REPORT: Energy supply for the Island of Ecotopia(The Sustainability Challenge) - Essay Example

The data also shows a wind output that is lower than the photovoltaic (PV) output but is higher than the total demand for both winter and summer periods. It suggests that due to the larger magnitude of solar PV power output fluctuations, the costs of large scale solar PV integration are likely to be larger than those of wind power (Laumer, 2008). The degree of fossil fuel is also lower than the actual demand for both winter and summer data, suggesting that a higher amount of fossil fuel is required.

The data also show that winter demand contributions have a fluctuating degree of industry transport which is generally the highest among lights/appliances, hot water, and space heat, suggesting that a higher amount of energy is spent by industry and transport services. During summer, total renewables contribution is mounted at a lower degree than total demanded, suggesting the same result for winter. Likewise, tidal plant storage shows a fluctuating flow during summer which plays up and down to zero, never reaching inputs in negative as compared to pumped storage which is generally consistent at zero point and has a tiny surge above it after reaching a negative input near 24.

During summer, industry and transport still prevails over all variables, with space heating generally close to zero and lights/appliances fluctuating higher than hot water. Total demand mounts a higher degree than the actual inputs of both tidal plant and pumped storage. As for annual demand and electricity supplied by source, base case uses fossil fuel and revised case uses more than 50% of fossil fuel with wind power and tidal power using smaller portions of energy sources. Ecotopia can use nuclear reactors that create energy safely while producing nuclear waste that is not long-lasting.

The sustainable nuclear energy will focus on the nuclear fuel cycle which uses a Gas-cooled Fast Reactor (GFR), a