Sustainable Energy Technologies 1st Edition

Eduardo Rincnmeja download

https://ebookbell.com/product/sustainable-energy-
technologies-1st-edition-eduardo-rincnmeja-6838866

Explore and download more ebooks at ebookbell.com

Here are some recommended products that we believe you will be
interested in. You can click the link to download.

Sustainable Energy Technologies Options And Prospects 1st Edition

Michel Combarnous

https://ebookbell.com/product/sustainable-energy-technologies-options-
and-prospects-1st-edition-michel-combarnous-4192886

Sustainable Energy Technologies For Seawater Desalination 1st Edition

Marc A Rosen

https://ebookbell.com/product/sustainable-energy-technologies-for-
seawater-desalination-1st-edition-marc-a-rosen-230185166

Low Carbon Energy Technologies In Sustainable Energy Systems Grigorios

L Kyriakopoulos

https://ebookbell.com/product/low-carbon-energy-technologies-in-
sustainable-energy-systems-grigorios-l-kyriakopoulos-26149462

Progress In Sustainable Energy Technologies Generating Renewable

Energy 1st Edition Ibrahim Dincer

https://ebookbell.com/product/progress-in-sustainable-energy-
technologies-generating-renewable-energy-1st-edition-ibrahim-
dincer-4931420
Progress In Sustainable Energy Technologies Vol Ii Creating
Sustainable Development 1st Edition Ibrahim Dincer

https://ebookbell.com/product/progress-in-sustainable-energy-
technologies-vol-ii-creating-sustainable-development-1st-edition-
ibrahim-dincer-4931464

Cogeneration And District Energy Sustainable Energy Technologies For

Today And Tomorrow Oecd

https://ebookbell.com/product/cogeneration-and-district-energy-
sustainable-energy-technologies-for-today-and-tomorrow-oecd-6822872

Life Cycle Assessment Of Energy Systems And Sustainable Energy

Technologies The Italian Experience 1st Ed Riccardo Basosi

https://ebookbell.com/product/life-cycle-assessment-of-energy-systems-
and-sustainable-energy-technologies-the-italian-experience-1st-ed-
riccardo-basosi-7323180

Proceedings Of The International Conference On Sustainable Energy

Technologies Icset2023 1011 Nov Ho Chi Minh City Vietnam Djourkov
Todor

https://ebookbell.com/product/proceedings-of-the-international-
conference-on-sustainable-energy-technologies-icset2023-1011-nov-ho-
chi-minh-city-vietnam-djourkov-todor-58445448

The Power Of Design Product Innovation In Sustainable Energy

Technologies 1st Edition Angele Reinders

https://ebookbell.com/product/the-power-of-design-product-innovation-
in-sustainable-energy-technologies-1st-edition-angele-reinders-4084582
Sustainable Energy
­Technologies
Sustainable Energy
­Technologies

Edited by
Eduardo Rincón-Mejía and
Alejandro de las Heras
CRC Press
Taylor & Francis Group
6000 Broken Sound Parkway NW, Suite 300
Boca Raton, FL 33487-2742

© 2018 by Taylor & Francis Group, LLC

CRC Press is an imprint of Taylor & Francis Group, an Informa business

No claim to original U.S. Government works

Printed on acid-free paper

International Standard Book Number-13: 978-1-138-03438-9 (Hardback)

This book contains information obtained from authentic and highly regarded sources. Reasonable efforts have been
made to publish reliable data and information, but the author and publisher cannot assume responsibility for the
validity of all materials or the consequences of their use. The authors and publishers have attempted to trace the copy-
right holders of all material reproduced in this publication and apologize to copyright holders if permission to publish
in this form has not been obtained. If any copyright material has not been acknowledged, please write and let us know
so we may rectify in any future reprint.

Except as permitted under U.S. Copyright Law, no part of this book may be reprinted, reproduced, transmitted, or
utilized in any form by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including pho-
tocopying, microfilming, and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without written permission
from the publishers.

For permission to photocopy or use material electronically from this work, please access www.copyright.com (http://
www.copyright.com/) or contact the Copyright Clearance Center, Inc. (CCC), 222 Rosewood Drive, Danvers, MA
01923, 978-750-8400. CCC is a not-for-profit organization that provides licenses and registration for a variety of users.
For organizations that have been granted a photocopy license by the CCC, a separate system of payment has been
arranged.

Trademark Notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks or registered trademarks, and are used only for
identification and explanation without intent to infringe.

Visit the Taylor & Francis Web site at

http://www.taylorandfrancis.com

and the CRC Press website at

http://www.crcpress.com
To my wife, Gabriela Carolina, and our
daughters, Gabi, Almita, and Vero.
Contents
Foreword............................................................................................................................................xi
Preface.............................................................................................................................................. xv
Acknowledgments............................................................................................................................xix
Editors..............................................................................................................................................xxi
Contributors.................................................................................................................................. xxiii

Chapter 1 Introduction������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������1
Eduardo Rincón-Mejía, Alejandro de las Heras, and Marina Islas-Espinoza

Chapter 2 Solar and Geothermal Energies Are Sustainable; Nuclear Power Is Not�������������������� 9
Alejandro de las Heras, Eduardo Rincón-Mejía, Behrooz Sani, and
Marina Islas-Espinoza

Chapter 3 Renewables—The Politics and Economics Behind Them����������������������������������������� 29

Andrea Leon-Grossmann

Chapter 4 The Constructal Design Applied to Renewable Energy Systems������������������������������ 45

Elizaldo D. dos Santos, Liércio A. Isoldi, Mateus das N. Gomes, and
Luiz A. O. Rocha

Chapter 5 Integration of Renewable Energy Technologies in Buildings and Cities������������������� 63

Andy Walker

Chapter 6 Next Developments in Solar Thermal Technologies�������������������������������������������������� 75

Valeriano Ruiz-Hernández

Chapter 7 Advances in Solar-Assisted Air Conditioning Systems for Tropical-Humid

Locations�������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 81
Jorge E. González

Chapter 8 Absorption Thermodynamic Cycles: Advanced Cycles Based on Ammonia/Salt������111

Antonio Lecuona-Neumann, Pedro A. Rodríguez-Aumente, Mathieu Legrand,
and Antonio Famiglietti

Chapter 9 Hybrid Solar and Geothermal Heating and Cooling������������������������������������������������ 131

Bernd Weber

vii
viii Contents

Chapter 10 Thermal Energy Storage Systems for Solar Applications���������������������������������������� 143

Aran Solé, Alvaro de Gracia, and Luisa F. Cabeza

Chapter 11 Solar Photocatalytic Energy������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 163

Lourdes Isabel Cabrera-Lara

Chapter 12 Novel Solar Fuels from H2O and CO2���������������������������������������������������������������������� 187

Christian Sattler, Anis Houaijia, and Martin Roeb

Chapter 13 Tannins as Precursors of Supercapacitor Electrodes����������������������������������������������� 201

Vanessa Fierro, Angela Sánchez-Sánchez, and Alain Celzard

Chapter 14 Recent Contributions in the Development of Fuel Cell Technologies��������������������� 229

José Luis Reyes-Rodríguez, Heriberto Cruz-Martínez, Miriam Marisol
Tellez-Cruz, Adrián Velázquez-Osorio, and Omar Solorza-Feria

Chapter 15 Towards More Sustainable Aeronautics via the Use of Biofuels����������������������������� 245
Aris Iturbe, W. Vicente, and J.E.V. Guzmán

Chapter 16 Solar Cooking for All����������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 255

Antonio Lecuona-Neumann, José I. Nogueira, Pedro A. Rodríguez, and
Mathieu Legrand

Chapter 17 Sustainable Wind Energy Systems��������������������������������������������������������������������������� 277

Eduardo Rincón-Mejía and Ana Rincón-Rubio

Chapter 18 Tidal Current Technologies: Brief Overview and In-Depth Coverage of

the State of the Art.................................................................................................... 293
Vanesa Magar

Chapter 19 From Large Dams to Sustainable Hydropower��������������������������������������������������������309

Katarzyna Anna Korys and Agnieszka Ewa Latawiec

Chapter 20 Bioenergy Principles and Applications�������������������������������������������������������������������� 327

Marina Islas-Espinoza and Alejandro de las Heras

Chapter 21 Advanced Biomethane Processes����������������������������������������������������������������������������� 343

Sevcan Aydin, Bahar Yavuzturk Gul, and Aiyoub Shahi
Contents ix

Chapter 22 Human Energy: System Integration, Efficiency, Recovery�������������������������������������� 357

José Antonio Aguilar Becerril, Diana Gabriela Pinedo Catalán, Paola
Yazmín Jiménez Colín, and Jaime Manuel Aguilar Becerril

Chapter 23 Sustainable Energy for Houses��������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 375

David Morillón Gálvez and Francisco Javier Ceballos Ochoa
Index............................................................................................................................................... 385
Foreword
In December 2015, nearly all nations around the world came together in Paris to sign a historic
agreement to tackle human-caused climate change. These nations pledged to take dramatic steps
to reduce anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions. The Paris Agreement sets a target of limiting
global average temperature warming to no more than 2°C and ideally to no more than 1.5°C above
preindustrial levels. Already, by 2016, global warming has approached nearly 1°C since reliable
temperature measurements began in the mid-1800s.
The timing of this agreement was critical in many ways. In the previous year, the
Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) had released its fifth Assessment Report,*
which showed that unless drastic greenhouse gas emission reductions started within the next
decade or so, potentially catastrophic impacts of human-caused climate change on the earth’s
weather and ecosystems will occur, including unprecedented sea-level rise and coastal flooding,
changes in weather patterns that would result in increase in severe weather events and flood
and drought cycles, significant shifts in agricultural production and vector-borne diseases, and
untold other societal consequences. The IPCC report shows that global warming must be lim-
ited to 2°C to avoid these consequences. However, the IPCC report also shows that in order to
achieve such a goal, society must implement an ambitious emissions reduction scenario, which
allows for only another decade or so of increasing anthropogenic emissions before requiring a
rapid decline to levels near 0 within 50 years.
As part of their signing agreement in Paris, countries were required to submit “Nationally
Determined Contributions” (NDCs), with specific greenhouse gas emission reduction commitments
over the coming decades. Although not legally binding, the current NDCs represent a strong global
commitment to tackle climate change through a number of approaches, including clean energy
technology deployments. Implementing the NDCs would result in year-over-year growth in renew-
able energy exceeding even the current numbers summarized in this book, Sustainable Energy
Technologies. However, the NDCs in and of themselves would likely fall short in achieving the
goals of the Paris Agreement. If no additional action were taken, global warming could exceed
3.6°C by the end of this century, well above the level recommended by the IPCC.
Achieving a maximum of 2°C, and especially 1.5°C, from the energy perspective alone, would
require an unprecedented transformation in the way we produce and consume energy. Although the
Paris Agreement comes at a time when clean, renewable energy is experiencing significant growth
throughout the world, the reality is that nearly 80% of our end-use energy consumption is still
based on the production and consumption of carbon-based fuels.† Over the past decade, global R&D
investments in renewable energy technologies have grown substantially to a current level of nearly
a quarter of a trillion U.S. dollars per year. These investments, along with significant R&D in tech-
nology performance and reliability and favorable government policies, have resulted in substantial
decrease in the costs of these technologies, especially hydropower, solar PV, and onshore wind, so
that by 2016 the median-levelized cost of energy from onshore wind farms is competitive with elec-
tricity generated by fossil fuels, despite recent drops in fossil fuel prices. Solar PV costs are drop-
ping so rapidly that these technologies will also be competitive with traditional power generation in

* c.f., Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, 2014: Climate Change 2014, 5th Assessment Report, Synthesis Report.
http://ipcc.ch/report/ar5/syr/.
† IRENA, 2017: Rethinking Energy 2017. International Renewable Energy Agency Headquarters, Abu Dhabi, UAE. www.
irena.org. Also REN21 (Renewable Energy Network for the 21st Century) 2016: Renewables 2016 Global Status Report.
http://www.ren21.net/gsr.

