1: Energy Provision
1: Energy Provision mjg8Overview
OverviewSince the dawn of civilization, humankind has depended on energy for many uses. Energy is all around us and has played a role in nearly every aspect of society. Starting with the ability to use fire for light, heat, and cooking, to harnessing the atom for nuclear power, energy has been part of social and economic advancement. Energy is a fundamental and necessary aspect of manufacturing, agriculture, transportation, and just everyday living. Our initial reaction may be to consider electricity when we hear the word “energy,” but electricity is only part of the many forms of energy on which we depend.
We must first consider what a significant role energy plays in our day-to-day lives, and in helping a society and economy to function. Were it not for accessibility to energy, you would not be able to be taking this course online. As a matter of fact, imagine a day without any form of energy. No electricity, no lights, no air conditioning, no driving, no manufacturing, and so on. You get the picture! Energy is a fundamental necessity of society and the economy. One way we will see how important energy is to society is to understand how it is reflected in the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
Learning Outcomes
By the end of this lesson, you should be able to:
- Discuss how the 4 Factors of Energy Provision present opportunities and challenges for individuals depending on their role in society
- Describe three key points about SDG #7 on energy
- Illustrate the connections between one of the 4 Factors of Energy Provision and the targets of Energy Sustainable Development Goal (SDG #7)
Lesson Activities
| Read | Lesson 1 content |
|---|---|
| Discuss | Reconciling competing drivers of energy |
| Create | Lesson 1 infographic |
Questions?
If you have questions, please feel free to post them to the Questions about EGEE 401 Discussion forum in Canvas. While you are there, feel free to post your own responses if you, too, are able to help a classmate.
Competing Priorities of Energy Provision
Competing Priorities of Energy Provision
Energy is one of those issues that is faced with competing priorities. In other words, it is essential to society and the economy, as well as having profound impacts on the environment and availability of natural resources. Why should we care about this?
At a minimum, we want energy sources that are reliable, secure, and are accessible to as many as possible. Ideally, energy sources would also be sustainable. In the perfect world, we would find energy solutions that would be the best solutions for all these aspects. But we know that is not the case.
Those with specific interests or responsibilities may view energy solutions differently based on the desired goal. For example, those interested in environmentally-friendly solutions may prefer renewable energy sources. However, those tasked with providing a reliable 24/7 supply may be more wary of renewable energy sources, many of which are intermittent or inconsistent.
Four Factors of Provision
Four Factors of Provision
Let us look at those terms in more detail. First is energy reliability. A reliable energy supply is one that you can count on to provide the energy you need, when you need it, all the time. Whereas for many this is a convenience, there are cases such as infrastructure, hospitals, and national security where energy lapses are not only unacceptable and disruptive but can be life and property threatening.
Related to this is energy security. This is related to energy reliability but is more about how safe and secure is our energy infrastructure? Concerns about sabotage and terrorism, and the risk of the energy infrastructure being intentionally compromised are very real. Ironically, the more efficient and sophisticated our energy infrastructure becomes, with smart meters, connected systems and the like, the more susceptible it is to cyberattacks and compromise. Even the traditional “wire and poles” infrastructure is at risk from sabotage and natural disasters. We hear all too often of power outages due to storms.
Energy accessibility relates to the ability for those who need energy to get it. Unlike reliability and security, this aspect is more about equity and opportunity for the population as a whole. The expectations and thresholds are different in this case. For an area who did not have access to energy until recently, recipients might be more tolerant of lapses in reliability and even security as compared to areas with a long history of energy access. A component of accessibility is affordability. Living on the grid but being unable to pay the electric bill can mean energy is not accessible to you.
Finally, we speak of energy sources as being sustainable. This unfortunately has historically been the most expendable attribute. Sources that are sustainable are difficult to sell if they cannot also address at least one or more of the other three attributes. This is why solar, wind, and other renewables have taken so long to take root in the energy profile of many regions around the world.
A Closer look at the Factors
A Closer look at the FactorsLet’s explore how trying to balance these four attributes is a real-life issue. In the attached video, we ask a subject matter expert who has had to address this choice from a variety of perspectives what he thinks of the four attributes and how he has made decisions on which path to take and how to prioritize them.
