Handout Homework
page 1 of 6
JEE 4360 Energy Alternatives – Handout (HO) Homework Problems
These problems are due as stated on the syllabus.
1. Forecasting: Energy prices change regularly. Forecast the St. Louis area retail
price of regular unleaded gasoline. Your forecast will be compared to the St.
Louis Average price as shown on http://www.stlouisgasprices.com/.
a. Forecast the price per US Gallon of regular unleaded gasoline for 9/15,
10/1, 11/1, and 11/15.
b. Forecast the average price for the 3-month period September through
November.
c. State the references and / or method that you used for your forecast.
2. Unit Conversion: On 4/20/2010, the Deepwater Horizon disaster occurred
resulting in oil spill estimated at 52,700-62,200 barrels daily for an estimated total
of 4.9 million barrels spilled over 86 days. Calculate the following using the
average daily flow.
a. # of US Gallons per day
b. # of liters per day
c. Tonne of oil equivalent (toe) per day
d. BTU / day
e. kWh / day
f. J / day
g. What % of USA average daily oil use is this?
3. Unit Conversion table: Make a table that translates different energy units
a. one BTU equals how many kcal, electron volt, HP-hr, Joule, kWh, lb forceft, therm, tonne of oil equivalent, and quadrillion BTU
b. one Joule equals how many BTU, kcal, electron volt, HP-hr, kWh, lb forceft, therm, tonne of oil equivalent, and quadrillion BTU
c. one each of BTU, kcal, electron volt, HP-hr, Joule, kWh, lb force-ft, therm,
tonne of oil equivalent, and quadrillion BTU equals how many
i. BTU
ii. Joule
d. State the exojoule to quadrillion BTU conversion
4. EV Economics 1: Read the Wall Street Journal July, 2011 article on Electric
Vehicle (EV) costs and breakeven analysis. Develop general equations that
compare cumulative extra cost of ownership for conventional internal combustion
(IC), electric(EV), hybrid(H), and plug-in hybrid (PEV). Name your variables
consistent with Vanek, P for Present Cost, F for Future Cost, A for Annual Cost,
M for miles per gallon, ‘i’ for interest rate, etc. Plug in the values in the article to
prove your derived equations for each technology for year 1 and 10 endpoints on
the chart.
5. Life Cycle Analysis: Perform a qualitative life cycle analysis for your assigned
product container.
a. Make a table listing the Activity Categories of Table 2-3 but state the
‘Typical Activities’ that apply to your assigned container.
b. State the advantages and disadvantages of your container material.
Handout Homework
page 2 of 6
c. Determine the weight of one 12 fluid ounce container made of this
material. What % of the total weight is the container (assume your fluid
weighs 8 lb/gal)? Provide your basis.
d. Assigned containers:
i. Aluminum can
ii. Glass bottle
iii. Plastic bottle
iv. Paper and wax carton
6. Climate Change: IPCC AR4 report states global temperature change has the
likely range of 2.0 to 4.5°C, but very unlikely <1.5°C with a best estimate about
3°C.
a. Pick the model from those shown below that will yield the best estimate in
2100.
b. Then develop closed form curve fit for it, show that explicit equation.
c. Then make a table showing temperature rise from the model, your curve
fit, and your curve fit’s % error every 20 years from 2000 through 2100
inclusive.
7. Thermodynamics: Draw a thermodynamic cycle diagram for the Mizzou
Combined Heat and Power facilities.
8. EV Economics 2: Use the present Ameren Missouri electric rates, $3.75/gal
regular gasoline price, present IC 26 mpg, and present 58 mpg for a hybrid to
calculate the cumulative extra cost of ownership for conventional internal
combustion (IC), electric(EV), hybrid(H), and plug-in hybrid (PEV) for years 1 and
Handout Homework
page 3 of 6
10. Make a chart. [use your derivation / corrected homework for HO#4] State
the breakeven years for each technology curve crossing.
9. Economics: Bud pays 35 cents / kWh for the 12,775 kWh his California home
uses each year. Bud decides to install a photovoltaic system to generate all his
own electricity needs. It costs $8.50 / W installed and has a 20 year life. His
house averages the equivalent of 5 hours full sun daily.
a. Assuming uniform usage, what size system (in Watts) should Bud install?
b. Using simple payback, after how many years does Bud breakeven?
c. Considering the time value of money, what interest rate does Bud earn
over the 20 year life?
