Commercial potential and business strategy

The Carnot engine can transform:

- Thermal Energy into Mechanical Energy
                     And/or

- Mechanical Energy into Thermal Energy


That being said, we are going to review the possible and profitable applications

1. Possibles Applications

A) Propulsion

Automobile propulsion

Hybrid automobile propulsion

Maritime propulsion

Aircraft propulsion

B) Power Generation
Biomass

Geothermal

Concentrated Solar Power (CSP)

Nuclear

Other heat source (waste, industry)

C) Heat Pump

2. Realistic and Profitable Applications

Among all the possible applications listed above, some may not be found feasible at a reasonable cost. We need to focus on marketable and profitable uses.
The success of commercializing the Carnot engine lies on 3 elements:

- The market need and size
  Is there a market?
- The competitive environment
  Is this market virgin or crowded?
- The market access
  Is this market accessible on a technical standpoint?

Let’s make a quick assessment of these possible markets:

A) Propulsion Market

Due to its high efficiency and simplicity, the Carnot engine may be a good candidate in the propulsion area. Nowadays, with oil price soaring and environmental regulations, the fuel consumption has become a real deal and producing better fuel efficient vehicles represent an important challenge.
However the Carnot engine is not suitable as a direct engine in automotive application. It is not design to provide fast startup time and acceleration response but Carnot engine as part of a hybrid electric drive system may be able to bypass the design challenges or disadvantages of a non-hybrid Carnot propulsion systems. A hybrid Carnot Engine may also be use in ships and aircrafts, its external combustion capacity would be appreciated in the maritime world (muti fuel capacity). As for airplanes, this engine gains efficiency with altitude due to lower ambient temperatures, is more reliable due to fewer parts and the absence of an ignition system, produce much less vibration (airframes could last longer) and uses safer, less explosive fuels.
However, introducing the Carnot engine in the propulsion world would require a substantial work of optimization, rules compliance, and integration studies.

B) Power generation 

Within the next 20 years, the primary energy demand is going to rise by 40% while the electricity consumption will soar by 70%.

More than 90% of our energy demand comes from thermal primary energy

Now or Later, the vast majority of power generation comes from thermal process

The Carnot engine is a heat engine that can retrieve heat from any sources. It will be suitable for both direct electricity generation on power plant sites and indirect power production on industrial or secondary heat source (Data Centers, Heavy industries which emit unexploited heat flows, etc.).
The engine integration will be pretty simple on these sites and it can be used on a wide range of low to medium temperatures. Biomass, CSP and geothermal energy could benefit of a major gain of productivity due to the low temperature flows emitted by these facilities. Unlike the other technologies (Rankine Cycles, Steam turbines, etc.), the Carnot engine is tailored to work on this temperature range.
Our device can open new applications and markets segment for some renewable energy.

C) Heat pump 
As seen previously, the Carnot engine has unique characteristics. Its reversible cycle and high efficiency make this system particularly suitable for heat application such as heat pump.
The system may be worked upon by an external force, and in the process, it can transfer thermal energy from a cooler system to a warmer one, thereby acting as a heat pump rather than a heat engine.
Most of household energy is consumed by heating, causing it to be the largest portion of monthly utility bill. With the price of oil and gas at record levels, the heap pumps market has been very dynamic the past 10 years.
The simple design of our engine coupled with its high coefficient of performance (COP) would make the Carnot engine perfect for this application.

Conclusion

The unique characteristics of our Carnot engine make it suitable for a large range of applications. However, we have narrowed down our commercial ambition to the easiest and most profitable markets. Power generation and heap pump markets tend to offer the best commercial potential considering the market demand, level of competition and ease of technical integration.

Commercial priorities depending of technical and commercial parameters

Concentrated Solar Power

1. Presentation

Solar power is the conversion of sunlight into electricity, either directly using photovoltaics (PV), or indirectly using concentrated solar power (CSP).
Photovoltaics convert light into electric current using the photoelectric effect. Concentrated solar power (CSP) systems use mirrors or lenses to concentrate a large area of sunlight, or solar thermal energy, onto a small area. The concentrated heat is then used as a heat source for a conventional power plant (ie: gas, oil, coal, nuclear): the heat drives a heat engine (usually a steam turbine) connected to an electrical power generator.

