A Sustainable Energy Plan for the USA
For your final project, you will be working with a team to create, analyze, and support a plan to produce all the energy consumed by the people of the United States by sustainable means. You will take the role of a team of economists, scientists, engineers, and politicians to devise a plan that is:
- Technologically realistic
- Fully developed for implementation (costs, timelines, locations)
- Well supported by data and analysis
- “Affordable”
- Politically viable, or at least politically considered
Your plan will be delivered in two parts: a cited research paper that gives a complete analysis of your plan, at a level similar to that of David MacKay’s plan in Sustainable Energy, and a poster that summarizes the major aspects of your plan in a visually appealing way.
You will work as teams of 4, and will clearly document what work each person in your team has completed. There will be a number of interim deadlines that will contribute approximately 70% to your grade (individual grades). Your poster and report are due in class on Friday, 5/17 (15% of grade, team grade) and we will have discussions and presentations of these plans on Friday & Saturday (15% of grade, individual grade). I am looking at teaming options with other classes, who may be able to judge plans for extra credit.
The final exam will be an essay discussing aspects of these projects (Juniors only).
Your Report
Your report will follow the Engineering Design Process for format. This is nearly identical to your projects from the winter, but because of our desired result, we will take them out of order. Below are the section headings and some requirements.
Problem Statement (given)
The current status of sustainable energy in the USA is that production (~25kWh/p/d) is well below consumption (~250kWh/p/d). The USA needs a plan to match sustainable energy production to consumption.
Specifications and Metrics
Your plan must balance consumption with sustainable production.
You should choose within your group how to rank the various factors that define a successful energy plan. You must consider: cost (compare to current energy budget for USA), time to implement (compare to 2020 and 2050), impact on land use (square km required), and political viability (impact on people, harder to quantify).
If you would like to consider other factors as well, include them here.
For each metric, provide some sort of system for evaluating aspects of your plan quantitatively. For example:
Cost to Implement: We evaluate the cost to implement based on a 20 year payback period. We take the cost of a power plant and divide it by 20 before computing the cost per kWh/p/d. We compare this number to the cost of producing this energy with oil. Values that are lower or comparable are very strong. Values that are more than 3 times the cost of oil are very weak.
Note that it is a quantitative statement that gives the assumptions that we think are important (20 year payback, comparison to cost of oil).
Each group member will be responsible for writing up one of these metrics.
Brainstorming & Priority Alternatives: Conceptual Design of Plan
After starting your Metrics, the place you should likely begin is with a conceptual outline of your plan. Answer the following questions as a group.
1. Brainstorm: What are the production technologies that are available to us? What are the technologies that can cut consumption?
2. Prioritize: By how much will we attempt to cut consumption? What areas will we focus on? What is our future consumption number for an American citizen? What technologies will we use for sustainable production? Are there any that we eliminate completely?
3. Use Metrics: Which technologies will we use to cut consumption? What will the group use to justify the order of use? Estimate how each technology will score using your metrics and our work from class.
4. Use Metrics: Which technologies will we use to produce energy? What will the group use to justify the order of use? Estimate how each technology will score using your metrics and our work from class.
Each group member will be responsible for writing up one of these topics.
State of the Art
Over the past months, you have reviewed many aspects of the state of the art for reducing energy consumption in different ways and for producing energy in sustainable ways. For any technology that you intend to feature in your plan, you should include a paragraph that describes the relevant details of the technology as you intend to use it. Below is an example:
Concentrated solar power uses heliostats (movable mirrors) that track the sun and reflect its light onto a central tower where it is used to generate electricity. The state of the art is represented by the 11MW PS10 Plant near Seville, Spain. This plant occupies a space of ¾ of a square kilometer (Google Maps), cost $46M to build, and produces 23.4GWh per year (Wikipedia). The plant took 4 years to build. The cost per kWh is approximated at $.12 to $.18 (Reuters).
Note how this paragraph includes information about the technology (sentence 1), the specific plant used for analysis (sentence 2), and the relevant data about area, cost, annual production, time to build, and cost per kWH (remainder of paragraph). Also note that all data are cited by their source.
You will likely have more than 10 of these paragraphs, some for production and some for consumption. The better your numbers here, the better your overall plan will be.
Each group member will be responsible for writing up 3 technologies to be used in the plan.
Implement Solution: Preliminary Design of Plan
Now, it is time to lay out your plan. Using your information from the State of the Art and your Priorities, lay out your sustainable energy plan.
Consumption: Re-compute (or copy over) the calculations we completed as a class for the current USA consumption of the different categories used by David MacKay (driving, flying, heat, etc.). Using the information from your State of the Art research, describe how each of these numbers will be reduced by your plan, the cost per person of this reduction, and a reasonable estimate of the time to complete implementation. Some categories may use more than one technology; make sure that you include information about each.
Create a bar graph like the one in your text.
Each group member will be responsible for one major (driving, heat, stuff, food) and one minor (cooking and cleaning, lighting, gadgets, public services) category.