Video Interview
Watch the following video interview between Ed Pinero (former EGEE 401 instructor) and Bob Barkanic (10:45)
Bob Barkanic Interview
Hello Class! Welcome to our discussion today! Today we’re interviewing a good friend and colleague of mine, Bob Barcanic. And Bob will share some of his experiences to help add some context for what we’ve been discussing in this lesson. And in this lesson we introduced a concept of energy accessibility, reliability, security, and sustainability. And we will be visiting these attributes throughout the semester from different perspectives. But we thought it would be a good start to have some real-life perspectives and I can’t think of anybody better to do that than Bob. So let’s go ahead and get started.
Again, Bob, welcome! And thank you for joining us. And, we’d like you to comment about your experiences on each of these attributes. But first please take a few minutes to introduce yourself including specifically about your energy-related background.
Well, thank you Ed. Like Ed said, my name is Bob Barkanic. And I am a consulting engineer. I have been in the energy industry for over 40 years. I’ve worked in the nuclear energy field. I’ve worked in government on energy programs. I have worked for a large Fortune 500 power company. I’ve taught, in fact, I’ve taught this very class at the Penn State World Campus. And, my present position is as an energy consultant. I am a professional engineer in Pennsylvania, and I have both my bachelors and masters in engineering science from Penn State University.
Excellent, excellent! And again, Bob’s being a little bit modest. He’s had a very distinguished career. He’s worked on Three Mile Island. He’s worked with the governor of Pennsylvania in the Department of Environmental Resources. And I’ve had the honor and privilege of working with Bob and for Bob several times throughout our respective careers. So, let’s jump right into discussion about these attributes, and we’ll start with reliability. We all want our energy supply to be reliable. So, from your experiences, can you tell us your thoughts on this concept of energy reliability?
Yeah, so the first topic being reliability is appropriate because it is one of the most important parameters that utility executives face. But, what is reliability? Reliability is simply keeping the lights on, or keeping the gas flowing, regardless of what’s going on out in the world. That could be storms. That could be cyber-security. That could be accidents. That could be equipment failure. So, the Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission, which is the entity that regulates utilities in Pennsylvania, measures the frequency, and the duration, and the restart time of those outages. The PUC determines how much money a utility can make in a given year based on that performance. And with the expanding distribution, new devices coming online such as smart grid devices, the increasing frequency and severity of storms, ensuring reliability for customers is a constant source of frustration for utility executives.
Excellent point, thank you! So let’s transition a bit. In this day and age, threats to, natural or intentional, do pose a risk to our power system. And also we have the issues of energy independence vs relying on another region for supply, and this could be a concern as well. So, with those concepts in mind, what are your thoughts on this issue of energy security?
Energy security in the electric utility industry has always been a priority. But the challenges today are even more confounding than they have been in the past. In the past you could “harden” your systems. You can harden them with structural barriers that could withstand an accident like a truck driving into a transformer station. Today, with everything being digital there’s an almost overwhelming number of hackers out there who for whatever reason are trying to get in and manipulate the electric grid, and that’s just on the electricity side. On the fuel side, there’s also geo-political issues. In September of 2019, there was a drone attack on one of the Saudi Iran Co oil refineries that disrupted one-half of the Saudi’s oil refining capabilities, and that was five percent of the global demand. So, the geopolitical issue from a drone attack, thankfully we and the Saudi’s had reserves so there was hardly any impact to our economy.
So, we’ve talked about the importance of the energy supply as reliable and secure. But another aspect is this issue of accessibility. And part of that includes affordability. So with your diverse background in this space, what are your views on this issue of accessibility and affordability?
I think accessibility on the electricity utility side in developed countries like the United States, for the most part, is not a significant issue. Affordability for that electricity is a completely different matter and there are programs built into government agencies that help people who are having trouble with their electric utility bills. I don’t, so I don’t see accessibility on the electricity side as a big issue in developed countries. On the natural gas side, the same cannot be said. Here in Pennsylvania, where we have an abundance of natural gas, marcel shale gas, one of the biggest challenges that the industry has is to get that gas to market, to customers, and to residents. Electricity in the developed world is a completely different matter as well. In the developing world, the solution might be to jump over a hundred years worth of technology and development that we’ve had in developed countries. Building our infrastructure out, and go directly to distributed generation. If you imagine bringing solar energy to a community or in a rural community in a developing country and the impact that that could have on their quality of life, not to mention their access to healthcare information, or communications, or commerce. That would be astounding. Getting natural gas in those areas could be a little bit more challenging.
