Presented by Ramzy Kahhat, Ph.D.

“Energy is one of the essential

needs of a functioning
society”
Energy?
“Energy use, and its impact on the environment, it is
one of the most important technical, social and
public-policy topics issues that face mankind today”

“The provision of clean, and sustainable, energy supplies

to satisfy our ever-growing needs is one of the most
critical challenges facing mankind…”

Robert L. Evans
 Definition
Merriam-Webster’s Dictionary (2012) defines "energy" as:

1: a : dynamic quality <narrative energy>

b : the capacity of acting or being active <intellectual energy>
c : a usually positive spiritual force <the energy flowing through all
people>
2: vigorous exertion of power

3: the capacity for doing work

4: usable power (as heat or electricity); also : the resources for producing such power
 Definition
• Physicists and engineers define energy as the capacity
to produce/do work

• Work is the product of force times distance through

which the force acts
– Example: force pushing an object along a rough surface
• Force could be exerted by any agent: human, steam engine, sled
dog, electric motor, etc
 Work
Work = Force x Distance (d)
(W) (F)

ft.lb Pounds (lb) Feet (ft)

N.m Newton (N) Meter (m)

The metric unit of energy is the Joule (J)

1 J = 1 N.m
 1 Joule
1 Joule is the
amount of 1m

energy needed
to lift a body of
102 g
102 g to a
height of 1 m.
 Forms of Energy

Energy comes in many forms and

can in principle be transformed
from one form to another
without loss
 Forms of Energy
Form of Energy For example…
Kinetic … force deriving from waves and winds
Gravitational …from waterfalls
Electric …from turbines and batteries
Chemical …from exothermic reactions such as diesel and gasoline
combustion
Thermal …from burning charcoal or wood
Radiant …from sunlight
Nuclear … from fission of uranium atoms or fusion of hydrogen
nuclei
 Forms of Energy
• Chemical Energy:
– Energy stored in certain chemicals or materials
that can be released by chemical reactions, often
combustion.
The burning of wood, paper, coal, natural gas, or oil
releases chemically stored energy in the form of
heat energy.
 Forms of Energy
• Heat or Thermal Energy:
– Energy associated with random molecular motions
within any medium.
– Related to the concept of temperature:
• Increases of heat energy contained in any substance
results in a temperature increase
 Forms of Energy
• Mass Energy:
– Energy can be converted to mass, and mass can be
converted to energy
Energy = mass x speed of light^2
E= mc2
Examples: Nuclear weapons, nuclear reactors, nuclear
reactions in the sun
 Forms of Energy
• Kinetic Energy:
– A form of mechanical energy
– An object with mass m, moving in a straight line
with velocity v, has kinetic energy (KE):

KE= 1/2mv2
 Forms of Energy
• Potential Energy:
– Is associated with position in a force field: an object
positioned in the gravitational field of the earth.
– If we hold an object having weight w at height h above
the earth’s surface , it will have a potential energy (PE)
relative to the earth surface:

PE= w x h
 Forms of Energy
 Electric Energy:

If an electric charge, q, is taken to a higher electric potential

(higher voltage) V, then is capable of releasing its potential
energy (PE = q x V) in some form of heat or mechanical
energy.
Allows us to have telephones,
television, lighting, AC, etc

Battery: it can convert electric

energy to chemical energy
or vice versa
Generator: Mechanical energy is
converted to electrical energy

Hewitt, P. 2008
 Forms of Energy
 Electromagnetic Radiation or Radiant Energy
– The energy radiated by the sun travels to the earth
and elsewhere by electromagnetic radiation.
– The electromagnetic spectrum covers a very wide
range of frequency, and visible light is only a small
part of the entire spectrum.
– Various portions of the electromagnetic spectrum are
important to the transformation and use of energy.
 Power
– Is the time rate of using, or delivering, energy:
Energy
Power =
Time

Metric System:
Watts; where 1 W = 1 J/s
 Horsepower (or HP) = 746 W
British System: horsepower (or HP) ; where one horsepower is
550 foot-pounds per second or 746 W

