The research project #eForFuel funded by the EU aims to do just that: use electricity to produce fuels like propane.

https://cordis.europa.eu/project/rcn/213758/factsheet/en

Propane generated from African solar electricity
Can it become _the_ sustainable energy source for a big part of the world? ... Ideas, thoughts?

https://www.eforfuel.eu/

Please ...
... leave comments.
... point out flaws of this idea.
... do not simply put it off as fantasy/utopia without giving reasons.

Why African Solar Electricity for the World?

Because supplying the whole world with sustainable energy is a challenge that probably cannot be overcome without large-scale systems and world-wide concepts. Yes, large-scale ... even though local, small-scale, decentralized and distributed systems are actually preferable.

De/Centralisation

To make it clear, I am not advocating for an energy centralisation. I am indeed for as much decentralisation of energy infrastructure as possible. Every region of the world needs to make use of sustainable local sources of renewable energy as far as possible (without harming nature) to minimize risks that come with dependency.

Either Reduction of Consumption .. or .. Increase in Supply

But ... I simply do not see people in our modern societies bringing up enough willpower to really reduce their ressource/energy-consumption by altering their lifestyle and expectations ... I do not even see much awareness that it would take lifestyle changes and changed expectations of how much of everything we need to lead a happy life, to get a global energy consumption that's compatible with our current supply of renewable energy.

Legitimately Insatiable Humans

And I see even less willingness to practise self limitation, which would ideally be the consequence to that awareness. But that is kind of ok. Us humans, we're not really made for self limitation, are we?

When the Billions Become Big Consumers

So if there's no change in behaviour and thus reduction in energy consumption to be expected ... that means, that we have to find a way to supply the needed energy in a sustainable way ... and I don't have the impression we can get it done (for all those billions of people who don't even yet use much energy but will want to in the near future) without tapping the sunshine in the desert in Africa.

Why Solar Electricity?

- Because it's already the cheapest sustainable source of energy in some parts of the world ... and it'll probably become the cheapest in most parts in the future (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cost_of_electricity_by_source)
- Furthermore, peak solar electricity is far away, so there's lots of potential there
- Also, using solar electricity is more efficient than using biomass as renewable source of energy because photovoltaics are more efficient at converting radiation into chemical energy than photosynthesis: 11% VS 1% (see: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/51120946_Comparing_Photosynthetic_and_Photovoltaic_Efficiencies_and_Recognizing_the_Potential_for_Improvement/download p.806 left column)

But why Convert Electricity to Propane?

- Because the energy has to be transported from where it'll be generated (Africa) to where it's needed all over the world
- Besides that, electricity as an energy carrier also poses the problem of storage. Affordable batteries or other types of storage that could efficiently buffer the world's regions' fluctuating usage of electricity (in a scenario where electricity would become the main carrier of energy) have yet to be developed
- Storage and transportation of energy using the chemical energy contained in molecules such as hydrocarbons is relatively easy and efficient (think about oil tankers or ships carrying coal) ... and such technology isn't necessarily eco-unfriendly ... propane tankers powered themselves by sustainably produced propane delivering energy to the world ... that's far less problematic than tankers carrying fossil oil

Why _not_ High Voltage Power Lines?

- Huge cost when the aim is to connect continents with required capacity
- Inflexibility ... once built, can't be easily modified
- Small structures of failure ... damage at a single point is all it takes to break it

But why Propane? It cannot be converted back to electricity easily!

- Yes, but a big percentage of human energy consumption isn't necessarily related to electricity anyway, so propane could power all that:
- German households used 70,5 % of their total energy consumption for room heating alone (2017) ... if you add to that hot water and cooking it all adds up to ~ 90 % (source: https://www.destatis.de/EN/FactsFigures/NationalEconomyEnvironment/Environment/MaterialEnergyFlows/Tables/EnergyConsumptionHouseholds.html) --> electricity isn't (at least not at the moment) really that important to private households. The transportation sector (private cars, trucks, ships, airplanes, ...) is another huge portion of human energy consumption, where electricity isn't strictly necessary. Sure, electric cars are becoming better and battery technology is advancing (although the energy density of batteries will probably never reach that of liquid fuels) ... but will there ever be relevant numbers of electric airplanes or containerships?

Why Propane? Why not methane/hydrogen?

- Much higher energy density than methane / hydrogen
-> easier / cheaper / more efficient / more resilient (no single point of failure) transport (ships, pipelines, tank wagons, gas cartridge, ...)
-> easier / cheaper / more efficient storage (gas tanks, pipelines, ...)
- Already used in gasoline engines for vehicles
-> no need for new automotive technology
-> existent network of gas stations (7100 in Germany)
- Shortest hydrocarbon molecule (-> best/smallest ratio of CO2-emissions to energy content) with reasonable energy density at reasonable pressure at ambient temperature
- Non toxic

Why African solar electricity?

- Because Africa has vast areas with hardly any vegetation or animal population
- Because it has a lot more sunshine than the rest of the world (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sunshine_duration#Geographic_distribution)
- If the whole world is to be powered by solar electricity, a huge proportion of current energy supply needs to be replaced by renewable energy. Power consumption is not evenly distributed across the earth's surface. It's concentrated in densely populated regions. Thus, trying to put power generation close to where the energy is needed would mean that scarce, biologically/naturally important areas of the respective regions would need to be used, which would mean losing them as biosphere or otherwise valuable area (agriculture, natural habitat, beautiful landscape, ...). Allocating space (apart from roofs) for power generation in areas where land is already intensely utilized or densely populated puts even more pressure on land use.

How can Propane be Generated From Electricity?

- That's the missing link for it all to be technologically feasible
- It can't yet be done on a large scale, but work/research is being done
- https://cordis.europa.eu/project/rcn/213758/factsheet/en ... #eForFuel
- https://cordis.europa.eu/project/rcn/97366/factsheet/en ... #PHOTOBIOFUEL
- https://cordis.europa.eu/project/rcn/95914/reporting/en ... #DIRECTFUEL

What are the risks?

- Relying on a small region to provide the whole world with a big portion of its energy ... poses questions of political stability / resilience
- Would it change the local/global climate in a dramatic way, if the deserts in Africa were to be cooled down (by a few degrees?) by taking the local solar energy and emitting it throughout the world?
- ...?

Unanswered Questions

- Would it be possible to feed significant amounts of propane into the existing natural gas distribution network while keeping operation paramters as they are?
- Would the incentives to use propane be strong enough to enable a shift from diesel/heavy oil engines to propane powered engines in the sectors of marine ships and commercial trucks?
- Will it really be necessary to use huge areas in central Africa or could the suitable areas (deserts) spread all over the world be suffient?
- ...

What's your thoughts?

#energy #energysource #energysystem #energyconcept #energycarrier #renewableenergy #solarpower #solarelectricity #biochemistry #propane #methane #carbonemissions #desertec #energiewende #energieverbrauch #energyconsumption #hydrogen #electriccars #carbonfootprint #energystorage #autogas #liquefiedpetroleumgas #LPG #Fluessiggas #wasserstoff #powertogas #windgas