Various techniques are used to track the Sun and focus light but there are four main forms of concentrating technologies:

- Parabolic trough
- Fresnel reflector
- Solar power tower
- Dish Stirling

Difference between Photovoltaic and Concentrated Solar Power (CSP):

CSP plants produce more consistent power output (less 'spiky-ness'). These plants can produce power fairly consistently throughout the day because of the thermal inertia and the ability to burn natural gas when clouds roll in. When clouds blanket a PV plant, the output can drop off a cliff. CSP power plants fit naturally with storage systems and can even continue to produce power at night.

2. Market Analysis

The CSP market has seen about 740 MW added between 2007 and end-2010. More than half of this capacity (approximately 478 MW) was installed during 2010, bringing the global total to 1095 MW. Spain added 400 MW in 2010, taking the global lead with a total of 632 MW, while the US ended the year with 509 MW after adding 78 MW, including two fossil-CSP hybrid plants.

CSP growth is expected to continue at a rapid pace. As of April 2011, another 946 MW were under construction in Spain with total new capacity of 1,789 MW expected to be in operation by the end of 2013. In the US, a further 1.5 GW of parabolic trough and power-tower plants were under construction as of early 2011, and contracts signed for at least another 6.2 GW. Interest is also notable in North Africa and the Middle East, as well as India and China.

Although industry activity continued to focus in the two leading markets of Spain and the United States, the industry expanded its attention to other markets in Algeria, Australia, Egypt, Morocco, and even China. Still, most industry expansion took place in Europe and the United States. For example, Schott of Germany doubled its production of receiver tubes in its facility in Seville, Spain. Rio Glass of Spain, a relatively new company that has become a major producer in recent years, was building a manufacturing plant in the United States and also planning for plants in India and China.
The industry also saw several acquisitions by major energy players seeking to enter the CSP market. Siemens bought Solel (Israel), ABB bought Novatech, GE bought E-Solar, and Areva bought Ausra. Alstrom also entered into a joint venture with Bright Source. The industry remained vertically integrated, with individual companies involved in many parts of the value chain, but this was expected to change as markets expand and as companies specialize in specific parts of the value chain.

Leading project development firms worldwide include Abengoa (Spain), Acciona (Spain), BrightSource (United States), Schott (Germany), and Siemens (Germany). Leading mirror manufacturers include Saint-Gobain (France), Flabeg (Germany), and Rio Glass (Spain). Other notable CSP firms include Areva (Spain), eSolar (USA), Solar Millennium (Germany), and Solar Reserve (USA).

DESERTEC

One of the world largest ongoing project, is Desertec. This German based consortium of about 20 companies, including RWE AG, EON, Munich RE Siemens and Deutsche Bank is behind a hugely ambitious EUR 400 billion ($550 billion) project to build solar plants stretching across 6,000 square kilometres of the North African desert. The rollout is planned for the coming decades and will eventually supply up to 15% of all of Europe's electricity needs by 2050.

According to a study by the German Aerospace Center (DLR), a state agency that provided data used by Desertec, less than 1% of suitable land in the North Africa and the Middle East would be needed to cover the current electricity consumption of the region, as well as Europe. Many countries with intense sunshine also have large tracts of uninhabited land.

The consortium already has two plants in operation in Morocco and Egypt. Morocco hopes to upgrade its existing transmission line to Spain and install 2000 megawatts of solar power capacity to supply both its own needs and to tap into the lucrative European export market.

Desertec expects to see the first electricity flowing through undersea cables from Morocco to Spain as early as 2014. The technology that will initially be used in Morocco is concentrated solar power (CSP), allowing a secure supply even when the sun is not shining and at night.

3. Commercial Potential for the Carnot engine

Despite competitive photovoltaic prices and lingering environmental and financing concerns, CSP technologies are poised for gigawatt-scale adoption in 2011. Future growth will remain healthy as the generation stack increasingly incorporates CSP plants in excess of 100MW.

The CSP industry has finally reached a mature state where the less efficient technologies have been overtake by more competitive technologies.

FAIL: The SES's suncatcher: too complicated, too expensive. The company went bankrupt last setpember.

WIN: AREVA's compact linear fresnel reflector system. A simplified CSP with direct steam generation compatible with hybrid gas/coal/solar power plants.

What can the Carnot engine bring to CSP ?

