International Journal of Emerging Technology and Advanced Engineering
Website: www.ijetae.com (ISSN 2250-2459, ISO 9001:2008 Certified Journal, Volume 5, Special Issue 2, April 2015)
The Environmental and Cost Implication of Fossil Fuel
Generators: New Benin Market, Benin City, Nigeria
Omoruyi, S.O1, Idiata, D.J2
1
Department of Electrical & Electronic Engineering
2
Department of Civil Engineering
Edo State Institute of Technology & Management Usen, P.M.B 1104, Benin City
1
[email protected]
Abstract- The world's power demands are expected to rise
60% by 2030. In 2007 there were over 50,000 active coal
plants worldwide and this number is expected to grow. In
2004, the International Energy Agency (IEA) estimated that
fossil fuels will account for 85% of the energy market by 2030.
There is a prevalent use of fossil fuel generators for electric
power supply to buildings in Nigeria. The associated
environmental, health and social hazards are major concerns
to both the users and their neighbours. the research work was
carried out in Balogun shopping mall in New Benin marketing,
Benin City, Nigeria. The environmental effects are impaired
hearing, impairing visibility, deafness, sleeplessness, choking
sensation and dizziness as observed from the questionnaires
administered. The average cost of running the fossil fueled
generators ranges from =N= 6,513 to =N= 32,500 monthly.
Nigerians have suffered for decades from the inadequate
electricity service from the government owned monopoly
PHCN, the Power Holding Company of Nigeria, commonly
known by other names such as 'Please have candle nearby'.
Nigeria,
Keywords- Environmental effects; fossil fuel; Electricity;
power generation
I.
INTRODUCTION
Over 65% of the world's electrical energy used today is
generated by steam turbine generators burning fossil fuels
as their source of energy and large scale fossil fuelled
plants provide most of the world's base load generating
capacity. Fossil fuelled plants use either coal (60%), oil
(10%)or gas (30%) in purpose designed combustion
chambers to raise steam. These are all non-renewable
resources whose supply will ultimately be exhausted. [1].
Oil is probably the most convenient fuel and thirty years
ago it accounted for 30% of the consumption but it has
mostly been replaced by coal as oil prices have risen faster
than the price of coal due to insecurities of supply. At the
same time, the premium value of oil for transportation and
chemical uses, rather than for just burning it to extract its
calorific value, has also been recognised.
Nigeria has one of the lowest net electricity generation
per capita rates in the world.
Fig 1: showing high tension power lines
Africa's most populous country, produces less grid
electricity than the Republic of Ireland. South Africans
consume 55 times more energy per head, and Americans
100 times more. Over 50% of Nigeria's 160 million people
receive no electricity at all [2].
Nigeria is an energy resource rich country, endowed with
abundance of renewable energy (RE) resources, providing
her with great capacity to develop an effective national
energy plan. However, Nigeria is yet to exploit these huge
available energy potentials with less environmental and
climatic impacts [3].
Commercial electricity generation in Nigeria currently
comes from 7 power stations and various independent
Power Projects around the country. Thus, the current
nation’s available electricity generating capacity is about
3,920MW with per capita power capacity of 28.57 Watts and
this is grossly inadequate even for domestic consumption
[4].
International Research Conference on Science, Management and Engineering 2015 (IRCSME 2015), Dubai, UAE
Page 25
International Journal of Emerging Technology and Advanced Engineering
Website: www.ijetae.com (ISSN 2250-2459, ISO 9001:2008 Certified Journal, Volume 5, Special Issue 2, April 2015)
For Nigeria to meet up its energy needs, it requires per
capital power capacity of 1000 Watts or power
generating/handling capacity of 140,000 MW as against the
current capacity of 3,920 MW. Consequently, availability of
power in the country varied from about 27% to 60% of
installed capacity, while transmission and distribution losses
accounted for about 28% of the electricity generated in the
country [5].
The energy consumption mix in Nigeria is dominated by
fuel wood (50.45%); petroleum products (41.28%) and
hydro electricity (8%). Coal, Nuclear, geothermal, tidal,
wind and solar energy are currently not part of Nigeria’s
energy mix, as they have either been neglected, not
discovered or are currently at their early stage of
development (4Omokaro, 2008). The energy utilization
pattern in Nigeria can be grouped into industry, transport,
commercial, household and agricultural sectors. Fuel wood
is used by over 60% of people living in the rural areas and
80% of Nigerians as energy source. Nigeria consumes over
50 million metric tonnes of fuel wood annually, which is a
major cause of desertification and erosion in the country [3].
II.
P URPOSE OF T HE STUDY
The lack of a reliable supply and the constant blackouts
cause severe economic damage. The cost of alternatives,
mainly diesel generation, is at least four times the cost of a
reliable power supply. In addition to this direct cost is the
negative impact on people's time — this can mean the time
spent accessing alternatives, or the time lost because
children cannot read in the evenings. The modern world is
dependent on access to information, which in turn is only
possible with a reliable and constant source of electricity
[2].
