UNIVERSITY OF IBADAN

FACULTY OF TECHNOLOGY
DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURAL AND ENVIRONMENTAL ENGINEERING

TAE 721 AGRICULTURAL POWER SYSTEM

TOPIC: LIMITATION IN THE USE OF CONVENTIONAL AND NON

CONVENTIONAL POWER SOURCES

Proposed by:

Julus H. Vodounnou

July 2018
Outlines

Introduction ................................................................................................................................ 1

1. Conventional power sources ........................................................................................... 2

1.1. Types of conventional power sources ..................................................................... 2

1.2. Limitation in the use of conventional power sources .............................................. 4

2. Non-conventional power sources .................................................................................... 5

2.1. Types of non-conventional power sources .............................................................. 6

2.2. Limitation in the use of non-conventional power sources ....................................... 9

Conclusion ............................................................................................................................... 12

References ................................................................................................................................ 13

i
 Introduction

Energy is a crucial component of economic infrastructure as it is the basic input that is required
to sustain the economic growth. There is a powerful relationship between the economic
development and energy consumption. When the country is more developed, it has a higher
per capita of energy consumption and vice-versa. Conventional sources of energy are the most
important sources of energy. However, due to global warming, the non-conventional sources
are promoted and initiatives are encouraged in this way.

In this document, we will describe briefly the different power sources either they are
conventional or not. Also, their limitation will be brought out.

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1. Conventional Power Sources
Fossil fuels sources burn coal or hydrocarbon fuels, which are the remains of the decomposition
of plants and animals. There are three main types of fossil fuels: coal, petroleum, and natural
gas. Another fossil fuel, liquefied petroleum gas (LPG), is principally derived from the
production of natural gas.

1.1. Types of conventional power sources

1.1.1. Coal
According to Wikipedia, coal is a combustible black or brownish-black sedimentary
rock usually occurring in rock strata in layers or veins called coal beds or coal seams. The
hardest forms, such as anthracite coal, can be regarded as metamorphic rock because of later
exposure to elevated temperature and pressure. Coal is composed primarily of carbon, along
with variable quantities of other elements, chiefly hydrogen, sulphur, oxygen, and nitrogen.
Coal is a fossil fuel that forms when dead plant matter is converted into peat, which in turn is
converted into lignite, then sub-bituminous coal, after that bituminous coal, and
lastly anthracite. This involves biological and geological processes. The geological processes
take place over millions of years.

There are three grades of coal:

➢ Anthracite (highest grade; lowest sulphur content, over 85% carbon and is the most
exploited and most rapidly depleted);

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 ➢ Bituminous (medium grade coal, higher sulphur content, about 50-75% carbon content
and is the most abundant coal in the USA);
➢ Lignite (lowest grade of coal, most sulphurous, with about 40% carbon content).

Figure 1 : energy and carbon in lignite, bituminous and anthracite.

1.1.2. Oil (petroleum)
In these days oil is considered as the most important source of energy in the world. It is widely
used in automobiles, trains, planes and ships, etc.
Petroleum or crude oil (oil as it comes out of the ground) is a thick dark liquid consisting of a
mixture hundreds of combustible hydrocarbons along with small amounts of sulphur, oxygen
and nitrogen impurities. It is also known as conventional oil or light oil. Deposits of crude oil
and natural gas are usually trapped together under the sea floor or earth’s crust on land.

After it is extracted, crude oil is transported to a refinery by

pipelines, trucks or ships (oil tanker). In refineries oil is
heated and distilled to separate it into components with
different boiling points. The important components are
gases, gasoline, aviation fuel, kerosene, diesel oil, naphtha,
grease and wax and asphalt. Some of the products of oil
distillation are called Petrochemicals which are used as raw
material for the manufacture of pesticides, plastics,
synthetic fibers, paints and medicines etc.

Figure 2 : Crude oil utilisation.

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1.1.3. Natural gas
Natural gas, primarily consists of methane, is often found above reservoirs of crude oil. The
natural gas is a mixture of 50 to 90% by volume of methane (CH4), the simplest hydrocarbon.
It also contains small amounts of heavier gaseous hydrocarbons such as ethane (C2H6),
propane (C3H8) and butane (C4H10) and also small amounts of highly toxic hydrogen sulphide
(H2S). Natural gas is formed through geological processes similar to the processes of crude oil
formation described earlier except the organic material gets changed to more volatile
hydrocarbons than those found in oil.

Almost every oil well produces liquid petroleum along varying amounts of natural gas.
However, there are large gas deposits without any liquid petroleum being associated with them.

