The Cradle to Grave Carbon Footprints of Energy Sources

Nothing in life is simple. Every energy source generates carbon when you consider emissions from cradle to grave. Each source starts with the materials it is made from. That includes the energy and fossil fuel used to mine or extract elements from the earth, processing, manufacturing, transportation, construction and maintenance. When each of these basic factors as well as others are considered, there is a carbon footprint associated with bringing the energy source online. When you consider the carbon generated by the source over its operational lifetime as well as the carbon created during the sources decommissioning, you then are able to calculate its cradle to grave carbon footprint. I spent nearly forty years teaching a course called Energy Resources and Systems and I co-authored two textbooks: Energy Resources and Systems Volume 1 Fundamentals and Non-Renewables & Volume 2 Renewables. The one fact that no energy resource can get around is that there is an expenditure of energy from cradle to grave to produce power. A large fraction of that expended energy will come from fossil fuels. Thus a good gage of the cradle to grave carbon footprint for an energy source is measured by the energy multiplier value which I called "Q" in my lectures. If you are interested in the concept of Energy Q Value, you can download the pdf file below.

Energy Q value 5-30-23

.pdf

Download PDF • 150KB

Took the Plunge, Purchased an EV

As an undergraduate in 1974, I studied the greenhouse effect. I read about Eunice Foote and her 1856 presentation in which she reported on an experiment in which carbon dioxide and water vapor were heated in a jar by sunlight. I was aware of John Tyndall's studies in 1859 on how carbon dioxide traps heat in the earth's atmosphere. I was fortunate to have professors at Colorado State University who introduced me to the topic. That is when I made up my mind to study nuclear engineering. It has been a long road, but now most enviromentalists agree that nuclear energy has a very low carbon footprint and is needed to mitigate climate change. I am convinced of climate change due to serving on numerous government committies on the topic and from my research. Columbia Missouri is a progressive city because it strives to use renewable resources. Plus, some of it's electricity comes from the grid where part of that power is nuclear generated. I now feel comfortable that an EV in Columbia will have a lower carbon footprint than a gas powered car because of the city's effort to cut down on electricity produced by fossil fuels. It was time to take the plung and purchase an EV. I purchased a VW Id.4 for several reasons: the $7,500 federal tax break, leg room, head room, comfort, warranty, and track record.

Sunrise Over Montana Going Home

I stared out from SpokaneWashington at 2:30 am. I wanted to stop at a hotel by 8 pm to rest.

This was sunrise in Montana.

I decided to drive back using I-80. The traffic was bumper to bumper both east and west. I stopped at every city on I-80 beginning at 8:30 pm in Nebraska and there were no available rooms. I ended up driving all the way home. It took 28 hours.

The unexpected lesson I learned was that even at my age, you can do things you believed were beyond your capabilities.