As an efficient, simple and reliable technology, our goal is to implement the Carnot engine in low cost and low to medium temperature CSP systems such as:

- direct steam generation CSP (without the need for costly heated oil/heat exchangers);

- direct solar generation (low cost and small scale CSP systems)
- air cooled systems (no water needed)

Moreover, the flexibility and modular design allow us to produce a wide range of on demand power engines based on the same architecture. Since the Carnot engine is an external combustion engine, it can be plugged on mutiple heat flows coming from various sources (heated oil, steam, direct sun beam, etc.).

As the competition with photovoltaic technologies goes on, especially in term of costs, the CSP industry is leaning toward cheap and simple solutions. The Carnot engine is well suited for this market.



4. Conclusion

The latest international energy outlook from the US Energy Information Administration shows a strong growth of the world solar energy demand. For the next 10 years, the solar power generation should increase by at least 200%. The International Energy Agency forecasts are even more significant.
Despite the fact that the largest share comes from photovoltaic modules, the CSP market remains very dynamics with large projects under development. These projects are supported by big industrial and financial players. The CSP unique ability to produce consistent power output make it valuable in some power generation cases. It can also be interconnected with a traditional fossil fuel power plant to create hybrid fuel power facility.
The latest industrial trend to ensure CSP competitiveness is to lower the capital and operating costs by building simple systems and getting rid of costly technologies (complex reflectors, multiples stages heat exhangers, water cooling, etc.).
The characteristics of the Carnot engine make it a perfect candidate for these low costs standards: high efficiency at low to medium temperature, external combustion and multi-source.

Biomass

1. Presentation

Wood pellets used for power generation

Biomass, as a renewable energy source, is biological material from living, or recently living organisms. As an energy source, biomass can either be used directly, or converted into other energy products such as biofuel.
Biomass resources include wood, agricultural waste, animal residues, and other living-cell material that can be burned to produce heat energy. They also include algae, sewage and other organic substances that may be used to make energy through chemical processes.

There are a number of technological options available to make use of a wide variety of biomass types as a renewable energy source. Conversion technologies may release the energy directly, in the form of heat or electricity, or may convert it to another form, such as liquid biofuel or combustible biogas. While for some classes of biomass resource there may be a number of usage options, for others there may be only one appropriate technology.

2. Market Analysis

Biomass supplies an increasing share of electricity and heat and continues to provide the majority of heating produced with renewable sources. An estimated 62 GW of biomass power capacity was in operation by the end of 2010. Biomass heat markets are expanding steadily, particularly in Europe but also in the United States, China, India, and elsewhere.

Trends include increasing consumption of solid biomass pellets (for heat and power) and use of biomass in combined heat and power (CHP) plants and in centralized district heating systems. China leads the world in the number of household biogas plants, and gasifiers are used increasingly for heat applications in small and large enterprises in India and elsewhere. Biomethane (purified biogas) is increasingly injected into pipelines (particularly in Europe) to replace natural gas in power and CHP plants.

The European Union’s gross electricity production from biomass increased nearly 10.2% between 2008 and 2009, from 79.3 TWh to 87.4 TWh. Germany’s total power output from biomass increased by an annual average of more than 22% during the past decade, to an estimated 28.7 TWh with a total of 4.9 GW capacity in 2010. By the end of 2010, bioenergy accounted for 5.5% of Germany’s total electricity consumption, making it the country’s second largest renewable generating source after wind power. 

There is increasing interest in Africa and the Middle East as well, where several countries – including Cameroon, Kenya, Tanzania, and Uganda – have existing biomass power capacity or plans for future development

The biomass power and heat industry supplies and uses solid, liquid, and gaseous fuels from forestry, agricultural, and municipal residues. Much of this diverse industry is centered in Europe where, despite fiscal austerity, manufacturing and project-development firms saw modest growth in 2010, reflecting the continued push from EU targets and national action plans for renewables. Leading biomass conversion equipment manufacturers are located primarily in Sweden, Finland, Denmark, Austria, Poland, and Germany. Europe has the largest wood pellet production industry in the world, with 670 pellet plants under operation, producing 10 million tonnes in 2009. The growth of wood pellet production facilities, in particular, continues to be a notable trend in the biomass industry.