1.1.4. Nuclear Energy Sources

Radioactive minerals are used to generate nuclear energy through high technological methods.
There are two methods which can be used to release energy from radioactive minerals:

− Nuclear fission – In this process, the nucleus of heavy atoms namely of uranium (U
235) or plutonium (P239) breaks apart into smaller fragments, releasing an enormous
amount of energy.
− Nuclear fusion – In this process, small nucleus like those of isotopes of hydrogen,
namely deuterium and tritium fuse or join together to form heavier nuclei, releasing
vast amounts of energy.

1.2. Limitation in the use of conventional power sources

Conventional
Limitation
power sources
− Methane being major component of natural gas, happens to be a
greenhouse gas and its leakage contributes to global warming.
− Extraction of oil and gas may cause sinking of land or subsidence.
Fossils fuels
− Another major problem in the past with onshore oil wells has been
(oil and natural
brine (salt water). Typically, for every barrel of oil production ten
gas)
barrels of brine are also extracted.
− In early days the brine was simply discarded into nearby streams or
on the soil. Today most brine is reinjected into the well. However,

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 Conventional
Limitation
power sources
brine can contaminate fresh water aquifers if the casing lining the well
is missing or corroded.
− About half of the oil that contaminates the ocean comes from natural
seepage from offshore deposits.
− 20% of the oil contaminating the ocean comes from oil well, blowouts,
pipeline breaks and tankers.
− The major problems associated with the generation of nuclear power
are
− disposal of nuclear waste,
− contamination of the environment with long lasting radioactive
materials (radioactive pollution),
− thermal pollution,
− health effects from exposure to low levels of radiation,
Nuclear power − limited supplies of uranium ore,
− high construction and maintenance costs,
− questionable reactor safety,
− human or technical errors that could result in a major accident and
vulnerability to sabotage,
− developing nuclear weapons by processing reactor waste.
− Problems of dismantling of a nuclear plant’s, after their useful life of
30-40 years is over.

2. Non-conventional power sources

Renewable energy is energy which comes from natural resources such as sunlight, wind, rain,
tides, and geothermal heat, which are renewable (naturally replenished). About 16 per cent of
final global energy consumption comes from renewables, with 10 per cent coming from
traditional biomass, which is mainly used for heating, and 3.4 per cent from hydroelectricity.
New renewables (small hydro, modern biomass, wind, solar, geothermal, and biofuels)
accounted for another 2.8 per cent and are growing very rapidly. The share of renewables in
electricity generation is around 19 per cent, with 16 per cent of global electricity coming from
hydroelectricity and 3 per cent from new renewables.

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2.1. Types of non-conventional power sources

2.1.1. Solar power

Solar power is two kinds: solar radiation and solar thermal

Solar radiations are becoming increasingly appreciated because of their influence on living
matter and the feasibility of its application for useful purposes. It is a perpetual source of natural
energy that, along with other forms of renewable energy, has a great potential for a wide variety
of applications because it is abundant and accessible. Solar radiation is rapidly gaining ground
as a supplement to the non-renewable sources of energy, which have a finite supply. Solar
devices which were developed are Silicon wafers, cells, lanterns, lights, lighting systems, street
lights, ingots, attic fans, water pumps, water heater, refrigerators, televisions (TV), coolers, air
conditioners, cooking systems, steam generators, flat-plate collectors, power plants, etc.)

Solar thermal energy is a technology for harnessing solar energy for thermal energy (heat).
Solar thermal collectors are classified as Low-, medium- or High-temperature collectors. Low
temperature collectors are flat- plates generally used to heat swimming pools. Medium-
temperature collectors are also usually flat-plates but are used for heating water or air for
residential and commercial use. High-temperature collectors concentrate sunlight using mirrors
or lenses and are generally used for electric power production. STE is different from (and
indeed much more efficient than) photovoltaics, which converts solar energy directly into
electricity.

The available solar energy resources are 3.8 YJ/year (1,20,000 TW). Less than 0.02 per cent of
available resources are sufficient to entirely replace fossil fuels and nuclear power as an energy
source.

2.1.2. Wind Power

Wind is simply air in motion. It is caused by the uneven heating of the earth’s surface by the
sun. Because the earth’s surface is made of very different types of land and water, it absorbs
the sun’s heat at different rates. One example of this uneven heating can be found in the daily
wind cycle. During the day, the air above the land heats up more quickly than the air over
water. The warm air over the land expands and rises, and the heavier, cooler air rushes in to
take its place, creating wind. At night, the winds are reversed because the air cools more rapidly
over land than over water.