This paper investigates generator users’ and their
perceptions on the environmental hazards and the cost
implication of fossil fuel generators used for electric power
supply to shops in New Benin Market, Benin City, Nigeria.
It was effected mainly by field surveys through the use of a
well structured questionnaire.
III.
METHODOLOGY
The main area of the market which was investigated is
the shopping mall along Upper Mission road. The Balogun
shopping mall which contains about 200 locked up shops.
Questionnaire was administered to the shops and 150 were
returned which gives us a 75% returned rate.
The questionnaire mainly addressed the following:
a). Frequency of generator usage.
b). Environmental issues in fossil fuel generators operation.
c). Generator users’ attitude to neighbours’ complaints.
d). Cost of running these generators
e). The type of fuel used by the generators
IV.
FOSSIL FUELS
Humans need energy for just about any type of function
they perform. Houses must be heated, energy is required
for industry and agriculture and even within our own
bodies a constant flow of energy takes place. All processes
that provide us with the luxuries of every day live we can
no longer live without require energy generation. This is an
industrial process that can be performed using various
different sources. These sources can be either renewable or
non-renewable. Renewable energy sources are replaced in
time and will therefore not run out easily. However,
non-renewable energy sources are threatening to run out if
our standard of usage becomes too high. Nowadays many
renewable energy sources are available for use, for example
solar and wind energy and water power. Ironically, we still
gain most of our energy from non-renewable energy
sources, commonly known as fossil fuels. The
non-renewability of these sources will probably cause
prices to rise up to a point where they are no longer
economically feasible [6].
According to Klazema [7], Though different terms are
occasionally used that are interchangeable for each, there
are three primary varieties for fossil fuels. These are coal,
oil, and natural gas.
 Coal
Of the three types of fossil fuels, coal is the only one still
in a solid state. It appears as chunks of midnight black rock,
which are harvested from the Earth by workers in mining
operations. Coal is composed of five different elements:
carbon, nitrogen, oxygen, hydrogen, and sulfur, with the
distributions of those five elements varying depending on
the piece of coal.
 Oil
Oil, also called petroleum, is arguably the most often
discussed form of fossil fuel in the world today, with every
conversation about vehicular fuel economy and ―arm and a
leg‖ gas prices relating back to the near-universal value of
this ancient fossil fuel. Just how ancient are most of our
world’s petroleum reserves? Over 300 million years,
according to scientific consensus. Of those 300 million
years, civilizations have been making use of oil for about
five or six millennia.
International Research Conference on Science, Management and Engineering 2015 (IRCSME 2015), Dubai, UAE
Page 26
International Journal of Emerging Technology and Advanced Engineering
Website: www.ijetae.com (ISSN 2250-2459, ISO 9001:2008 Certified Journal, Volume 5, Special Issue 2, April 2015)
 Natural Gas
The final variety of fossil fuel is natural gas. Where coal
is a solid and oil is a liquid, natural gas is, of course, a gas.
It is made up primarily of methane and is incredibly
lightweight (as well as incredibly flammable). These two
types of fossil fuels simply tend to occur close to one
another underground, making mining and harvesting the
two resources thankfully efficient once they are found.
Unlike oil, though, which is pumped from the ground by
massive oil rigs, natural gas is channeled into pipeline.
These pipelines take the natural gas to storage facilities,
eventually making its way to your home to meet a portion
of your energy needs. When we use natural gas for cooking,
we often notice a distinctive smell that we associate with
the gas. Interestingly, natural gas is odorless when it is
mined from beneath the Earth’s surface, with the smell
being added later as a means of alerting people to leaks of
the substance.
V.
Table 3
Showing Generator Users’ Attitude To Neighbours’ Complaints
User
Daily
Once per week
Twice per week
Thrice per week
Frequency of use
100
Nil
11
39
Percentage
66.7
0.0
7.3
26.0
Impacts
Frequency
Percentage
Impaired hearing
Impaired visibility
Deafness
Sleeplessness
Choking sensation
Dizziness
144
74
139
136
141
127
96
49
92.7
90.7
94
84.7
Table 2 reaffirms the fact that the observation of users
shows that the impacts of generator on health and the
environment is very high with the exception of impaired
visibility with 49%. Impaired hearing choking sensation
and deafness ranks highest with 96%, 94% and 92.7%
respectively.
Indifference
148
Percentag
e
98.7
Positive attitude
2
1.3
Table 4
Showing Cost Of Running These Generators
Cost (N)
Mean
Frequency
500
daily
and below
500-1000
daily
1000-15000
daily
250.5
15
Percentag
e
10
750
129
86
1250
6
4
The economic cost of powering the generators shows
that 10% spends an average of =N= 250.5 daily which will
translate to =N= 6,513monthly, 86% spends =N=750 which
translates to =N= 19,500 monthly and 4% spends
=N=1,250 which translates to =N= 32,500 monthly.
Table 5
Showing The Type Of Fuel Used By The Generators
The table above shows that the shop owners depends on
their generators for electricity supply due to the non
provision of electricity by relevant authority’ 66.7% have to
power their generator everyday in other to boost their
economic activities.