So the new player on the scene is this issue of sustainability and sustainable energy. There’s a lot of talk of having more renewables in the mix. Just making our overall energy supply and energy system more sustainable. So, what are your views on this whole issue of energy sustainability?
Yes, so sustainability in energy and energy sustainability is the biggest issue of them all, right? It’s tied to climate change and you’ll be learning a lot about climate change in this class and in other classes at Penn State. It is, I think, the most challenging issue that we face. And as with accessibility, sustainability may actually be easier in the developing world than in the developed world. But still very challenging. In the developing world though, especially in rural places where infrastructure doesn’t exist, you could see how that distributed generation could be built much more easily than it could be in the developed world, because in the developed world we have enormous build-out of energy infrastructure. In the developed world, renewables must compete with existing energy resources. You don’t have that in the developing world. And with our 24 hour a day/365 days a year economy, intermittency of renewable resources is an issue that we have to contend with. And batteries may ultimately solve that but imagine the amount of infrastructure that’s necessary in the United States to replace the entire fossil fuel fleet of vehicles with electric vehicles. It’s a staggering amount. But that’s where we need to go. And additionally, in the developed world political infrastructure exists, and it’s robust. The political infrastructure is robust. But those communities, those companies that are tied to existing infrastructure, they have a right to ensure the status quo on that and they’re going to fight hard to do. So, I see that as perhaps political, overcoming the political infrastructure, is one of the most difficult challenges that we face.
Wonderful, thank you so much for that insight. That real-life insight on these four attributes is incredibly useful to the class. So, to wrap up, what are your thoughts on how these all integrate together? How do you deal with these competing priorities going forward?
So, we talked about many of the things that you’ll be talking about in the class, smart grid, distributed generation, renewable energy, electric vehicles, batteries. I would just ask you to remember the differences between the gas and electric industry that developed differently. So there are different challenges in each of those. And I would also remind you that there are different challenges in differences between the developed countries and the developing countries. And, finally I would just hope that you enjoy digging deeper into those issues as I have.
Wonderful, thank you! And I suspect this was very insightful. We appreciate you taking the time to chat with the class and hopefully we can have you come back later in the semester on some other issues. So, on that note, thank you. And thank you class, for joining us today for this.
Sustainable Development Goals
Sustainable Development GoalsIn 1992, the world experts convened in Rio de Janeiro Brazil for what was billed as the first Earth Summit. This triggered an ongoing series of summits and actions that led to the current suite of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Review the general information at the Sustainable Development Goals website, including the timeline of milestones that show how the concept has evolved since the beginning.
- No Poverty
- Zero Hunger
- Good Health and Wellbeing
- Quality Education
- Gender Equality
- Clean Water and Sanitation
- Affordable and Clean Energy
- Decent Work and Economic Growth
- Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure
- Reduced Inequalities
- Sustainable Cities and Communities
- Responsible Consumption and Production
- Climate Action
- Life Below Water
- Life on Land
- Peace, Justice and Strong Institutions
- Partnerships for the Goals
Reading Activity
On the Sustainable Development Goals website, you will find icons for each of the 17 goals. Click on each one and review the Overview. These are short entries that describe the goal and provide some facts and figures. For those goals that may be of particular interest to you, feel free to also click on the targets tab to get a better sense of what they are trying to accomplish. We will study the Energy goal in more detail later in this lesson.
Questions to guide your reading:
- Do you think the goals adequately cover issues facing society? If not, what is missing?
- In your opinion, are the goals realistic?
- What about the indirect links to other SDGs?
- How do energy-related decisions and actions impact other SDGs?
Comparing the SDGs
Comparing the SDGsComparing the SDGs and MDGs
It is important to note that the SDGs are “second generation” goals in that they replaced the original Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). Review the MDG Website and I encourage you do a cursory review of the status reports, such as the Millennium Development Goals 2015 Report. An issue that has followed the entire effort since the MDGs were announced is that they are almost too aspirational and nearly impossible to achieve in the relatively short timelines set for the goals. For example, one was to eradicate poverty and hunger, and another was to achieve environmental sustainability. Results were of course mixed and, overall, we missed the mark on all the MDGs, even though progress was made towards each. We see the same happening with the SDGs where progress is being made, but the absolute end point goals will be an elusive target; clearly, while there are fewer people in poverty now than in the past, we did not eradicate poverty.