xi
xii Foreword

the near future. These cost drops have largely contributed to renewables exceeding nonrenewable
power expansion since 2012. Globally, Photovoltaic (PV) capacity has grown by 20%–30% for the
past 10 years and added approximately 75 GW of capacity in 2016, so that current global capacity
is surpassing 300 GW. In a recent IRENA study,* jobs in the renewable energy sector surpassed
8 million worldwide in 2015, with 2.8 million working in the solar PV sector; overall, annual job
growth in the renewable sector is 5% (over 11% in solar PV).
With the adoption of the Paris Agreement and the rapid emergence of renewable energy tech-
nologies as a viable and significant global business enterprise, Sustainable Energy Technologies
is a timely and important volume. Written primarily by engineers, the book addresses the overall
status and trends of renewable energy technologies (including all of the broad categories of solar
energy, geothermal, wind, tidal, biofuels, and related technologies) and how these technologies can
and must all work together to achieve a clean and resilient energy supply by the end of this century.
Besides adding resiliency to the rapid expansion of electricity supply, renewable technologies can
contribute to all end-use energy sector demands, including heat and transport. This concept of
renewables working together to achieve a 100% renewable energy supply for all end-use energy
needs is a major theme of the International Solar Energy Society.
Sustainable Energy Technologies addresses significant questions and concerns regarding certain
low-carbon emission technologies such as nuclear and fusion energy, which, although on principle
can offer a substantial contribution to clean energy supply, are also bereft with safety, international
security, and cost concerns that may and perhaps should exclude them from a future energy mix.
Further, this volume takes a close look at the real sustainability of energy sources that are typically
viewed as renewable, such as large hydropower and biomass combustion.
Sustainable Energy Technologies supports the energy transformation that is being stimulated
by the rapid growth in renewable energy business opportunities and by the challenges set forth
in the Paris Agreement. The United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goal #7, “Affordable
and Clean Energy,”† calls for doubling the world’s renewable energy supply (to 36% of total
consumption) and making energy accessible to all, including the 1.2 billion people currently
lacking access to reliable energy sources, by the year 2030. To achieve such a goal, global
investments in renewable energy must quadruple from their current level to nearly 1 trillion
USD/year. What makes Sustainable Energy Technologies especially important is that renew-
able energy technologies can address all end-use energy sectors: power, heat, and transport. Of
these sectors, the power sector is experiencing the most rapid growth, as electricity becomes the
energy carrier of choice to meet an ever-expanding array of end-use energy demands. However,
even today, the power sector still represents only about 20% of total end use energy demand.
The heating sector represents 47% of our end use energy consumption, and the transport sector
represents 37%.
Thus, in Sustainable Energy Technologies, you will see thoughtful reports on the broad range of
renewable technologies that address all three sectors. It is essential that these technologies all work
together to achieve a total carbon-free energy supply over the decades to come. The hybridizing
of these technologies is addressed in Part I of this book, and further bioengineering solutions are
addressed in Part II. The book then addresses, in Part III, the technological issues related to secu-
rity, safety, and geopolitical context of energy systems, which of course have national implications,
as well as implications on the energy mixes that will ultimately be chosen by individual countries.

* IRENA, 2016: Renewable Energy and Jobs Annual Review 2016. International Renewable Energy Agency Headquarters,
Abu Dhabi, UAE. http://www.irena.org.
† http://www.un.org/sustainabledevelopment/sustainable-development-goals/.
Foreword xiii

All of this material is presented in a way that bridges the dialogue between sustainable energy
practitioners and the related relevant sciences, security professionals, and experts working in the
fields of socioeconomics and politics. Sustainable Energy Technologies is truly a timely and criti-
cally important volume to support the work of the vast array of professionals and decision-makers
involved in the renewable energy transformation that is sweeping through society.

Dr. David Renné

President, International Solar Energy Society, and Owner, Dave Renné Renewables LLC
Preface
WHAT ‘SUSTAINABILITY’ MIGHT MEAN
American President Theodore Roosevelt said “We have become great because of the lavish use of
our resources. But the time has come to inquire seriously what will happen when our forests are
gone, when the coal, the iron, the oil, and the gas are exhausted, when the soils have still further
impoverished and washed into the streams, polluting the rivers, denuding the fields and obstructing
navigation. These issues are not just about the next century or generation.” “The nation behaves well
if it treats the natural resources as assets which it must turn over to the next generation increased,
and not impaired, in value” (1910).
This far-sighted comment warrants reevaluation of our culture. Sustainable development has
now become a household word, but the term “development” hides phenomena such as the concentra-
tion and accumulation of capital, the ruthless destruction of nature, and the alienation of individuals
(Latouche, 2009). Economics must rethink the idea that consumption of unlimited resources is the
ultimate goal in life, as Georgescu-Roegen did, linking economy and thermodynamics. In the real
world, all processes obey the laws of physics and biology (Bejan & Llorente, 2010).
In practice, a sustainable energy system should have the following features:

1. Energy reserves should last for as long as man exists on the planet.
2. The Hartwick rule (1977) should apply to exhaustible reserves. For example, fossil natural
gas can be sustainable only if it is entirely dedicated to producing devices that tap much
more renewable energy than is consumed in the production of that device and if pollution
is offset.
3. Waste materials should all be treated as resources in recycling processes.
4. Working efficiencies should approximate thermodynamic limits.
5. The system should be resilient and dominated by maximally diverse modular and decen-
tralized applications.
6. Energy should be used sparingly by all.
7. All subsystems should have very high energy return on energy invested.
8. Energy and matter transportation and conduction should be minimal thanks to local use of
resources.
9. Profitability must consider both monetary and environmental numeraires on equal terms.
10. Sustainability can only be attained if ecosystems are restored.

These principles are embodied in the applications shown in this book.

BOOK OVERVIEW
This book begins with a reminder in Renné’s Foreword of the 2015 Paris Agreements to further reduce
carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. A few months after the Paris Agreements, news came that the price
of electricity from renewable energy sources was, for the first time, lower than the nuclear MWh price.
In Chapter 1, Rincón-Mejía and colleagues link current carbon dioxide levels to the global mix of
energy technologies. They caution against dead-end engineering ideas that could further imbalance
the atmosphere. They also make the essential distinction between renewable and sustainable energy
technologies, thereby questioning nonwaste agro-fuels. Finally, they show the momentous surge of
sustainable energy sources in the worldwide market.
Chapter 2, by de las Heras, and colleagues, explains that fusion in the Sun and radioactive
decay in Earth’s crust and mantle are safe and easy to use while artificial fission poses intractable

xv
xvi Preface

technical issues. Further, Sani’s firsthand experience in nuclear power plants points to the intri-
cate relationships of the oil and nuclear industries with regional and global military interests.
The lack of transparency of nuclear power resonates with citizen concern and involvement, in
Chapter 3 by Leon-Grossmann; firsthand experience in California shows to the world that in one of
the most democratic areas of the world, corporations and highly regarded politicians vie for power
at the expense of the environment and democracy, two pillars of sustainability.
Having stated the current bias in the supply side of energy and the human flaws in energy sys-
tems, engineering takes over with a theoretical viewpoint on technology evolution: dos Santos and
colleagues very didactically expound the intricacies and extremely wide field of application of the
Constructal physical law in Chapter 4. This theory pinpoints many practical applications in sustain-
able energy systems.
In Chapter 5, Walker addresses one of the main challenges in the energy transition toward sus-
tainability, namely the integration of more intermittent renewable energy to grids feeding cities and
buildings. Although energy storage is the main solution, adaptations of sustainable energy sources
are also needed, such as photovoltaic solar distribution over larger areas or different orientations
than south-facing arrays, to even out the effects of partly cloudy days and morning and evening peak
demand times. Hardware standards and load forecasting methods are also enhancing operation in
grids coupling conventional and sustainable energy sources during the energy transition.
Changes in the global energy subsystems in the last four decades are described by Ruiz-
Hernández in Chapter 6. The most salient feature of the global systems is the rise of renewable
sources, and the resistance of the International Energy Agency to acknowledge this fact. Solar
energy in particular has a potential for direct thermal and photovoltaic applications that bolster their
efficiency and, consequently, their economic competitiveness. Ruiz-Hernández draws on the experi-
ence of Spanish top-of-the-line facilities to explore upcoming developments in solar concentrating
thermal and electric applications.
Fundamental physics, mathematical tools, and the economic aspects of energy balance are used
by González in Chapter 7 to show that technology has solved one of the key issues in tropical ener-
getics: sustainable cooling in the face of high humidity. These results also point to the possibility
of sustainable energy independence in islands around the world, and coastal areas, the most endan-
gered areas in relation to global warming and sea level rise.
Taking advantage of a warming atmosphere, absorption thermodynamic cycles now allow for
heat, cold or electricity applications, depending on the needs of the end user, as demonstrated by
Lecuona-Neumann and colleagues in Chapter 8. These applications totally supersede systems that
use ozone-depleting substances.
Weber takes over cooling and heating applications in Chapter 9. He shows the efficiency of
hybridized solar and heat-pump systems. In these systems, the sun is the energy source, and heat is
stored underground. These applications have large potentials in temperate and cold climes, where
seasonal soil-air temperature gradients are elevated.
The field of solar energy storage applications is further explored by Solé and colleagues in
Chapter 10, with a focus on recent developments in thermochemical materials. The full spectrum of
solar energy storage is covered in that chapter.
Solar energy storage and the chemistry thereof are approached from another angle by Cabrera-
Lara in Chapter 11. There, solar photocatalysis is used for hydrogen production, the energy carrier
used for storage. The role of semiconductor catalysts and photoelectrochemical cells is elucidated,
and key parameters are highlighted.
Dispatchability (i.e., use on demand) is fundamental in the competition of renewable energy
systems against fossil fuels. Sattler and colleagues in Chapter 12 also deal with the conversion of
solar energy into solar fuels at higher, more efficient, temperatures, using solid oxide and molten
carbonate electrolyses. The focus is on concentrating solar power thermochemical H2O and CO2
transformation.
Preface xvii

Sustainable electrochemical energy storage can also take place in supercapacitors, whose use in
addition to current storage batteries is developing fast. Fierro and colleagues in Chapter 13 explain
the fundamentals and applications of tannins, some cheap, inexpensive, non-toxic and renewable
compounds as precursors of supercapacitor carbon electrodes.
Transportability is another key parameter in sustainable energy carriers. Hydrogen in particular
lends itself to fuel cell applications, as shown by Reyes-Rodríguez and colleagues in Chapter 14.
Fuel cell thermodynamics, components, and perspectives are dealt with in that chapter.
Transportability is of the essence in aeronautical applications. Iturbe and colleagues in Chapter
15 demonstrate the potential of sustainable biofuels in jet propulsion turbines and the solutions to
the higher viscosities of biofuels. Sprays and droplet-size distribution in ultrasonic actuated fuel
injection are treated in detail.
Global society is highly dependent on air travel, but for billions of people, gathering cooking
fuel is still a highly energy-demanding activity, especially since wood fuel is becoming sparse due
to deforestation. As shown by Lecuona-Neumann and colleagues in Chapter 16, solar cooking is a
powerful alternative to combustion in most kitchens of the world and a climate-change mitigator.
Concentrating solar cookers are now being hybridized with thermal or electrical solar energy stor-
age, for enhanced nighttime and cloudy-day dispatchability.
Both large-scale and small autonomous systems are likely to require windpower in their energy
mix: windpower is one of the lower-cost energy sources and has been harnessed for centuries, a
sure indicator of the robustness of even less-efficient applications. Rincón-Mejía in Chapter 17 gives
account of the principles of windpower and the most viable, up-to-date, applications.
Offshore windpower is but one of the sustainable energy sources that can be drawn from marine
environments. Magar in Chapter 18 shows how tides and their interaction with the sea floor gener-
ate strong tidal currents, close by the sea shores, owing to Venturi effects. Numerical tidal resource
assessment, based on computational fluid dynamics and technology developments in the last
20 years, is explicated.
Any discussion of current energy supply mixes should probably include Brazil, perhaps the
foremost user of renewable energy sources: by 2015, an approximate 44% of the energy mix was
obtained from renewable sources. Several of these however are not sustainable: wood fuel, vegetal
coal, sugar cane ethanol, and hydroelectricity have large environmental and social ­footprints. Korys
and Latawiec in Chapter 19 cover the environmental and social implications of large-scale hydro-
power dams, with implications of any such future projects in the world. They also discuss small-
scale and run-of-river alternatives to making hydropower more sustainable.
Sustainable energy systems will not be complete if they do not tap the vast stores of energy in the
billions of extant human bodies and the huge amounts of biowaste that they generate, as explained
by Islas-Espinoza and de las Heras in Chapter 20. Starting with fundamentals of bioenergy, they go
on to highlight the main application branches, human power, and waste-based biomethane. Hybrid
applications are also illustrated.
The importance of biomethane can hardly be overestimated. Challenges remain, but Aydin and
colleagues in Chapter 21 highlight solutions. They cover the complex biological essentials of the
topic, key control parameters, and pathways to enhanced biomethane generation, including control
of carbon dioxide and hydrogen sulfide.
As to fundamentals of human bodily energy, they are provided by Aguilar Becerril and col-
leagues in Chapter 22. These include (an)aerobic biochemical pathways of energy generation, which
interestingly show the hybrid character of human energetics. Food energy substrates are covered, as
is the essential concept of energy recovery via sleep and rehydration. Ergometric, spirometric, and
anaerobic aspects of performance are covered, using as a model athletic performance.
As increasing numbers of humans settle in cities, and emerging economies grow, the already
huge energy demand from homes is bound to soar. Energy generation is not a solution. The Net Zero
Energy concept in building design has emerged as an alternative. Morillón Gálvez and Ceballos
xviii Preface

