Appropriate Technology: An Overview Questioning Its Feasible Blend With Conventional Fuel Adapted Society

Let us continue today to discuss the other side of the coin named “something beyond factor”. We now know that conventional fuels have been on an ever increasing demand ever since the industrial revolution period and also during its subsequent growth over the past century. This has been so because such fuels have been favored due to their ease of availability, extraction & cost-effective conversion into usable energy. However of late, investigation into renewable energy sources as a way of alleviating negative environmental effects & also prolong their very existence have been encouraged world over. So what could be the another “something other factor” in addition to the already existing regulations in place to favor the growth, I repeat ‘growth of RE sources’ as without addressing the ‘another’ issues it would be improper to call as ‘development of RE sources’.  

Abstract

Biomass could be comparable to solar energy in one aspect that it occurs in a highly diffused form or let us say, disordered, scattered throughout the country unlike the availability of conventional fuel sources. Just as concentrating solar energy at one point is difficult, it would be difficult to collect & transport the relatively light biomass from its point of origin to a centrally located processing facility maybe just a few kms away, costing about say, Rs.1000/ton. Before collecting the same it would be difficult to expect a farmer to surrender his agro-waste to a processing plant without any reasoning and later bargaining as villagers have been using biomass, as a free of cost material for a variety of household purposes. Hence, the mistake of considering plant biomass as a ‘no - cost’ and ‘readily available in -situ’ raw material for industrial scale processing operations would do more harm than good to the cause of biomass energy usage. The availability of biomass in India has been at 540 million tons per year and about 400 million tons per year (70 - 75%) used as fodder, fuel for domestic cooking and other economic purposes. Only 140 million tonnes (25 - 30%) of usable agro industrial and agricultural residues are available for power generation. Assume this availability to be 50% in coming times due to recent thrust by government authorities worldwide to promote renewable energy and appropriate technologies. Considering this present scenario, this technical post gives an overview questioning the socio economics of such appropriate technology processes which seems to be against the laws of thermodynamics as also the common man’s psychology who himself and his ancestors have belonged to conventional fuel adapted society and real life application of renewable energy and appropriate technology on a large scale such as for power generation may vary with geographic, community, religious, etc. parameters. An attempt was made to utilise the entropy concept of thermodynamics applied to human behaviour and psychology towards the necessity for upgrading existing positive regulations in the use of conventional fuels and also the necessity for upgrading existing channels inviting investment towards the sustenance of appropriate technology for future and a means to achieve the latter through former was proposed.

Keywords—Fuel, Thermodynamics, Psychology

Introduction

Introducing a revision on what is entropy as in [1], we have;

•    Clausius theorem and Inequality of Clausius: The cyclic integral of the ratio of inexact differential dQ, heat to the temperature, T for a reversible cycle is equal to zero, known as Clausius theorem i.e. this ratio is independent of the reversible path/s connecting initial and final state points of the cycle. Therefore, there exists a property of the system whose value at the final state minus its value at the initial state is equal to the cyclic integral of the ratio of 'inexact differential dQ' to the 'temperature T' and this property is called entropy S. (Consider henceforth dQ as an inexact differential)

When the above two equilibrium states are infinitesimally near then, dQrev/ T = dS. If dQrev = 0, then the process is reversible and adiabatic which implies dS = 0 and S = constant. A reversible adiabatic process is, therefore, an isentropic process. For any general process, either reversible or irreversible we have dQ/T≤ dS. Then for any cycle, the cyclic integral is applied to the above inequality and since entropy is a property cyclic integral of any property is zero. Therefore,        

         ∫dQ/T≤ 0

It provides the criterion of the reversibility of a cycle. If the cyclic integral of;

     ---    dQ/T= 0,  then the cycle is reversible

     ---    dQ/T< 0,  then the cycle is irreversible and possible

     ---  dQ/T> 0, then the cycle is impossible, since it violates the second law

•    Entropy Principle:

Consider the efficiency of a general cycle, where dQ is the heat supplied at T and dQ₂ the heat rejected at T₂ and which will be equal to or less than the efficiency of a reversible cycle.

