99532 - TERMOECONOMIA M

Learning outcomes

At the end of the course, the student has a deep knowledge of the economics of energy and environment and of the thermodynamic analysis of technological processes. In particular, the student is able to analyze environmental policies aimed at reducing emissions, the dynamics of the markets of fossil, renewable and nuclear energy sources, the costs for the final consumers of energy. He/she is able to calculate the exergy efficiency of energy production and utilization systems, the exergy losses in the individual components, the energy and economic payback time of improvements to these systems.

Course contents

Module 1: Energy economics – Prof. Tabarelli

Simple concepts of energy economics and energy policy. Basic principles of energy and environmental economics, from the large amount of energy consumption of modern economies to the dispersion of energy. Resources, goods, markets, and optimal allocation of resources. Energy, environment and market failures, concepts of energy density. Is energy a commodity like any other? When is it possible to make energy a commodity? Competitive markets, regulation, planning and state intervention. The three pillars of energy policies: environment, safety, and competitiveness.

Energy scenarios and the fossil fuels supremacy. World energy balance and consumption growth trends. Population and urbanization as major determinants of energy demand. Greater wealth, GDP expansion and higher energy consumption. Long-term trends in energy consumption and main disruptions of the past. Role of gas, oil, and coal. Poor biomass fuels and the damage they cause. The large hydroelectric, the true renewable source. The new renewables, wind and photovoltaic, and the difficulties of their growth. The complexity of nuclear power, its problems and its advantages.

CO₂ emissions and mitigation policies. World growth of CO₂ emissions. Analysis of emissions by sector. The weight of the consumption of fossil fuels. Attempt to estimate a worldwide balance of CO₂ emissions of natural and anthropogenic origin. History of environmental policy on the environment and climate change. Mitigation policies at the international level: Kyoto Protocol and the Paris Agreement. Trade in emission permits in the European Union. CO₂ price prediction and recent dynamics. The European objectives on the reduction of CO₂ emissions. The case of Italy and its policies.

Electricity generation, renewable sources, markets, and bills. Why electricity is not an energy commodity. Attempts to make a tradable good on competitive markets. World power generation, in Europe and in Italy from main primary sources. The role of electricity imports. The growth of the uses of electricity in all final sectors. The supremacy of coal in power generation. Hydroelectric and other renewables. Intermittence, modularity, and energy storage.

The industry and the oil market. Oil, the main source of world energy balance. Demand for mobility and dependence on oil products: gasoline, diesel gasoil, LPG, kerosene, bunker, lubricants, bitumen. Price mechanisms and futures markets. Policies and future developments. Refining and distribution of oil. The oil industry in Italy and the fuel network. The prices of petrol and diesel at the pump. Price structure at the pump.

Natural gas and the transition. Natural gas and its market towards the transition. Growth in gas consumption and environmental benefits. The combined cycle in electricity generation. The case of Italy and the 2022 crisis. Gas prices on the international markets. Gas import price formulas. The link between the price of gas and that of electricity. The gas and electricity bills in Italy. Comparison of gas and electricity prices with foreign countries.

Solved exercises. How to find less and more competitive consumer goods markets. Collection of statistics on the development of individual countries in the world. Calculation of the reduction of CO₂ worldwide thanks to gas and renewable sources. Reading an electricity bill. Analysis of a gas bill to an industry. How to find the best gas and electricity supplies on the free market for a family and a business.

Module 2: Exergy analysis – Prof. Naldi

Summary of the foundations of thermodynamics of closed systems. Basic definitions. First law and energy. Second law. Definitions of thermodynamic temperature and entropy. Principle of entropy non-decrease. Highest-entropy principle. Entropy flux and entropy production.

Simple system and Gibbs equation. Fundamental relation and Gibbs equation for a simple closed system. Necessary conditions for the mutual stable equilibrium of two closed systems that can exchange energy and volume. Work performed in a quasistatic process of a closed simple system.

Foundations of the thermodynamics of open systems. Enthalpy and entropy of an open system. Molar enthalpy of formation and molar Gibbs free energy of formation. Fundamental relation and Gibbs equation of an open system. Differentials of enthalpy and of Gibbs free energy. Conditions for the mutual stable equilibrium of two open systems. Euler equation. Chemical potential of an ideal gas and of a constituent of a mixture of ideal gases.

Chemical reactions and chemical equilibrium. Sign of the stoichiometric coefficients. Reaction coordinate. Change in composition of a batch process. Change in composition of a steady-flow process. Enthalpy, Gibbs free energy and entropy of reaction. Lower heating value and higher heating value. Condition for chemical equilibrium. Chemical equilibrium of a mixture of ideal gases.

Availability functions of closed systems and flow availability. Adiabatic availability. Energy-entropy diagram. Available energy. Keenan availability function. Energy and entropy balances for a control volume. Flow availability. Gibbs free energy as a special case of flow availability.

Exergy and flow exergy. Exergy. Molar exergy and molar flow exergy of a pure substance. Exergy of a heat flux. Molar flow exergy of an ideal gas. Molar flow exergy of liquid water. Molar exergy of a chemical fuel. Evaluation of the molar exergy of methane.

