Energy Structures and Environmental Futures - Essay Example

Energy has played an important role towards modernization and without it the modern societies we live in today would be nonexistent. Producing and distribution of energy at reasonable rates has been the top agenda for everyone in the energy sector from the producer right down to the final consumer. This sectors existence has been shaped by politics and social concerns in its management through to its distribution and consumption. According to Haugland, Bergesen and Roland( p. 1) the relationship between the society and energy sector faces two major challenges: First, the national confinement of modern energy systems is undermined by technological progress, making long-distance trade increasingly attractive, and by the broad trend towards economic internationalization in general and political integration in Europe in particular. Second, the risk of climate change may lead governments and publics to demand a profound restructuring of the entire energy sector. In that case this task would shed more light on the current trends of energy consumption which will most likely be attributed to advancement in technology and the use of electricity and electrical appliances by students in their halls of residence. Peak load is the highest amount of power or electric value recorded at a particular period. Peak load values will be obtained when there is more demand on the electricity due to use of appliances. In this case peak load values in the student halls will be recorded during the early morning when the students will be preparing to go to class or any other activities they are involved in. The use of the instant heating showers, blow dryers, iron box coupled with the demand to ensure that the room is warm enough due to the morning cold, the amount of electricity in use instantaneously shoots up. Peak load can also be noticed in the evenings just when the students are coming back from their classes and other activities they have been engaging in during the day. The use of electrical appliances in use throughout the hall increases so does the demand for the energy to drive them, these appliances are mostly for entertainment purposes such as gaming console, television and stereo systems. Base load is the lowest average in energy consumption at a particular period when the consumption is steady. Base load values will be obtained when there is less demand on the electricity. In the students halls Base load values will be recorded during the day while most of the students will be away, because this brings down the overall consumption of energy although the values during the day might not be very reliable because of the students left in the halls since the will still be consuming the electricity this may take out the steady aspect in the calculation of base load values. The best time to do this is at night when the students are preparing to sleep through to the time they are about to wake up. This allows for consumption to go low and maintain a steady flow thus making it a more appropriate time to calculate the base load values. For this assignment the base load was calculated by averaging the consumption between 00:00 hours and 06:00 hours when the consumption was low and steady. The results were averaged again to find the base load for the month from January through to October. Also calculated was the difference in base load values to determine the change in base load values between months. The results were found and represented as follows: Monthly Base load Month Base load value Base load difference January 288411.8 0 February 314269.3 25857.5 March 338548.9 24279.6 April 361666.5 23117.6 May 384706.7 23040.2 June 407179.9 22473.2 July 425351.1 18171.2 August 441813.4 16462.3 September 458685.6 16872.2 October 477464.7 18779.1 The results show a gradual decrease in base load from the month of January to the month of August after which it gradually increases. This could probably be attributed to the change in weather since it gets cold around late August and beginning of September on the onset of autumn. This leads to increased demand for heating of the rooms to keep warm during this period and thus results to the increase in base load. It is also possible that most students would spend most of their free time indoors and thus use the electrical appliances such as laptops, television and stereo systems also resulting in the increase of the base load. The peak load was calculated by looking at the highest level in consumption in a day, the monthly peak load was calculated by averaging the peak load values for that particular month in this case January through to October. The values are represented as follows: Monthly peak load Month Peak load value January 289189.5 February 315059 March 339208 April 362331.5 May 385414 June 407851 July 425931.5 August 442310.5 September 459178 October 478046 Peak load to Base load Ratio Month Peak load to Base load ratio January 289189.5 288411.8 February 315059 314269.3 March 339208 338548.9 April 362331.5 361666.5 May 385414 384706.7 June 407851 407179.9 July 425931.5 425351.1 August 442310.5 441813.4 September 459178 458685.6 October 478046 477464.7 The peak load to base load ratio can be calculated by taking the values of the peak load spread out during a particular period and averaging them to determine the average value of the peak load at that particular period. The base load value is already an average of values in a particular period. An example of peak load to base load for a day would be the highest value of consumption in that day against the base load determined during the same day. It has been noted that as the peak load increases during a particular month so does the base load through the same month and when the peak load decreases so does the base load as shown in the table. The ratio between the peak load to base load is approximately 1:1 according to the calculations and representation done in this assignment. Monthly and seasonal variations can be explained by a myriad of factors. These changes can be attributed to