Ochoa in Chapter 23 develop an energy balance account of a bioclimatic and photovoltaic Net Zero
Energy architectural design in three of the world’s bioclimates.

REFERENCES
Bejan, A. and Llorente, S. (2010). The constructual law of design and evolution in nature. Philosophical
Transactions of the Royal Society B, 365, 1335–1347.
Hartwick, J. M. (1977). Intergenerational Equity and the Investing of Rents from Exhaustible Resources.
Review of Economic Studies, 67, 973–974.
Latouche, S. (2009). Farewell to Growth. Cambridge, UK: Polity Press.
Roosevelt, T., 26th President of the US (1910). Speech before the Colorado Livestock Association, Denver,
Colorado, August 19, 1910. Retrieved from quotationspage.com/quote/41325.html.
Acknowledgments
The editors are grateful for the effort dedicated by all the authors to this book. We also wish to
thank Irma Britton, our Purchasing Editor at CRC Press.

xix
Editors
Eduardo A. Rincón-Mejía, Eng, PhD, Engineering Professor.
American Society for Mechanical Engineers, Chair of the Solar Energy Division (2013–2014),
Chair of the Solar Heating and Cooling of the SED Technical Committee (2009–2013). International
Solar Energy Society, Board of Directors Member (2005–2013). Secretary (2008–2009). Mexican
Solar Energy Association, President (2002–2004). International Energy Foundation, Board
of Directors Member (2002–2009). Member of the Joint Public Advisory Committee of the
Commission for Environmental Cooperation of North America (2004–2008). Mexican Renewable
Energy Award (Ministry of Energy, Mexico) (2004).
Professor Rincón-Mejía works primarily in the area of Renewable Energy Technologies, with an
emphasis on affordable solar technologies. His current research focus is the development of solar
concentrators using nonimaging optics for applications such as solar cooking, water distillation,
space heating, steam generation for industrial and residential uses, and high-flux research. Some of
his latest developments include affordable small-scale wind generators, ­high-efficiency solar ovens,
and solar hotplates.
He has authored over 40 articles in scientific and engineering journals. He has supervised over 60
graduate theses and taught thermal science as well as specific courses on solar energy applications,
wind generators, and renewable energy systems.
Alejandro de las Heras, PhD, has worked with grassroots movements and nongovernmental
organizations in Mali, France, and Mexico. He currently works in R&D related to hybridizing
permaculture and water and energy appropriate technologies. With CRC Press, he has edited
Sustainable Science and Technology: An Introduction, Boca Raton, FL, 2014.

xxi
Contributors
José Antonio Aguilar Becerril Elizaldo Domingues dos Santos
Medicine Department Ocean Engineering Graduate Program
Mexico State University and
Toluca, Mexico Computational Modeling Graduate Program
Federal University of Rio Grande
Jaime Manuel Aguilar Becerril Rio Grande, Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil
Mexican Social Security Institute
Toluca, Mexico Antonio Famiglietti
Thermal and Fluids Engineering Department,
Sevcan Aydin ITEA Research Group
Environmental Biotechnology Department Carlos III University
Istanbul Technical University Madrid, Spain
Istanbul, Turkey
Vanessa Fierro
Luisa F. Cabeza Jean Lamour Institute
GREA Innovació concurrent, INSPIRES National Scientific Research Centre
Research Centre Paris, France
University of Lleida
Lleida, Spain Mateus das N. Gomes
Computational Modeling Graduate Program
Lourdes Isabel Cabrera-Lara Federal University of Rio Grande
Independent Researcher Rio Grande, Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil
Mexico City, Mexico and
Science, Technology and Society Graduate
Francisco Javier Ceballos Ochoa Program
Institute of Engineering Federal Institute of Paraná
National Autonomous University of Mexico Paranaguá, Paraná, Brazil
Mexico City, Mexico
Jorge E. González
Alain Celzard Department of Mechanical Engineering
Jean Lamour Institute City College of New York
University of Lorraine New York, New York
Epinal, France
Alvaro de Gracia
Heriberto Cruz-Martínez Mechanical Engineering Department
Department of Chemistry Rovira i Virgili University
National Polytechnic Institute Tarragona, Spain
Mexico City, Mexico
Bahar Yavuzturk Gul
Alejandro de las Heras Environmental Biotechnology Department
Independent Researcher Istanbul Technical University
Burgos, Spain Istanbul, Turkey

xxiii
xxiv Contributors

J. E. V. Guzmán Mathieu Legrand

Institute of Engineering Thermal and Fluids Engineering Department,
National Autonomous University of Mexico ITEA Research Group
Mexico City, Mexico Carlos III University
Madrid, Spain
Anis Houaijia
Institute of Solar Research Andrea Leon-Grossmann
German Aerospace Center (DLR) Food and Water Watch
Cologne, Germany Los Angeles, California

Marina Islas-Espinoza Vanesa Magar

Engineering Department Physical Oceanography Department
Mexico State University Centre of Scientific Research and Higher
Toluca, Mexico Education of Ensenada (CICESE)
Ensenada, Mexico
Liércio A. Isoldi
Ocean Engineering Graduate Program David Morillón Gálvez
and Institute of Engineering
Computational Modeling Graduate National Autonomous University of Mexico
Program Mexico City, Mexico
Federal University of Rio Grande
Rio Grande, Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil José I. Nogueira
Thermal and Fluids Engineering Department,
Aris Iturbe ITEA Research Group
Aeronautic University of Queretaro Carlos III University
Colón, Mexico Madrid, Spain

Paola Yazmín Jiménez Colín Diana Gabriela Pinedo Catalán

Medicine Department Medicine Department
Mexico State University Mexico State University
Toluca, Mexico Toluca, Mexico

Katarzyna Anna Korys José Luis Reyes-Rodríguez

International Institute for Sustainability Department of Chemistry
Rio de Janeiro, Brazil National Polytechnic Institute
Mexico City, Mexico
Agnieszka Ewa Latawiec
International Institute for Sustainability Eduardo Rincón-Mejía
Rio de Janeiro, Brazil Energy Program
and Autonomous University of Mexico City
Pontifical Catholic University of Rio de Janeiro México City, Mexico
Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
and Ana Rincón-Rubio
University of Agriculture in Krakow School of Engineering
Krakow, Poland Mexico State University
Toluca, Mexico
Antonio Lecuona-Neumann
Thermal and Fluids Engineering Department, Luiz A. O. Rocha
ITEA Research Group Mechanical Engineering Graduate Program
Carlos III University University of Vale do Rio dos Sinos
Madrid, Spain São Leopoldo, Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil
Contributors xxv

Pedro A. Rodríguez-Aumente Aran Solé

Thermal and Fluids Engineering Department, Department of Mechanical Engineering and
ITEA Research Group Construction
Carlos III University Jaume I University
Madrid, Spain Castellón de la Plana, Spain

Martin Roeb Omar Solorza-Feria

Institute of Solar Research Department of Chemistry
German Aerospace Center (DLR) National Polytechnic Institute
Cologne, Germany Mexico City, Mexico

Valeriano Ruiz-Hernández Miriam Marisol Tellez-Cruz

Advanced Technology Centre for Renewable Department of Chemistry
Energies (CTAER) National Polytechnic Institute
Tabernas-Almería, Spain Mexico City, Mexico

Adrián Velázquez-Osorio
Angela Sánchez-Sánchez
Department of Chemistry
Jean Lamour Institute
National Polytechnic Institute
National Scientific Research Centre
Mexico City, Mexico
Epinal, France
W. Vicente
Behrooz Sani Institute of Engineering
Independent Researcher National Autonomous University of Mexico
Toluca, Mexico Mexico City, Mexico

Christian Sattler Andy Walker

Institute of Solar Research Integrated Applications Office
German Aerospace Center (DLR) National Renewable Energy Laboratory
Cologne, Germany Golden, Colorado

Aiyoub Shahi Bernd Weber

Animal Biology Department Engineering Department
University of Tabriz Mexico State University
Tabriz, Iran Toluca, Mexico
 1 Introduction

Eduardo Rincón-Mejía
Autonomous University of Mexico City

Alejandro de las Heras

Independent Researcher

Marina Islas-Espinoza
Mexico State University

CONTENTS
1.1 State of the Planet......................................................................................................................1
1.2 Geoengineering: Cautionary Word............................................................................................1
1.3 Energy Consumption Increases with Waste..............................................................................2
1.4 Biomass: Drawbacks Aplenty....................................................................................................3
1.5 Wind and Sun Take Markets by Storm......................................................................................5
1.5.1 Cost Reductions.............................................................................................................5
1.5.2 The Generation of Permanent and Well-Paid Jobs........................................................6
References...........................................................................................................................................6

1.1 STATE OF THE PLANET

Air records trapped in millenary ices show that CO2 levels before the Industrial Revolution remained
stable around 280 ppm for tens of millennia. However, on April 18, 2017, 410 ppm was exceeded for
the first time in hundreds of thousands of years (Figure 1.1). A rapid estimate of the mass quantity of
this gas gives us about 7.749 billion metric tons per ppm (Rincón-Mejía 2011), so that sequestering
a little more than one Peta kilogram (1 Pkg = 1015 kg) of this gas is required to recover the 280 ppm
level of preindustrial times, or 465 Gt CO2 (Giga tons CO2) to return to the 350 ppm required to keep
the Earth’s atmosphere thermally stable (Hansen et al. 2008).
Earth’s vegetation has a wondrous capacity to sequestrate CO2: the magnitude of the seasonal
fluctuation (7 ppm per annual cycle, Figure 1.1) is about 54 Gt CO2, more than the annual emis-
sion of this gas for fossil fuel consumption and cement production (Olivier et al. 2016) and more
than one-ninth of the amount of CO2 that has to be removed from the atmosphere in order to return
to 350 ppm CO2 concentration. Another point to emphasize is that the 21% of oxygen content in the
atmosphere’s composition is due to photosynthetic processes working during several billion years.
Fossil fuels consume this vital oxygen when they are burned, so besides emitting GHG, their
­combustion decreases the oxygen concentration.
The only viable way to sequestrate CO2 from the atmosphere and reduce its concentration is via
large-scale reforestation and afforestation to restore original forests, mangroves, algae, and many
other photosynthetic communities.

