"New energy without pollution" is a beautiful lie
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What is the difference between new energy and traditional energy?
How many years can traditional energy be used? Are new energy sources such as wind, solar and bioenergy really environmentally friendly? What kind of energy strategy should China choose? In recent years, people have been arguing over these issues on energy issues.
New energy is relative to traditional energy sources. Traditional energy, usually refers to the energy that people used to use in the past, such as wood, plant straw, coal, oil, natural gas and water. Oil, natural gas and coal are all evolved from ancient fossils of animals and plants, so they are also called fossil fuels. New energy refers to energy that has been widely developed and used in recent years, such as plant ethanol, wind energy, solar energy, geothermal energy, and tidal energy.
Regarding the definition of traditional energy and new energy, the world has been inconsistent. In one country, traditional energy is considered to be new energy. For example, nuclear energy has been in the West for half a century and has been classified as a traditional energy source. However, in many developing countries, nuclear energy has just started and is therefore a new energy source.
Nowadays people are used to the concept of hype, and so is energy. In fact, the so-called “new energy†that we often hear now, such as wind, solar and bio-energy, is not new. Some of them are much earlier than some traditional energy sources.
The more mainstream understanding is that new energy sources are renewable and less polluting than traditional energy sources. To this end, many countries will develop new energy sources as an important part of their energy strategy and propose new energy development goals. For example, the EU's share of new energy will reach 20% by 2020; the US will account for 20% of all electricity by 2030, replace 30% of petroleum products with bio-liquid fuel (ethanol); new energy from Japan to 2050, etc. Alternative energy sources will account for more than 50% of the energy supply.
However, judging from the recent adjustment of new energy policies in various countries, it seems that there are many suspense in achieving these goals. The reason is that people have not fully understood the shortcomings of new energy in the past, magnified the advantages and ignored the shortcomings. With the emergence of many defects in new energy, people's understanding of new energy has returned to rationality, and the development strategy of new energy has been re-adjusted.
How many years is the traditional energy source such as oil and coal available?
How many years can fossil energy be mined? I am afraid there is no recognized answer because the world is constantly discovering new oil and gas fields and coal fields. In China, experts in the 1980s suggested that coal stored in China could only be mined for 80 years. 30 years later, new coal fields were continuously discovered on Chinese territory, and the coal mining life was naturally extended. In 2009, a large-scale coalfield with a reserve of 64 billion tons was discovered in the Turpan area of ​​eastern Xinjiang, China. In 2012, Xinjiang and Shitologa detected a larger coal field with a reserve of 81 billion tons. Only these two coal fields are enough for national mining. 40 years. It can be seen that the reserves of fossil energy are not as alarmist as some experts have fooled, as we are constantly discovering new coal fields, oil fields and natural gas fields.
In the United States, although the government strongly supports the development and use of new energy sources, the detection and development of traditional energy sources has not stopped. The United States has adopted a policy of combining traditional energy and new energy to strive to increase its share of energy. At the end of President Obama’s first term, oil production has increased to the highest level in 16 years, which has reduced US oil imports to 16 years. The lowest level. According to a report recently released by the International Energy Agency, the United States will surpass Saudi Arabia and Russia to become the world's largest oil producer by 2017 and is expected to become a net oil exporter by 2030. Natural gas production in the United States also set a record for decades in 2012, and coal production and the number of workers employed in the industry are also increasing.
The United States has also proposed an energy strategy to improve the efficiency of traditional energy use. Now it is developing energy-efficient car technology to double the efficiency of the engine. That is to say, now 100 kilometers of oil can run 200 kilometers in the future, so that it can be reduced. Fuel consumption keeps oil prices low and benefits consumers.
Wind power generation: good to see
Many countries have wind farms that look spectacular. Like the Dutch windmills, they have become a sightseeing sight.
