Page 18 - Biofuels Refining and Performance

Chapter
1

Energy and Its

Biological Resources

K. B. De

1.1 Energy (Yesterday,Today,
and Tomorrow)
Today’s energy concept needs to be modified and should be presented as
an integrated management-oriented approach. For example, the problem
of nutrition of human population and livestock is also an important item
in the energy inventory. So the per capita energy requirement will include
2000 kcal of the basal requirement in the form of nutrients; amount of
energy required to produce that amount of food; energy required to preserve
the food; energy required to collect the daily requirement of 600–800 L of
water; energy required for washing, cleaning, and bathing; and energy
required for lights, fans, air conditioners, and transport.
Today’s energy concept should also include the awareness that heat
is a wasteful form of energy, always downhill, and hence efficiency is at
the most 30–40% and that of an automobile is as low as 15–20%. Even
if we go modern, a solar photovoltaic panel has an efficiency of 8%, a
solar thermal power plant has 15%, and from sunshine to electricity
through biomass is only 1%.
In order to establish innovative technologies for highly effective uti-
lization of solar light energy, fundamental research is being conducted
in the following areas:

1. Dye-sensitized solar cells: New types of dye-sensitized solar cells
mimicking the active sites of the natural photosynthesis system.

1
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