3. Commercial potential for the Carnot engine

Our goal is to place this engine on the power generation market. As of today, biomass power generation is a fast growing sector which uses both solid biomass (agricultural by product, woods, organic waste) and biogas (waste, landfill gas) to fuel the power plant.
 

Landfill gas collector

As an external combustion device, the Carnot engine can run directly on any available heat source. It could be used for low cost power generation system as well as raw biogas (with high concentration of corrosive CO2 and H2S). Another promising market is the hot exhaust gas produced by biogas turbines. Our engine can exploits this heat flow to produce electricity (we have already received some requests from biogas power generation facilities).


4. Conclusion 

Biomass energy is by far the most important renewable energy with 10% of the world's primary energy demand. Its great versatility allows to produce fuel, electricity, heat and gas out of various biomass resources.

Due to its characteristics, the Carnot engine will be suitable for power generation application. During the past 10 years, there has been a significant growth in biomass electricity production, forecasts show that this expansion will remain consistent. Our engine can be used in solid biomass and biogas applications, from a sophisticated power plant system to a low cost unit. For instance, it can be plugged on basic biomass systems or enhances the overall efficiency of biogas facilities by generating power out of the biogas exhaust heat.

Geothermal

1. Presentation

A geothermal power plant in California

Below the Earth's crust, there is a layer of hot and molten rock called magma. For commercial use, a geothermal reservoir capable of providing hydrothermal (hot water and steam) resources is necessary. Geothermal reservoirs are generally classified as being either low temperature (<150°C) or high temperature (>150°C). Generally speaking, the high temperature reservoirs are the ones suitable for, and sought out for, commercial production of electricity.
Geothermal reservoirs are found in “geothermal systems,” which are regionally localized geologic settings where the earth’s naturally occurring heat flow is near enough to the earth’s surface to bring steam or hot water, to the surface. These "hot spots" occur at plate boundaries or at places where the crust is thin enough to let the heat through (volcanoes, Seismically active region, etc.).

Geothermal power plants use steam produced from reservoirs of hot water found a few kilometers or more below the Earth's surface to produce electricity. The steam rotates a turbine that activates a generator, which produces electricity. There are three types of geothermal power plants: dry steam, flash steam, and binary cycle. 

- Dry Steam
Power plants using dry steam systems were the first type of geothermal power generation plants built. They use steam from the geothermal reservoir as it comes from wells and route it directly through turbine/generator units to produce electricity.

- Flash Steam
Flash steam plants are the most common type of geothermal power generation plants in operation today. They use water at temperatures greater than 182°C (360°F)  that is pumped under high pressure to the generation equipment at the surface. Upon reaching the generation equipment, the pressure is suddenly reduced, allowing some of the hot water to convert or “flash” into steam. This steam is then used to power the turbine/generator units to produce electricity.

- Binary Cycle
Binary cycle geothermal power generation plants differ from dry steam and flash steam systems because the water or steam from the geothermal reservoir never comes in contact with the turbine/generator units. In the binary system, the water from the geothermal reservoir is used to heat another “working fluid,” which is vaporized and used to turn the turbine/generator units. The geothermal water and the “working fluid” are each confined in separate circulating systems or “closed loops” and never come in contact with each other. The advantage of the binary cycle plant is that they can operate with lower temperature waters 107°-182°C (225°F to 360°F) by using working fluids that have an even lower boiling point than water. They also produce no air emissions.

Currently, two types of geothermal resources can be used in binary cycle power plants to generate electricity: enhanced geothermal systems (EGS) and low-temperature or co-produced resources:

• Enhanced Geothermal Systems: EGS provide geothermal power by tapping into the Earth's deep geothermal resources that are otherwise not economical due to lack of water, location, or rock type.
• Low-Temperature and Co-Produced Resources: Low-temperature and co-produced geothermal resources are typically found at temperatures of 300°F (150°C) or less. Some low-temperature resources can be harnessed to generate electricity using binary cycle technology. Co-produced hot water is a byproduct of oil and gas wells in the United States. This hot water is being examined for its potential to produce electricity, helping to lower greenhouse gas emissions and extend the life of oil and gas fields.