The use of wind power generation actually uses wind power as kinetic energy. But now the windmill that people saw was invented by the ancient Greek mathematician Alexander Hiro in the first century AD. It is the conversion of wind kinetic energy into mechanical energy through mechanical devices for grinding, pumping, weaving, sawing, etc. Agricultural Production.
The windmill penetration rate in Europe is very high. There were 9,000 windmills in the Netherlands in 1850. In Britain and France, there were about 10,000 windmills in 1820. In 1895, there were 18,242 windmills in Germany. In 1900, there were 20,000 windmills in Finland. By the time the windmill reached its peak in the 1930s, there were about 200,000 windmills in Europe (and 500,000 turbines at the time).
As the turbine continues to improve, the windmill is gradually replaced by a steam turbine. Because the biggest disadvantage of the windmill is that it can not provide constant output power, when the breeze or static wind, the output power is zero, the factory only has the wind and other work. The steam turbine can provide continuous constant output power, small size and convenient use, which promotes productivity.
After the Second World War, countries no longer built windmills, and steam engines were gradually replaced by internal combustion engines and electric motors. Therefore, most of the windmills that have been seen so far have been abandoned, and very few are still used for production.
The current wind power production process is: converting wind kinetic energy into mechanical energy, mechanical energy is converted into electrical energy, and electrical energy is converted into chemical energy stored in the battery; then turned over, chemical energy is converted into electrical energy, and electrical energy is converted into mechanical energy, heat energy, etc. as needed. . For industries using mechanical energy, the wind energy can be converted into mechanical energy after 5 conversions, and the energy will be lost in each conversion process, which leads to the low efficiency of utilization of wind energy in some industries, far less than the wind directly in the past. Kinetic energy is converted to mechanical energy. Therefore, some people are now interested in traditional windmills, and in the factories with mechanical energy, the windmills are powered.
In fact, the sailboats used to sail with wind energy, which was later replaced by steam engines that burned coal, and later developed into internal combustion engines. The choice of energy is also the survival of the fittest. It is necessary to consider the cost, efficiency and convenience. This is also the market choice. Although the wind is renewable energy, it is used for sailing and shipping. Because of the slow speed and other reasons, its cost is much higher than that of the ocean-going ocean freighter driven by internal combustion engines. Therefore, the current sailing boats are generally only used in sports competitions, and few people It is used as a commercial shipping.
Many people think that wind power is zero pollution. In fact, this only saw the power generation process of wind power, and did not see the pollution of wind power equipment manufacturing and energy storage systems. The production of lead-acid batteries required for wind power will seriously pollute the environment after production, use and disposal. The production of fiberglass materials for wind turbine blades will also cause high pollution. It can be seen that wind power has already discharged pollution before power generation.
Solar power: clean green is just a beautiful lie
Solar energy is also not a new energy source. In the 1970s, I used solar energy in rural homes. At that time, the solar energy was made of concrete as a paraboloid, that is, the "big pot lid", just like the current satellite TV antenna, which was inlaid with small lenses to reflect the sun's rays to the focus. Install a bracket in the focus position, you can boil water to cook. When cooking, people are also grilled by strong sunlight, and they must wear sunglasses to cook. You can wear sunglasses to cook and master the heat of the food, not burnt or unfamiliar. Therefore, this parabolic solar cooker is theoretically established, but it is not practical at all and is quickly abandoned.
Like wind power generation, using photovoltaic cells to generate electricity, pollution is even greater than coal power generation. Some people or groups for their own interests, over-promoting solar energy is green energy and pollution-free, misleading many people. Around 2007, more than 100 cities in China are building photovoltaic industrial parks, all of which are creating 100 billion yuan of photovoltaic industry. Even in 2009, when the PV industry has revealed risks, capacity continues to expand.
Shi Zhengrong, the owner of Wuxi Suntech, who recently "falls off the shelf", wrote an open letter to US President Barack Obama in 2009 to develop solar energy. In his letter, he wrote: "Sunshine is the most primitive energy source of human beings. Even if we can capture and utilize it through modern technology, it does not change the original characteristics: clean, pure, fair and full of the world, transcending national borders. And the barriers of race. I believe that with joint efforts, it can become another language for our communication with the future."