1.2 GEOENGINEERING: CAUTIONARY WORD

The alleged carbon sequestration by technological means has not yet demonstrated its viability.
Geoengineering is meant to achieve large-scale modifications of Earth’s energy balance through

1
2 Sustainable Energy Technologies

Recent monthly mean CO2 at Mauna Loa

410

405

Parts per million

400

395

May 2017
390
2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018
Year

FIGURE 1.1 Keeling curve of the global atmospheric co2 concentration, measured at Mauna Loa, Hawaii.
May 5, 2017 update (Tans and Keeling n.d.). Seasonal variations are due to the photosynthesis cycle in the
Northern Hemisphere, but the salient feature is the unabated increase in the average yearly value. CO2 global
levels are growing 3% per year.

human interventions. Very few studies have been published on the environmental effects, ­economical
costs, sociopolitical impacts, and legal implications of geoengineering. Deployment of these
­technologies has the potential to cause significant negative effects (Williamson and Bodle 2016).
Generally speaking, geoengineering technologies are categorized as either carbon dioxide
removal (CDR) methods or albedo-modification or solar radiation management (SRM) methods.
CDR methods include potentially perilous ocean “fertilization” and “carbon capture and sequestra-
tion” in big caverns. The only reasonable option among the “bioenergy with carbon capture and
storage” proposals is, again, those consisting of afforestation and massive reforestation. In turn,
SRM methods try to address climate change by increasing the reflectivity of the Earth’s atmo-
sphere or surface, the way ice covers do. Aerosol injection and space-based reflectors are unfounded
examples of SRM methods. SRM methods do not remove greenhouse gases from the atmosphere,
but they could be deployed more quickly with relatively immediate global cooling results compared
to CDR methods. SRM methods run counter to improving our capacity to harvest solar energy, our
most abundant, available, and clean source of energy.

1.3 ENERGY CONSUMPTION INCREASES WITH WASTE

Well into the first quarter of the twenty-first century, the world economy is still based on the con-
sumption of fossil and nuclear fuels (80% of the energy consumption in realistic assessments, or
90% according to Table 1.1). Discussion on the many shortcomings of fossil fuels is moot; the reader
will find accumulating consensus information by looking up the physics of molecules vibrating to
infrared waves and the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change reports. Both show the central
role of anthropogenic CO2 emissions in global climate change. Any day’s landslide of environ-
mental information suffices to illustrate the detriments of oil, the much-touted natural gas, and
transportation.
Much less known are the detrimental effects of using electricity: as a secondary energy source,
it is generated with a high increase in entropy (loss of energy mostly as unrecovered heat). Actually,
electricity, closely followed by oil used in transportation, totals 71% of all U.S. rejected energy
(Figure 1.2).
Introduction 3

TABLE 1.1
Primary Energy Consumption by Source, 2015
Contribution to Total
Energy Source Consumption (EJ) Consumption (%)
Oil 181.34 32.94
Coal 160.77 29.21
Natural Gas 131.26 23.85
Hydropower 23.91 4.34
Nuclear 19.59 3.56
Other renewables 33.58 6.10
Total 550.45 100.00

Sources: BP, Statistical Review of World Energy, 65th ed., BP p.l.c., London, 2016;
IRENA, Renewable Capacity Statistics 2017, International Renewable
Energy Agency, United Arab Emirates, Abu Dhabi, 2017.

The current energy system based on fossil and nuclear fuels cannot be sustained even in the
medium term due to three fundamental factors: (1) their very limited availability, given that they
are scarce and that it is expected that energy consumption will continue to grow in the foresee-
able future; (2) the environmental problem caused by the emission of greenhouse and toxic gases
and long-term persistent radioactive waste; and (3) their increasing economic, environmental, and
social costs. The reason these nonrenewable energies continue to dominate global energy supply is
that these are actually heavily subsidized by governments that consciously or unconsciously serve
powerful interests in the oil, gas, and military industries. These companies maintain expensive
advertising campaigns to deny the unacceptable risk their activities pose.
The top 10 countries in energy consumption are industrial or technological powerhouses (Table 1.2).
What can they do to curb consumption, losses, and global warming and its consequences? First, there
should be subsidy reduction for all energy sources and waste reduction in animal and plant husbandry
since agricultural production in developed countries is energy intensive. These countries should ­uncouple
economic accounts from consumption statistics and fossil fuel consumption in particular. At the same
time, regulations and taxes should not impede local citizen energy organization or ­neighborhood grids.

1.4 BIOMASS: DRAWBACKS APLENTY

Official energy consumption figures do not include the metabolic energy consumed by 7.5 billion
human beings, equivalent to 23.65 EJ, assuming a mean rate of human metabolic consumption of
about 100 W. It is therefore ill-advised to dedicate crops to obtain agro fuels when they compete
with food production. This is especially true as it is already much more efficient to obtain power by
other means, like direct sunlight-to-electricity conversion by solar photovoltaic (PV) cells: PV cell
conversion efficiency is already one order of magnitude greater than most land crops.
Agro fuels may be far from sustainable because of the following drawbacks and deleterious effects:

• Agro fuels produce acroleins and acrylamides, volatile organic compounds, and ­polycyclic aro-
matic hydrocarbons. All of them are directly related to cancer according to the International
Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC 2015). Like so many other organic compounds, agro fuels
produce dioxins upon incomplete combustion, which are often related to the evolution of cancer.
• The worst use for wood is combustion: so far, wood is the only renewable material
­produced on a large scale. The jungles now compete for land and water with agro fuels,
crop-based bioplastics, and livestock production. Phosphate fertilizers for agro fuel crops
have ­radionuclide contents, so biofuels do not free us from increased exposure to radiation.
 4
Estimated U.S. Energy Consumption in 2016: 97.3 Quads
Net electricity 0.08
Solar imports
0.34
0.587

8.42 12.6
Electricity
Nuclear generation
8.42 0.16
37.5
24.9
2.46
Hydro
2.48 Rejected
4.8 3.83 energy
0.16 Residential
2.11 66.4
Wind 0.04 11.0
2.11 4.54 0.39 1.02 7.12

Geothermal 4.64 3.16

0.23 0.02 0.07 Commercial
9.02
10.3
3.24 0.02 0.15 0.88 5.86
Natural gas 3.19
28.5 9.61 0.01 0.02
12.5
Industrial
24.5 Energy
1.23 12.0
13.0 2.28 services
8.12 30.8
Coal

Sustainable Energy Technologies

14.2

0.74 0.03
0.51
Biomass
Transportation 22.0
4.75 1.43
25.7 27.9
0.24

5.86
Petroleum
35.9

FIGURE 1.2 The 2016 energy flowchart for the U.S. 1 Quad ≈ 1.055 EJ. (From LLNL, Estimated USA Energy Consumption, Lawrence Livermore National
Laboratory, Livermore, CA, http://flowchart.lllnl.gov, 2016.)
Introduction 5

TABLE 1.2
Top 10 Countries with Highest Primary Energy
Consumption during 2014
Primary Energy Percentage of Global
Country Consumption (EJ) Consumption (%)
China 104.75 20.30
U.S. 99.31 19.25
Russian Fed. 30.14 5.84
India 24.95 4.84
Japan 18.51 3.59
Canada 12.64 2.45
Germany 11.97 2.32
Brazil 11.10 2.15
Rep. of Korea 11.01 2.13
Iran 10.68 2.07

Source: EIA, International Energy Statistics 2017, US Energy

Information Administration, Washington DC, 2017 b.

• In Brazil, the pioneer in agro fuels, giant clouds of smoke from sugarcane preharvest fires
hover over the most populated region around Sao Paulo. Their equivalent, emitted from
China and India, are the atmospheric brown clouds (ABC) traveling to North America
each year. Brownish ABCs are the product of biomass combustion.
• Residual vinasse from ethanol production contaminates water bodies with high concen-
trations of organic matter, metal additives (magnesium, aluminum, iron, manganese), and
chlorides. Treating such waste takes a lot of energy and water. Emissions increase the
air concentrations of aldehyde and peroxyacyl nitrate (PAN); they are toxic and possibly
carcinogens in animals. PAN is highly oxidizing and appears in the photochemical smog,
along with tropospheric ozone. Tropospheric ozone increases with biofuel use due to
higher levels of volatile organic compounds and nitrogen oxides (De Oliveira et al. 2005).
• Methanol emits irritants and unburned methanol (which is poisonous and may produce
blindness). Methanol produces two times more aldehydes than gasoline (Bromberg and
Cheng 2010). Even waste cooking oil derived biodiesel (WCOB) seems to lead to more
particle emissions than diesel. Of particular health concern are ultrafine metallic particles
from WCOB exhaust (Betha and Balasubramanian 2014).
• Finally, pyrolysis, claimed to be a geoengineering solution, produces acid gases, ashes,
dioxins, and nitrogen and sulfur oxides.

1.5 WIND AND SUN TAKE MARKETS BY STORM

1.5.1 Cost Reductions
Solar and wind in 2016 were already cheaper than fossil fossils in 30 countries; even without sub-
sidies they were on par with fossil fuels in a majority of countries (Bleich et al. 2016). This will
further improve, as subsidies for renewables are on par with USD 5.6 trillion yearly global subsidies
for fossil and nuclear energy estimated by the International Monetary Fund (Sawin et al. 2015).
Globally, solar PV utilities and wind energy are already cheaper than nuclear energy, and
median costs of geothermal and biomass energy are lower than nuclear costs. The explanation
6 Sustainable Energy Technologies

is dual: hardware costs have steadily decreased while technology improvements have ramped up
efficiency. As to capital costs, all solar PV options have much lower costs, and virtually all median
renewable costs are lower than nuclear and coal plants (Lazard 2016).
Similarly, 2016 wind, geothermal, and photovoltaic costs in the U.S. were up to twice as attractive
as nuclear energy, so that projected 2018–2022 capacity additions for wind and PV are more than
tenfold and thrice those of nuclear energy, respectively (EIA 2017a). In the U.S. in 2016, 125 PV
panels were added every minute (Lyons 2017), and wind had outpaced natural gas by 2015 in elec-
tric generation capacity additions (U.S. Energy Information Administration 2016).
In the following years, U.S. electricity generation will rise for only two primary sources of
energy: natural gas closely followed by renewable sources. However, gas-generated electricity may
decrease unless new reserves and technologies are discovered. Further, natural gas prices are likely
to increase. Meanwhile, nuclear capacity retirements will continue through 2040, with no new
plants (EIA 2017a). Other issues in the global nuclear industry have been Westinghouse filing for
bankruptcy (Hals et al. 2017) and the U.S. Watts Bar 2 reactor finally coming online in October
2016, after 43 years under construction, only to go offline five months later and remaining that way.
Watts Bar 2 was the first new reactor in the U.S. in 20 years (Hiltzik 2017). Similarly, dwindling
onshore wind and utility solar costs in the UK compared to rising nuclear costs have made the latter
a more expensive option (The Comptroller and Auditor General 2016).
In the words of International Renewable Energy Agency Director-General (IRENA 2016), “The
age of renewable power has arrived. In every year since 2011, renewable power generation technolo-
gies have accounted for half or more of total new power generation capacity added globally.”

1.5.2 The Generation of Permanent and Well-Paid Jobs

Employment in renewable energies already totaled 9.8 million jobs in 2016 (including 3.1 in the solar
PV and 1.5 in large hydropower industries) (Ferroukhi et al. 2017). A flurry of reports (Bloomberg
New Energy Finance 2016; Garrett-Peltier 2016; U.S. Department of Energy 2017) indicates that
renewable technologies generate much more permanent, safe, and well-paid jobs than all fossil and
nuclear industries. In the U.S. alone, renewable energy is creating jobs 12 times faster than the rest
of the economy. Providing healthy, permanent, and well-paid jobs for hundreds of thousands of
engineers, technicians, maintenance and installation workers, plant and equipment operators, plan-
ners, accountants, ecology economists, and a large number of professionals is undoubtedly one of
the pillars of sustainability.

