Forces

For our last unit we have been exploring the core ideas a questions that affect future energy policy for our country and the world. Since we only have a week or so to consider this topic we are keeping the discussion mostly qualitative with only modest calculational moments. Here are some comparisons I'd like you to consider and explore in hopes of deepening your appreciation of the issues involved.

1) One core issue we discussed is the way the electric grid is constructed in the United States. Here is a link to an image of the US electric grid. An electric grid is much like the circulatory system of a human being. Close to the source the "pipes" are large carrying lots of "stuff" and out near the edges and at the end point of the delivery process they are like capillaries -- small and only carrying a little "stuff". Describe how the map of the grid illustrates this effect and how it is related to the population distribution in this country.

2) What is the problem with the US electric distribution grid when it comes to generating power from alternative sources of energy like wind and solar? Consider how energy would get from the best places to generate the energy to the places where it is needed. What is a solution to this problem if we need to fix it?

 

For the next several questions you will need to consider the relationship between the plot of energy usage per capita per day (kWh/p/d) as a function of GDP/person that we looked at in class. Here is a link to that plot. In our discussions we have made the casual assertion that GDP/person is a measure of quality of life. This is the most commonly used way to define quality of life which is partly because it is easy to get the numbers. In this plot we see a roughly linear relationship between energy use and quality of life defined in this way.

 

4) Before you start into the next problems pick a county in South America, Europe (we'll count Russia as part of Europe though it will make them cranky), Asia (from Iran east?), Africa, and the Pacific Basin with the highest quality of life. I'm asking you to do this without looking at any lists so that you have a chance to consider your personal view of the world through this lens. I'm not concerned with you being right but rather that you have some internal perceptions to check against the data. Where do the 5 countries you picked land on the energy vrs GDP plot? Do they show the same relationship between energy and GDP as the overall trend in the data? How do you answer that question?

5) The United Nations and other organizations have started to use a different measure of quality of life called the Human Development Index (HDI). Here is a recent list of countries and their HDI's. Which country that has a higher HDI than the US has the lowest energy usage? If you pick 5 countries off the list in different places would they show the same relationship between energy use and quality of life? How do you even approach this question?

6) Another way of talking about quality of life is the Social Progress Index (SPI) - so many acronyms - which looks at a different set of indicators. Here is a link to a description of this index and a list of countries and their SPI's. Which country that has a higher SPI than the US has the lowest energy usage? If you pick 5 countries off the list in different places would they show the same relationship between energy use and quality of life? How do you even approach this question? How does this index correlate with the HDI index?