      1- dQ₂/ dQ ≤ (1- dQ₂/ dQ )rev

Or      dQ₂/ dQ ≥     (dQ₂/ dQ )rev

Or      dQ/ dQ₂ ≤      (dQ/ dQ₂)rev

Since (dQ/ dQ₂)rev = T/T₂, then

             dQ/ dQ₂      ≤  T/T₂

Or       dQ/ T         ≤    dQ₂/ T₂, for any process, reversible or irreversible

For a reversible process,

           ds          =     dQrev /T         = dQ₂/ T₂

           Hence for any process,   dQ/ T  ≤ ds

Or                                                    ds   ≥ dQ/ T

           If the process is reversible, ds   = dQ/ T

           And if it is irreversible,         ds > dQ/ T

An isolated system does not undergo any energy interaction with its surroundings and so its energy is always constant. Also, for an isolated system since, dQ = 0, then;

                                                ds  ≥ 0

For a reversible process,                          ds  = 0

Or                                                                s = constant

For an irreversible or a real process,        ds > 0

i.e.  the entropy of the isolated system can never decrease. This is known as the principle of increase of entropy. The entropy of an isolated system always increases and becomes a    maximum at the state of equilibrium. When the system is at equilibrium, any conceivable change in entropy would be zero. This will also be a state of equilibrium for the Universe as a whole, where all the conventional fuel sources will have been expended and the temperature will be uniform, leaving no prospect of generating heat flows and extracting useful work. [1] further asserts;

•      The entropy of the world tends to a maximum – Rudolf Clausius          

•      Since the entropy of an isolated system can never decrease, it follows that only those processes are possible in nature which would give an entropy increase for the system and the surroundings together (the universe). All spontaneous processes in nature occur only in one direction from a higher to a lower potential and these are accompanied by an entropy increase of the universe. When the potential gradient is infinitesimal (or zero in the limit), the entropy change of the universe is zero and the process is reversible.

•      The second law of thermodynamics indicates the direction in which a process takes place. A process always occurs in such a direction as to cause an increase in the entropy of the universe. The macroscopic change ceases only when the potential gradient disappears and the equilibrium is reached when the entropy of the universe assumes a maximum value.

•      An irreversible process always tends to take the system (isolated) to a state of greater disorder. It is a tendency on the part of nature to proceed to a state of greater disorder. An isolated system always tends to a state of greater entropy. So there is a close link between entropy and disorder.

[7] explains what is low & high entropy for energy used in physical transformation processes as follows:

•      Low entropy: It refers to a highly ordered physical structure embodying energy and matter in a readily available form such as a piece of coal, charcoal converted to a highly disordered physical structure embodying energy and matter that is, by itself, in an unusable form, such as heat and ash. 

•      By definition, any matter - energy used in the economic processes can be considered a low entropy resource whereas unusable by - products can be considered high entropy wastes.

•      Conversely, high entropy would refer to a state point of a system when transition from a highly disordered state to an ordered state occurs.

•      Hence, a cycle can be envisaged when a system transition from high entropy to low entropy is possible giving rise to an already existing disordered state to a order state i.e. To decrease entropy requires external energy. 

 

Literature Review                                                                                                        

What is bagasse?                                                                                                

Sugarcane is a seasonally-grown food and feed crop, the processing of which creates bagasse, a low-cost biomass material, as its by-product. Bagasse is a commodity that is readily available for use and since 2002, more than 610 million tons of bagasse was produced worldwide. It is suitable for production of energy, ethanol, animal feeds, paper products, composite board, and building materials; and it is a feed stock for fluidized-bed production of a range of chemicals.

 

Selection of ‘Bagasse as an alternative fuel’

Biomass is a readily available renewable resource that has been used throughout the past as a source of heat energy by means of combustion. In recent there has been increased research into the feasibility of converting biomass such as bagasse into other form of usable energy. Bagasse is comprised of lingo cellulosic residues & is a by-product of many agricultural activities. Bagasse is essentially the fibrous waste left after the sugarcane has been extracted for crystallizing into sugar. The fraction of bagasse obtained from raw cane crushed is approximately 20% - 30%. Previously, bagasse was burned as a means of solid waste disposal. However, as the cost of fuel oil, natural gas & electricity increased after the energy crisis in 1970, special attention was paid towards efficient use of alternative fuels. Consequently, conception of bagasse combustion changed & it has now come to be regarded as biomass fuel rather than refuse. The actual tendency is to use bagasse as fuel, especially for cogeneration of electric power & steam, to increase its contribution to the country’s energy supply.

The above discussion may now be used to arrive at a Theme composed of two parts as given below;

•      Burning fossil fuels is a system transition from a low to high entropy state in using centralised energy sources. A highly concentrated energy source, built up over millions of years quickly gone up in smoke! Hence requiring Regulation Enforcement.

•      Burning renewable energy via. appropriate technologies is a system transition from a high to low entropy state in using decentralised energy sources. Their energy is also truly renewable as it remains available to the same degree and is not depleted any more than it otherwise would by using it! Hence requiring Economical Investment especially for any developing nation.