But this should be questioned. Sunlight is not polluted, but silicon solar cells that produce light energy into electrical energy consume a lot of energy and pollution. It has been calculated that the production of a crystalline silicon solar panel consumes more energy than the panel converts over the life of the panel. Although this conclusion is still controversial, it is an indisputable fact that crystalline silicon solar cells are high-consumption industries.
The refining of crystalline silicon required for solar cells requires the discharge of a large amount of toxic substances such as trichlorosilane and silicon tetrachloride. Many enterprises have not effectively recovered and treated these toxic substances in order to reduce costs, and the environmental pollution is extremely serious.
Hu Chunli, director of the Institute of Industrial Economics and Technology Economics of the National Development and Reform Commission, pointed out: "In the photovoltaic industry, China's silicon production accounts for more than 40% of the world's production, while 95% of China's silicon is used for export. Silicon is in the production process. High energy consumption and high pollution, but it is clean energy when used. Therefore, China has contributed to the world's low carbon, but it has not achieved low carbon development."
Fuel ethanol: efficiency is almost equal to zero
The world's bioenergy is mainly fuel ethanol. In fact, fuel ethanol is not a new energy source, it is even an ancient energy source than oil. In 1826, the internal combustion engine of the pioneer of the internal combustion engine and the American inventor Samuel Morrie used ethanol as fuel. It was a long time since the discovery and refining of oil.
In 1896, the "four-wheeler" brand designed by American car king Henry Ford was also fueled with ethanol. In 1908, Ford introduced the "Tutte" T-shaped car, which can use gasoline, ethanol or a mixture of gasoline and ethanol. However, with the large-scale exploitation of petroleum and the improvement of petroleum refining technology, gasoline and diesel quickly replaced ethanol and became the main fuel for internal combustion engines.
In 1973, the Arab countries’ embargo on the US oil led to the US energy crisis. The United States had to re-use ethanol as a fuel and add no more than 10% of ethanol to gasoline. Because people are reluctant to add gasoline containing ethanol, it is believed that this will result in insufficient power, and the acid after burning ethanol will corrode the sealing parts in the engine and fuel system. In order to encourage people to add gasoline containing ethanol, the government subsidizes consumers. According to the Energy Tax Act of 1978, the subsidy of 0.4 US dollars per gallon of ethanol. In fact, this subsidy is equivalent to exempting the fuel tax because the fuel tax on gasoline is roughly $0.4 per gallon.
On June 16, 2011, the US Congress passed an amendment to cancel the fuel ethanol subsidy that lasted for more than 30 years. This subsidy is as high as $6 billion annually. The elimination of fuel ethanol subsidies indirectly proves that fuel ethanol is not as good as it once thought, and the perception of fuel ethanol has returned to rationality.
In the past, people promoted fuel ethanol, which is considered to be an incomparable advantage of the three environmentally-friendly, cheap, and renewable gasolines. It is said that cornfields are “inexhaustible and inexhaustible large oil fields†and exaggerated fuel ethanol. The advantages. On March 13, 2013, a famous Chinese biologist said in an interview with reporters: "How to make the people use fuel ethanol more? I think, first, we must increase publicity and tell everyone that biomass fuel does not pollute the environment. "But more and more research proves that this kind of propaganda is very one-sided and extremely misleading.
A study by Marc Jacobson, an air research expert at Stanford University in the United States, found that air pollution caused by fuel ethanol combustion is more harmful to humans than gasoline, and respiratory disease morbidity and mortality associated with fuel ethanol pollution are more than gasoline. high.
The raw materials for ethanol production in the United States and other countries are mainly corn. Fertilizers, pesticides and water are needed to grow corn. The production of chemical fertilizers and pesticides is heavily polluting the chemical industry. Irrigation water needs electricity, and electricity is mainly from coal. It can be seen that the pollution of the production process of fuel ethanol has been neglected by some people.
