Why We Did This

For all of the techniucal, political, and emotional discussion about energy, the environment, and the state of the world, we wanted to make a fast, simple, secure mobile application that brought people a sense of how these are tied together. Read below to learn about the different marker icons, the energy sources they represent, and some of the concerns.

Coal

Coal is the largest contributor of CO2 to the atmosphere creating about 1000 kilograms of CO2 for each megawatt-hour (MWh) of energy, for a total of 14.5 Billion metric tons a year. It is also the biggest contributor of Volatile Organic Compounds (VOC’s 80 gr/MWh), small and large particulate matter (<2.5um, 250 gr/MWh ), Sulfur Dioxide (SO2, 2000 gr/MWh), Nitrous Oxide (NO, 1500 gr/MWh), and more. Although its use is declining in the US, it is still growing in other parts of the world, particularly in China and India.

Oil

Oil is the second largest contributor of CO2 to the atmosphere creating about 820 kilograms of CO2 for each 1 megawatt-hour (MWh) of energy produced for a total of about 12 Billion metric tons per year.. It also has contributor of Volatile Organic Compounds (VOC’s 50 gr/MWh), small and large particulate matter (<2.5um, 150 gr/MWh ), Sulfur Dioxide (SO2, 1200 gr/MWh), Nitrous Oxide (NO, 900 gr/MWh), and more.

Natural Gas

Natural Gas is the third largest contributor of CO2 to the atmosphere creating about 480 kilograms of CO2 for each 1 megawatt-hour (MWh) of energy produced for a total of about 7.5 Billion metric tons per year.. It also is a contributor of Volatile Organic Compounds (VOC’s 5 gr/MWh), small and large particulate matter (<2.5um, 5 gr/MWh ), Sulfur Dioxide (SO2, 10 gr/MWh), Nitrous Oxide (NO, 500 gr/MWh), and more.

Landfill Gas

There are over 2000 Landfill Gas locations in the United States. These capture methane emitted from landfills and former dumpsites to burn for electricity. This prevents methane from escaping to the atmosphere where it is a potent greenhouse gas (27 x CO2). MostLandfill Gas sites are less than 10 Megawatts in capacity

Biomass

There are about 2000 Biomass Power Plants in the world with about 200 of them in the US. Most are closely associated with processes that that generate cellulose or wood pulp which provides the fuel. Biomass plants are considered net zero as they do not consume fossil fuels and only release CO2 from carbon that is captured by forestry, agriculture, or similar operations.

GeoThermal

Geothermal Power Plants capture energy from thermal vents that exist in nature. These are located mostly in areas with tectonic plate and volcanic activity such as the western US and Canada, Iceland, Indonesia and Japan.

Nuclear

Nuclear power has the benefit of massive scale of electricity generation without creating CO2 or other emissions. However it requires the very careful Risk Management of Operations and long term Waste Storage. There is also a long term risk of Nuclear Weapons Proliferation.

Hydroelectric

KHydroelectric energy also has the benefit of massive scale of electricity generation without CO2 and other emissions, but is also faulted for major environmental impact by damming water flow. Hydroelectric plants can scale from a few Kilowatts to Gigawatts in scale.

Pumped Storage

Pumped Storage systems use electricity from low demand periods, typically at night, to pump water to higher elevation, and then reverse flow to generate electricity during high demand times. They are often integrated into hydroelectric plants. They are also sometimes criticized for interrupting water flow in natural ecosystems.

Battery Storage

Battery Storage systems use electricity from low demand periods, typically at night, to charge batteries, and then use the batteries to generate electricity during high demand times. Most battery storage today uses lithium ion technology and can represent explosive, fire, and environmental risk in larger configurations. Most battery storage today is in smaller configurations and very often colocated with solar arrays.

Wind Turbines

Wind Turbines use wind power to generate electricity with no CO2 or other emissions. The amount of energy generated starts linearly at very low wind speed and then grows to the cube of wind velocity. For example, a 14 meter/sec wind generates 8 times as much electricity as a 7 meter/sec wind. Unlike fossil fuels, Wind Turbines have high upfront cost and low incremental cost. For successful adoption, wind energy should be integrated into energy trading systems with a priority over ‘day ahead’ sales of fossil fuels and other stored energy when wind is blowing.

Solar Arrays

Solar Arrays use the sun’s energy and the photovoltaic effect to convert it to electricity with no CO2 or other emissions. The sun has a nominal total energy of 1000 watts per square meter. Most arrays today capture about 16% of that energy which works out to about 5 acres of arrays for 1 Megawatt of energy. For successful adoption, solar energy should be integrated into energy trading systems with a priority over ‘day ahead’ sales of fossil fuels and other stored energy when the sun is shining.

Other

With over 140,000 Power Plants in the world, it is very hard to categorize all of them into readily recognizable markers. For this reason we created a category for everything else. Many, but not all, are intermediate conversions of coal to oil or gas.