Production: Divide the consumption number amongst the different technologies we have studied (wind, solar, etc.). Using your State of the Art research, calculate how much your desired power production will cost per person and how much space will be required per person. Also, compute the total cost of the USA, the total space required, and a reasonable estimate of the time to complete the implementation. You will need to consider each, even if to dismiss it for some reason.
Create a bar chart like in your text.
Each group member will be responsible for two of the major technologies we have discussed (hydroelectricity, onshore wind, offshorewind, photovoltaics, concentrated solar, biomass, geothermal, wave and tide).
Data and Analysis: Detailed Design of Plan
Now it is time to implement your design.
· Confirm that your consumption numbers “add up”.
o Make sure that you scale back savings that don’t apply across the country (How many people can reasonably use public transportation?)
o Define where certain technologies will be implemented (Will improved insulation help in the southern USA?)
o Remove conflicting technologies (You won’t have self driving cars and only public transport for the same people.)
o Must include calculations and analysis.
· Using a map of the USA, locate your power production.
o Check that assumptions for your power production (say, intensity of sunlight or wind) are met for the regions you place them in. You may need to “scale up” your numbers to account for lower production.
o Confirm that sufficient space is available to provide all of the power you expect.
o Confirm that power is distributed similarly to population or add in cost for power grid.
o Confirm that power will be available when needed or add in cost for storage.
o Check to make sure that the type of energy production matches the type of energy consumption (You can’t eat electricity or power your car with a geothermal heat pump).
o Must include an actual map of the USA with appropriate markup for power system.
· Using your different timelines, construct an implementation plan.
o When will your different technologies come online?
o How much money will need to be spent each year?
o What quantity of resources will be needed to make your windmills, etc? How does this compare to normal production levels?
o Includes an actual timeline.
Each group member will be responsible for contributing the information that relates to the work they did in the State of the Art and the Preliminary Design.
A group grade will be assigned to the quality of the section.
Conclusion and Communication
Finally, complete your report by 1) identifying the political implications of your plan and addressing them and 2) presenting your findings in 3 different forms (written report, presentation, and poster).
Your group will divide up this work. One person is responsible for organizing all of the previous assignments into a single document. This person will also write up the political implications. Two people are responsible for summarizing the document into a poster format that includes the major images from your paper. One person will be responsible for giving a 7minute presentation of your work in ppt. format.
Individual grades will be assigned as well as an overall group grade for the quality of the communication section.
Grading Rubric
The following is the rubric for all parts of your final project. Grading is for individual work unless otherwise specified. Due dates will be provided in class.
- Specifications & Metrics DUE________________
o Quantitative measurements described
o Justification given
o Writing
o On time
- Conceptual Design DUE________________
o Process (brainstorming, prioritizing, metrics) described
o Group discussion documented
o Writing
o On time
- State of the Art DUE________________
o Technology ______________________________
- Information (accurate)
- Information (citations)
- Writing
- On time
o Technology ______________________________
§ Information (accurate)
§ Information (citations)
§ Writing
§ On time
o Technology ______________________________
§ Information (accurate)
§ Information (citations)
§ Writing
§ On time
· Preliminary Design DUE________________
o Consumption Technology ___________________
§ Current state calculations (accurate)
§ Current state numbers (accuracy and citations)
§ Reductions described and calculated (accuracy)
§ Timeline described
§ Writing
§ On time
o Consumption Technology ____________________
§ Current state calculations (accurate)
§ Current state numbers (accuracy and citations)
§ Reductions described and calculated (accuracy)
§ Timeline described
§ Writing
§ On time
o Production Technology _______________________
§ Calculations and numbers personal (accuracy)
§ Calculations and numbers USA (accuracy)
§ Timeline described
§ Writing
§ On time
o Production Technology _______________________
§ Calculations and numbers (accurate)
§ Calculations and numbers USA (accuracy)
§ Timeline described
§ Writing
§ On time
· Detailed Design DUE________________
o Consumption detailed analysis
§ Location/fraction of population considered
§ Sophistication of analysis
§ Writing
§ On time
o Production detailed analysis
§ Located on map
§ Areas do not conflict
§ Power distribution considered
§ Power storage considered
§ Writing
§ On time
o Timeline
§ Analysis of sequence
§ Analysis of cost
§ Analysis of materials
§ Writing
§ On time
o Group grade
§ Sophistication of analysis
§ Integration of ideas
· Communication DUE________________
o Paper
§ Integration of sections
§ Completeness of works cited
§ Political implications
§ Writing
§ Quality of presentation
§ On time
o Poster
§ Inclusion of images
§ Text for explanation
§ Writing
§ Quality of presentation
§ On time
o Presentation
§ Completeness
§ Preparation
§ Quality of presentation
§ Length
o Group grade
§ Overall quality of plan
§ Sophistication of analysis
§ Realistic assessment of challenges
§ Integration of different parts of project