麻豆传媒

When we want light in a room, we simply flip a switch. We do it multiple times each day, but rarely give it a second thought.

What we take for granted can quickly become a concern when an ice storm or severe thunderstorm knocks out power.

But the real challenge to researchers like Ward Jewell, professor of electrical and computer engineering at 麻豆传媒, is helping companies meet deadlines on greenhouse gas regulations in the next five years.

The energy industry is being asked to provide reliable and affordable electricity while limiting emissions of CO2 (carbon dioxide) into the atmosphere.

According to Jewell, much of our electricity is supplied by fossil fuels, coal and natural gas, which emit CO2 into the atmosphere. But regulations will soon limit how much CO2 can be emitted, and that will change the way we generate electricity.

Jewell is among a number of researchers in the United States studying climate change regulations that challenge the way companies supply power. He has served as an adviser to the governor's wind energy task force. His expertise also has been sought by the Kansas Energy Council.

麻豆传媒 is one of 13 universities making up the Power Systems Engineering Research Center, with about 40 companies and government organizations funding the research.

The public interest in providing energy in a more environmentally friendly way is gaining momentum.

"The issue is cost," said Jewell. "It's going to cost more to generate electricity that does not emit CO2 into the atmosphere using either nuclear generation, which doesn't emit CO2, or renewable generation such as wind turbines, solar cells and geothermal."

Jewell is involved in one project concerning the electric utility grid in California and neighboring states.

"We're looking specifically at the regulations that are already in place in California, which puts limits on CO2 emissions, and looking at how the electric utilities there can meet those regulations," said Jewell. "So initially what they'll do is burn less coal and more natural gas because natural gas emits significantly less CO2 than coal."

Coal and nuclear are the cheapest forms of energy, but coal is the highest emitter of CO2, a greenhouse gas believed to cause global warming. Natural gas is the cheapest in terms of building new generating facilities, and it emits about half the CO2 of coal, but gas resources are limited and expensive, making its cost per kilowatt hour of electricity much higher than coal or nuclear.

"I do not get into the debate on whether climate change is real or not or what causes it," said Jewell, "because the electric grid is faced with these regulations and we have to deal with them.

"I see the issue a little bit differently. Because the regulations are going to be put in place, it's a fairly high-risk move to build a coal-fired power plant right now with no facilities for substantially removing the CO2 from the exhaust gases."

Jewell says coal-fired power plants will likely be required to remove CO2 from their exhaust gases in 10-20 years. To build a plant without that capability means it will have to be retrofitted later at a much higher cost.

Of course, moving toward cleaner energy has its challenges.

"There's not an infinite supply of natural gas, so if we burn more natural gas, the cost will go up," said Jewell. "It goes up and down substantially now, and the more we burn to generate electricity, the higher it's going to go."

Importing more natural gas is one option, although that puts the United States at the mercy of the natural gas cartel, which is different than OPEC, but not very friendly to the United States, according to Jewell.

"I don't think anyone really sees burning a lot of natural gas as a long-term solution," said Jewell.

Nuclear power is technically ready to go, and many more nuclear generators could be built. In fact, we could generate most of our electricity from nuclear power, according to Jewell.

"The two issues with nuclear power are waste disposal and public acceptance," said Jewell. "It seems like a simple solution if the public will accept it and if we can deal with the fuel disposal or reprocessing issues."

Renewable energy is another option. The biggest problem with wind and solar energy is that they are variable and they don't always generate power when electricity is needed. Storage is an option, but it would be an additional cost to providing electricity. Very little energy is stored on the grid now because of those costs.

Jewell said solar is generally better than wind because solar generates at the hottest part of the year and during the day, but it still can't supply all of our electricity. The question is, what fills the gap when wind and solar are not generating enough electricity?

Some Kansans may tire of seemingly endless windy days, but wind has the potential of benefiting the state economically. If new transmission lines are built, Jewell said they could carry wind-generated electricity to the East and West coasts where electricity is needed.

Much of Jewell's research, conducted by his graduate students, involves computer simulations of the electricity grid. "We begin by simulating the grid as it exists now, and then we change the simulation by removing coal-fired power plants and adding renewable power plants, nuclear power plants, new transmission lines and energy storage.

"We look at how the system operates through simulations with those new plants, and we look at how the cost changes.

"My goals and the goals of researchers are to provide electricity when people need it at the lowest possible long-term cost, not just the cheapest way we can generate electricity tomorrow," said Jewell.

The political arguments tend to be in the form of going to 20 percent or 30 percent renewable energy by a particular date, or reducing CO2 emissions by a certain percentage at a specific time.

"Our job is to evaluate those numbers and see if that's getting on the sustainable path to reliable, lowest-cost electricity," said Jewell.

Overall, Jewell said electric power is "extremely reliable and the complexity is incredible. The people and the companies that run the grid have maintained that reliability and it is really incredible from an engineering standpoint. Through sound research, the system will continue to meet the environmental, reliability and cost needs of our society."