REFERENCES
Betha, R. and Balasubramanian, R. (2014). Emissions of particulate-bound elements from biodiesel and ultra
low sulfur diesel: Size distribution and risk assessment. Chemosphere, 90, 1005–1015. doi:10.1016/j.
chemosphere.2012.07.052.
Bleich, K., Dantas-Guimaraes, R. (2016). Renewable Infrastructure Investment Handbook: A Guide for
Institutional Investors (p. 18). Geneva, Switzerland: World Economic Forum.
Bloomberg New Energy Finance. (2016). New energy outlook: Long-term projections of the global
energy sector. Retrieved from http://first.bloomberglp.com/documents/694813008_BNEF_NEO2016_
ExecutiveSummary.pdf?elqTrackId=431b316cc3734996abdb55ddbbca0249&elq=07da292764ec4fe69c
7a3adaf7981991&elqaid=3873&elqat=1&elqCampaignId.
BP. (2016). Statistical Review of World Energy (65th ed.). London: BP plc.
Bromberg, L. and Cheng, W. (2010). Methanol as an alternative transportation fuel in the US: Options for
sustainable and/or energy-secure transportation. Retrieved from https://www.afdc.energy.gov/pdfs/
mit_methanol_white_paper.pdf.
De Oliveira, M., Vaughan, B., and Rykiel, J. E. (2005). Ethanol as fuel: Energy, carbon dioxide balances, and
ecological footprint. Bioscience, 55, 593–603.
EIA. (2017a). Annual Energy Outlook 2017 with projections to 2050 (p. 64). Retrieved from eia.gov/aeo
EIA. (2017b). International Energy Statistics 2017. Washington DC: US Energy Information Administration.
Introduction 7

Ferroukhi, R., Khalid, A., Garcia-Baños, C., and Renner, M. (2017). Renewable Energy and Jobs. Annual
Review 2017 (p. 24). Masdar City, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates: International Renewable Energy
Agency. Retrieved from irena.org.
Garrett-Peltier, H. (2016). Green versus brown: Comparing the employment impacts of energy efficiency,
renewable energy, and fossil fuels using an input-output model. Retrieved from http://www.­sciencedirect.
com/science/article/pii/S026499931630709X.
Hals, T., Yamazaki, M., and Kelly, T. (2017). Westinghouse bankrupt. Reuters. Retrieved from http://www.
reuters.com/article/us-toshiba-accounting-board-idUSKBN17006K.
Hansen, J., Sato, M., Kharecha, P., Beerling, D., Berner, R., Masson-Delmotte, V., Pagani, M., Raymo, M.,
Royer, D. L., and Zachos, J. C. (2008). Target atmospheric CO2: Where should humanity aim? Open
Atmospheric Science Journal, 2, 217–231.
Hiltzik, M. (2017). America’s first “21st century nuclear plant” already has been shut down for repairs. Los
Angeles Times. Retrieved from http://www.latimes.com/business/hiltzik/la-fi-hiltzik-nuclear-shutdown-
20170508-story.html.
IARC. (2015). Press Release No. 231. January 13, 2015. Most types of cancer not due to “bad luck.” IARC
responds to scientific article claiming that environmental and lifestyle factors account for less than one
third of cancers.
IRENA. (2016). The Power to Change: Solar and Wind Cost Reduction Potential to 2025. Bonn, Germany:
IRENA Innovation and Technology Centre.
IRENA. (2017). Renewable Capacity Statistics 2017 (p. 60). Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates: International
Renewable Energy Agency.
Lazard. (2016). Lazard’s levelized cost of energy analysis—Version 10.0. New York: Lazard Ltd.
LLNL. (2016). Estimated USA Energy Consumption. Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, Livermore,
CA. Retrieved from http://flowchart.lllnl.gov
Lyons, M. (2017). Solar Industry Sees Largest Quarter Ever. Solar Energy Industries Association. Retrieved
May 4, 2017, from http://www.seia.org/blog/solar-industry-sees-largest-quarter-ever.
NBC News. (2010). Hawking: Off Earth by 2110? Retrieved May 18, 2017, from http://cosmiclog.nbcnews.
com/_news/2010/08/09/4850998-stephen-hawking-off-earth-by-2110.
Olivier, J. G. J., Janssens-Maenhout, G., Muntean, M., and Peters, J. A. H. W. (2016). Trends in global
CO2 emissions, 2016 Report. PBL Netherlands Environmental Assessment Agency, The Hague, the
Netherlands; European Commission, Joint Research Centre, Ispra, Italy.
Rincón-Mejía, E. (2011). Tecnologías solares de cero emisiones de carbono. In L. García-Colín and J. Varela
(Eds.), Contaminación atmosférica y tecnologías de cero emisiones de carbono. Mexico City,
Mexico: Universidad Autónoma Metropolitana.
Sawin, J. L., Sverrisson, F., Rickerson, W., Lins, C., Musolino, E., Petrichenko, K., Seyboth, K., Skeen, J.,
Sovacool, B., and Williamson, L. E. (2015). Renewables 2015 Global Status Report (p. 251). Paris,
France: REN21 Secretariat.
Tans, P. and Keeling, R. (n.d.). Recent monthly mean CO2 at Mauna Loa. NOAA/ESRL, Scripps Institution of
Oceanography. Retrieved May 2, 2017, from www.esrl.noaa.gov/gmd/ccgg/trends; scrippsco2.ucsd.edu.
The Comptroller and Auditor General. (2016). Nuclear Power in the UK (p. 48). London. Retrieved from nao.
org.uk.
U.S. Department of Energy. (2017). U.S. Energy and Employment Report. Retrieved from https://energy.gov/
sites/prod/files/2017/01/f34/2017 US Energy and Jobs Report_0.pdf.
U.S. Energy Information Administration. (2016). Wind adds the most electric generation capacity in 2015,
followed by natural gas and solar. Preliminary Monthly Electric Generator Inventory. Retrieved May 4,
2017, from https://www.eia.gov/todayinenergy/detail.php?id=25492.
Williamson, P. and Bodle, R. (2016). Update on Climate Geoengineering in Relation to the Convention
on Biological Diversity: Potential Impacts and Regulatory Framework (Technical Series No. 84).
Montreal, QC: Secretariat of the Convention on Biological Diversity.
 2 Solar and Geothermal
Energies Are Sustainable;
Nuclear Power Is Not
Alejandro de las Heras
Independent Researcher

Eduardo Rincón-Mejía
Autonomous University of Mexico City

Behrooz Sani
Independent Researcher

Marina Islas-Espinoza
Mexico State University

CONTENTS
2.1 Introduction............................................................................................................................. 10
2.2 Enough Solar Energy to Fuel 10,000 Earths........................................................................... 10
2.3 Geothermal Energy................................................................................................................. 13
2.3.1 Sustainable Geothermal Energy ................................................................................. 13
2.4 Nuclear Power: Dream Foiled................................................................................................. 14
2.4.1 Quantum Physics Uncertainties................................................................................... 14
2.4.2 On Uncertainties and Catastrophes............................................................................. 15
2.4.3 Uncertainties and Widespread Failures....................................................................... 15
2.4.3.1 Criticality and Load Factor........................................................................... 15
2.4.3.2 Leaks............................................................................................................. 15
2.4.3.3 Waste............................................................................................................. 16
2.4.4 Accidents and the Human Factor................................................................................. 16
2.4.5 Nondemocratic Practices............................................................................................. 16
2.4.6 Small Modular Reactors: Killed in the U.S., a Return Would Spread the Issues....... 19
2.4.7 Medical and Scientific Uses Require Few Reactors.................................................... 19
2.5 Military Drivers of Nuclear Power.......................................................................................... 19
2.5.1 Nuclear Power Is Oil Dependent and Security Intensive............................................20
2.5.2 Cyberwarfare, Intelligence, and Complexity...............................................................20
2.5.3 Ideology and Oil.......................................................................................................... 22
2.5.3.1 Hegemony and Instability (Divide and Rule)............................................... 22
2.5.3.2 The Next Oil Wars........................................................................................ 22
2.5.4 Realpolitik among the U.S., Israel, and Iran............................................................... 23
2.5.5 The Quest for Energy Autonomy and Nonalignment.................................................. 23
2.5.5.1 Security Lessons from Chernobyl................................................................ 23
2.5.5.2 Security Lessons from Furdu........................................................................24
2.5.6 Nuclear Security and Sustainability............................................................................24
References.........................................................................................................................................25

9
10 Sustainable Energy Technologies

2.1 INTRODUCTION
Nuclear fusion taking place in the sun is safe to use directly as photovoltaic (PV) and concentrated
thermal energy or indirectly as wind, wave, or tide energy. Nuclear decay in the Earth’s interior
is also harnessed, with Iceland setting the pace for reliable whole-country supply of geothermal
energy. Conversely, nuclear fission is an ill-understood process making nuclear technologies’
­failures surprisingly regular.
This chapter addresses the sustainability of the foregoing types of radiation energy sources. It first
highlights the supply of incident solar energy that can power the geosphere and biosphere and cater to
the needs of a thriving future human civilization. Second, the technological conditions for sustainable
geothermal energy (SGE) are examined. Third, while discounting weak antinuclear arguments (public
perceptions), it shows the absence of technical conditions for sustainable fission nuclear power.

2.2 ENOUGH SOLAR ENERGY TO FUEL 10,000 EARTHS

In its orbit around the sun, during each nonleap year Earth intercepts an amount of energy equal to
W
the solar constant GS = 1360.8 ± 0.5 2 (Kopp and Lean, 2011) multiplied by the area of a circle
m
with Earth’s mean radius RT = 6.371 × 10 6 m, times the duration of a year in seconds

W 

( ) ( )
2
ES =  GS  πRT 2  [ year ] =  1360.8 2   π 6.371 × 10 6 m  3.1536 × 10 7 s
 m   

= 5.472251 × 10 6 EJ (2.1)

This is almost 10,000 times more than the energy consumed globally (~5.504 × 102 EJ in 2015) (BP,
2016), enough to meet present and future needs with very few or no emissions to the geosphere and
the biosphere. As a reminder, 1 EJ is 1018 J.
But ~30% of this solar energy is reflected by clouds, ice, and Earth’s surface (a factor known as
albedo), so the solar energy caught by Earth is

( )
ES  caught  ≅  5.472251 × 10 6 EJ (1 − 0.30 ) = 3830576 EJ (2.2)
And since ~19% of the solar radiation is absorbed by the atmosphere, the solar radiation that finally
reaches the Earth’s surface, the gross solar potential (GSP) is
GSP ≅ ( 5472251 EJ ) (1 − 0.30 − 0.19 ) ≈ 2, 790,848 EJ (2.3)
Most of this energy, in thermal form, is required to move Earth’s oceans and atmosphere. The
­photosynthetically active radiation (i.e., the visible range) is used by algae, plants, and bacteria.
If we assume conservatively that only one-hundredth of this energy could be sustainably utilized
with future efficiencies close to the thermodynamic limit, the sustainable solar potential would be
~27,900 EJ, more than 50 times the current world energy consumption.
The technical potential is an even lower figure given by the second law of thermodynamics (no
thermal machine is 100% efficient); by current mature and emerging technologies, not speculative
ones; and by other practical limitations, including the environmental ones. Considering that 29%
of the terrestrial surface is mainland, and assuming that 0.1% of this surface can be populated with
PV modules with 16% mean sunlight-to-electricity conversion efficiency, and another 0.1% can be
populated with solar thermal collectors with 60% mean thermal efficiency, the current technical
solar potentials (TSPs) TSPelectric and TSPthermal would be in the order of
TSPelectric  ≅ ( 2, 790,848 EJ ) ( 0.29 )( 0.001)( 0.16 ) ≅ 129.50 EJ (2.4)
and
Solar and Geothermal Energies Are Sustainable; Nuclear Power Is Not 11

TSPthermal ≅ ( 2, 790,848 EJ ) ( 0.29 )( 0.001)( 0.60 ) ≅ 485.60 EJ (2.5)