2. Market Analysis

By the beginning of 2011, geothermal power plants were operating in at least 24 countries, but the vast majority of global capacity was located in eight countries: the United States (3.1 GW), the Philippines (1.9 GW), Indonesia (1.2 GW), Mexico (just under 1 GW), Italy (0.9 GW), New Zealand (nearly 0.8 GW), Iceland (0.6 GW), and Japan (0.5 GW).

Although power development slowed in 2010, with global capacity reaching just over 11 GW, a significant acceleration in the rate of deployment is expected, with advanced technologies allowing for development of geothermal power projects in new countries. The International Geothermal Association (IGA) projects growth to 18,5 GW by 2015, due to the projects presently under consideration, often in areas previously assumed to have little exploitable resource. 

As of early 2011, nearly 0.8 GW of new capacity was in the drilling or construction phase in the United States and was expected to be generating by 2015; a total of 123 confirmed projects (accounting for up to 1.4 GW of resources) in 15 U.S. states were at some stage of development.
Iceland expects to add nearly 0.1 GW to an existing plant in 2011, and much more capacity is in project pipelines around the globe, with 46 countries forecast to have new geothermal capacity installed within the next five years. By late 2010, Germany had an estimated 150 projects in the pipeline, and projects were under development in Chile (0.2 GW), Costa Rica (0.4 GW), India (nearly 0.3 GW), and the U.K. (0.01 GW), among others.

The U.S. industry is the global leader, developing approximately one-third of the world’s new projects, all in its domestic market. Japanese firms Mitsubishi, Toshiba, and Fuji Electric supply 70% of the steam turbines at geothermal plants worldwide. Leading firms in conventional geothermal include Borealis Geopower, Calpine, CalEnergy, Chevron, Enel SpA, GeoGlobal, Gradient Resources, Magma Energy Corp., Mighty River Power, Nevada Geothermal Power, Ormat Technologies, Oski Energy, POWER Engineers, Ram Power, Terra-Gen Power, ThermaSource, and U.S. Geothermal. Leaders in EGS Geothermal include AltaRock Energy, EGS Energy, Geox, Geodynamics, and Potter Drilling.

3. Commercial Potential for the Carnot engine

As seen before, there is a lot of heat resources available underground. However, to be profitable, a geothermal reservoir must not be too deep and it has to produce either steam or hot water to be used by a power plant. Most of the traditional geothermal power plants (Dry steam and Flash steam facilities) are built above these types of reservoirs but such geological conditions are rare.

That’s exactly why new binary cycle facilities are now being developed. This technology allows cooler geothermal reservoirs to be used than with dry and flash steam plants. By doing so, it is opening a new range of available geothermal resources. Shallow and cold reservoirs that were once, not economically interesting, are now being potentially workable.

However, the thermal efficiency of a binary cycle power plant is lower than a conventional Dry or Flash steam plant because of the need of adding a heat exchanger in the system.

The Carnot engine has the capacity to exploit directly a low temperature flow from an Enhanced Geothermal Systems or any other low-temperature geothermal resource (old oil well, untapped geysers, etc.) without the need of adding a costly and less efficient heat exchanger.

4. Conclusion

The U.S. Geological Survey estimates that potentially 500 GW of EGS resource is available in the western U.S. (about half of the current installed electric power generating capacity in the United States). Another report by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), that included the potential of enhanced geothermal systems, estimated that investing 1 billion US dollars in research and development over 15 years would allow the creation of 100 GW of electrical generating capacity by 2050 in the United States alone.

As we can see, the geothermal energy is already used in many countries and its potential is great. Our Carnot engine would allow to improve the overall efficiency of EGS power plants. Better efficiency means better profitability. It could also move the economic threshold of some geothermal projects toward the “bankable” side.

Nuclear

1. Presentation

Nuclear power is the use of sustained nuclear fission to generate heat and electricity. Just as many conventional thermal power stations generate electricity by harnessing the thermal energy released from burning fossil fuels, nuclear power plants convert the energy released from the nucleus of an atom via nuclear fission that takes place in a nuclear reactor. The heat is pulled from the reactor core by a cooling system removes heat and used to generate steam which drives a steam turbine connected to a generator which produces electricity.

2. Market Analysis

As of December, 2011, a total of 433 nuclear reactors were operating in 30 countries providing about 6% of the world's energy and 14% of the world's electricity, with the U.S., France, and Japan together accounting for about 50% of nuclear generated electricity. The current world reactor fleet has a total nominal capacity of about  369 gigawatts and 62 Gw are currently under constructions. There are a considerable number of new reactors being built in China, South Korea, India, Pakistan, and Russia.

