Undergrad Research Project - Temporal and Spatial Dependencies between Renewable Resources

Fall 2011

Mark Lim
Gabriela Hug
Project description

Objectives: This project is intended to investigate the spatial and temporal dependencies of various renewable resources, also incorporating both storage and transmission facilities, by scrutinizing the distribution of existing and potential renewable energy sources as well as the consumption and storage patterns of electricity in the United States.

Methods: Data relating to the generation and consumption of renewable energy including wind, hydroelectric, biomass, geothermal and solar in the 48 major states of the U.S. (with Hawii and Alaska excluded) will be extracted from the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA). Information about potential renewable energy sources will be gathered as well to enable the compilation of the distribution of both known and unexplored renewable energy sources on a heat map. Additionally, changes in the amount of renewable resources available over both time and space will be monitored closely if possible.

Together with the above-mentioned data, the consumption and storage patterns of electric energy can be developed by extending the Electric-Vehicle Model created in the previous project "Using National Household Travel Survey Data in the Decision of Power Provision to Electric Cars".

Anticipated Results: Through the combination of the heat map of renewable energy sources and the consumption and storage patterns observed, the need for more power grids or the possibility of supplying less power during trough periods to conserve energy can be attended to by relevant government authorities and thus, making the optimization of power storage and transmission attainable.

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