Making technology work

Cover......Page 1
Half-title......Page 3
Title......Page 5
Copyright......Page 6
Dedication......Page 7
Contents......Page 9
Preface......Page 11
1 Introduction......Page 13
PAPER OR FOAM PLASTIC CUPS?......Page 15
Internalizing External Costs......Page 16
What is the System?......Page 17
ELECTRIC VEHICLES IN CALIFORNIA......Page 18
TECHNICAL ASPECTS OF GASOHOL......Page 21
Energy Content of Ethanol and Gasoline......Page 22
How Much Premium Fuel Will Gasohol Save?......Page 23
ECONOMIC ASPECTS OF GASOHOL......Page 24
POLITICS OF GASOHOL......Page 25
GASOHOL ELSEWHERE IN THE WORLD......Page 26
ETHANOL FROM CELLULOSE......Page 27
3 Solar Thermal,Windpower, and Photovoltaic Technologies......Page 29
The Sun’s Energy......Page 30
A Practical Design and Calculation......Page 32
Economic Analysis......Page 33
Why is the System Designed for Only a Fraction of the Load?......Page 35
WIND ENERGY......Page 36
Technical Performance of Wind Machines......Page 37
Economics of Wind Energy......Page 42
The Role of Risk......Page 45
The Concepts of Internal Rate of Return and Debt Financing......Page 48
SOLAR PHOTOVOLTAIC TECHNOLOGY......Page 51
Economics of Photovoltaics......Page 54
Economies of Scale......Page 56
The Manufacturing Learning Curve......Page 57
CONCLUSION......Page 58
APPENDIX TO CHAPTER 3......Page 59
COAL AS A NATURAL MATERIAL......Page 61
THE U.S. COAL INDUSTRY: PRODUCTION, PRODUCTIVITY, AND TRANSPORTATION......Page 64
CONVENTIONAL COAL-FIRED STEAM PLANTS......Page 65
Material Balance Considerations......Page 68
Levelized Capital Charge......Page 69
Levelized Fuel Cost......Page 71
Levelized Operating and Maintenance Cost......Page 72
Atmospheric Fluidized Bed Combustion (AFBC)......Page 73
Continuous Compounding of Interest......Page 74
Calculating the Levelized Cost for the Case of Continuous Cash Flows......Page 75
5 Controlling Acid Rain from Coal-fired Power Plants......Page 78
The Mechanisms of Acid Rain......Page 79
Atmospheric Chemical Reactions......Page 80
Environmental Effects of Acid Rain......Page 81
Mitigation Strategies......Page 82
A Model to Assess Alternative Mitigation Strategies......Page 83
Alternative Cases of Acid Rain Reduction......Page 84
Costs and Benefits of the Alternative Cases......Page 85
A Market Mechanism for Pollution Control......Page 87
The Clean Air Act Amendments of 1990......Page 90
Basic Cause of the Greenhouse Gas Phenomenon......Page 93
Global Climate Models......Page 97
Predictions of Global Climate Models......Page 99
What is Known Empirically......Page 101
Conclusions Concerning Global Climate Modeling......Page 102
How Costly are Mitigating Strategies?......Page 103
What are the Policy Choices?......Page 106
International Implications......Page 110
THE INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC PROCESS ON CLIMATE CHANGE......Page 111
THE KYOTO PROTOCOL......Page 114
The Political Response to the Kyoto Protocol in the United States......Page 115
The Economic Costs of GHG Reductions......Page 116
7 Nuclear Power and Its Fuel Cycle......Page 121
Nuclear Physics Background......Page 123
Radioactive Decay......Page 124
Radioactive Decay Law......Page 125
THE FISSION PROCESS......Page 126
Physics of Nuclear Reactors......Page 128
Nuclear Reactor Types......Page 130
Nuclear Reactor Safety......Page 133
THE ACCIDENT AT CHERNOBYL......Page 134
The Nuclear Fuel Cycle......Page 136
The Front End of the Fuel Cycle......Page 137
The Back End of the Fuel Cycle......Page 142
8 Managing Nuclear Waste......Page 146
THE TECHNICAL CHARACTERISTICS OF HIGH-LEVEL WASTE......Page 147
CONTRASTING PERSPECTIVES ON THE NUCLEAR WASTE MANAGEMENT PROBLEM......Page 154
Repository Site Selection......Page 157
Interim Storage of Spent Fuel......Page 160
Regulation of High-level Waste Repositories......Page 162
GENERAL LESSONS......Page 164
Making Bombs......Page 166
WHY DO NATIONS SEEK THE BOMB?......Page 168
Diplomacy’s Effect on Nuclear Power......Page 169
HOW INTERNATIONAL CONSENSUS WAS REACHED......Page 172
PRESENT PROLIFERATION CONCERNS......Page 173
WHAT CAN WE LEARN FROM THE HISTORY OF NONPROLIFERATION POLICY?......Page 175
The Advantages of Natural Gas......Page 176
Natural Gas Resources......Page 179
Natural Gas Production......Page 183
FUTURE NATURAL GAS USE IN THE U.S. AND THE ECONOMICS OF GAS-FIRED ELECTRICITY GENERATION......Page 188
APPENDIX TO CHAPTER 10......Page 191
LIQUEFIED NATURAL GAS......Page 193
Probabilistic Risk Assessment......Page 196
RISK PERCEPTIONS......Page 198
TECHNICAL ASPECTS OF SYNTHETIC FUELS......Page 206
Synthetic Liquids from Coal......Page 208
THE SYNTHETIC FUEL STORY......Page 212
13 Fuel Cells for Automobiles......Page 217
TECHNICAL ASPECTS OF FUEL CELLS......Page 218
THE FUEL CELL “SYSTEM” PROBLEM......Page 220
FUEL CELLS AND THE CHALLENGE OF MANAGING GOVERNMENT R&D PROGRAMS......Page 225
Greenhouse Gas Emissions from Hydrocarbon Fuels......Page 230
14 Energy Models and Statistics......Page 233
ENERGY DATA – SOURCES AND UNITS......Page 234
PRIMARY ENERGY FLOWS IN THE U.S.......Page 235
PROJECTIONS OF U.S. ENERGY USE......Page 236
Key Assumptions......Page 239
World Oil Outlook......Page 241
The U.S. Petroleum Supply Situation......Page 244
ENERGY STATISTICS......Page 245
Confidence Intervals......Page 246
ESTIMATING RECENT TRENDS IN ENERGY EFFICIENCY IN THE U.S.......Page 247
APPENDIX TO CHAPTER 14......Page 254
Generalization to Several Variables......Page 255
Example for Two Variables......Page 256
A Taxonomy of R&D and Innovation......Page 258
RATIONALES FOR GOVERNMENT INTERVENTION IN SUPPORT OF INNOVATION......Page 264
Policy Instruments for Government Support of Innovation......Page 269
Indirect R&D Incentives......Page 271
International Comparisons......Page 272
16 Conclusions......Page 275
Index......Page 279