World number of reactors and capacity:

• Current:                   433 reactors for 369 GW 
• Under construction:   62 reactors for 62 GW 
• Planned:                  156 reactors for 173 GW

China has 26 nuclear power reactors under construction, with plans to build many more, while in the US the licenses of almost half its reactors have been extended to 60 years, and plans to build another dozen are under serious consideration.

However, Japan's 2011 Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster prompted a rethink of nuclear energy policy in many countries. Germany decided to close all its reactors by 2022, and Italy has banned nuclear power. Switzerland and Spain have banned the construction of new reactors.  Japan’s prime minster has called for a dramatic reduction in Japan’s reliance on nuclear power. Taiwan’s president did the same. Mexico has sidelined construction of 10 reactors in favor of developing natural-gas-fired plants. Belgium is considering phasing out its nuclear plants, perhaps as early as 2015. Following Fukushima, the International Energy Agency halved its estimate of additional nuclear generating capacity to be built by 2035.

On the other hand, according to the World Nuclear Associtation (WNA), over 45 countries are actively considering embarking upon nuclear power programs with front runners being UAE, Turkey, Vietnam, Belarus and Jordan.

- See the world reactors database: CHART or MAP

3. Commercial Potential for the Carnot engine

Basically, in most nuclear power stations, after the steam turbine has expanded and partially condensed the steam, the remaining vapor is condensed in a condenser. The condenser is a heat exchanger which is connected to secondary side such as a river or a cooling tower. Because its ability to work out of low temperature, the Carnot engine could retrieve this waste heat which is not used in nuclear power plant. Since this condensation process occurs in the non-radioactive side of the power plant, a Carnot engine implementation may not be too complicated. 

After leaving the turbine, there is still a large amount of energy that could potentially be used by the Carnot engine to generate more electricity. (ie: PWR Figure)

4. Conclusion 

Since about 2001 there has been much talk about an imminent nuclear revival or renaissance which implies that the nuclear industry has been dormant or in decline for some time (during the 2 decades post Three Mile Island and Chernobyl accidents). Whereas this may generally be the case for the Western world, nuclear capacity has been expanding in Eastern Europe and Asia but the March 2011 Fukushima accident has set back public perception of nuclear safety. Nuclear power growth will not be as strong as previously anticipated. Some western countries are phasing out their nuclear capacity while others have delayed their projects. Some experts say that governments should invest in energy efficiency and renewables rather than nuclear energy.

However, there is still a strong demand in Asia, with India and China currently building dozens of new plants and planning some more. Other parameters like climate change, increasing energy demand and security of supply might boost the nuclear energy in the future.

But whether it is for new or existing nuclear power stations, our Carnot engine could use the currently untapped waste heat commonly found in these facilities to produce more electricity out of the same resources, increasing the overall output of these power plants.

Heat pump

1. Presentation

A heat pump is a device that uses a small amount of energy to move heat from one location to another. Not too difficult, right? Heat pumps are typically used to “pull heat out” of the air or ground to heat a home or office building, but they can be reversed to cool a building. Heat pumps also work extremely efficiently, because they simply transfer heat, rather than burn fuel to create it.

 

2. Market Analysis

The heat pump market is mainly driven by the high oil and energy prices, which have helped consumers embrace renewable technologies more than ever before. A greater awareness about the environmental impact of non-renewable technologies has also played a part in the market’s growth. Other key drivers behind increasing demand are the numerous incentives legislation supporting renewable technologies. There is also a desire among countries to rely less on oil imports.
The market is dominated by Sweden, which is the third largest market for HP in the world, behind the USA and Japan. It accounts for almost half of market revenues.
The other major markets in Europe are France and Germany. The Austrian and Swiss markets are approaching maturity. However, countries like Germany and France are experiencing high growth with HPs gaining wider acceptance due to greater awareness as well as legislation.

 

3. Commercial Potential for the Carnot engine

When comparing the performance of heat pumps, it is best to avoid the word "efficiency" which has a very specific thermodynamic definition. The term coefficient of performance (COP) is used to describe the ratio of useful heat movement to work input. The Carnot engine would have a very high COP in heating application.