In addition, the production of fertilizers and agricultural machinery for corn also consumes energy. In addition, the extraction of ethanol by distillation requires natural gas or coal heating, which leads to the process of energy consumption and pollution. According to a study by Cornell University professor David Pimentel, 21 pounds (about 9.5 kilograms) of corn is used for every gallon of ethanol produced. It takes half a gallon of fossil fuel to grow 2l pounds of corn. If combined with the industrial process of producing ethanol from corn, the energy used to make one gallon of ethanol exceeds the energy it produces when burned. A study by the American Academy of Biological Sciences also showed that ethanol produced from corn produces only 10% more energy than corn ethanol. It can be seen that although fuel ethanol is promoted as a renewable energy source, it is essentially a fossil fuel, and its efficiency is extremely low, almost equal to zero. In other words, the production of fuel ethanol that can drive a car for 100 kilometers, the fossil energy consumed can drive the car for 100 kilometers.
Over the years, overheated fuel ethanol production has led to a surge in demand for corn, which has driven up corn prices. When farmers see the price increase of corn, it is natural to expand the area planted with corn and reduce the planting area of ​​other crops, which in turn leads to a decrease in the supply of other crops and an increase in prices. It can be seen that the global food price surge in recent years has a certain correlation with the encouragement of the use of fuel ethanol. It can be argued that the use of fuel ethanol has disrupted the balance of supply and demand in the world's agricultural markets, increasing the cost of food for residents, which will lead to a decline in the quality of life for less affluent residents. There are still many people in the world who are hungry and use food to produce fuel. This seems to be morally unreasonable.
Another problem that cannot be ignored is that large-scale planting of corn requires the use of large amounts of groundwater, resulting in a decrease in water content in the soil, which can lead to ecological disasters. On January 23, 2008, FAO experts warned that the world is eager to develop and use biofuels, causing prices of corn and other food crops to rise, which may further worsen water shortages and cause the poor to lose what they depend on. land.
From the research reports published by some international research institutions, wind energy, solar energy and bioenergy are not ideal alternative energy sources. The most effective means to solve energy problems is to improve energy efficiency, clean energy use and reduce energy consumption.
Since pollution such as smog is mainly caused by automobile exhaust, the government should vigorously develop free public transportation and reduce the use of private cars, because private cars are the least efficient and energy-intensive means of transportation. A private car usually only Carrying a person, the fuel used can carry more than a dozen or even dozens if used in public transportation. Therefore, the development of public transportation and the reduction of the use of private cars should be the primary option for energy policy before the ideal alternative energy source is found.
At present, the government's subsidy policy for new energy has many places worth reflecting, and its negative impact cannot be underestimated.
First of all, government subsidies will attract some enterprises to flood into the new energy field, resulting in overcapacity, product quality is difficult to improve, wasting a lot of resources, and disrupting the rational layout of the industrial structure. In recent years, solar energy companies have emerged as a bankruptcy, which is a punishment for not doing business according to market rules.
On March 20th, 2013, Wuxi Suntech Company entered the bankruptcy process. The flagship of the new energy that was boasted of its gods sank like the “Titanic†100 years ago. The collapse of Suntech Solar once again proves that the government cannot intervene in business operations, and the flow of capital should be chosen by the market. In addition, Suntech Solar was convicted and reorganized by the court. Zhou Weiping of Wuxi Guolian entered the board of directors of Suntech and was appointed as the executive director and president of Suntech, marking the opening of the state-owned restructuring Suntech. The government subsidizes the collapse of the enterprise, and the people are damaged because the government subsidizes every penny of the enterprise, which is the tax of the people.
Second, the practice of subsidizing the export of new energy products is vulnerable to foreign sanctions. Third, government subsidies will cause "invisible hands" to fail, sending false supply and demand signals to the market, causing ups and downs in the new energy market. As for the other drawbacks of government subsidies, I will not go into details here.