Get premium membership and access revision papers, questions with answers as well as video lessons.
Got a question or eager to learn? Discover limitless learning on WhatsApp now -
Start Now!
Energy Resources Management Question Paper
Energy Resources Management
Course:Bachelor Of Environmental Studies
Institution: Kenyatta University question papers
Exam Year:2009
KENYATTA UNIVERSITY
UNIVERSITY EXAMINATIONS 2009/2010
FIRST SEMESTER EXAMINATION FOR THE DEGREE OF BACHELOR OF
ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE
ENS 347: ENERGY RESOURCES MANAGEMENT
DATE: Tuesday 29th December, 2009 TIME: 2.00 p.m. – 4.00 p.m.
INSTRUCTIONS
• Answer question ONE (i.e. compulsory) and select any other THREE.
• The most critical part of problem solving is setting out your method and ideas,
so you must show your work, and if you need to make assumptions, be sure to
state what you assumed and why.
Page 1 of 4
Question 1 (25 marks)
a)
If a 500 MW natural gas power plant is operated for one year, with an 80%
capacity factor. About how many kWh of electricity are produced?
[5 marks]
b)
Explain briefly why biomass combustion can be superior to fossil fuel combustion
from a global climate change standpoint.
[5 marks]
c)
To address the power rationing crisis in Kenya, the Kenya Power Generation
Company (KENGEN) proposes to add one megawatt of poser under the
conditions listed below. Would it be cheaper to produce a megawatt of power for
ten years using solar PV or diesel
generators? [10
marks]
• Solar PV costs $2,500 per megawatt installed (ignore Operating & Maintenance
costs)
• Diesel generators costs $1,000,000 per megawatt installed plus $20,000 per
month in fuel costs
• 5% annual discount rate
Question 2 (15 marks)
You have decided to develop a wind farm and are deciding which wind turbine
technology to purchase. You have the option to use either turbine A or Turbine B. The
parameters of the two turbine models are listed below:
Turbine A
Turbine B
Rotor blade diameter
40 meters
70 meters
Overall efficiency
40%
45%
Capacity factor (at this site) 25%
40%
Installed cost per turbine
$350,000
$1,600,000
Tower height
50 metres
100 meters
a)
What is the instantaneous power output in kW of Turbine A and Turbine B with a
wind
speed
of
12m/s?
[5
marks]
Page 2 of 4
b)
Assume turbine A is rated at 500 kW and turbine B is rated at 1.6 MW. You want
to build a 100 MW wind farm. Which turbine do you select if you want to
minimize upfront installation costs?
Question 3
a)
How many Gigatons of carbon as CO2 must be added to the atmosphere to
increase the concentration of CO2 by 1 ppmv? [5
marks]
b)
If China burned all of its coal resources, estimated at 900 Gtons, and half of the
carbon released remained in the atmosphere, what is the mass of carbon added to
the atmosphere? Assume that 25.8 grams of carbon are released per MJ of coal.
[6 marks]
c)
What atmospheric concentration of carbon will result? Cite two reasons why this
scale of likely emissions from China is of serious concern globally.
[4 marks]
Question 4
A quarter of the world’s population has no access to electricity, and instead relies upon
fuel-based lighting (usually kerosene or LPG lamps). In view of emerging innovations,
the poor could technologically “leap-frog” from fuel-burning lamps to a new technology
called WLEDs (white light-emitting diodes): tiny, highly efficient electric lights that can
illuminate a room with just 1W. How do WLEDs compare in cost with kerosene? Below
are the data you will need to make this rough comparison:
• A jua-kali kerosene wick lamp (koroboi) costs Ksh 100 to purchase and must be
replaced once every two years. It also needs replacement wicks (Ksh 20 each)
every three months. While in use, it burns kerosene fuel at the rate of 0.01 litres
per hour. Kerosene costs Ksh 80 per liter.
• A solar-charged WLED costs Ksh 5,000 upfront, and lasts for about 10 years. It
has no fuel costs but does need the batteries replaced every two years, at a cost of
Ksh 300.
a) If both lamps are used for 5 hours per day, what is the cost of operating each lamp
for a year? (Ignore discount rates or the cost of money for purchasing the lamps)
Page 3 of 4
b) Assume the solar powered WLED lamp can also provide mobile phone charging
services. If a typical phone user without electricity charges his/her phone off-grid at a
rate of three times a week at a cost of Ksh20/charge, what is the simple pay-back
period
of
the
WLED
investment?
[5
marks]
c) Why might a typical rural or urban poor household choose not to follow your
economic logic outlined above? Name four factors and write a sentence or two
explaining
each.
[4
marks]
Question 5
Globally, national security and economic prosperity is linked to clean and affordable
energy. Substantiate this claim with reference to specific examples, both in developed
and
developing
countries.
[15
marks]
………………………
Page 4 of 4
More Question Papers
Popular Exams
Return to Question Papers