Electricity fossil fuels

Cost of electricity/fossil fuels (depends on time and geographic location of the plant)... 

The LCA process takes into account all of the energy, raw materials, water, and fossil fuels required in the production of PET pellets. The first step is the extraction of crude oil. The process requires electricity, fossil fuels, natural gas, water, and other materials. The second step is the production of naptha with the use of fossil fuels, electricity, water, and other materials. The third step is the production of benzene and ethylene oxide with the use of electricity, fossil fuels, water, and other materials. The fourth step is the production of ethylene glycol and terephthalic acid with the use of fossil fuels, electricity, water, and other materials. The last step is the polymerization of PET and conversion into PET pellets with the use of electricity, fossil fuels, water, and other materials. 

When fossil fuels such as coal, oil, or natural gas (i.e., hydrocarbons) are burned in power plants to generate electricity or to heat our homes... 

X 10 J/kg(10.4 X 10 Btu/lb) in 1990. The shift in coal production toward western coal deposits also reflects the shift in coal utilization patterns (Table 7). Electric utiUties are increasing coal consumption on both absolute and percentage bases, whereas coke plants, other industrial operations, and residential and commercial coal users are decreasing use of this soHd fossil fuel. 

EJ = 0.9488 X 10 Btu. Assumes market incentives of 2 /kWh on fossil fuel-based electricity generation, 2.00/10 Btu on direct coal and petroleum consumption, and 1.00/10 Btu on direct natural gas consumption. 

Includes hydro, nuclear, and geothermal sources, but not fossil fuel-based electricity, which is included in fossil fuels. 

A furnace is a device (enclosure) for generating controlled heat with the objective of performing work. In fossil-fuel furnaces, the work appHcation may be direct (eg, rotary kilns) or indirect (eg, plants for electric power generation). The furnace chamber is either cooled (waterwaH enclosure) or not cooled (refractory lining). In this article, furnaces related to metallurgy such as blast furnaces ate excluded because they ate coveted under associated topics (see... 

Development of molybdenum electrodes in the 1950s permitted the use of electrically assisted melting in regenerative furnaces (81). In the 1990s, approximately one-half of all regenerative tanks ate electrically boosted. Operating practice has shown that effective use of electricity near the back end of the furnace, where the batch is added, can reduce fossil fuel needs. This lowers surface temperature and reduces batch volatilisation. 

The use and effective costs of various energy alternatives are shown in Table 2. Use or internal costs include production, transportation, and distribution. Effective costs take into account the use costs estimated external costs, which include costs associated with damage to the environment caused by utili2ation of various fossil fuels and fuel utili2ation efficiencies, ie, the efficiency of converting fuels into mechanical, electrical, or thermal energy. The effective costs are expressed as /GJ of fossil fuel equivalent (15). The overall equation for the effective cost is... 

If possible comparisons are focused on energy systems, nuclear power safety is also estimated to be superior to all electricity generation methods except for natural gas (30). Figure 3 is a plot of that comparison in terms of estimated total deaths to workers and the pubHc and includes deaths associated with secondary processes in the entire fuel cycle. The poorer safety record of the alternatives to nuclear power can be attributed to fataUties in transportation, where comparatively enormous amounts of fossil fuel transport are involved. Continuous or daily refueling of fossil fuel plants is required as compared to refueling a nuclear plant from a few tmckloads only once over a period of one to two years. This disadvantage appHes to solar and wind as well because of the necessary assumption that their backup power in periods of no or Httie wind or sun is from fossil-fuel generation. Now death or serious injury has resulted from radiation exposure from commercial nuclear power plants in the United States (31). 

Oil Shale Operations in Israel. Oil shale, the only fossil fuel resource in Israel, is being used to generate electric power. The oil shale feed stock, typical of the low grade IsraeH oil shale (see Table 2), is situated in a deposit overlying phosphate ore. The oil shale operations are being carried out because the oil shale has to be mined to obtain the phosphate ore. 

The widespread availabiHty of electrical energy completely transformed modem society and enabled a host of breakthroughs in manufacturing, medical science, communications, constmction, education, and transportation. Centralized fossil fuel-powered, steam-turbine-based power plants remain the dominant means of electricity production. However, hydropower faciHties such as the 1900-MW Hoover Dam Power Project located on the Arizona—Nevada border, commissioned by the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation during the 1930s, have also made significant contributions. 

Power plants based on the Rankine thermodynamic cycle have served the majority of the world s electric power generation needs in the twentieth century. The most common heat sources employed by Rankine cycle power plants are either fossil fuel-fired or nuclear steam generators. The former are the most widely used. 

Table 1. Estimated Emissions from Fossil-Fueled Steam-Electric Generating Units at U.S. Electric Utilities, 10 t ...

Electric power generation using biomass as a fuel is economic in situations where the cost of the fuel is competitive with that of fossil fuels. The cost of a commercially available biomass steam—electric power plant is about 1500/kW for a wood-fired facility. If wood can be obtained at a cost of 2.00/GJ ( 2.10 X 10 /Btu), the total cost of power for base-load operation would be about 0.05/kWh. If wood or agricultural wastes are available at... 

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