Earth and the Environment Name:_____________

Fendry Zamy

Energy Lab Exercise

What is energy?

We use words like “energy”, “work”, “power”, and “force” in our everyday language to
mean many things. To be able to think about how we use energy as individuals and as a
society, we will first need to be clear about what these words actually mean. For this we
will go back to the simple concepts from basic physics.

In turns out that these words are all closely related:

• Energy and work mean almost the same thing in physics. Energy is simply the
ability to do work.
• Work is force acting over a distance.
• Power is the rate of doing work or the rate of energy use.

What are the units used to measure energy, work, power and force?

We use many different units to measure energy, work, power and force. This can be
confusing. So let’s keep it simple and use the easiest ones, which are the SI (System
International) units. These are all derived from three basic units measuring mass,
distance and time.

mass kilogram kg
distance meter m
time second s

For force, we go back to Isaac Newton’s second law of motion (way back, that is, to the
year 1687), which can be boiled down to:

“force equals mass times acceleration”, written in shorthand form as F = ma

The SI unit of force (the newton or N) is named after him.

1 N = 1 kg (m/s2)

Acceleration means how fast the speed increases or decreases

(“meters per second per second” or to use the quick shorthand “m/s2”).

For work or energy, we use the joule (J), pronounced like “jewel”. Since work is force
acting over a distance, we have to tack on another “m”, to make it “m2”.

1 J = 1 kg (m2/s2)

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Power is measured in watts (W) in SI units. Since power is the rate of energy use, we
have to stick on another time factor, “s”, to make “s3”.

1 W = 1 kg (m2/s3)

So now we have shown that the concepts of force, energy (work), and power are related,
but are not the same.

How does this relate to my daily life?

Let’s look at some of the other units that are commonly used in the U.S. If you look at
the monthly PSE&G bill for your home, you will see that they charge you by the
kilowatt-hour (kWh) for your electricity. (“Kilo” means “thousand”, so 1 kW is a
thousand watts.) But why are they using a power unit (watt) to measure energy? (Yup, it
is confusing.....) They are OK, because they tack on the word “hour” to the kilowatt,
meaning that you used energy “at the rate of one thousand watts for one hour”. Joules
would be so much simpler, but for some reason, the U.S. is one of the few countries that
do not use them. Perhaps if they keep us confused, it is easier to take our money, but we
digress.

For even more confusion, take a look at the natural gas portion of your bill. They charge
you by something called a “therm”, but your gas meter measures something called a
“CCF”. A therm is 100,000 British thermal units or BTU’s. The BTU is the main
everyday unit of energy used in the U.S. If you burn a wooden match, you will release
about one BTU of energy. The gas company is making a similar conversion of “fuel” to
“energy”. The meter on the gas line in your house measures the volume of gas used, in
“hundred cubic feet” or “CCF”. The energy content of a hundred cubic feet of natural
gas is about 100,000 BTU or 1 therm, for which PSE&G in 2008 charges you about
$1.30.

Another common unit of energy is the calorie. We usually see that as a “food” or “large”
Calorie (capital “C”). A food Calorie is 1,000 regular calories or 1 kilocalorie (kcal).

For large releases of energy, like the explosions of nuclear weapons or earthquakes, we
can refer to the equivalent of the energy in one ton of TNT.

We could simply use joules for all of this and avoid the confusion!

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Converting to joules (J) from other units.

It is even easier if we use kilojoules (kJ), megajoules (MJ) and gigajoules (GJ) so we do
not have to write large numbers.
1 kJ = 1,000 J. 1 MJ = 1,000 kJ. 1 GJ = 1,000 MJ.

calorie cal 1 cal = 4.184 J

food Calorie kcal 1 kcal = 4.184 kJ
British thermal unit BTU 1 BTU = 1055 J
therm 1 therm = 105.5 MJ
watt-hour Wh 1 Wh = 3.6 kJ
kilowatt-hour kWh 1 kWh = 3.6 MJ
horsepower-hour HPh 1 HPh = 2.68 MJ
one ton TNT T TNT 1 T TNT = 4.184 GJ

Investigate typical household energy consumption and impact on global climate

change. Use a calculator, the table above and the other information provided.

1) You let a 100 watt incandescent light bulb burn for 3 hours in a table lamp. How
many joules were consumed?
100 * 3 * 3.6 = 1080 Joules consumed

2) You replaced the incandescent bulb with a compact fluorescent bulb which uses
energy at a rate of only 15 watts, yet produces the same intensity of light. How much
energy does it use in three hours?
1w=3.6kj
It uses 162 joules in 3 hours
15w * 3.6 = 54
54 * 3 = 162
3) According to PSE&G, the average New Jersey home uses 8386 kWh of electricity in
one year. How many joules does that make?
It makes 30.19 gigajoules
1kWh = 3.6 MJ
8386 kWh * 3.6 MJ = 30,189.6 MJ = 30.19 GJ

4) For houses with natural gas heat, the furnace, water heater and stove burn about 1000
CCF of natural gas during the year. About how many joules of energy is this?