10. Energy use: For the 2010 year, the Ameren Missouri 1.1 million residential
customers used 14,640 million kWh of electric energy. If 85% of this was
generated using coal, and it takes one pound of coal to produce one kWh, how
many pounds of CO2 did the average customer cause?
11. EV Economics 3: Use the present Ameren Missouri electric rates, $3.75/gal
regular gasoline price, your own car’s IC xx mpg, your own annual miles, and
Prof Nauert’s present 50 mpg for a Prius hybrid to calculate the cumulative extra
cost of ownership for conventional internal combustion (IC), and hybrid(H). [use
your derivation / corrected homework for HO#4] State the breakeven years for
each technology. What is the effect of gasoline cost rising to $5 / gallon?
12. Life Cycle Energy Analysis: Perform a life cycle energy analysis for your
assigned product container from problem 5 above. Base your analysis on one
model year 2000 light duty truckload of a liquid product in 12 fluid ounce
containers made of this material. Assume the truck’s load is 4,000 pounds of 8
lb/gal liquid and you are transporting it 200 miles.
a. Based on your container weight from 5c, determine how much of the liquid
product you can transport.
b. Determine the transportation energy consumption for your container
material.
i. First, use Table 14-2 and pages 433-437 to calculate the energy to
move the whole 4000 lb load.
ii. Then assign the appropriate portion of this energy to your total
container weight.
iii. Finally, determine the energy for one such 12 fl oz container.
c. Based on 13b and Table 14-4, determine the Production energy
consumed in making one of your containers.
d. We will compare these four containers in class after this problem is
collected.
13. Wind Power: For each wind turbine (A on the left through F on the right) below
a. Derive general equations as a function of ‘d’ diameter to calculate the
power of the wind for the swept area Pwind, and the energy Ewind.
b. Extend the equation in (a) to calculate the energy output Eout assuming
an operating efficiency ‘Eff’ times the Betz Limit.
c. Calculate the Pwind, Ewind, and Eout for 2000 hours annually at 12.5 m/s
wind speed for Efficiencies varying from 50% for A, 55% for B, etc. to 75%
for F (the 120m).
Handout Homework
page 4 of 6
d. For turbine D (d=85m) calculate Pwind, Ewind, and Eout for the bin table
using the average speed below if Efficiency is 65%
Bin Min m/s Max m/s Hrs / yr Avg speed
1
0
3
360
2
3
6
1000
3
6
8
2000
4
8
11
3000
5
11
14
2000
6
14
16
300
7
16
24
100
e.
14. Large Wind Farm: The Roscoe Texas Wind Farm is now the world’s largest
with 627 turbines that can produce up to 781.5MW peak output. Its $1.05 billion
installed cost is financed at 4%. Find the net present worth earned by the owner
using these reasonable assumptions: 521 1.5MW Turbine C and wind profile
from problem 12; energy sells for $30/MWh on peak and $10/MWh off peak;
turbines produce 20% of the total energy on peak; Renewable Energy Credits
are worth $1.50/MWh; Production tax credits are worth $10.50/MWh; the
landowner is paid $0.90/MWh; average annual maintenance cost is $6500 /
turbine; and salvage value is $80 million after the wind farm’s 25 year life.
15. Concentrated Solar Power (CSP): The Ivanpah solar project in southern
California will have 392 MW of CSP capacity. US DOE has guaranteed a $1.6
billion dollar loan thus enabling a 3.5% rate for the 30 year project life.
a. How many acres and mirrors can be expected if the 354MW Kramer CSP
has 936,384 mirrors on 1600 acres?
Handout Homework
page 5 of 6
b. Per NREL this location gets 7.5 kWh / sq. m / day on average. If 15% of
this is captured, and the steam plant is 37% efficient, calculate the annual
MWh production expected.
c. Calculate the annual cash flow using the same on / off peak energy, REC,
and production tax credit pricing as problem 14. Use a maintenance cost
of $1800/acre and landowner royalties of $0.90/MWh. 85% of energy
production is on peak.
d. Find the capacity and energy if this same site instead installed
Photovoltaic thin film panels that Ameren used.
e. Calculate the annual cash flow using the same values in (c), except that
only 80% is on peak energy, DC to AC efficiency is 85%, and use 84% of
the Ameren installed cost per kW because of economy of scale.
16.
f.
Handout Homework
page 6 of 6