The Fossil Load Factor

In 2002, Wassenaar [67] made an analysis of the fossil fuel requirements of the Dutch potato industry and its main products. The products are of course, in terms of their energy that is, available work or exergy, of solar origin. Therefore, he introduced the concept of fossil load factor, defined as the number of fossil fuel exergy units per exergy unit of potato-based useful 

---

We wish to conclude this section by referring to some related work. Our former student Wassenaar [37] has defined the fossil load factor as the percentage of fossil exergy input of the exergy of the final product. He calculated 9% for fresh potatoes from "ecological" agriculture and 13% from conventional agriculture, 64% for fresh French fries, and 80% for frozen French fries. 

The fossil load factor is an important issue and its origin so evident and often unavoidable that we asked ourselves the question what the consequences are when this factor is reduced to zero. Whenever, in a biomass conversion process, a fossil fuel contribution was spotted, we replaced this contribution by one from biomass origin. For example, the process may require electricity, which is supplied by a nearby coal-fed power station. Then this amount of electricity was thought to be generated by a power station fed by biomass. Or the process may require heat or chemicals and again biomass is the raw material from which these requirements were met. Dr. Feng Wei made such an analysis for a process where a diesel-type product was obtained from wood chips as a feedstock. His work has been discussed as an example at the end of Chapter 13. 

Is the fossil load factor the same as the renewability index Are they related metrics ... 

What are your best estimates of the fossil load factor of the processes in this chapter Do you think these numbers can change significantly If so, at what price ... 

If the power plants providing electricity for the general market were to achieve the same load factor as the ones serving the power-intensive industries, then hydrogen could be produced during non-peak hours and stored until it is needed. Thus Iceland already has the electricity to replace 22% of the fossil fuels consumed by vehicles and vessels. 

The fusion reaction system appears to have the qualities we are seeking in a power source for the future. There is no shortage of the input materials, deuterium and lithium, and the power system will use them in only small quantities. As a result, an energy system based on their use will have a long life, potentially thousands of years. No by-product, such as carbon dioxide, will be placed in the environment by the fusion reactors. The radioactive waste problem from fusion reactors will be ten thousand to a million times less severe than that associated with a breeder reactor system. These factors lead to the recognition of the fusion reaction as the best possible candidate for the base load energy source to replace fossil fuels. 

The performance characteristics of power stations are commonly described by the availability and load factors, and by the forced outage factor. The availability factor is the time the station has been available for operation divided by the length of the desired time period. Thus if it has been desired to operate the station for 6000 h, but it has only been possible to run it for 5500 h (because of repair, etc.) the availability factor is 92%. Typical availability factors are 95 —100 % for water power, 75 — 85 % for conventional fossil power, and 70 % for nuclear power (usually the reactor has a higher availability, but with a lower value of 70% for the turbine). Availability factors > 80% have been achieved for LWRs. 

The reactor designs are optimized for use in remote areas with rather small population, with no access to centralized electricity grids, and with complicated transportation of fossil fuel. The operation without on-site refuelling could simplify operation and maintenance requirements for such reactors and also contribute to achieving higher load factor/availability. 

The advantages of nuclear power plants include the fact that they operate at a 90% capacity factor (loading). Also, 1 kg of natural uranium generates about as much electricity as 20,000 kg of coal. In contrast to fossil fuels, nuclear power does not contribute to global warming. In the past, the cost of... 

---