Why Central IL will become an alternative energy hotbed

1. Sell, finance, install, and service photovoltaic
electric, solar lighting and water heating equipment.
Dr. Kenneth Bower
1680 West Polk Avenue
Charleston, Illinois, 61920 USA
217-348-6703, 217-273-6713
solarusil@hotmail.com

2. Sustainable resource utilization can be an economic benefit to Coles County,
Illinois, and the US Midwest over the next decade. The US Midwest is an ideal
location for product manufacture and distribution to the continental US and North
America. We have plentiful natural resources, a highway system that puts us
within three days driving of the entire country, a talented workforce and good work
ethic, great colleges, and a need to reinvent ourselves in light of changing energy
costs, large trade deficits, global warming, and continued loss of population to the
coasts and sunbelt. This brief presentation will survey a variety of electric
generating options that are viable in our area and suggest that creative opportunities
to address the need to derive heat, lighting, and electricity from clean sources could
bring academic, industrial, and government interests together in a very productive
way. The creation of new companies that are adequately capitalized to facilitate
this transition is suggested as part of the solution.
Ken obtained a PhD in chemistry and did postdoctoral research for University of
California before joining Los Alamos National Laboratory where he participated in
a variety of energy and weapons projects. He has led TRACE Photonics in their
scientific and engineering projects and recently formed SolarUS to sell, install,
finance, and maintain solar equipment.
Contact at solarusil@hotmail.com or 217-348-6703

3. Lights of the continental United States, Image from Defense Meteorological
Satellite Program

6. Crude Oil Lt Sweet Pit Future (Nymex)
March, 2009, compared to S&P500 retrieved Jan. 20, 2009, Wall Street Journal
http://online.wsj.com/mdc/public/page/mdc_commodities.html?mod=mdc_topnav_2

7. Hydro electricity is clean when available.

8. Switchgrass Panicum virgatum. USDA
Corn Zea mays.
Agricultural Research Service

9. Wind Farm in Lee County, Illinois.
63 Gamesa 800kw wind turbines = Capacity 50.4 megawatts.
Turbine hub height is 213 feet with 171 foot rotor diameter.
Commonwealth Edison buys 125 million kWh annual output

10. Artist rendering for FutureGen power plant. Clean coal combustion
for hydrogen and electricity with carbon dioxide sequestration.

12. Wind, clean coal, solar, geothermal, and nuclear can provide
our national heating and electricity needs! However, the
infrastructure for production and distribution are expensive.

16. http://apps1.eere.energy.gov/
1680 West Polk Avenue
Charleston, Illinois, 61920 USA
217-348-6703, 217-273-6713
solarusil@hotmail.com

17. South
Double-pane glass with flowing mineral free water is
heating loop of solar water heater. Outer layer may be
photoluminescent and/or electroluminescent. Structure is
greenhouse-like. Doors and windows on east and west.
Cooling
North side is bermed.
loops
20 meter drop across a 50 meter run equals 1000m2 of
beautiful exposure during sunlight.
North
Underground
Water
storage of
purification,
heated water
pumps, sensors,
and aux. heating
cabinet

18. Solar Lighting
Hybrid Luminaires –
Disperse light into rooms.
Solar Collector
Plastic Fiber Optic Bundle
concentrates and
Transmits lighting into building.
focuses sunlight into
optical fiber bundle. http://www1.eere.energy.gov/femp/pdfs/energy06_glennstrahs.pdf
1680 West Polk Avenue
Charleston, Illinois, 61920 USA
217-348-6703, 217-273-6713
solarusil@hotmail.com

19. A solar cell converts light (photons) to electricity based on the
photoelectric effect; generation of electron-hole pairs in p-n junction,
collection of electrons and routing through load.
Controllers,
diodes, inverters,
secondary storage
and other circuits.

20. US shipments of photovoltaics
Last decade and next: 18 to 2200MW
Energy Information Adminstration, C&Enews Nov. 20, '06
5000
3 2
4500 y = 0.4091x - 2452.8x + 5E+06x - 3E+09
2
R = 0.9785
4000
3500
Peak megawatts
3000
2500
2000
30% tax credit
1500
United Solar aSi
1000
500
0
1996 2001 2006 2011 2016 2021

21. SOLAR POWER ANALYSIS
STRENGTHS WEAKNESSES
Power plants are low maintenance Some regions have little sunlight
Pollutant free. Fuel is free. Electricity and heat is needed at night
Inexpensive over the long term (>10years) Expensive to store heat and electricity
Power plants can be distributed at places of use Maintenance of system requires special skill
Plenty of sunlight in the Americas Up-front power plant cost is significant
OPPORTUNITIES THREATS
People can save money over the long term Heavy dependence on government subsidies
Reduce trade deficit from imported oil ($400B/yr) Changing weather patterns
Science, technology, math education needed. Lack of public awareness
Create hundreds of thousands of new jobs Time for project completion is significant
manufacture
R&D
installation
sales
maintenance

22. Despite nuclear power providing only 10% of our
electricity (incl. Clinton), we make almost half of the
world’s nuclear power, and we are very good at it!

23. Nuclear fission: the release of energy by splitting heavy
nuclei such as uranium-235 or plutonium-239
Each fission releases 2 or 3 neutrons
These neutrons are slowed with a moderator
to better initiate more fission events
Control rods absorb excess neutrons to keep the
chain reaction in check

25. Energy from the reaction makes steam to produce electricity.
Nuclear power produces no greenhouse gas emissions and annually
saved in the US over 5 million tons of sulfur dioxide, 2.4 million tons of
nitrogen oxide, and 165 million tons of carbon from being released to air.
Nuclear power is the cheapest source of electricity costing $0.018/kWh
compared to $0.020/kWh from coal.

26. Clinton Power Station, Clinton, IL. 8,232,306 mwh @ 90% capacity

27. Fusion is the release of energy by combining
light nuclei such as deuterium and tritium
Exponential rate of R&D fusion progress
Goal of fusion
research is to
confine ions
at high enough
temperature
and pressure
and long enough
to fuse.

28. Inertial Confinement uses powerful lasers or ion beams to compress a
pellet of fusion fuel to the right temperatures and pressures
This is a schematic of the National Ignition Facility (NIF) built at Lawrence
Livermore National Lab (California)

29. Magnetic Confinement uses strong magnetic fields to confine the
plasma.This is a cross-section of the proposed International Thermo-
nuclear Experimental Reactor (ITER, in Southern France)

30. A
Argonne National Laboratory occupies 1,500 wooded acres in
r
g
DuPage County, Ill, about 25 miles southwest of Chicago.
o
n