Discussion

Need of renewable energy source 

A comparative statistics followed by deliberations between conventional and renewable energy resources from [3] is as shown below;

Table1. Global installed capacity (conventional)

(Source: World Energy Outlook, International Energy Agency, 2009)

Table2. Global installed capacity (renewables)

(Source: Renewables Global Status Report-2009 Update, REN21)

Table3. Installed capacity in India (conventional)

(Source: Ministry of Power, Gol as on Dec 2009)

Table4. Installed capacity in India (renewables)

(Source: Ministry of New and Renewable Energy, Gol as on Oct’2009)

Based on the above statistics we find that important is not when coal will run out in accordance to the entropy concept as in the introduction section, but when the indigenous production of coal will peak and decline since large scale diversion of coal for new uses like coal-to-liquid fuel (CTL) projects have been ignored while assessing coal availability for power generation leading to tremendous confusion about the statistics relating to extractable coal. A reliable figure of 52 billion tonnes is mentioned in Coal Vision 2025 prepared by the Government of India. To this critics have pointed that 10 billion tonnes mined from the beginning till 2002 has to be deducted from this figure thereby enabling the Planning Commission to confess a 45 year period availability.

Blind faith has also been placed in the availability of imported coal. Six countries who have 85% of the world’s coal reserves dominate the global coal sector. They are in descending order of reserves: USA, Russia, India, China, Australia and South Africa. A recent study by the Energy Watch Group of Germany predicts that global coal production will peak around 2025 and then decline. The analysis reveals that global coal production may still increase over the next 10 to 15 years by about 30%, mainly driven by Australia, China, the former Soviet Union countries (Russia, Ukraine, Kazakhstan) and South Africa. Production will then reach a plateau and will eventually decline thereafter. This possible production growth until about 2020 according to this analysis is in line with International Energy Agency’s (IEA) 2006 edition of the World Energy Outlook. However, IEA assumes further increase in coal consumption and production until at least 2030 with its alternative policy scenario in which coal production is constrained by climate policy measures. This however according to Energy Watch Group’s analysis will not be possible due to limited reserves. Hence it would be unwise to base future energy security on a resource which we do not have and the global availability of which in adequate quantities beyond 2030 is suspect as seconded by [8].  

As in [3, 9] the Government of India also thus initiated studies related to non-conventional energy in the 1970’s. These were essentially investigative and R&D in nature. What have been the government measures? Renewable Energy (RE) Guidelines by the Ministry of Non-Conventional Energy Sources, 1993-94 through which MNES issued the first set of promotional policies in 1993-94 for development of RE which supposed to have made private sector investments in the RE market viable.

ü The salient features of the guidelines can be outlined as in [3] are:

·        Energy buyback from the RE plants at the rate of Rs.2.25/kWh with 5% annual escalation by the DISCOM.

·        Section 80 IA benefits (tax free income from energy sales, Income Tax Act).

·        100% accelerated depreciation in the first year.

·        Debt at lower interest rates from IREDA.

·        Capital subsidy.

·        Sales tax benefit up to 100% of the capital cost invested on the asset (wind turbines).

·        Minimal wheeling and banking charges for captive and party sale, etc.

ü Various promotional policies as in [3] are:

·        Electricity Act (EA), 2003:

          Section 3:

          Section 86(1)(e):

          Section 61(h):

·        National Electricity Policy (NEP), 2005:

          Section 5.12.1

          Section 5.12.2

·        National Tariff Policy (NTP), 2006:

·        National Action Plan on Climate Change (NAPCC), 2008:

·        FOR Report on ‘Policies on Renewables’, 2008:

·        CERC Regulations on Renewable Energy, 2009

·        CERC Regulations on Renewable Energy, 2010

·        Regulatory Initiatives by SERC’s

·        Review on Regulatory Actions and Suggestions

However we need to think of ‘development’ and not growth per se. ‘Development’ has been defined by Herman Daly as “qualitative improvement” in the living conditions of all citizens. “Growth for the sake of growth is the ideology of the cancer cell”. Our true energy independence depends on harnessing renewable sources of energy including hydropower. To facilitate this much needed transition, a whole host of policy, regulatory, legal and institution building measures was needed to be adopted. Some of them were: enactment of a comprehensive RE law, dynamic and enforceable renewable portfolio standards, priority sector lending status for RE, removal of subsidies for fossil fuels, implementation of REC’s and their innovative development, institution building across-the-board to aid in transition, internalising the cost of externalities of conventional power in its pricing, etc. Any delay in seriously addressing the energy transition would have been catastrophic for our future sustainable development as seen in the very next sub section (Refer SWOT analysis tables).  

