[Gasification] An "Energy Rosetta Stone"

[Thomas Reed]

Dear Energy Friends:
Starting with James Watt in the 18^th Century, our use and understanding 
of energy has grown up in a very useful but confusing manner.  The US 
and England used British Thermal Units, BTUs, while the rest of the 
world used Calories for heat - a Babel of energy.  Fortunately, nowadays 
we can all use the kilowatt both for heat and electric energy.   

The Rosetta Stone enabled scholars to decipher the Hieroglyphics of 
Ancient Egypt into modern Greek and English.   Our "Rosetta Stone Energy 
Table" below enables anyone to translate the obscure energy units we now 
use into the commonly understood kilowatts.

*ENERGY COSTS IN THE DENVER MARKET*

*FUEL***

	

*OLD UNITS*

	

*NEW UNITS*

	

*OLD UNIT **COST***

	

*ENERGY **COST** $/kWhr*

*Fuel (dry basis)*

	

*ConventionalUnit*

	

*kWhr*

	

*Cost/Unit*

	

* *

	

*Heat- ¢/kWhr*

	

* *

	

* Conversion Efficiency*

	

*Power- ¢/kWh*

	

* *

*Electricity*

	

kWhr

	

1

	

8

	

¢

	

8

	

¢

	

100%

	

8

	

¢

/  (1 AA Dry Cell)/

	

/mAhr/

	

/0.0025/

	

/50/

	

/¢/

	

20,000

	

¢

	

/100%/

	

20,000

	

¢

*Natural Gas*

	

Therm

	

29

	

80

	

¢

	

3

	

¢

	

30%

	

9

	

¢

*Propane*

	

gal

	

26

	

4

	

$

	

15

	

¢

	

30%

	

51

	

¢

*Gasoline*

	

gal

	

35

	

3

	

$

	

9

	

¢

	

20%

	

43

	

¢

*Diesel*

	

gal

	

41

	

3

	

$

	

7

	

¢

	

30%

	

24

	

¢

*Coal*

	

ton

	

7033

	

20

	

$

	

0.3

	

¢

	

40%

	

0.7

	

¢

*Biomass *

	

ton

	

4396

	

50

	

$

	

1.1

	

¢

	

25%

	

4.5

	

¢

/  Sawdust Pellets/

	

/ton/

	

/4396/

	

250

	

$

	

5.7

	

¢

	

/20%/

	

28.4

	

¢

/  Cordwood/

	

/ton/

	

/4396/

	

200

	

$

	

4.5

	

¢

	

/15%/

	

30.3

	

¢

/  Slash/

	

/ton/

	

/4396/

	

20

	

$

	

0.5

	

¢

	

/20%/

	

2.3

	

¢

/  Tipping/

	

/ton/

	

/4396/

	

-20

	

$

	

-0.5

	

¢

	

/20%/

	

-2.3

	

¢

You can calculate your energy cost from the ratio of Denver costs to 
your cost or better yet, make your own table from ourextended 
spreadsheet, available at

http://www.woodgas.com/energyrosetta.htm

The spreadsheet permits you to put in your own assumptions and costs for 
your area and calculate environmental costs with other assumptions.
------------------------------------------------------------------------

After I had made the table I found a few surprises. 

    * How about $200/kWhr for AA drycells.  (I can buy them by the dozen
      here at about $0.50and for many small applications this is still a
      bargain)
    * Our grid power is amazingly cheap, based on the low direct cost of
      coal and hydroelectric power and in spite of the cost of wind and
      other energy sources
    * Heat from propane, gasoline and diesel costs about the same as
      electric heat, but by the time you convert that heat to power
      locally, the cost is 5 times that of our grid power
    * The widest spread is in the cost of various forms of biomass
      energy.  It's all around us as clean (cleanup) renewable energy
      but we haven't developed much infrastructure to use it
    * Coal has always been incredibly cheap both as heat and as power
      (if you discount the environmental costs)

Let's be thankful for our relatively cheap heat and power costs while we 
have them and work toward clean replacements as we consume our fossil 
fuels.  I'd appreciate any comments that you feel improve the table.

Yours truly,

TOM REED     THE BIOMASS ENERGY FOUNDATION