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Wind power is growing at the rate of 30 per cent annually, with a worldwide installed capacity
of 198 gigawatts (GW) in 2010, and is widely used in Europe, Asia, and the United States.
Wind power accounts for approximately 19 per cent of electricity use in Denmark, 9 per cent
in Spain and Portugal, and 6 per cent in Germany and the Republic of Ireland. The United
States is an important growth area and installed US wind power capacity reached 25,170 MW
at the end of 2008.

2.1.3. Bio Power

It groups all bio-energy production as biofuels, biogas, biomass gasification, cogeneration,
photosynthesis, ethanol, biodiesel, biohydrogen) and the research is on going to bring out the
Algae fuel for future. It all from biomass sources.

In 2005, electricity produced from biomass sources was estimated at 44 GW. Biomass
electricity generation increased by over 100 per cent in Germany, Hungary, the Netherlands,
Poland, and Spain. A further 220 GW was used for heating (in 2006), bringing the total energy
consumed from biomass to around 264 GW. The use of biomass fires for cooking is excluded.
World production of bioethanol increased by 8 per cent in 2007 to reach 33 billion litres (8.72
billion US gallons), with most of the increase in the United States, bringing it level to the levels
of consumption in Brazil. Biodiesel increased by 85 per cent to 3.9 billion litres (1.03 billion
US gallons), making it the fastest growing renewable energy source in 2007. Over 50 per cent
is produced in Germany.

2.1.4. Hydro power

It is a form of energy—a renewable resource. Hydropower provides about 96 per cent of the
renewable energy in the United States. Other renewable resources include geothermal, wave
power, tidal power, wind power, and solar power. Hydroelectric power plants do not use up
resources to create electricity nor do they pollute the air, land or water, as other power plants
may. Hydroelectric power has played an important part in the development of world’s electric
power industry. Both small and large hydroelectric power developments were instrumental in
the early expansion of the electric power industry. Hydroelectric power comes from flowing
water-winter and spring run-off from mountain streams and clear lakes. Water, when it is
falling by the force of gravity, can be used to turn turbines and generators that produce
electricity

worldwide hydroelectricity installed capacity reached 816 GW in 2005, consisting of 750 GW

of large plants, and 66 GW of small hydro installations. Large hydro capacity totalling 10.9

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GW was added by China, Brazil, and India during the year, but there was a much faster growth
(8 per cent) small hydro, with 5 GW added, mostly in China where some 58 per cent of the
world’s small hydro plants are now located. China is the largest hydropower producer in the
world and continues to add capacity.

2.1.5. Geothermal Power

Geothermal energy is an enormous, underused heat and power resource that is clean (emits
little or no greenhouse gases), reliable (average system availability of 95%),
and homegrown (making us less dependent on foreign oil). Geothermal resources range from
shallow ground to hot water and rock several miles below the Earth's surface, and even farther
down to the extremely hot molten rock called magma. Mile-or-more-deep wells can be drilled
into underground reservoirs to tap steam and very hot water that can be brought to the surface
for use in a variety of applications.

The general characteristics of geothermal energy that make it of significant importance for both
electricity production and direct use include:

− Extensive global distribution; it is accessible to both developed and developing

countries.
− Environmentally friendly nature; it has low emission of sulphur, CO2 and other
greenhouse gases.
− Indigenous nature; it is independent of external supply and demand effects and
fluctuations in exchange rates.
− Independence of weather and season.
− Contribution to the development of diversified power sources.

Geothermal energy is used commercially in over 70 countries. In the year 2006, 200 PJ (57
TWh) of electricity was generated from geothermal resources, and an additional 270 PJ of
geothermal energy was used directly, mostly for space heating. In 2007, the world had a global
capacity for 10 GW of electricity generation and an additional 28 GW of direct heating,
including extraction by geothermal heat pumps. Heat pumps are small and widely distributed,
so estimates of their total capacity are uncertain and range up to 100 GW.

2.1.6. Wave and Tidal Power

Tidal power, also called tidal energy, is a form of hydropower that converts the energy of tides
into useful forms of power-mainly electricity. Although not yet widely used, tidal power has

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potential for future electricity generation. Tides are more predictable than wind energy and
solar power. Among sources of renewable energy, tidal power has traditionally suffered from
relatively high cost and limited availability of sites with sufficiently high tidal ranges or flow
velocities, thus constricting its total availability. However, many recent technological
developments and improvements, both in design (e.g. dynamic tidal power, tidal lagoons) and
turbine technology (e.g. new axial turbines, crossflow turbines), indicate that the total
availability of tidal power may be much higher than previously assumed, and that economic
and environmental costs may be brought down to competitive levels.