 

Effect of existing regulations as on date

An assessment of the strengths and weaknesses of the renewable energy sector and the Ministry has been carried out for the period 2011-2017 in consultation with key stakeholders as in [4]. A summary of this and a summary of the external factors that will impact the renewable energy sector has been provided through a PESTEL (Political, Economic, Socio-Cultural, Technological, Environmental and Legal) analysis as illustrated below;

Table5. Strengths and Weaknesses of the Renewable Energy sector in India

Table6. PESTEL Analysis of External Factors

From the above, it is evident that there is an urgent need as in [4] to;

·      Promote concept of small power plants at tail-end of grid for both solar and biomass and developing financial support structures

·      Development of entrepreneurship for rural electrification through biomass wastes , rice husk, solar, etc. and enabling availability of banks/ grant funds.

·      Develop new financial instruments including Risk Guarantee Fund

·      Large-scale deployment and movement towards indigenisation as already incorporated in the Solar Mission.

·      Incremental improvements in technologies for achieving greater efficiencies to make them more viable and acceptable, especially for solar cooling and cooking.

·      Identifying possible business models to promote large-scale adoption of improved cook-stoves with limited government support.

·      Identifying niche areas for application of RE technologies and reducing consumption of diesel and evolving suitable mechanisms for off-grid deployments.

·      Promoting energy plantations of fast growing species of bamboo/ other trees to provide feedstock for small capacity biomass power plants for captive/ local use.

·      Capacity building and awareness generation in Green buildings and campuses.

·      Demonstration projects for new technologies such as solar thermal hybrid for small plants, rice straw boilers, pine needles based gasifiers, solar thermal gas hybrids and solar thermal with storage for large plants.

·      Development of independent concurrent monitoring systems.

·      Develop pilot projects for off-shore wind generation.

·      Pursue the compliance of renewable energy purchase obligations with regulatory authorities and states.

 

Action to be taken as on date

How are we to bridge this gap between such Planning (National/International level) and Action to achieve success in these RE Plans. Because in spite of the plans, measures, regulations, etc. taken at the National/World level, still SWOT Analysis above shows the existence of Weaknesses waiting to be converted into Strengths as also converting Threats to Opportunities, considering the time that has elapsed between the 1st Planning Commission and till date. Therefore compacting the above mentioned discussion into two parts for the purpose of arriving at a conclusion which be based strictly on the entropy law and human psychology, we need action to be taken as follows;

1. Upgrading the existing channels inviting investments for initiating and sustaining Renewable Energy projects, through

2. Appropriate Regulation Enforcements for cutting down on use of Conventional Energy sources.

Conclusion

All beings, whether animate or inanimate move from ordered state to a state of disorder, thereby including human beings also. If the Universe is moving towards a higher and still higher entropy state, then everything contained in it is also subjected to this universal law, including human beings again. Hence given an opportunity, a person would by instinct go for selecting coal (non-renewable energy source) rather than bagasse (renewable energy source) as economic & technical advantages of the former offsets the latter. So, the human psychology also follows the universal tag of going from a low entropy state towards a high entropy state i.e. a state of greater disorder. Hence, to proceed on a path towards high entropy state is a natural human trend/tendency and this may be equated/paralleled with transformation of a Human being on a path from Young age towards Old age.

Therefore, just as Old age cannot be reversed towards Young age; so also the human psychology when subjected to a ‘a high disordered state’ cannot be easily reversed towards a ‘ordered state’ without an external input viz. Money Investment for initiating Renewable Energy projects and Appropriate Regulation Enforcements for cutting down on use of Conventional Energy as shown in the two diagrams below.

Figure1. Law of entropy as applied to real life situations

Future trend towards expected savings

Figure 2 as in [5], shows India’s share of the global commercial energy consumption in 2008 was 3.8% (433 of 11,295 MTOE), increased from 2.9% over the past 10 years, thus making it the fifth largest consumer of commercial energy. By comparison, China holds 19.6% of the population and consumes 17.7% of commercial energy but nothing compared to a developed nation like United States whose consumption is around 20.4%.

Figure2. Worldwide consumption of primary sources of energy by country (2008)

India’s total consumption of commercial energy increased from 295 MTOE in the year 2000 to 433 MTOE in 2008 with an average annual growth rate of 4.9% as shown in Figure 3 of [5]. The entropy law and human psychology would undoubtedly confirm the above statistical figures. But, regulation enforcement can still help brake this uphill acceleration and therefore provide for incremental economy savings towards the cost incurred for commercial energy production and thereby prolong the availability of such commercial fuel resources as seconded by IEA’s alternative policy scenario in which coal production is constrained but only from the point of view of climate policy measures. 