Reading Activity
Please read through the following briefing on the transition from the MDGs to the SDGs noting both positive achievements to date but also critiques.
What are the UN Sustainable Development Goals?
Questions to guide your reading:
- Do you think the MGDs needed updating and replacement?
- Are the SDGs structured in a way to aid in their long-term success?
There are 17 SDG Goals, with Goal 7 on energy being the most directly related to this course. We will discuss Goal 7 next. However, it is important to be familiar with the other 16 goals because we will see that energy also permeates nearly all of the other 16. This is because energy impacts many other environmental, social, and economic aspects. Goals on infrastructure, economic development, and sustainable cities among many others have energy-related elements. In fact, we will be looking more closely at the energy-water-food nexus later in the course. Review the various targets for each of the 17 SDGs and see how many you can make the connection to energy reliability, security, and accessibility.
Goal 7 and its Targets
Goal 7 and its TargetsGoal 7 is to ensure access to affordable, reliable, sustainable, and modern energy for all. There are five targets associated with this goal, each having at least one indicator of success. The intent of the targets is to set discrete, measurable actions, with a way to assess progress and performance that will lead to meeting the main goal. We see in the goal and the targets' actions that will get at the key tenets that drive the energy dialogue- reliability, security, and accessibility.
The Sustainable Development Goals
Read the Executive Summary and scan the rest of the report, Tracking SDG 7, Energy Progress Report 2024. Pay attention to improvements in the targets since 2010 and note the variations. You will note that improvement is not consistent across all targets. If you need an overview refresher, go back to the required reading with the 17 SDGs and click on Goal 7.
Questions to guide your reading:
- Do you get a sense of what may be holding back progress where it has fallen short?
- Or are the targets too ambitious?
- In your opinion, do these targets get us to the overall goal?
One of the critiques against the SDGs is that they are too overreaching. In others they call for an ideal end state that is very hard to meet, and even if met, hard to validate. Considering that the goals have ten-year timelines, do you think Goal 7 is even realistic? The challenge with setting such goals is that progress is difficult to characterize. For example, if the ultimate goal is that the goal applies to everyone, then it is hard to say if the progress that was made is good or bad.
Let us think about the four attributes we learned earlier, reliability, security, accessibility, and sustainability. Do you feel all four aspects are addressed with Goal 7? Arguably, these four attributes are key and if Goal 7 doesn’t collectively address these, this SDG may not be the right path forward.
As we go through the rest of the class, let’s keep these aspirational SDGs goals in mind in assessing progress in these areas of reliability, security, and accessibility and sustainability.
Lesson 1 Infographic
Lesson 1 InfographicInfographic Assignment:
In lesson 1 we learned about the 4 factors of Energy Provision, which include reliability, security, accessibility, and sustainability. We also reviewed Goal #7 of the Sustainable Development Goals established by the Earth First Summit. Now you’re going to engage in an activity to demonstrate your understanding of how these concepts relate to and impact one another through the creation of an infographic.
Purpose of this infographic:
To successfully complete this assignment, you will create an infographic that illustrates a connection between one of the Goal 7 targets and as many of the 4 factors as possible.
Communicating Visually:
As you begin to work on your infographic, keep in mind that a single target from Goal #7 can be applied to more than 1 factor. This means you’ll need to spend some time thinking about the various connections and how to demonstrate them in the most concise and effective manner possible. You’ll need to illustrate all this information in a manner that is easily understood ‘at a glance,’ meaning there shouldn’t be any additional resources or information one should need to read in order to understand what you are trying to communicate. For example, if you feel the second target described in the SDG #7 aligns with security and reliability, you’ll need to visually communicate these connections.
Successfully Completing this Assignment:
If you haven’t done so already, review the foundational resources provided in the Orientation lesson. They are titled, Creating Infographics, and Overview of Infographic Assignments. The rubric used for grading this assignment is provided on the following page in Canvas.
If you have any questions, please post them to the Questions about EGEE 401 Discussion Forum.