At the end of 2006, 0.3 GW of electricity was produced by tidal power. Due to the tidal forces
created by the moon (68 per cent) and the sun (32 per cent), and the earth’s relative rotation
with respect to moon and sun, there are fluctuating tides. These tidal fluctuations result in
dissipation at an average rate of about 3.7 TW.

2.2. Limitation in the use of non-conventional power sources

Non-
conventional Limitation
power sources
− Direct combustion of any carbon-based fuel leads to air pollution
similar to that from fossil fuels.
Biomass,
− Direct competition with land use for food production and water use. As
biofuels and
this decreases food supply, the price of food increases worldwide.
vegetable oil
− Current production methods would require enormous amounts of land
to replace all gasoline and diesel.
− Geothermal power extracts small amounts of minerals such as sulphur
that is removed prior to feeding the turbine and re-injecting the water
back into the injection well.
Geothermal
− Geothermal power requires locations that have suitable subterranean
energy
temperatures within 5 km of surface.
− Some geothermal stations have created geological instability, even
causing earthquakes strong enough to damage buildings.
− The construction of a dam can have a serious environmental impact on
the surrounding areas. The amount and the quality of water
downstream can be affected, which affects plant life both aquatic, and
Hydroelectric land-based. Because a river valley is being flooded, the local habitat of
energy many species is destroyed, while people living nearby may have to
relocate their homes.
− Hydroelectricity can only be used in areas where there is a sufficient
and continuing supply of water.

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Non-
conventional Limitation
power sources
− Flooding submerges large forests (if they have not been harvested). The
resulting anaerobic decomposition of the carboniferous materials
releases methane, a greenhouse gas.
− Dams can contain huge amounts of water. As with every energy storage
system, failure of containment can lead to catastrophic results, e.g.
flooding.
− Dams create large lakes that may have adverse effects on earth tectonic
system causing intense earthquakes.
− Hydroelectric plants rarely can be erected near load centers, requiring
long transmission lines.
− Solar electricity is currently more expensive than grid electricity.
− Solar heat and electricity are not available at night and may be
unavailable because of weather conditions; therefore, a storage or
complementary power system is required for off-the-grid applications.
− Solar cells produce DC which must be converted to AC (using a grid
Solar power
tie inverter) when used in currently existing distribution grids. This
incurs an energy loss of 4–12 per cent.
− The energy payback time—the time necessary for producing the same
amount of energy as needed for building the power device—for
photovoltaic cells is about 1–5 years, depending primarily on location.
− Tidal power is not currently economically feasible, because the initial
costs of building a dam are tremendous. Furthermore, it only provides
power for around 10 hours each day, when the tide is moving in or out
of the basin.
− The barrage construction can affect the transportation system in water.
Boats may not be able to cross the barrage, and commercial ships, used
for transport or fishery, need to find alternative routes or costly systems
Tidal power to go through the barrage.
generation − The erection of a barrage may affect the aquatic ecosystems
surrounding it. The environment affected by the dam is very wide,
altering areas numerous miles upstream and downstream. For example,
many birds rely on low tides to unearth mud flats, which are used as
feeding areas.
− Maximum energy production is limited to 2.5 terawatts. This is the total
amount of tidal dissipation or the friction measured by the slowing of
the lunar orbit.
− Wind is unpredictable; therefore, wind power is not predictably
Wind Power available. When the wind speed decreases less electricity is generated.
This makes wind power unsuitable for base load generation.

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Non-
conventional Limitation
power sources
− Wind farms may be challenged in communities that consider them an
eyesore or obstruction.
− Wind farms, depending on the location and type of turbine, may
negatively affect bird migration patterns, and may pose a danger to the
birds themselves (primarily an issue with older/smaller turbines).
− Windfarms may interfere with radar creating a hole in radar coverage
and so affect national security.
− Tall wind turbines have been proven to impact Doppler radar towers
and affect weather forecasting in a negative way. This can be prevented
by not having the wind turbines in the radar’s line of sight.

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 Conclusion

In this document, we described the conventional and non-conventional power sources and their
limitations. The conventional power sources are three kinds: coal, oil or petroleum, natural gas,
and nuclear. On the other hand, the non-conventional power sources, also called renewable
power sources, are mainly six types: solar, wind, bio, hydro, geothermal, wave and tidal power.

The non-conventional power sources are the most developed recently. China is one of country
which invest more in renewable energy in order to reduce its dependence on fossils energy
which will be used up in this century.

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