These two conservative technical potentials combined exceed the current world energy consump-
tion, so in principle, all fossil and nuclear plants could be abandoned much before 2050 by using
only conventional solar technologies. Assuming a capacity factor of 0.20, an acceptable mean
value encompassing all latitudes for current PV technologies, the TSPelectric = 129.50 EJ shown in
equation (2.4) would correspond to a ~20.5 TW installed capacity. Considering all technical, infra-
structure, economic, and policy barriers to be overcome, it is feasible to reach 10 TW by 2030
(Haegel et al., 2017).
Green plants convert solar energy with sunlight-to-bioenergy efficiencies greater than 2%
(Bonner, 1962), but much larger efficiencies have been recorded in algae and phytoplankton (Ryther,
1959). The thermodynamic knowledge of photochemical solar energy conversion efficiencies is now
at an advanced stage (De Vos, 1995). A very conservative estimate of a mean photochemical solar
efficiency would be 1% for all photosynthetic organisms. Considering a photosynthetic cover on
50% of the oceans and land, the gross bioenergy potential (GBP) can be in the order of

GBP ≈ ( GSP ) ( 0.01)( 0.21)( 0.5)( 2 ) = 5860.78 EJ (2.6)

The current rate of energy capture by photosynthetic processes seems to be ~130 TW (Steger et al.,
2005), which corresponds to 4099.68 EJ, 30% less than the estimate in Equation 2.6. This potential
must factor in reforestation and sustainable agroforestry using perennial plants. It has just been
discovered (Bastin et al., 2017) that drylands, which occupy more than 40% of Earth mainland,
have much more extensive forest than previously reported and cover a total area similar to that of
tropical rainforests or boreal forests. This increases estimates of global forest cover by at least 9%,
approaching the GBP to that given in Equation 2.6. This does not even account for the very exten-
sive soil biological crusts and their photosynthetic role. The current technical bioenergy potential
could conservatively be as large as 1% of GBP, which would amount to 59 EJ.
To understand the amount of photosynthetic activity on Earth, one must realize that it converts
~110 billion metric tons of carbon into biomass each year (Field et al., 1998). Fossil fuels were all
formed during hundreds of million years with biomasses nourished by solar energy via photosyn-
thesis with relatively low solar–biomass energy efficiencies.
Most of the bioenergy potential is used in endoenergetic (metabolic) needs, and only a residual
portion could be used for human exoenergetic applications. The annual human endoenergetic con-
sumption of 10 billion people much before 2100, assuming 100 W per capita metabolic consumption
would be

W
HEEC ≅  100
 
inhabitant 
( )
 1010 inhabitant 3.1536 × 10 7 s = 31.54 EJ
( ) (2.7)

This is ~0.5% of the GBP, but the energy needs of thousands of other species limit the amounts of
bioenergy that could be dedicated to human exoenergetic consumption. Finally, deforestation and
land use emissions since 1850 have totaled ~660 Gt CO2; this figure provides an upper limit to the
physical potential for reforestation to capture CO2 (National Research Council, 2015). Estimating
that complete afforestation is rather unrealistic, and that deforestation emissions have been a tenth
of those from fossil fuel consumption, we must not rely solely on reforestation to return to 350 ppm
atmospheric CO2 in the medium term.
Now, as mentioned in Chapter 17, ~1% of the solar energy caught by Earth is converted into wind
energy (Peixoto and Oort, 1992). Then the gross wind potential (GWP) can be estimated as

GWP  ≅ 0.01 ES  caught = 38, 306 EJ (2.8)

12 Sustainable Energy Technologies

Using wind turbines with power coefficients Cp = 0.50, harvesting 0.5% of this GWP gives the
approximate current technical wind potential (TWP):

TWP  ≅ ( 0.50 )( 0.005 ) GWP  = 95.77 EJ (2.9)

These and other gross and technical potentials for most renewable sources of energy as well as their
current utilization are summarized in Table 2.1.
In Table 2.2, the proved reserves of oil, natural gas, and coal are shown. By total proved reserves,
we mean those quantities that geological and engineering information indicate, with reasonable cer-
tainty, can be recovered under existing economic and operating conditions. The reserves/extraction
(R/E) ratio is the expected time that a proved reserve would last if extraction were to continue at the
rate of the last year of extraction.
If those proved reserves are expressed in their energetic content in EJ, the magnitude of the oil
reserves is 8,877.10 EJ, the gas reserves contain 6,933.15 EJ, and the carbon ones have 18,327.78 EJ.
Altogether, they have an energetic potential of 34,138 EJ. The GSP of 1 year is more than 80 times
larger. In other words, in just 5 days, the terrestrial surface receives more solar energy than is con-
tained in all fossil proved reserves.
Knowledge of thousands of main sequence stars like our sun, also known as dwarves, indicates
that it will not start growing for at least another 3 billion years, following which life on Earth will be
wiped out. And so, the potential of solar energy is, for all practical purposes, infinitely greater than
that of all fossil energy sources. Nuclear materials, like uranium and thorium, have even smaller
potentials than those of fossils: all nonrenewable sources of energy are insignificant compared to
solar and other renewable sources. According to Table 2.2, fossil (and nuclear) sources cannot sup-
ply energy for much more than half a century. Therefore, their consumption at current rates, even
ignoring the deadly pollution that their use entails, is unsustainable.

TABLE 2.1
Estimated Gross and Technical Potentials of Main Renewable Energy Sources
Gross Potential Current Technical Potential
Energy Source (EJ/year) (EJ/year) Supply in 2016 (EJ)
Solar 2, 790,848 TSPelectric ≈ 129.5 1.5
TSPthermal ≈ 485.6 1.38 [12]
Wind 38,306 TWP ≅ 95.77 3.15
Geothermal 1,400 [13] 60 0.34
Bioenergy 5,860.78 59 9.41 [12]
Ocean tidal 75.69 [14] 4.67 [15] 0.004
Ocean surface currents 255.44 [16] 0.473 [17] –
Hydropower 365.82 [18] 51.40 [19] 37.38 [1]
Total 2,837,111.73 886.41 53.16

TABLE 2.2
Proved Reserves of Fossil Fuels and Relation Reserve/Extraction
Energy Source Total Proved Reserves Extraction in 2015 R/E (Years)
Oil 1697.6 × 109 barrels 34.6779 × 109 barrels 48.95
Natural gas 186.9 × 1012 m3 3538.6 × 109 m3 52.82
Coal 437,749 mtoe 3839.9 mtoe 114

Source: BP, Statistical Review of World Energy, 65th ed., BP plc, London, 2016.
Solar and Geothermal Energies Are Sustainable; Nuclear Power Is Not 13

2.3 GEOTHERMAL ENERGY
Geothermal energy is Earth’s heat that can be exploited by technology. This heat source is mostly due
to residual planetary accretion heat and radioactive decay of uranium isotopes (238U, 235U), thorium
(232Th), and potassium (40K) (Lubimova, 1968). At present, the planet undergoes slow net thermal loss
to space (minus 300°C–350°C every 3 billion years, with a current temperature of 4000°C at the bot-
tom of Earth’s mantle). Outgoing heat flows are 44.5 TW from Earth, out of which 19% escape from
the radioisotope-richer crust, 77% from the mantle, and the remainder from the nonradioactive core
(Stacey and Loper, 1988). Half of the mantle’s heat is radiogenic. The total heat content of Earth is
12.6 × 1024 MJ (Armstead, 1983), equivalent to 3.3 years of solar energy captured by Earth.
Current technologies tap convective hydrothermal systems (liquids or steam) and conductive
geothermal systems (hot rock). Larderello, Italy, in 1904 was the first spot to be utilized, both as
a source of direct thermal energy and in electricity generation. By 1928, Iceland started to exploit
hydrothermal sources.

2.3.1 Sustainable Geothermal Energy

Several conditions that appear to be linked to SGE are as follows:

• Although renewable, crust heat is often withdrawn 10 times faster than its replacement
rate. Pressure can decline and cold water can permeate into the geothermal reservoir
(World Energy Council, 2016).
• SGE microgeneration by end users (mostly ground source heat pumps) reduces transport
costs and attendant heat losses but often requires artificial wells. Drilling economic and
environmental costs need to be gauged against longer-term sustainability. These costs can
be modest since drilling is limited to shallow depths where the sun drives the temperature
difference that allows for ground source geoexchange technologies.
• Natural sources are frequently large and become the hub of centralized networks with
extensive piping subject to corrosion.
• Pollutants threaten aquifers. SGE must differ from practices in unsustainable technologies:
fracking (shale gas hydraulic fracturing) uses many pollutants, such as biocides that limit
microbiologically enhanced corrosion of piping and equipment (Sovacool, 2014). Such
biocides only work until microbes develop resistance and contribute to the global health
problem of antibiotic resistance.
• Natural wells and deep artificial ones often bring to the surface brine containing potentially
toxic metals (Baba et al., 2008), including naturally occurring radioactive material (IAEA,
2013). The brine must be recycled in situ, after recovery of pollutants (Premuzic et al.,
1995), all of which are useful. Brine recycling has the advantage of reducing its mineraliza-
tion thereby augmenting the amount of available heat (World Energy Council, 2016).
• Stock must be taken of seismicity lessons from other energy technologies (nuclear power,
large hydropower, fracking): local seismicity hazards endanger both the environment and
utilities; these in turn affect natural seismicity.
• Invasive methods aiming at reservoir stimulation (chemically enhancing permeability,
thermal cracking, or deflagration) (World Energy Council, 2016) put reservoirs and aqui-
fers at chemical and mechanical risk.

Solutions exist for all the above. In particular, Enel S.p.A.’s stillwater solar PV-concentrating solar–­
geothermal hybrid plant in Nevada has extended the life of the geothermal reservoir, reduced injec-
tions of water in a water-scarce area, and recycled and reheated spent brine into the reservoir. Also,
coiled tube and wirelines can successfully reduce costs of mineral scale removal (World Energy
Council, 2016) without using biocides.
14 Sustainable Energy Technologies

2.4 NUCLEAR POWER: DREAM FOILED

The Anthropocene Epoch started around 1950 when a layer of radioactive plutonium and 14C
­fallouts covered, indelibly, the entire globe, following nuclear arms experiments (Clarke et al., 2012;
University of Leicester Press Office, 2016). As to civil nuclear power, it would only be acceptable if
it met proper conditions. But does it?
According to the nuclear industry, the most lethal nuclear meltdown so far, Chernobyl in 1986,
led to 58 deaths (World Nuclear Association, 2016). However, independent researchers report that
in Belarus, Russia, and Ukraine alone, an estimated 200,000 additional deaths resulted from the
catastrophe during 1990–2004 (Greenpeace, 2006). This order of magnitude difference between
the industry and independent assessments forces a step back and a thorough ­examination of sustain-
ability of nuclear power.
There is overwhelming evidence that current and proposed nuclear power technologies should
end as sources of energy (Rincón, 2011). For Arnie Gundersen, a former nuclear industry senior
vice president and licensed reactor operator “the evidence proves that new nuclear power plants will
make global climate change worse due to huge costs and delayed implementation periods. Lift the
CO2 smoke screen and implement the alternative solutions that are available now, faster to imple-
ment and much less expensive” (Gundersen, 2016).
The nuclear power industry in fact is facing economic challenges, with renewables reaching
lower electricity costs than nuclear power (Chapter 1) and resistance to protracted nuclear projects
that have much hindered the expansion of the industry since around 2000 in Europe and Eurasia,
the U.S., and the Asia–Pacific regions (Figure 2.1). Biological unsustainability of nuclear power
is addressed in Chapter 20. In the remainder of this section, the main scientific and technological
issues of nuclear power are reviewed.