the weather changes, periodical pressures throughout the set period. The base load averages for the month of January to the month of October seem as though they are increasing but the reality is that their difference which is actually the amount consumed during that period, from January to August is decreasing then increases later on in the year from August to October. This can directly translate to the same trend in the peak load values throughout the year since the as peak load to base load ratio is 1:1 so with every increase in base load the same degree of increase is applied to the peak load. The decrease then Increase in the consumption can be attributed to the fact that the consumption decreases relatively to the change in weather thus it decreases in the warm months and increases in the colder months due to the need of heating in the rooms. The lunch time dip was calculated by taking the highest value minus the lowest value within the lunch period and observation of the same within the other hours before and after lunch. It was noticed that there was a considerable dip in the energy consumed during lunch hour. Since the energy consumed as per the calculation concludes a sudden slump in consumption. The above representation just shows random values of the lunch time dips which were averaged to get an approximate value of the dip in a month, just to show the difference and variation of the lunch time dip between months. The lunch time dip can be attributed to the fact that most of the students don’t cook in their halls and they leave their halls of residence to eat outside. The amount of energy used in this period decreases since they may be shutting off their appliances as they leave. The change in students’ consumption determines their behavioral pattern, in that there are periods in days, months and the year when they have exhibited a notable pattern towards their energy consumption, for example there has been an observable dip during lunch time attributed to the students feeding preferences. They eat outside and thus leave their halls of residence and this ultimately reduces the amount of energy used at that particular period. Another trend noticed was the increased use of energy in heating their rooms, mostly during the colder months. Most students heat their rooms between 2- 4 hrs each day and when it gets colder their heating demands go even higher. This is because they would better heat their rooms than wear warm clothing, although this is not generalized among the students. Their occupation students entails them using most of their time to meet educational demands, where they are required to go to class, attend lectures and research in their libraries. This makes students to spend less time in their halls. Most of the energy consumed by students is mostly directed towards thermal comfort and entertainment by using their laptops, games consoles and such appliances. This goes to show that students’ energy demands are not so intensive because of the need they exhibit. The students’ halls are designed for communal use, so most facilities are shared and thus energy use is centralized. The energy required to run such halls is not as intensive compared to industrial building engaging in manufacturing, packaging and such activities which are highly energy demanding. The student halls experience energy demands periodically and they are designed to provide for the most basic energy needs, just enough to ensure that they are comfortable and habitable throughout the year. Energy control designed towards environmental sustainability should be manual. This is because some of the energy needs can be provided for in different ways without using energy provided, for example: in a room where the heating system is automatic energy will be used depending on the surrounding environment. The system will automatically switch itself on and consume the energy and this may even happen when one is not in the room. On the other hand a manual can be shut off and the individual can put on warm clothing and save on energy. Keeping automatic appliances running to make use of the automatic feature requires energy as well thus increasing the overall energy consumed. Manual control requires a higher bearing of responsible behavior to ensure its efficiency and effectiveness on the individual or group. This makes it more environmentally sustainable. Manual control requires the individual to be aware of his or her environment and act responsibly with regards to energy and energy consumption. Energy consumption has grown steadily in Europe this can be attributed to advancement in technology and changing weather and climatic patterns (Haugland, Bergesen and Roland 24). This puts a lot of pressure on energy production and distribution and we have seen the development of nuclear energy throughout the world as an alternative to solving this problem. The demand for energy cannot be ignored because in this modern age of fast globalization and the coming up of new industrial countries nothing can be achieved without steady supply of this precious commodity (Haugland, Bergesen and Roland 1). The speedy growth of nations still poses a risk to the environment since due to demands in energy and the uncontrollable expansion of economies, nations engage in energy production activities that are not sustainable for example the uncontrollable logging in Africa for fuel and for timber. These activities have led to the climate change phenomenon which is threatening humanity as we know it. This has led us to the search of greener energy towards averting the crisis that is threatening our survival. We should focus our efforts as politician, researchers, students, industrialists and all of us who care for the environment towards developing energy systems that will not put us at risk. The development of solar, wind and other renewable energy sources is a commendable achievement towards sustainability. Works Cited Haugland, Torleif, Helge Ole Bergesen & Kjell Roland. Energy Structures and Environmental Futures. New York: Oxford University, 1998. Print Read More