Department of Systems Engineering

Faculty of Engineering
University of Lagos.

Course Code: GEG 228

Course Title: ENGINEER IN SOCIETY

Course Unit: (1,0) Lecture 5

Academic Session: 2017/2018
Lecturer
Engr. (Dr.) Kehinde. O. Orolu (MNSE), Registered
Systems Engineer 1
THE QUEST FOR ADEQUATE SUPPLY
OF ENERGY
Sources of Energy
¨Fossils Fuels (Coal, Oil & Gas)
¨Hydroelectric
¨Nuclear
¨Solar
¨Geothermal
¨Biomass
¨Wind
¨Electrochemical
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WORLD ENERGY CONSUMPTION 2017

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 THE CHALLENGES OF RISING DEMAND FOR
ENERGY
• The global electric energy generated in 2017 was 25,591
Terawatt-hours out of which Africa generated 818Tw-h
constituting 3.20% of the global generation.
• South Africa – 254Twh
• Egypt - 194Twh
• Algeria - 83Twh
• Nigeria - 28Twh

• Source: https://
yearbook.enerdata.net/renewables/renewable-in-electri 4
city-production-share.html
 THE CHALLENGES OF RISING DEMAND FOR
ENERGY
• The expected demand for electricity would require
during the coming two decades the installation of as
much power generation capacity as was installed in the
entire 20th century which translate to One 1000 MW
plant every 3½ days.

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PLANS TO MEET ENERGY NEEDS
AND THE CHALLENGES
1. Energy efficiency and conservation
• elimination of obvious waste
• higher energy conversion efficiency
• substitution for lower energy intensity products and processes
• recycling
• more energy-modest lifestyles

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PLANS TO MEET ENERGY
NEEDS
2. Renewable sources of energy

Share of renewables in electricity production in 2017

 World – 25%
 Africa - 18.1%
• South Africa – 4.2%
• Egypt - 8.4%
• Algeria - 0.62%
• Nigeria - 18.2%

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 Wind Energy
Advantages Disadvantages
• Continuous energy •For most locations, wind power
source density is low.
•Clean sources( no •Wind velocity > 11.2km/hr before
emission into it can be harnessed and utilized
atmosphere) successfully
•Does not add to the •Intrinsic variable nature of power
thermal burden of the density even when the wind is
earth present.
•Demand for land and will affect
real estate market

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 SOLAR ENERGY
Advantages Disadvantages
•Continuous •Average power is not steady but
source of depends on cloud cover, season,
energy latitude and time of day
•Not available at night
•Clean source •Extraterrestrial solar energy will
of energy increase heat burden of the
biosphere
•Safe •Shading of land by solar panel has
negative impact on the habitat
•Storage system is costly

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 GEOTHERMAL ENERGY
ADVANTAGE DISADVANTAGE
• High power and long • Exploration negative
term generation environmental
potential impact(dispose of
• It is more than undesirable geothermal fluids
200,000-fold of , Land subsidence)
current world energy • Drilling technology is
demand expensive
• low impact on the • Few sites are economical
environment
• land use is very low

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 HYDROELECTRIC ENERGY

ADVANTAGE DISADVANTAGE
•No environmental •High construction cost
pollution •Limited sites for dam
•Low production cost construction
•Water reservoir can •Drought may affect power
provide flood protection production
for down stream •Dam construction causes loss
currents of agricultural land

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 HYDROELECTRIC ENERGY contd

Advantages Disadvantages

•Ground water reserves •Dam structure impact on

are increased by ecological cycle of the river
recharging from the and the surrounding landscape
down water reservoir •Silt accumulation and
sedimentation changes flow
and drainage pattern

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 HYDROELECTRIC ENERGY contd

Advantages Disadvantages
•Dams water reservoir
can store large volume •Water store in dams reservoir is
of water for long period low in oxygen thus affect the
of time,thus,downstream species of water streams
flow can be control for •Dam construction prevents
water quality and upstream migration of fish
seasonal extreme
conditions

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 NUCLEAR ENERGY
Advantages Disadvantages
•Environmental risk are •Economic cost are high
low in normal operation-no •Accident are potentially
greenhouse effect danger catastrophic
•Passively stable i.e. Uncertainty about radioactive
inherently safe waste disposal
• High energy output and Vulnerable to human error
size ratio and institutional failure
•Very cheap

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 BIOMASS

Advantages Disadvantages
•Very cheap source •Exhaustible reserve
•Wide applicability •Serious environmental
•Greater efficiency consequences
•Less labour intensive •High political cost
•No net greenhouse effect •Possibility of devastating
•Residue are used as ecological changes
fertilizer •High land mass and labour
intensive
•Increase in food price

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ENERGY STORAGE
• In implementing renewable energy, the major challenges include
storage of the energy.

• Usually expensive and complex

• Direct storage of large amount of electricity is uneconomical because

batteries are at present very expensive and bulky

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 QUEST FOR SAFE ENVIRONMENT
What are the issues?
According to the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) the issues can be
classified as follows
• High-risk environmental issue
– Habitat destruction
– Global warming
– Ozone-layer depletion
– Species extinction
– Loss of biological diversity
• Medium risk environmental issues
– Herbicides and pesticides
– Surface water pollution
– Airborne toxic substances 17
 QUEST FOR SAFE ENVIRONMENT
What are the issues?(cont.)
• Low risk world environment issues
– Oil spills
– Radioactive materials
– Groundwater pollution
• Human Health risk
– Indoor air pollution
– Outdoor air pollution
– Exposure of drinking water to chemicals

*Note that on the national scale the ranking of some of these items might be different
*Reaction of most countries strongly influenced by their assessment of how cost of corrective
action would affect their natural economy

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Energy
•
Sustainability
Sustainable Activities describe a logical process that
takes carefully into account all relevant consequences
within time and space boundaries that are large
enough to ensure satisfactory existence for us and
other humans, and of our and their descendants.

• The way to meet the needs of the present without

compromising the ability of future generations to
meet their own needs

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 Energy Sustainability
• The quantification of energy project sustainability
metrics is admittedly very difficult because the systems
are large and very complex, having technical, ecological,
economic and societal components

• In order to achieve energy sustainability, there is a need

for new generation of engineers and scientists who are
trained to adopt a holistic view of processes as
embedded in larger systems

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