2.4.1 Quantum Physics Uncertainties

The current explanation of nuclear fission is a quantum tunneling process. As such, it has a
Schrödinger equation of the probability (>0) of anything happening, in this case neutrons escaping

1400.0 200.0
US Russian Federation
France China
180.0
1200.0 India
Total Europe and
Eurasia Pakistan
160.0 South Korea
Total Asia Pacific
1000.0 Taiwan
Germany 140.0
Japan
120.0
800.0
TWh/year

100.0
600.0
80.0

400.0 60.0

40.0
200.0
20.0

- -
1960 1970 1980 1990 2000 2010 2020 1965 1975 1985 1995 2005 2015

FIGURE 2.1 Nuclear power plants: installed capacity and stalled growth trend among main nuclear power
users. (From BP, Statistical Review of World Energy, 65th ed., BP plc, London, 2016.)
Solar and Geothermal Energies Are Sustainable; Nuclear Power Is Not 15

the strong nuclear force binding them to protons. Knowledge gaps are still disturbing: there is a dearth
of “complete fission theory, many puzzles are yet unsolved” (Al-Adili et al., 2015). “Quantitative
understanding [of the nuclear fission process] remains elusive” even though “many nuclear appli-
cations as well as fundamental research rely on a precise description of fission data” (Talou et al.,
2015). “Exact models are seldom available in nuclear physics. Good agreement between different
models (precision) does not guarantee that they are near the truth; all models can be systematically
off due to missing knowledge,” and “systematic uncertainties, on the other hand, are very tough to
assess” (Ireland and Nazarewicz, 2015).

2.4.2 On Uncertainties and Catastrophes

The Schrödinger probability argument also applies to accidents: The clearest example of a nonnull
(Schrödinger) probability for any event, however complex and unlikely, was the catastrophic loss
between March 12 and March 15, 2011, of Fukushima Daiichi reactors 1–4 (in that order): following
the earthquake, steel towers collapsed, external power was interrupted; then following the tsunami,
the emergency diesel generators stopped and the diesel tanks were washed away. Battery power
was then exhausted and the “normal” heat release to the sea was cut off; the cooling function in
spent fuel pools continued to be lost until the fuel rods became exposed to air; they heated rapidly
and their cladding reacted with water producing vast amounts of hydrogen, raising the pressure;
not even venting impeded a hydrogen explosion that blew the reactor 1 building apart. At reactor 2,
unstable cooling via the steam-driven Reactor Core Isolation Cooling system stopped and the fuel
became exposed to air and totally released. At reactor 3, coolant injection failed, not permitting the
Reactor Core Isolation Cooling to operate and raising the pressure; later, when the spent fuel pool
water evaporated, the rods became exposed to air, producing a hydrogen explosion that destroyed
the building. At reactor 4, a similar spent fuel pool cooling failure led to a hydrogen explosion that
also tore apart the building (Great East Japan Earthquake Taskforce & Science Council of Japan,
2011). Clearly, the builders of Fukushima’s redundant systems did not manage to make them inde-
pendent of each other or able to withstand a common (seismic) shock, despite decades of modeling
the effects of common cause failures on redundant systems.

2.4.3 Uncertainties and Widespread Failures

2.4.3.1 Criticality and Load Factor
Theories also have failed to predict normal reactor behavior: unpredictable variations in parameter
K (the reproduction rate of the fission reaction) seem linked to still ill-understood load factors of
nuclear reactors below 65% on average (the load factor is the ratio of the power produced in a year
to the nominal capacity without downtimes) (Cowan, 1990). In other words, technology is not able
to control fission at the moment; at best, criticality (K ≥ 1) can be controlled by stopping the reac-
tion. There are more technological experimentation and unsolved issues in the nuclear industry than
sound science to pinpoint them. Chernobyl was a case in point of a failed experiment.

2.4.3.2 Leaks
The drawbacks of technological experimentation are illustrated by widespread leaks demonstrated
by using iodine-129 as a marker. 129I is formed by uranium and plutonium fission in nuclear power
plants and in reprocessing facilities. The nuclear reprocessing plants in La Hague (France) and
Sellafield (UK) are globally the main sources of 129I. But 129I reemission from the sea surface in
the English Channel, and the Irish, North, and Norwegian seas, is the main 129I source washed
out in precipitation farther away, in Denmark (Hou et al., 2009a). Atmospheric transport from the
Marcoule (France) nuclear reprocessing plant (closed in 1998 after 40 years of emissions) is evi-
denced by enriched levels of 129I, 238Pu, and 239+240Pu in collected terrestrial vegetation samples in
Marcoule’s vicinity. Farther away, activity and depositions follow a North–South direction related
16 Sustainable Energy Technologies

to atmospheric discharges; these eventually meet the Rhone River (Duffa and Fréchou, 2003) and
so enter another environmental compartment in a highly populated area. The same pattern of sur-
face water 129I pollution occurs in Western Europe, North America, and Central Asia, especially in
terrestrial surface water of the Northern hemisphere (50°N). Topmost 129I concentrations are found
in England, followed by Israel, Europe, and North America. Direct gaseous emissions from the
nuclear facilities and marine atmospheric reemissions are the most probable sources of 129I polluting
terrestrial surface waters (Chen et al., 2015).
Organic forms of iodine are highly bioavailable to humans through ingestion (via water and
plants). After transport to the thyroid, this organ is exposed to long-term, low-dose, beta radiation
from decaying 129I (half-life 15.7 million years). More nuclear power plants and more spent fuel
reprocessing would largely increase 129I levels (Hou et al., 2009b). As for uranium, cleanup of mill
sites has cost U.S. taxpayers in excess of USD 2 billion; in its U(IV) state, it accumulates in cool
anoxic sediments where it adsorbs to natural organic matter (Bone et al., 2016).

2.4.3.3 Waste
Perhaps the most difficult, and as yet unsolved, issue for the global nuclear power industry is final
confinement of spent nuclear fuel. This is a limiting factor to the expansion of that industry. No
solution has yet been found, and no alternative to the leaks from La Hague, Sellafield, and similar
facilities. Another kind of uncertainties, geological this time, are met by permanent disposal of
waste, according to the U.S. National Academy of Sciences: not all uncertainties can be allayed by
research and development as, over geological time, volcanism, behavior of the (un)­saturated zones,
geochemistry, and climate will evolve. Fundamental properties of the rock are further disrupted by
tunnels and the fractured zone they create. Moreover, a radioactive heat pulse creates pore water
movements (Ramana, 2017).
These factors led to the closure in 1998 of the Morsleben (Germany) nuclear waste storage since
salt domes are on the verge of collapse despite temporary stabilization. In Asse II, the overlying
rock shifts 15 cm/year, weakening the mine; the increasing rate of new water breaches predicts
uncontrollable water inflow with ensuing collapse hazard. Brine has to be captured before it reaches
the storage canisters and accelerates radioactivity-induced corrosion.
Geology is not the only set of risks in final confinement. In the WIPP facility in New Mexico, an
alleged error in packaging material (Figure 2.2) caused an explosive release of plutonium and amer-
icium, which reached the surface. The accident, one of the costliest in the U.S. (Ramana, 2017),
provoked the closure of the facility in 2014.

2.4.4 Accidents and the Human Factor

Regarding the WIPP accident, one assertion by the U.S. Department of Energy was that some of the
organizations managing WIPP had let the safety culture deteriorate (Ramana, 2017). The case of
the Indian nuclear industry is also well documented: incidents occur in reprocessing plants, involv-
ing the security systems and widespread lack of learning culture, safety culture, and justice (blame
shifting from managers to operators) (Ramana and Kumar, 2013). Recurrent failures occur in the
same components of the reactors (Figure 2.3).

2.4.5 Nondemocratic Practices
The nuclear power industry is therefore exposed to design, human, and institutional failures. Two
resounding cases of institutional failures are the San Onofre nuclear power plant scheduled for
decommissioning by 2030–31, and the Hinkley C reactor currently in the early construction phases.
San Onofre was closed in 2012 following a USD 680 million investment aimed at adding 40 years to
its useful life and instead precipitating its demise. As per an open records request to the U.S. Nuclear
Regulatory Commission, San Onofre’s operators seem to have recklessly pushed the reactor for the
Solar and Geothermal Energies Are Sustainable; Nuclear Power Is Not 17

Walls made of
concrete and steel
Containment 3–5 ft thick
cooling system (1–1.5 m)

H 4 B
Steamline F
I
Reactor vessel
G Turbine
generator
Separators
and dryers Heater J
Feedwater Condenser
3 E
C Condensate
Core pumps
1, 2
Feed
pumps

A
Control
D
rods
Demineralizer
Recirculation pumps

Emergency water
Containment supply systems
structure

FIGURE 2.2 Typical failures and incidents in Indian nuclear reactors. (a) Madras 2 cool water plug slipped
away (1999) and a large amount (4–14 tons) of heavy water leaked out. (b) Large tritium release to the atmo-
sphere in Rajasthan (2004): high levels of tritium in the liquid discharges in Narora and Kakrapar (2003). (c)
Fortuitous hole in the primary heat transfer system as a result of an eroded wall in Rajasthan 2 (2007). Three
heavy-water leaks elsewhere (2009). (d) Failure of the moderator inlet receiving heavy water at high speed,
in Madras (1989). (e) Excessive vibration in the turbine bearings and oil leaks in Narora (1993). This led to
sparking (1981). (f) Vibrations in turbine bearings and failure in turbine blades (1982). Vibrations in the tur-
bine generator bearings and blades sheared off at the base (1983). (g) High bearing vibrations in the turbine
generator in Madras 1 (1986), similar to Rajasthan 1 (1985, 1989, and 1990). (h) Oil leak in the generator
transformer in Madras 1 (1988), with heavy sparking in Madras 1 (1989) and twice in the turbine generator in
Narora 1 (1992). (i) Two fires in the primary heat transport system, oil leak in the turbine valve. (j) Hydrogen
gas leak in the generator cooling system in Madras 2 (1991). (From Nuclear Regulatory Commission, 2015.
Boiling Water Reactors. Retrieved May 2, 2017, from nrc.gov/reactors/bwrs.html, 2015; Ramana, M. V., and
Kumar, A., J. Int. Stud., 1, 49–72, 2013.)

sake of profit, leading to definitive damage. The operators later sued the Japanese provider as alleg-
edly responsible for the damage. Then, the USD 4.7 billion settlement between the operators and
the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) included a clause, which left USD 3.3 billion to
be paid by the ratepayers. California’s attorney general has opened a criminal investigation against
the president of CPUC on grounds of possible collusion between the state regulator and San Onofre
operators. This is also the cause for a USD 16.7 million fine to one of the operators (Herchenroeder,
2016; McDonald, 2017). The California Coastal Commission then unanimously approved under-
ground confinement of San Onofre’s spent fuel after 15 months of negotiations behind closed doors
with the operators. While legal, the closed-door sessions gave a lengthy lead time to the operators
18 Sustainable Energy Technologies

FIGURE 2.3 Damaged drum with radioactive waste inside WIPP Panel 7, Room 7, New Mexico, USA,
2014–05–15 during investigations on the cause of radioactive contamination. (DoE Photographer, damaged
drum with radioactive waste inside WIPP Panel 7, Room 7, New Mexico, USA, 2014-05-15 during investiga-
tions on the cause of radioactive contamination. Retrieved June 4, 2017, from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/
File:WIPP_DoE_2014-05-15_5_15_Image_lrg.jpg, 2014.)

but only a week’s notice to the public, before the hearings and decision. As a consequence, a lawsuit
against the Coastal Commission was allowed to proceed (Nikolewski, 2017; Sharma, 2017). These
issues have prompted Californian municipalities to opt for community choice aggregation (CCA), a
scheme giving more say to citizens in energy matters and the possibility to transition to renewable
energy; in turn this has led to the emergence of a lobby group against CCA, funded by one San
Onofre operator (Smith, 2017).
In Britain’s Hinkley C project, the government seems to have ended wind power subsidies and
cut back solar subsidies while giving unwavering support to nuclear power. The decision of the gov-
ernment was made despite higher costs of nuclear electricity, faulty components in the same-design
plants having led the French authorities to stop several plants, and an indictment by U.S. authorities
Solar and Geothermal Energies Are Sustainable; Nuclear Power Is Not 19

against the main Chinese financial backer of Hinkley C. Chinese financial support was agreed to
at the top executive level in exchange of Britain purchasing a small modular reactor (SMR), and
the indictment was caused by unauthorized technology exports from the U.S. to China in relation
to said modular reactor. In secret documents that the British government refused to disclose under
a Freedom of Information request, the government also pledged to bear overrun costs, in particu-
lar waste disposal costs. While the government stands by the French and Chinese corporations
involved in Hinkley C, the UN Economic Commission for Europe asked the UK to suspend work on
the site, pending notification of potential impacts of Hinkley C to Germany, Norway, and Holland
in line with transboundary pollution treaties (Dombey, 2016; Doward, 2016; Vaughan, 2016, 2017;
Vaughan and Willsher, 2016).

