
Refer back to part (a) for the amount of heat required to melt half the arctic ice cap.
Problem 2. (2 points) A proposed approach to mitigating the effects of climate change is "CO2
sequestration", which entails removing CO2 from the exhaust stream of coal-fired power plants and/or
atmosphere, and burying it underground in liquid form, so that it will not leak into the atmosphere for
millennia. To produce the 10 TW of power anticipated from coal worldwide in the year 2050, but carbon-
free, how large a volume of CO2 (given C + O2 = CO2) needs to be buried that year? Assume 40% conversion
from fuel energy to electricity, and that liquid CO2 will be stored at a density of 700 kg/m3. Assume that
coal comprises carbon only and converts into CO2 upon combustion. The molar mass of CO2 is 44 g/mol
and we will assume in this problem that heating 1 mole of carbon release 393.5 kJ of heat.
Problem 3. (4 points) Hurricane Floyd, which hit the East Coast of the US in Sept. 1999, led to an
average of 10" of rain (0.25 m) on an area of 19,000 square miles (49,300 km2) in eastern North Carolina.
3a. (2 points) Calculate the latent heat released1 to the atmosphere above North Carolina due to the
condensation of water vapor into rain drops. (Your answer should be in Joules). Density of water = 1000
kg/m3;
3b. (2 points) The annual energy use in the United States is roughly 1x1017 kJ. What percentage of the
annual energy use was produced by Hurricane Floyd while it was over North Carolina?
Problem 4. (4 points) People relied on water to drive turbines (water wheels or watermills), before the
industrial revolution. Potential energy2 of water that flows down a hydraulic drop is converted to kinetic
energy of turbines. Suppose the river systems in the New England region of the U.S. have a total
hydraulic drop of 500 m. The annual rainfall in this region is 1000 millimeters, of which 50% goes into
rivers.
4a. (2 points) Estimate the amount of potential energy (in Joules) that can be exploited annually from
precipitation runoffs in the New England region. Surface area of the region is approximately 1.8 ×105
km2. Density of water is 1000 kg/m3.
1
Latent heat is the energy that it takes to convert liquid water into gaseous water. Usually this energy comes from
the sun. When the water vapor finally condenses into rain it releases this stored up energy back into the atmosphere.
Latent Heat of Condensation for water = 2.5x106 J/kg;
2
Potential energy of an object is defined as E = mgz, where m is the mass of the object, g is the gravitational
acceleration (9.8 m/s2) and z is the height of the object above a reference plane.
4b. (2 points) The annual energy consumption in the New England region is roughly 4×1015 kJ. If all the
potential energy calculated in (4a) can be utilized, what percentage of the annual energy use does it
count?
By Jean-Pol GRANDMONT - travail personnel (own work), CC BY 2.0,

https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=191210
Problem 5. (2 points) TRUE or FALSE. The majority of projected increase in world energy demand in the
21st century will come from developing countries.
Problem 6. (2 points) TRUE or FALSE. Global energy production by solar sources is higher than global
energy production by hydroelectric sources.
Problem 7. (2 points) TRUE or FALSE. The majority of human population growth projected in the 21st
century is projected to occur in the continents of Asia and Africa.
Problem 8. (2 points) TRUE or FALSE. Currently more than half the U.S. natural gas consumption is used
for electric power generation.
Problem 9. (2 points) The energy content of one gallon of gasoline is approximately (hint: use energy
unit conversion table):
a) 10 kJ
b) 100 kJ
c) 1 MJ
d) 10 MJ
e) 100 MJ
f) 1 GJ

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Advanced Energy Solutions

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