1000 CCF = 1,000 therms = 105.5 MJ

1000 * 105.5 = 105,500 MJ =105.5 GJ

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5) A homeowner can buy solar panels and install them on the roof for his/her own source
of energy. If a one square meter panel (about 5X2 feet) can generate electricity at a rate
of up to 100 W, how many panels would be required to meet the electricity needs of the
average New Jersey home in question 3? Assume an average of 12 hours of sunlight per
day over the course of a year.
1 panel = 100 watts
1Wh = 3.6 kJ
1200 W * 3.6 kJ = 4320 kJ per day
4320 kJ * 365 days a year = 1,576,800 kJ = 1577 MJ
30.19/1.577 =19.14
20 panels are needed
6) One pound of body fat stores about 3,500 food Calories of energy. How many joules
does this make?

1 kcal = 4.184 kJ
3500 * 4.184 = 14,644 kJ = 14.6 MJ

7) 500 grams ( a little over a pound) of 80% lean, raw ground beef provides 86 g of
protein and 1,270 food Calories, according to the USDA food calculator website
([Link]/fnic/foodcomp/search). Note that this product is about 60% water.
How many joules of energy is this?
1270 kcal * 4.184 kJ = 5313.68 kJ = 5.3 MJ

8) The USDA also says that 500 g of raw soybeans provides 182 g of protein and 2,230
food Calories. These beans are dried and have only 8% water left. How many joules of
energy is this?
2230 kcal * 4.184 kJ = 9.3 MJ

9) The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency cites an average of about 113,500 BTU as
the energy content of 1 gallon of typical gasoline ([Link]/otaq/[Link]). How
many joules is this?
1 BTU = 1055 J
113500 BTU * 1055 J = 119,742,500 J = 119.7 MJ

10) It takes about half a gallon of gasoline equivalent for a rancher to produce 500 g of
beef (David Pimentel, 2004, Livestock Production and Energy Use). (That is to produce
it only and does not include the energy required to process, package, transport, or
refrigerate it.) About how many joules is this and how does it compare to the amount of
food energy in the beef?
0.5 gallon * 119.7 MJ = 59.9 MJ

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11) For comparison, it takes about 3 MJ for fertilizer and farm machinery fuel to produce
500 g of dried soybeans (Rathke et al., 2007, Soil & Tillage Research 97:60). Which is
more energy efficient (energy output of food type divided by energy input by farmer),
beef or soy production? By how much (%) is one more efficient than the other?

5.3/59.9 = .09 = 9% efficient

9.3/3= 3.1
3.1/0.09= 34.1 = 3,400% more efficient

12) The 2007 Cadillac Escalade is a large sport utility vehicle. It weighs 2.6 (metric)
tons and has an 8 cylinder engine with a 6.2 liter displacement capable of producing
power at a maximum rate of 403 horsepower., according to the U.S. Environmental
Protection Agency (EPA) website [Link]. The EPA estimates that it
uses fuel at the rate of 14 miles per gallon (mpg) considering both city and highway
driving. If an Escalade is driven 15,000 miles in one year, how many joules of energy
from fuel are consumed?
15000/14 = 1071
1 gallon = 119.7
1071 * 119.7 = 128,198.7 kJ = 128.2 GJ

13) The 2007 Toyota Prius is a compact hybrid hatchback. It is half the weight of the
Escalade (1.3 tons), has a 1.5 liter, 4 cylinder gasoline engine working together with an
electric motor to produce power at a maximum rate of 76 horsepower. Its new EPA
estimated combined highway and city mileage is 46 mpg. If you drive it for 15,000
miles over the course of a year, how much fuel energy is consumed?

15,000/46 = 326 gallons of gas * 119.7 = 39,032 kJ = 39 GJ

14) Carbon-based fossil fuels (gasoline, natural gas, coal) produce carbon dioxide (CO2)
when they are burned in an engine, stove or boiler. This fossil carbon had been stored in
the earth for millions of years and its rapid release over a couple of centuries by people is
considered a major cause of the global climate change we are now witnessing. Gasoline
has about 2.4 kilograms of carbon (kg C) in one gallon (according to the Energy
Information Administration). This means that a gallon will produce about 8.9 kg of CO2
if burned completely. (CO2 is 27% carbon by weight; the rest is oxygen.) How much
CO2 do the Escalade and the Prius each emit into the atmosphere by driving 15,000
miles. How does this compare to the weight of the vehicles?
1071 * 8.9 = 9532 kg = 9.5 metric tons
326 * 8.9 = 2901 kg = 2.9 metric tons

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15) What about the “carbon footprint” for the average house in questions 3 and 4?
Assume that every GJ of energy from natural gas releases about 56 kg of CO2. The New
Jersey average CO2 production from electrical power generation is 90 kg of CO2 per GJ
of electricity, predominantly from coal-fired power plants. (This is only about half as
much as the national average, because we get about half of our electricity from nuclear
power, which does not directly emit CO2.) (Source: U.S. Dept. of Energy)

30.19 GJ * 90 = 2717.1 = 2.7 metric tons

105.5 * 56 = 5908 kg = 5.9 metric tons

16) If our average household has one Escalade and one Prius, each driven 15,000 miles
per year, what is the total annual carbon footprint?

9.5 + 2.9 + 5.9 + 2.7 = 21 metric tons not including air travel