Traditionally represented the “power” of

a horse or 7.5 times the power of a man.
Human being, on average, consumes
energy at a power of about

100 W
85W during sleep and 800 W or
more during intense exercise
Energy and Power… analogy with
water and water-flow from taps
Volume is measured in liters
Flow is measured in liters per minute

Energy is measured in kWh

Power is measured in kWh per day

Energy is like water volume:

power is like water flow
 Common unit kWh
If a power plant operating at a steady power P
has run for a time t, then the energy produced
is
E=Pxt
The common unit for energy in this case of
electricity generation is the kilowatt-hour
(kWh)
 kWh per day
Power is measured in or
W (watts)
or
kW (kilowatts)
or
MW (megawatts)
or
GW (gigawatts)
or
TW (terawatts)
 Power
Over a given time, such as a day, the amount of electrical
energy in kilowatt-hours (kWh) delivered is given by
multiplying the power rating in kilowatts by the number of
hours in a day.

Question?

One kilowatt-hour (kWh) represents how many joules?

One kilowatt-hour is 3.6 x 106 joules
 Let’s get the terminology
straight
A power of one joule per second is called one watt.
1000 joules per second is called one kilowatt.

If one toaster uses one kilowatt.

It doesn’t use “one kilowatt per second.”

The “per second” is already built in to the definition of the

kilowatt: one kilowatt means “one kilojoule per second.
 Units of Energy: The Joule
– The Joule
The metric unit of energy
It has its fundamental definition in terms of force
(N) and distance (m)

Standard international unit of energy

 (Units of Energy  Specific heat)
The amount of energy needed to raise the
temperature of a unit mass of a substance by 1
degree.

The specific heat of water is the basis of two

important units of energy….
Units of Energy: The British Thermal Unit
One Btu is defined to be the amount of heat energy
required to raise the temperature of one pound of
water by one degree Fahrenheit…
Or is the amount of heat energy given off by one pound
of water when it cools by one degree Fahrenheit

1 Btu = 1055 J
 Units of Energy: The Calorie
Is the amount of energy required to raise the
temperature of one gram of water by one degree
Celsius
1 calorie = 4.18 J
255 calories = 1 Btu
Food energy? Calories (with capital C)
The food Calorie, or Calorie, is 1000 times larger than
the calorie used in physics or chemistry
1 Calorie = 4 Btu
“The daily minimum energy an adult
human needs to live is approximately
1,000 kilocalories”
– An adult engaged in normal activities needs
2,000 kcal/day = amount of energy in a cup of
petroleum

– Heavy manual work = 4,000 kcal/day

Units of Energy The Electron-Volt
The electron-volt, eV, is related to the idea of
moving one electron through an electric potential
difference of one volt
 Units of Energy
J kWh Btu
1 Joule (J) equals 1 2.78 x 10-7 9.49 x 10-4

1 kilowatt hour (kWh) equals 3.60 x 106 1 3413

1 calorie (cal) equals 4.184 1.16x 10-6 3.97x 10-3

1 British thermal unit (Btu) equals 1055 2.93x 10-4 1

1 foot-pound (ft-lb) equals 1.36 3.78x 10-7 1.29x10-3

1 electron-volt (eV) equals 1.60 x 10-19 4.45x 10-26 1.52x 10-22

 Scientific Notation
Quantities range from extremely small to the enormously large…

In this course we will use these common numerical designations

Thousand 103
Million 106
Billion 109
Trillion 1012
Quadrillion 1015
Quintillion 1018
FIRST LAW OF THERMODYNAMICS
First Law of Thermodynamics or the
Principle of Energy Conservation
Energy can be neither created nor
destroyed during a process, it can only
change forms
Transformation of Energy from One Form
to Another
Nuclear fusion in the Sun… helium formed following the
fusion of hydrogen nuclei…transform nuclear mass into
heat… heat energy make the sun surface glow and radiate
energy in the form of sunlight… sunlight is a form of
electromagnetic energy… small amount radiated energy is
incident on our planet…plants capture electromagnetic
energy… chemical energy… mechanical energy…electrical
energy
Transformation of Energy from One Form
to Another