Exergy efficiency. Task exergy efficiency. Exergy efficiency of a batch process. Special cases of useful work production and utilization, and examples. Exergy efficiency of a steady-flow process and examples: production and utilization of useful work, heat exchanger. Isoentropic efficiency.

World consumption of non-renewable exergy and emissions of CO₂ equivalent. Data of world energy consumption and estimate of world consumption of non-renewable exergy. Global warming potential and annual emissions of CO₂ equivalent.

Energy payback period and carbon payback period. Embodied energy, annual energy saving and energy payback period. Embodied carbon, annual carbon saving and carbon payback period. Methods to evaluate embodied energy and embodied carbon. Estimate of the embodied energy and of the embodied carbon of an air-source heat pump. Evaluation of the energy and of the carbon payback period of the replacement of a gas boiler with an air-source heat pump.

Solved exercises. Entropy production in the external wall of a building. Outlet molar fractions of a propane reactor. Outlet molar fractions and thermal power of a methane burner. Maximum work problem. Maximum height of a compressed air rocket. Calculation of the lower heating value and of the standard molar exergy of liquid benzene. Exergy of the heat flux supplied to a room. Exergy destruction in a boiler. Exergy analysis of a solar PV system. Exergy efficiency and isoentropic efficiency of a vapor turbine. Exergy analysis of the cycle of an air-to-water heat pump. Exergy efficiency of a condensation boiler. Comparison between the exergy efficiency of a condensation boiler and that of a heat pump. Energy payback period and carbon payback period of the replacement of a gas boiler with a heat pump.

Readings/Bibliography

Module 1: Energy Economics – Prof. Tabarelli

Suggested reading:

R. Kerry Turner, David Pearce, Environmental Economics: An Elementary Introduction, Johns Hopkins Univ Pr.

Module 2: Exergy analysis – Prof. Naldi

Slides provided by the teacher (in Italian) available on https://virtuale.unibo.it/

For further information (not mandatory for the exam):

• E.P. Gyftopoulos and G.P. Beretta, Thermodynamics: Foundations and Applications, Dover 2005.
• G. P. Beretta and E. Zanchini, Rigorous and General Definition of Thermodynamic Entropy, in: Thermodynamics, edited by M. Tadashi, InTech, 2011, p. 23.
• E. Zanchini and G.P. Beretta, Recent Progress in the Definition of Thermodynamic Entropy, Entropy 16, 1547-1570, 2014.
• E. Zanchini and G.P. Beretta, Thermodynamic entropy and temperature rigorously defined without heuristic use of the concepts of heat and empirical temperature, in: Kelvin, Thermodynamics and the Natural World, Chapter 12, Witt Press 2015.
• E. Zanchini, T. Terlizzese, Molar exergy and flow exergy of pure chemical fuels, Energy 34, 2009, 1246–1259.
• E. Zanchini, A more general exergy function and its application to the definition of exergy efficiency, Energy 87, 2015, 352-360.

References for thermodynamic data (not mandatory for the exam):

• David R. Lide Editor-in-Chief, CRC Handbook of Chemistry and Physics 90th Edition, 2009-2010, CRC Press, 2009.
• NIST – National Institute of Standards and Technology, U.S. Department of Commerce, https://webbook.nist.gov/chemistry/fluid/
• NIST-JANAF Thermochemical Tables, NIST Standard Reference Database 13, Last Update to Data Content: 1998, https://janaf.nist.gov/
• G Hammond, C. Jones, Inventory of Carbon & Energy (ICE) Version 2.0, University of Bath, UK, 2011.

Teaching methods

Module 1: Energy Economics – Prof. Tabarelli

The lessons will be carried out with presentations in PowerPoint. Exercises related to real cases will be conducted. Lectures by people from the energy industry are foreseen.

Module 2: Exergy analysis – Prof. Naldi

The course includes theoretical lessons and solved exercises, carried out in Italian in classroom (in presence classes). Slides, blackboard/virtual whiteboard will be used.

Assessment methods

The acquired notions will be verified through two independent oral tests: one dedicated to the contents of Module 1 and one dedicated to the contents of Module 2.

Each oral test will focus on a topic explained during the classes. Shorter questions on related topics can be included. For Module 2, a scientific calculator is required (for questions in the form of exercises).

In order to obtain the maximum mark (30 cum laude) the student must demonstrate that he/she has fully understood the topic covered by the question. Failure occurs when the student demonstrates that he/she has no knowledge of a fundamental topic or that he/she has understood it incorrectly.

The mark of each oral test lasts 12 months, after that the test must be repeated.

The mark for the course 99532 - TERMOECONOMIA M will be given by the arithmetic mean of the marks of the exams of Module 1 and Module 2.

Students can consult the list of exam dates and register on the website https://almaesami.unibo.it/

Eligible students (out-of-course and laureandi) can contact the teachers to arrange an exam session outside the ordinary sessions.

Teaching tools

PC-assisted presentations, blackboard/virtual whiteboard.

Material available on https://virtuale.unibo.it/

Office hours

See the website of Claudia Naldi

See the website of Davide Tabarelli