Table 2
Showing Environmental Issues In Fossil Fuel Generators Operation
Frequency
The attitude to Generator users’ attitude to neighbours’
complaints shows 98.7% of indifference to complaints as
observed from table 3
ANALYSIS AND D ISCUSSION
Table 1
Showing Frequency Of Generator Usage
Attitude
Types
Frequency
Percentage
Diesel
40
26.7
Petrol
110
73.3
The type of fossil power generator predominantly used
at the market as observed from is study is petrol driven
types with 73.3% while diesel is 26.7%.
VI.
ENVIRONMENTAL ISSUES ASSOCIATED W ITH F OSSIL
FUEL USAGE
Two very important developments on the globe:
increased carbon dioxide release into the atmosphere and
ozone depletion of the stratosphere, have given much
concern to the modern world. Evidence of climatic change
in the distant and recent past is pursued both on a world scale
and on local scale [8]. At the local scale not less than 84
million Nigerians i.e. 60 percent needs electricity which
cannot be serviced by the PHCN (Power Holding Company
of Nigeria).
International Research Conference on Science, Management and Engineering 2015 (IRCSME 2015), Dubai, UAE
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International Journal of Emerging Technology and Advanced Engineering
Website: www.ijetae.com (ISSN 2250-2459, ISO 9001:2008 Certified Journal, Volume 5, Special Issue 2, April 2015)
This population has no option but to depend on petrol or
diesel driven generators and considering the fact
automobiles also depends on the same source. The attendant
environmental effects are summarized [9,10]
The world's power demands are expected to rise 60% by
2030. In 2007 there were over 50,000 active coal plants
worldwide and this number is expected to grow. In 2004,
the International Energy Agency (IEA) estimated that fossil
fuels will account for 85% of the energy market by 2030.
World organizations and international agencies, like the
IEA, are concerned about the environmental impact of
burning fossil fuels, and coal in particular. The combustion
of coal contributes the most to acid rain and air pollution,
and has been connected with global warming. Due to the
chemical composition of coal there are difficulties in
removing impurities from the solid fuel prior to its
combustion. Modern day coal power plants pollute less
than older designs due to new "scrubber" technologies that
filter the exhaust air in smoke stacks; however emission
levels of various pollutants are still on average several
times greater than natural gas power plants. In these
modern designs, pollution from coal-fired power plants
comes from the emission of gases such as carbon dioxide,
nitrogen oxides, and sulfur dioxide into the air [11,12,13].
Global death toll from the pollution from fossil fuel
burning-based electricity generation. It is estimated that 0.3
million people die annually world-wide from
societally-imposed, fossil fuel-based electricity generation
pollutants (carbon monoxide, sulphur dioxide, nitrogen
oxides, particulates, volatile organics and heavy metals,
notably mercury) and 170,000 people die annually
world-wide from coal burning-based electricity generation.
[14, 15].
International comparisons of fossil fuel-based power
pollution deaths. ―Annual coal-based electricity deaths‖
[―total annual fossil fuel-based electricity deaths‖] are
170,000 [283,000] (the World), 11,000 [13,000] (India),
47,000 [47,500] (China), 49,000 [72,000] (the US), 3,400
[6,900] (the UK), 4,900 [5,400] (Australia) and 2,700
[3,800](Canada) as compared to 110 [360] (heavily
renewable-based New Zealand) (green-blog.org/2008 and
evworld.com). [The total fossil fuel-based deaths are upper
limits deriving from a crude assumption, in the absence of
readily available data otherwise, of the same mortality from
gas burning as from coal burning.
In reality, pollutants (pounds per Billion Btu of energy
input) from gas, oil and coal burning are as follows:
carbon dioxide (CO2) (117,000, 164,000, 208,000,
respectively); carbon monoxide (CO) (40, 33, 208),
nitrogen oxides (N2O and NO i.e. NOx) (92, 448, 457);
sulphur dioxide (SO2) (1, 1122, 2591); particulates (7, 84,
2744); and Mercury (0.000, 0.007, 0.016) i.e. deaths from
gas burning for power may be expected to be lower than for
coal burning [16].
VII.
CONCLUSION
There is a prevalent use of fossil fuel generators for
electric power supply to market shops in Nigeria. The
associated environmental, health and social hazards are
major concerns to both the users and their neighbours.
There is a willingness to embrace measures (such as
regulation of the use, provision of better alternatives and
improvement of the supply from the national grid) which
would reduce the hazards [17].
The reliable provision of affordable electricity has the
potential to tackle both the symptoms and the causes of
poverty. Electricity enables hospitals to function more
efficiently and people to cook without suffering from
wood-smoke pollution. It reduces CO2 emissions by
removing the need for highly polluting diesel generators.
Most importantly, it would remove the greatest obstacle to
doing business in Nigeria and enable manufacturing and
other industries to compete internationally. According to
the president of the Manufacturers Association of Nigeria
(MAN), Chief Kola Jamodu, 40% of the production cost of
manufacturers goes into the provision of electricity,
compared to 5-10% in other similar economies [2].
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