ENERGY 303 Lecture Notes - Lecture 30: Industrial Revolution, Nuclear Reactor, Energy Intensity
Document Summary
The lithium problem: it is a problem: best battery technology today is based on li-ion batteries. Ex: la relies on its freeway system; not going to get rid of that. The limitations of renewables: some of the big concerns with renewables, competition for land (low power density, use of other resources (metals, lower eroi than fossil fuels, need for new infrastructure (difficult/impossible to make an overnight transition) There are only a few things we can do in the future: use less energy either via less consumption or higher efficiency, find more sources of energy. Evidence for what improving efficiency can do: smaller increase in electricity demand each year in the us since 1950s. Perhaps but electricity demand is still growing, albeit ore slowly than in 1950, at least in the us. At the individual level we have seen what this means in terms of your individual energy consumption.
