16
the larger system in which a design exists early in the process improves long-term
well-being.
Consider one of the most pervasive design objects of the twentieth and twentyfirst century, the automobile. Representing individual freedom, the ability to go anywhere at any time, the car is responsible for shaping a material percentage of global
energy and transportation infrastructure
1
and comprises a significant percentage of
global pollution. One proposed solution to the tailpipe emissions problem is to
remove the tailpipe and produce only electric cars to satisfy the demand for flexible
personal mobility. Still, the current reality requires most cars to draw energy from
fossil fuel-based power plants. This means that an electric car that runs on a charge
it gets from a coal-powered energy grid is essentially a “coal car.”
Burning coal boils water that makes steam in most power plants in the industrialized world. This channeled high-pressure steam spins an electromagnetic turbine to
generate electricity. The electricity from this coal-fired plant flows for miles across
high-voltage wires and into the electric grid where local substations, power transformers, and distributional transformers (the white or gray buckets at the top of
telephone poles) reduce the voltage for domestic use. Only at the endpoint of this
massive, mediating infrastructure can this electricity be used to power all the devices
in a typical home or office where most electric cars are charged. Conversion losses
and embodied energy in the numerous grid and end product components that result
from turning one form of “dirty” energy into seemingly “clean” transportation result
in net negative environmental impacts.
This coal-powered car is actually worse compared to a gasoline- or dieselpowered car using current technology in most regions. So removing the tailpipe
from each car is an illusory fix since there is a much larger and more harmful “tailpipe” at the end of each coal-fired power plant supplying the primary energy source.
Without changing the entire grid mix of energy to renewables, one fossil fuel is
simply replaced with another. And, from an efficiency standpoint, there is the added
loss from intermediary conversions (from electricity production to battery storage)
to finally get the car to go.
Solar energy’s potential to replace fossil fuel is limited by current technology
and infrastructure to efficiently convert, store, and distribute it in the quantities
needed to match peak demand. The sun doesn’t shine at night, and the wind doesn’t
always blow. Reliable storage is the solution to all large-scale solar or other energy
sources that wax and wane in their availability to produce useful work. We employ
numerous techniques with varying efficiency levels in order to smooth out the abundant but undependable flows of solar and solar-induced wind energy available over
different times of day or season.
1 According to the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, in the United
States alone, 28% of all energy used goes to moving people and goods. 58% of that is consumed
by cars, light trucks, and motorcycles. http://needtoknow.nas.edu/energy/energy-use/
transportation/
2 The Energy Essential: Physical Forces Animate All Things
the larger system in which a design exists early in the process improves long-term
well-being.
Consider one of the most pervasive design objects of the twentieth and twentyfirst century, the automobile. Representing individual freedom, the ability to go anywhere at any time, the car is responsible for shaping a material percentage of global
energy and transportation infrastructure
1
and comprises a significant percentage of
global pollution. One proposed solution to the tailpipe emissions problem is to
remove the tailpipe and produce only electric cars to satisfy the demand for flexible
personal mobility. Still, the current reality requires most cars to draw energy from
fossil fuel-based power plants. This means that an electric car that runs on a charge
it gets from a coal-powered energy grid is essentially a “coal car.”
Burning coal boils water that makes steam in most power plants in the industrialized world. This channeled high-pressure steam spins an electromagnetic turbine to
generate electricity. The electricity from this coal-fired plant flows for miles across
high-voltage wires and into the electric grid where local substations, power transformers, and distributional transformers (the white or gray buckets at the top of
telephone poles) reduce the voltage for domestic use. Only at the endpoint of this
massive, mediating infrastructure can this electricity be used to power all the devices
in a typical home or office where most electric cars are charged. Conversion losses
and embodied energy in the numerous grid and end product components that result
from turning one form of “dirty” energy into seemingly “clean” transportation result
in net negative environmental impacts.
This coal-powered car is actually worse compared to a gasoline- or dieselpowered car using current technology in most regions. So removing the tailpipe
from each car is an illusory fix since there is a much larger and more harmful “tailpipe” at the end of each coal-fired power plant supplying the primary energy source.
Without changing the entire grid mix of energy to renewables, one fossil fuel is
simply replaced with another. And, from an efficiency standpoint, there is the added
loss from intermediary conversions (from electricity production to battery storage)
to finally get the car to go.
Solar energy’s potential to replace fossil fuel is limited by current technology
and infrastructure to efficiently convert, store, and distribute it in the quantities
needed to match peak demand. The sun doesn’t shine at night, and the wind doesn’t
always blow. Reliable storage is the solution to all large-scale solar or other energy
sources that wax and wane in their availability to produce useful work. We employ
numerous techniques with varying efficiency levels in order to smooth out the abundant but undependable flows of solar and solar-induced wind energy available over
different times of day or season.
1 According to the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, in the United
States alone, 28% of all energy used goes to moving people and goods. 58% of that is consumed
by cars, light trucks, and motorcycles. http://needtoknow.nas.edu/energy/energy-use/
transportation/
2 The Energy Essential: Physical Forces Animate All Things