Transcript Your Humble Narrator - Chicago

B.A., University of Chicago, 2006; J.D. , Chicago-Kent
College of Law, Expected May 2011
Rebuilding the Electrical Grid
Aaron Midler
[email protected]
Energy Law, Fall 2010
Chicago-Kent College of Law
I. What are semiconductors and what
do they do?
II. Why do we care about semiconductors
(how do they relate to our electrical grid) ?
III. Challenges to implementing
new semiconductor technology/
environmental costs of
semiconductor production
IV. Avenues for New
Semiconductor Technology
•First need to describe:
•Electrons/Electric Current
•Insulators
•Conductor
• Electric current is the
free movement of electrons
between the nuclei
of atoms.
•Electrons are negatively
charged particles
•Conductors allow electricity to pass through them, and level
of conductivity is determined by the arrangement of electrons
•Copper is a good conductor
•In contrast to conductors, insulators resist electric current;
electrons do not flow between nuclei easily in insulators
•Glass is a good insulator
•Semiconductors possess qualities of both insulators and
conductors
•Silicon is a good semiconductor—
after some processing.
•“Doping” during crystal growth creates N-type or P-type
semiconductors
•N-type= Negative charge, P-type= Positive charge
Valve
Amplifier
Switch
Transistor
How do we make our electrical
grid go from this
To this?
Since 1982, growth in peak demand for electricity has exceeded
transmission growth by almost 25% every year.
Improvements needed in:
•Transmission/Distribution
•Energy lost transmitting
and distributing
electricity
U.S. demand for electricity expected to
grow by 30% by 2030
Improvements needed in:
•Power Storage
•Very few options to store
electricity
•Metering
•All passive
•Provides little information
to providers and consumers
Electricity prices predicted to increase 50%
over next five years.
Improvements needed in:
•Monitoring
•No active monitoring of
grid for
malfunctions/outages
•Renewables
•Poor integration into existing
electrical grid
New semiconductor technology expected to improve:
•Transmission/Distribution
•HVDC lines
instead of AC
lines for
transmission
•Renewables
•HVDC integration
New semiconductor technology expected to improve:
•Metering
•Advanced Metering
Infrastructure
•2-way
communication
between producer
and consumer
•Smart meters
and appliances
•Monitoring
•Real-time analysis
(phasors/sensors)
•Power Storage
• Integrated circuits for
batteries
•Converters/Inverters for
electric cars and
dedicated batteries
•Predicted that:
•Smart grid technologies
will lower grid congestion
losses
• Renewables and
distributed power sources
will save billions
•2009 study suggests improved
semiconductor technology will
save us 399 billion kilowatt
hours of electricity by 2030,
even assuming increased
demand
•Limited investment in research and development
•The “moving car” problem
•Change is expensive
•See Commonwealth
Edison Co. v. Ill.
Commerce Comm’n, 2010
Ill. App. LEXIS 1057
•Regulations and market in
flux—discouraging
investment
Producing a 1/8 inch silicon wafer requires 3,787 gallons of waste water,
27 pounds of chemicals, 29 cubic feet of gases.
•Atmospheric contaminents
•Trichloroethane regulated under
Montreal Protocol
•Contamination of the environment
•e.g., 1981, IBM and Fairchild
Semiconductor in San Jose, CA.
Trichloroethane and Freon
contaminated drinking water.
•How should we weigh environmental
and health risks against improved
energy efficiency?
•Nanotechnology and Semiconductors
•Smaller is better
•Carbon-based, not silicon based
•Inkjet printers instead of industrial
solvents
•Cheaper and environmentally
friendly
•Photonics—light as data!
Semiconductors
•Are a basic category of materials in
nature
•Are integral components of modern
electronics, including components of
the so-called smart grid
•May provide energy efficiency
benefits but still require significant
investment by power producers
•Have unquantified environmental
and human health costs for society
•Will drive development of cutting-edge nanotechnology
and photonics
•Transistorized, PUBLIC BROADCASTING SERVICE,
http://www.pbs.org/transistor/science/info/conductors.html (last visited
Dec. 6, 2010).
•Marshall Brain, How Semiconductors work, HOWSTUFFWORKS,
http://www.howstuffworks.com/diode.htm (last visited Dec. 6, 2010).
•History of the Integrated Circuit, NOBEL PRIZE,
http://nobelprize.org/educational/physics/integrated_circuit/history/index.
html (last visited Dec. 6, 2010).
•John “Skip” Laitner, et al., Semiconductor Technology: The Potential to
Revolutionize U.S. Energy Productivity, AMERICAN COUNCIL FOR AN ENERGYEFFICIENT ECONOMY, http://www.aceee.org/node/3078?id=114 (May 1, 2009).
•Eric D. Williams, et al., The 1.7 Kilogram Chip: Energy and Material Use in the
Production of Semiconductor Devices, 36 (24) Environ. Sci. Technol. 5504 (2002).
•Technology Providers—What the Smart Grid Means to America’s Future, United
States Department of Energy,
www.oe.energy.gov/DocumentsandMedia/TechnologyProviders.pdf (last
visited Dec. 6, 2010).