The Iranian negotiators and their P5+1 counterparts have
ironed out the technical difficulties, and they are ready to implement the deal
they negotiated last November. Most people in the world are happy with what
they see happening in this regard but a few are not, and they happen to be the
loudest ones. Whatever their reasons for objecting – and they cite a few – it
is useful to look at the big picture which is something that relates to the
energy situation on a planetary scale.
One of the contentions made by the unhappy people is that Iran
has much oil and gas; therefore it should not need to develop nuclear energy
too. Well, besides being grotesque by its arrogance, this argument does not
hold water when you look at the fact that energy consumed in one place is
energy that is not consumed in another place. This is because the laws of
physics do not allow for the recycling of energy. However, energy that is
developed in one place can be used in another place, thus we should welcome the
energy that is developed anywhere – such as Iran – because it is energy that
can be used everywhere on the planet and beyond it given that the rockets we
launch into outer space require fuel too.
The trouble with discussing the energy situation, however,
is that the subject is too confusing and too difficult for most people to
understand – or so they say. Actually,
the subject can be made easy to understand, and the math can be made fun to
follow. So let's give it a try.
An average power station that is tapped to power a city of a
million people would have the capacity of a 1000 megawatts. This means it can
produce a 1000 million watts of power per hour because a mega is a million.
Since people are more familiar with the concept of the kilowatt/hour (kw/h) – a
unit that contains a 1000 watts and that costs them about 15 cents to purchase
from their local power station – it means that a 1000 megawatt station produces
a million kilowatts of electricity each and every hour. That would be a million
kw/h. Some people will protest that they pay more than 15 cents per kw/h and
they are probably right. C'est la vie.
But what is a kw/h of electricity? Well, think of a 100 watt
light bulb; there are a few of those in each home. If you keep one of them
turned on for 10 hours, you will have consumed a thousand watts which is to say
one kw/h, and this will cost you 15 cents (or more.) Let's now think of an oven
in your kitchen that consumes a 1000 watts or a kilowatt of electricity ...
well, this “energy hog” will cost you 15 cents for every hour it is on.
But what does it take to produce a kw/h of electricity? To
answer the question, we take the most familiar energy substance: petroleum. An
efficient power station will convert a little more than 200 milliliters (ml) of
fuel into one kw/h of electricity. But because nobody is very efficient all the
time, and because there is always some loss on the transmission line, it is
safe to say that it takes a quarter liter (250 ml) of fuel to produce a kw/h of
electricity. And this means that one liter of fuel will produce 4 kw/h of
electricity. Since a gallon is a little less than 4 liters, you may say that a
gallon of fuel will produce 15 kw/h of electricity. That would be 2.25 dollars
worth of electricity which is why some power stations charge more than 15 cents
a kw/h.
Depending on the quality of the crude, one ton of it after
refining will yield about 1000 liters of fuel ready to power the generators of
a station. This means, one ton of petroleum product will produce 4000 kw/h of
electricity. And this means that a station which produces a million kw/h of
electricity will require 250 tons of fuel for each and every hour that it
operates. This comes to 6000 tons of fuel per day or 42,000 tons per week.
Do you know how much energy that is, my friend? It is about
twice as much as it took to destroy the city of Hiroshima with a nuclear device. And this
means that our human civilization requires a great deal more energy just to
keep the lights on than it would take to destroy it. And the absence of energy
can do as much damage as detonating it over a city.