Source: National
Energy Education
Development Project
(Public Domain)
 Transformation of Energy from One
Form to Another

Link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SeXG8K5_UvU Source: How It Works

 Transformation of Energy from One
Form to Another

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SeXG8K5_UvU Source: How It Works

 First Law of Thermodynamics
• Necessary to define the system (control
volume)
– Open systems: systems in which both energy and
matter can flow across the boundary
– Closed systems: energy is allowed to flow across
the boundary but matter is not
 First Law of Thermodynamics
For both systems:

𝑇𝑜𝑡𝑎𝑙 𝑒𝑛𝑒𝑟𝑔𝑦 𝑐𝑟𝑜𝑠𝑠𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑏𝑜𝑢𝑛𝑑𝑎𝑟𝑦 𝑎𝑠 ℎ𝑒𝑎𝑡 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑤𝑜𝑟𝑘

+ 𝑡𝑜𝑡𝑎𝑙 𝑒𝑛𝑒𝑟𝑔𝑦 𝑜𝑓 𝑚𝑎𝑠𝑠 𝑒𝑛𝑡𝑒𝑛𝑟𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑠𝑦𝑠𝑡𝑒𝑚
− 𝑡𝑜𝑡𝑎𝑙 𝑒𝑛𝑒𝑟𝑔𝑦 𝑜𝑓 𝑚𝑎𝑠𝑠 𝑙𝑒𝑎𝑣𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑠𝑦𝑠𝑡𝑒𝑚
= 𝑁𝑒𝑡 𝑐ℎ𝑎𝑛𝑔𝑒 𝑜𝑓 𝑒𝑛𝑒𝑟𝑔𝑦 𝑖𝑛 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑠𝑦𝑠𝑡𝑒𝑚

For closed systems:

Total energy crossing boundary as heat and work
= Net change of energy in the system
 First Law of Thermodynamics
• Changes are caused in the macroscopic (e.g.
kinetic and potential energies) and
microscopic forms (atomic and molecular
structure of the system)

• The sum of microscopic forms of energy is

called internal energy = U
 Heat and Work
Heat: is a form of energy.

“Mode of energy transfer to or from a system by virtue of

contact with another system at higher or lower temperature”
(Piston example: it arises from wasted or lost work.)

Work: is defined as any mode of energy transfer, other than heat, that
changes the energy of a system (e.g., by a chemical reaction, raising or
lowering a weight, turning an electrical generator).
 The First Law of Thermodynamics
• For closed systems (energy is allowed to flow
across the boundary, but matter is not)
Change of energy content of the system
The amount of work done on the system by its surroundings
If –W amount of work done by the system on its surrooundings

• The total variation of energy contained in a

closed system is equal to the (net) effect of heat
and work the system undergoes with the
environment.
 The First Law of Thermodynamics

• Delta E is the change in the energy content of the system

• Q is the amount of heat transferred to the system from its surroundings
• W is the amount of work done on the system by its surroundings
 The First Law of Thermodynamics

Energy content, E, of a closed system can be

divided into changes in the internal energy, U,
potential energy, Ep, and kinetic energy, Ek, of
the system.
Internal energy can be changed by modifying the system temperature, changing its
phase, chemical reactions, or atomic structure
 The Second Law of Thermodynamics
“When we “use up” one kilojoule of energy, what we’re really
doing is taking one kilojoule of energy in a form that has low
entropy (for example, electricity), and converting it into an
exactly equal amount of energy in another form, usually one
that has much higher entropy (for example, hot air or hot
water).”
“When we’ve “used” the energy, it’s still there; but we normally
can’t “use” the energy over and over again, because only low
entropy energy is “useful” to us.”
 The Second Law of Thermodynamics
• States that is not possible to devise a cyclic
process in which heating supplied from a single
source is converted entirely to work.