Other Applications

FLARING

Gas Flare

The World Bank estimates that over 150 billion cubic meters (or 5,3 trillion cubic feet) of natural gas are flared or vented annually, an amount equivalent to more than 25 percent of the United States’ gas consumption or 30 percent of the European Union’s gas consumption per year. Flaring gas has a global impact on climate change by adding about 400 million tons of CO2 in annual emissions. Fewer than 20 countries account for more than 70 percent of gas flaring and venting. And just four countries together flare about 70 billion cubic meters of associated gas.

In 2002, the World Bank launched the Global Gas Flaring Reduction Partnership (GGFR), a public-private partnership to supports the efforts of oil producing countries and companies to increase the use of associated natural gas and thus reduce flaring and venting, which wastes valuable resources and damages the environment.
The GGFR partners include: Algeria (Sonatrach), Angola (Sonangol), Azerbaijan, Cameroon (SNH), Ecuador (PetroEcuador), Equatorial Guinea, France, Gabon, Indonesia, Iraq, Kazakhstan, Khanty-Mansijsysk (Russia), Mexico (SENER), Nigeria, Norway, Qatar, the United States (DOE) and Uzbekistan; BP, Chevron, ConocoPhillips, ENI, ExxonMobil, Marathon Oil, Maersk Oil & Gas, Pemex, Qatar Petroleum, Shell, Statoil, TOTAL; European Union, the World Bank Group; Associated partner: Wärtsilä.

HYBRID PROPULSION & GENERATOR

The Carnot engine might be a good candidate for the vehicule propulsion. However, due to power and torque issue, this device is better used as a constant speed engine. I could be in a hybrid electric propulsion or "base load" utility generation where constant power output is actually desirable.

DATA CENTERS

The worldwide data center electric consumption grew by 56% between 2005 and 2010. Data centers are used to process e-mail, conduct Web searches and handle online shopping as well as banking transactions and corporate sales reports.  Moreover, more services that depend on data centers, like cloud computing and streaming of music and movies, became popular.
The power used by servers in data centers represented about 0.5% of world electricity consumption in 2005. When cooling and auxiliary infrastructure were included, that figure was about 1 percent. The worldwide demand for data center power in 2005 was equivalent to the output of about 17 1,000-megawatt power plants.
The Carnot engine can generate electricity out of the waste heat produce by this data center, it can also be used to cool these installations down.

INDUSTRIAL WASTE ENERGY

Many industries produce waste heat that could be used by a Carnot engine such as steel plants, incinerators (heat exhaust), cement factory, etc.

Fact Sheets

1. Consumption growth and dominance of thermal energy

• Within the next 20 years, the primary energy demand is going to rise by 40% while the electricity consumption will soar by 70%.

• More than 90% of our primary energy and 80% of the electricity generation is coming from sources which involve a thermal process to be used (ie: fossil fuels, nuclear, CSP, biomass, geothermal energy). This share is expected to remain stable in the near to long-term future.

Click to enlarge the figure

Click to enlarge the figure

Source:
- OECD IEA 2011 World energy outlook, see also the 2011 Key world energy Statistics
- US EIA 2011 International energy outlook, see also the Statistics page

2. Oil crunch and economic impact

WARNING: The oil “peak” is a controversial concept. For the past 30 years, many people have predicted “the end of the oil age”, end that was supposed to happen soon and be cataclysmic… Although we are not qualified to answer this question, recent elements are suggesting that the oil supply is under strong pressure. It is now commonly accepted by experts and oil industry leaders that the end of cheap oil is becoming real.

• "The cost of bringing oil to market rises as oil companies are forced to turn to more difficult and costly sources to replace lost capacity and meet rising demand. Rising transport demand and upstream costs reconfirm the end of cheap oil" International Energy Agency - World Energy Outlook    November 2011
  

• According to a projection in the 2010 World Energy Outook from the OECD International Energy Agency production of conventional crude oil  (the black liquid stuff that rigs pump out of the ground) has probably peaked in 2006, at about 70 million barrels a day. Production from currently producing oil fields will drop sharply in coming decades, the report suggests. Meeting that additional demand will fall entirely on unconventional oil sources like Canada’s tar sands as well as increased production of natural gas liquids. A major boost in these energy sources should be able to meet demand, but that is far from certain, told Nobuo Tanaka, the agency’s executive director. Depending of the governments energy policies, this will drive oil prices over $200 to $240 ($113 to $135 in real dollars), a range we painfully visited briefly during the spring and early summer of 2008.