Figure3. Development of commercial energy consumption in India

Economics towards expected savings

An attempt to work out the economics involved when it may be observed that there exists potential money savings due to proper regulation enforcement is presented in this sub section. To determine the economics involved, consider the mathematical rate of acceleration of the commercial energy usage system from a ‘low entropy state’ towards ‘high entropy state’ countered by the mathematical rate of external input via.

•        Regulations Enforcements (giving a slowing down effect) and

•        Money Investment for encouraging new eco-friendly technology 

 

Conditions towards expected savings

100% constraints not possible as the mathematical rate of acceleration of above system from ‘low entropy state’ towards ‘high entropy state’ has to be greater than the mathematical rate of external input viz. Regulation Enforcements and thus allow obeisance to the Entropy law .i.e. the magnitude of the said enforcements be slowly reduced maybe to cater to the demands for the ever increasing population year after year.

Investing in new renewable technologies without being seconded by the Entropy law (including human psychology) is again not possible unless huge amount of money is ushered into such projects, suitable for developed nations only. This can be understood by referring Figure1. viz. Human Psychology (Example) wherein use of costly drugs, medicines, etc. are the privilege of the Very High Income Group of people only.

Hence the future trends or scope for further research is presented in the graph as shown below, although it may seem to be raw and immature at this stage but definitely ‘a must to be worked’ for developing countries.

Future scope for research towards expected savings

To prove rate of acceleration towards disorder > Rate at which regulations enforced (a’b) = Money saved due to slow down effect (ab) of production of commercial energy sources.

Now, to prove money saved (ab) = Available seed capital for investing in appropriate technologies (bc)

Hopefully the break-even point (b) when calculated by considering the correct mathematical figures/equations/expressions would clarify the position of our Environmental Sustainability, Social Sustainability and Economic Prosperity in the past, present and for the coming future also.

 

References

[1] Engineering Thermodynamics, by P.K Nag, Tata McGraw-Hill Publishing Company Limited, New Delhi, pp-117 to 119, pp-123 to 125, pp-129 to 132

[2] A Course in Thermal Engineering by S. Domkundwar, Dr. C.P Kothandaraman, A.V Domkundwar , 5^th revised & enlarged edition; Reprint 2005, Dhanpat Rai & Co. (P) Ltd., New Delhi, pp3.30 – 3.33

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Appropriate_technology

[3] World Institute of Sustainable Energy; Green Energy, Regulation as the route to development of Renewables, Vol.6 No.1, Printed and Published by WISE, Pune, Jan-Feb 2010 Edition, pp15, 27-30, 35, 59-61

[4] http://www.mnre.gov.in/policy/strategic-plan-mnre-2011-17.pdf OR  Strategic plan for New and Renewable Energy sector for the period 2011-17 , February 2011 , by Ministry of New and Renewable Energy , Government of India, pp 31, 34, 44, 45

[5] Indian Renewable Energy Status Report, Background Report for DIREC 2010 by D. S. Arora (IRADe), Sarah Busche (NREL), Shannon Cowlin (NREL), Tobias Engelmeier (Bridge to India Pvt. Ltd.), Hanna Jaritz (IRADe), Anelia Milbrandt (NREL), Shannon Wang (REN21 Secretariat); Pub: NREL/TP-6A20-48948, October 2010, pp05-06.

(NREL is a national laboratory of the U.S. Department of Energy, Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy, operated by the Alliance for Sustainable Energy, LLC)

[6] Economics, entropy and sustainability, by George F. Mcmahon & Janusz R. Mrozek, Hydrological Sciences-Journal-des Sciences Hydrologiques, 42(4) August 1997

[7] To operate sustainably or not to operate sustainability?—That is the long-run question, by Philip Lawn, Futures 36 (2004), pp03

[8] Solar Energy, Principles of Thermal Collection and Storage, by S.P Sukhatme, Tata McGraw-Hill Publishing Company Limited, New Delhi, pp-14.

[9] Non-Conventional Energy Sources, by G.D Rai, Khanna Publishers, New Delhi, pp-15.

[10]        Water and Energy International (Renewable Energy Section), Vol.67 No.4, Central Board of Irrigation and Power, New Delhi, June 2010 Edition, pp30-38

[11]   http://www.scribd.com/doc/7027056/Bagasse-as-Alternate-Fuel