• Only some of the heat may be converted to work;

the remainder must be rejected to a heat sink at
a lower temperature than the heat source.
Heat Engines

Heat to Engine

Waste heat
 Heat Engines
• Any device that can take energy from a warm
source and convert a fraction of this heat
energy to mechanical energy.

• Warm source: coal-fired steam boiler, the

combustion chamber of an automobile
engine, nuclear reactor, etc
 Analogy
It is analogous to trying to run a turbine using
water that flows from a higher elevation to a
lower one. The greater the difference in
elevations, the more power can be extracted.
Carnot Efficiency (Ideal Heat Engine)
Work done
Efficiency =
Energy put into the system

Qhot – Qcold
Efficiency =
Qhot

Qcold
Efficiency = 1 – ( ) x 100 %
Qhot
 Carnot Efficiency (Ideal Heat Engine)
Qcold Tcold
=
Qhot Thot
Temperatures in Kelvin (K = °C + 273.15)

Tcold
Efficiency (Carnot) = 1 – ( ) x 100 %
Thot

The efficiency depends only on the temperature of two reservoirs between which
the heat engine operates.
Source: Goldemberg
 Thermal Efficiency
• The energy embodied in fuels can serve many
purposes: generating mechanical or electrical
energy, propelling vehicles, heating working or
living spaces… etc

• A measure of the influence upon these

consequences is the efficiency with which the
fuel energy is converted to mechanical form.
 Thermal Efficiency
• A practical measure of the efficiency of
converting fuel energy to work is the ratio of
the work produced to the heating value of the
fuel consumed… thermal efficiency.
Useful Work
Thermal Efficiency =
Heat Input
Thermal Efficiency
Range of values of
thermal efficiencies of
current technologies
for producing mechanical
or electrical power.
 Thermal Efficiency
“It can be seen that none of these exceeds 50%. These
efficiencies reflect the constraints of the laws of
thermodynamics, the limitations of materials, and the
compromises inherent in achieving economical as well
as efficient systems. While there is room for
improvement, only modest increases above the values in
Table 3.2 can be expected from extensive development
efforts.”
 Fuel Heating Value (FHV)
Fuel Combustion at 25 C and One Atmosphere Pressure
MJ/kg fuel

Source: Fay and Golomb

 Question for Class
How much energy could be supplied as electricity (in
kWh) if we burn 10,000 Kg of coal (Heating value = 28 x
106 J/Kg) in a coal fired power plant with a thermal
efficiency of 35%?
 Types of Energy Sources
• Nonrenewable resources: Those that could be
exhausted within a relatively short time as a
result of our exploiting them.

• Renewable resources: Energy obtained from

sources that are essentially inexhaustible (unlike,
for example, fossil fuels, which are in finite
supply). (EIA)
 Nonrenewable Energy Sources
• Petroleum, natural gas, or coal: It takes
perhaps a hundred million years for natural
processes to produce useful amounts

• Is likely that most forms of nonrenewable

energy will get more expensive when they are
near exhaustion
 Renewable Energy Sources
• Solar, geothermal and tidal

• All energy sources based on the solar energy

incident on earth are renewable:
– Direct sun light, wind, hydroelectric power, ocean
currents, ocean thermal gradients, and biomass
– The time to exhaustion depends on the life of the sun
itself
 Primary and Secondary Sources
Energy in the form that it is first accounted for in a
statistical energy balance, before any transformation
to secondary or tertiary forms of energy. For
example, coal can be converted to synthetic gas,
which can be converted to electricity; in this
example, coal is primary energy, synthetic gas is
secondary energy, and electricity is tertiary energy.
(EIA)
 Primary and Secondary Sources

Primary energy refers to energy sources as

found in their natural state (as opposed to
derived or secondary energy, which is the
result of the transformation of primary or
secondary sources) (UN Energy Statistics)
 References
• Energy and the Environment by Robert Ristinen
and Jack Kraushaar, John Wiley and Sons.
• Energy and the Environment by James Fay and
Dan Golomb, Oxford University Press.
• Sustainable Energy - without the hot air by David
MacKay, UIT Cambridge.
• Energy, J. Goldemberg