World Oil Production (IEA WEO 2010)

• However, the US Department of Energy (DOE) is less confident than the IEA about the world's capacity to supply unconventional fuel.

What fuel supply could substitute for the conventional oil drop ?

Fatih Birol, IEA's Chief Economist

• In November 2011, the IEA's Chief Economist Fatih Birol, following the 2011 IEW World Energy Outlook presentation says that without major increases in investment (an increasingly unlikely occurrence), Middle Eastern oil production will fall by 3.4 million barrels a day (b/d) by 2015 and 6.2 million by 2020. Should this happen, we will have oil prices in excess of $150 a barrel until of course demand slumps from the high prices.
 

 

• The US military has warned that there could be serious shortages by 2015 with a significant economic and political impact. The energy crisis outlined in a Joint Operating Environment report from the US Joint Forces Command, comes as the price of petrol reaches record levels and the cost of crude is predicted to soon top $100 a barrel."By 2012, surplus oil production capacity could entirely disappear, and as early as 2015, the shortfall in output could reach nearly 10 million barrels per day," says the report, which has a foreword by a senior commander, General James N Mattis. Meanwhile, the US Air Force and the US Navy have been busy testing their aircraft on jet biofuel. Together with the Departments of Energy and Agriculture, the Navy has launched a project to invest up to half a billion dollars in biofuel refineries. Navy Secretary Ray Mabus says he is committed to getting 50 percent of the Navy's fuel for aircraft and surface ships from renewable sources by 2020 because dependence on foreign oil makes the U.S. military vulnerable. On December 2011, the US Defense Department has signed a contract to buy 450,000 gallons of biofuel, the largest purchase ever by the federal government 
 

• Many other organizations have predicted high oil prices scenario in short to middle term due to the increasing difficulty in accessing oil (whether it's caused by geological or political factors): German DoD, Lloyd's insurance company, US DOE, UK industry taskforce, Petrobras's CEO, Shell, Former BP Chief Petroleum Engineer,etc.

3. The boom of renewable energy

• During the five-years from the end of 2004 through 2009, worldwide renewable energy capacity grew at rates of 10–60% annually for many technologies.
• Global investment in renewable energy jumped 32% in 2010, to a record $211 billion, up from $160 billion in 2009. The top countries for investment in 2010 were China, Germany, the United States, Italy, and Brazil.
• In 2010, renewable power consisted about half of the newly built power generation capacities (194 GW) while existing renewable power capacity worldwide reached an estimated 1320 GW in 2010, up almost eight percent from 2009. 
• Renewables now comprise about a quarter of total global power generating capacity (estimated at 4950 GW in 2010) and supplies close to 20 percent of global electricity, with most of this provided by hydropower. When hydropower is not included, renewables reached a total of 312 GW in 2010, a 25 percent increase over the 2009 figure of 250 GW. 
• Among all renewables, global wind power capacity increased the most in 2010, followed by hydropower and solar photovoltaics (PV).
• The share of non-hydro renewables in power generation increases from 3% in 2009 to 15% in 2035, underpinned by annual subsidies to renewables that rise almost five-times to $180 billion.
• A 2011 IEA report said: "A portfolio of renewable energy technologies is becoming cost-competitive in an increasingly broad range of circumstances, in some cases providing investment opportunities without the need for specific economic support," and added that "cost reductions in critical technologies, such as wind and solar, are set to continue." 

4. Energy investments

• Large-scale investment in future energy supply is needed. $38 trillion in global investment in energy-supply infrastructure is required from 2011 to 2035, an average of $1.5 trillion per year ! Two-thirds of this is required in non-OECD countries. The power sector claims nearly $17 trillion of the total investment. Oil and gas combined require nearly $20 trillion, increasing to reflect higher costs and a need for more upstream investment in the medium and long term. Coal and biofuels account for the remaining investment.
• Global investment in renewable energy jumped 32% in 2010, to a record $211 billion, up from $160 billion in 2009. The top countries for investment in 2010 were China, Germany, the United States, Italy, and Brazil.