2.4.6 Small Modular Reactors: Killed in the U.S.,

a Return Would Spread the Issues

SMRs like all nuclear power are unprofitable since the raw material, construction, production, and
maintenance are globally dangerous and are extremely costly compared to other industries. Even
the leading SMR developers Babcock & Wilcox and Westinghouse, who had obtained increasing
federal SMR subsidies, decided to stop the development of SMR technologies for lack of customers
and investors. Westinghouse decided to focus on decommissioning existing reactors (Cooper, 2014).
Despite the lack of market in the U.S., other countries pursue SMR development probably due more
to government subsidies than market interest. SMR designs claim that there are only four problems
identified with nuclear power today: costs, safety, waste, and proliferation. Countries like the U.S.,
Russia, China, France, Japan, South Korea, India, and Argentina intend to develop SMRs based on
subsidies; however, the characteristics of the different SMR designs under development suggest that
none of the designs meet all four of these challenges simultaneously (Ramana and Mian, 2014).

2.4.7 Medical and Scientific Uses Require Few Reactors

The global demand for medical isotopes requires only a couple of experimental reactors, since at one
time the small Chalk River reactor in Canada supplied half the world’s requirements (Harris, 2014).
As for fundamental physics requirements, they would be better served by a few well-­characterized
hence comparable reactors. At the turn of the century, the U.S. Department of Energy recommended
only the use of existing facilities to further science and supply civil nuclear uses (DoE, 2000).

2.5 MILITARY DRIVERS OF NUCLEAR POWER

The top global strategic topics are, in decreasing importance, energy and weapons. Indeed, one jus-
tification for civil nuclear power has been to obtain weapons-grade uranium or plutonium, through
at least four pathways: uranium enrichment, heavy water reactors that do not require enrichment,
plutonium production reactors, or plutonium waste from a civil reactor followed by reprocessing.
The UN Security Council 5 + 1 countries have tried to monitor these pathways to curtail nuclear
weapons proliferation, with either bias or lack of success: the production of atomic weapons by
India, Pakistan, and Israel has complicated the political and military arena in Western and Southern
Asia. Tension escalation in Eastern Asia following tests in North Korea and a standoff in the South
China Sea might lead Japan and South Korea, caught in the regional game for supremacy between
the U.S. and China, to a rather simple transfer of civil to military nuclear wherewithal. Germany
might also try to compensate for lessened protection from post-Brexit UK and U.S. withdrawal from
NATO, although it may become patent that Helmut Kohl’s Germany had purchased Soviet missiles
and they were left behind when the Red Army left Eastern Germany.
However, the usefulness of nuclear deterrents after the Cold War is now denied by a bipartisan
group of former U.S. State and Defense Secretaries (Shultz et al., 2007–2011). They call for urgent
20 Sustainable Energy Technologies

and complete nuclear disarmament, prevention of accidental detonations, phaseout of commercial

and scientific uses of highly enriched and weapons-grade materials, and prevention of regional con-
flicts. Other former defense and state secretaries, national security advisors, and Western and Asian
former heads of state endorse their views. Additional arguments against nuclear weapons are, on
the one hand, technical advances in conventional arms that make several nuclear goals and missions
obsolete (Oelrich, 2005). On the other hand, new warfare fields, namely terrorism and cyberattacks,
are exposing vulnerabilities of nuclear defenses.
At the time of writing, higher risks of nuclear proliferation exist under the new Trump admin-
istration. The remainder of this chapter will nevertheless address the hitherto little-studied field of
nuclear power security from a military point of view (drawing on firsthand experience in the Iranian
civilian program). This is motivated by two facts: power generation is the first target of any military
attack, and a provoked nuclear power plant accident can be an extremely contaminant event, able to
impair a country’s defenses in a large region.

2.5.1 Nuclear Power Is Oil Dependent and Security Intensive

Most of the nuclear energy life cycle is fossil fueled, from mining and transportation to initial cen-
trifugation, many backup systems, massive concrete and burrowed buildings to shelter the nuclear
reactors, the manufacture of all reactor components, their maintenance, and finally plant decom-
missioning, dismantlement, and cleanup. In 14 U.S. states, there are around 15,000 abandoned ura-
nium mines still not cleaned up.
The security of the nuclear industry is also very energy intensive. Nuclear energy is cumbersome:
aerospace experiments are few, and along with nuclear submarines and carriers are the preserve of
the major nuclear powers. Air strikes and troop deployment critically depend on oil. Additional oil
consumption stems from military vehicles and systems protecting nuclear power plants around the
world. Security and safety (2S) costs also include multilateral agencies (UN Security Council and
IAEA), nuclear industry public representation, and diplomacy. Other costs are the physical enforce-
ment of technology secrecy and safekeeping of the always weaponizable waste. The recovery of
lost/stolen devices and material, which seems to occur or be reported more often in the U.S., is an
additional military and police task (CNS, 2017).
Although nuclear power is probably not viable beyond the exhaustion of oil reserves, this depen-
dency of nuclear power on oil exacerbates the armed conflicts around the dwindling yet ever less
profitable, oil reserves.

2.5.2 Cyberwarfare, Intelligence, and Complexity

In 2010, a computer program later nicknamed Stuxnet was introduced by a mole using a USB drive
in the computer system of the Natanz nuclear enrichment plant in Iran. The program remained
dormant for a month and then took control of the Siemens system driving the centrifugation enrich-
ment process; all displays appeared to be normal until the backup system kicked in. The attack
seemed to pertain to the U.S. Olympic Games covert operation carried out by U.S. and Israeli
agencies. Retaliation was not direct and instead targeted the Saudi oil company Aramco network of
computers. Internationally, these are construed as attacks. In nuclear power plants, exploiting code
vulnerabilities is a chief factor complicating security, as many systems are computerized in the
man–computer–robot environment of a plant (Figure 2.4).
Cyberwarfare adds complexity to secrecy, an indispensable element of security, but one that
contributes to noncivilian, nondemocratic control of nuclear power. In turn, intelligence has two
components that can easily conflict with one another, although both are concerned with monies:
on the one hand, military intelligence is the part of the military that checks, controls, and rechecks
the planning and programming of an operation so it can meet several objectives, within a stated
uncertainty (Figure 2.5). On the other hand, intelligence in the sense of espionage is much less
Solar and Geothermal Energies Are Sustainable; Nuclear Power Is Not 21

50 m belowground

Clean
process
(metal
dust) Coordination:
computer scientists

Control systems:
Process mathematicians
sorting
Security systems:
and
physicists and chemists
security
Reactor data Source of power:
Centrifuges (robots) processing electrical engineers

Operation and robotics:

technicians
300 m belowground

Waste Useful Electricity

materials

FIGURE 2.4 Vulnerability areas in the human–computing interface of a nuclear power plant (thick lines and
outlines). Vulnerabilities are numerous in real life. The main risks are as follows: (1) nuclear fission energy >
electricity output; (2) attack to the centrifuges; (3) external cyber- or physical attack during the recovery from
heavy seismic event, and/or technical failure and/or (cyber) attack; and (4) simultaneous electromagnetic pulse
(via nuclear detonation) to knock down all electronic systems and neutron bomb (to kill all human operators).
Issues can occur simultaneously as shown in Fukushima.

Report

National security Foreign

Report

Exchange Embassies
Borders abroad
Report

Committee

Intelligence
Oversee
service
Operative
officer Report

Operatives Anti-information
Command

FIGURE 2.5 Intelligence in the Iranian nuclear context. Schematic of the complex information flows
between nuclear plant operatives and intelligence services. The information is both administrative (concern-
ing approved monies and reporting deadlines) and operative. The tricky part for operatives is to always keep
a flexibility margin to accommodate for nonplanned events. Information from abroad is a very early warning
but can in fact be disinformation.
22 Sustainable Energy Technologies

predictable, as its stock-in-trade is mediation in transactions involving arms, politics, and, often,
fuels. The case of Irangate is well known. Another well-documented example (showing that espio-
nage overcomes national loyalties and is driven by profit) is the arms trade that was set up in 2010 by
Arthur Porter, head of the Security Intelligence Review Committee in Canada; former Israeli intel-
ligence officer Ari Ben-Menashe; and Russian arms dealers to provide Sierra Leone with arms of
unknown origins (Harris, 2014). Profit as a motive makes for fickle allegiances and so is a ­challenge
to the security of national assets. Intelligence and cyberwarfare demonstrate that ever more complex
security systems beget additional vulnerabilities.

2.5.3 Ideology and Oil

Ideologies, sensu Immanuel Wallerstein, are strategies in the pursuit of global hegemony. The U.S.
now dominates the world in military terms. U.S. national security is based on long-term plans
elaborated by the CIA with a say from the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC)
lobby; in such plans, the probability of remaining the only superpower is gauged against time:
the U.S. will retain the hegemony with a 100% probability within 2 years, 50% probability within
25 years, and 25% probability within 50 years. These plans were uncovered when the U.S. embassy
in Tehran was taken over in 1979. But the Middle East challenges the U.S. global hegemony. The
region has grown into a matrix of interconnected countries spanning the area between Israel and
India, Southern Republics of the Community of Independent States, and Iran. They are connected
by fossil fuel reserves, terrorism, and nuclear threats.

2.5.3.1 Hegemony and Instability (Divide and Rule)

Terrorism has not yet materialized as a threat, but there is enough material being lost or stolen for
the danger of radiological dispersal devices to be considered. More acute is the complexity added by
terrorism to the global geopolitical situation. Terrorism is the protracted outcome of the Cold War
and the struggle of the U.S. toward global hegemony: it was the brainchild of Zbigniew Brzezinski,
National Security advisor to U.S. President Jimmy Carter, aimed at making the Soviet invasion of
Afghanistan difficult; it was called the Green Belt. The USSR wanted to follow up on the tsars’ geo-
political view: we must reach the Persian Gulf. Ethnic groups from the USSR retreated to Pakistan.
Ronald Reagan followed up on Brzezinski and used Mujahidin, revolution in Iran, radicalism in
Turkey, Saddam Hussein in Iraq, and Shiites vs. Sunnites in Lebanon. The reaction from a segment
of the population in those countries was to emigrate to Europe. The problem was the same for them
as for North Africans: second-generation “migrants” (i.e., European citizens) were discriminated
against and disenfranchised. Years later, a marginal fraction of these people became the network of
Daesh terrorists sent from Syria to Europe.
Brzezinski’s strategies also damaged the SENTO confederation that included Iran, Jordan,
Oman, Egypt, Turkey, and later Iraq, Syria, and South Yemen. It was a counterweight to NATO
and the Warsaw Pact. Its demise coincided with U.S. support to the Mujahidin and the accession to
power of Khomeini and Bhutto in Iran and Pakistan, respectively.
In addition, the U.S. has fueled the religious conflict between Iran and Saudi Arabia (SA), to
divide OPEC and weaken Iran’s position, formerly OPEC’s top oil producer. SA has used its oil
production to decrease the oil prices in order to slow Iran’s development. In the Iran–Iraq war, Iraq
was supported by SA, vying for regional resource control. At one time, SA offered to pay Iran to
leave Iraq and let go of 250–300 km of land gained during the conflict. More recently, the armed
conflicts by proxy between SA and Iran are taking place in Yemen and Syria.

2.5.3.2 The Next Oil Wars

George W. Bush changed strategy: the U.S. took direct military action in Iraq to gain control over
energy reserves. Further control was sought by the presence in the Persian Gulf of the U.S. Navy, to
curtail the control by Iran of the Strait of Hormuz. Through the Strait, a vast amount of all the oil
Solar and Geothermal Energies Are Sustainable; Nuclear Power Is Not 23

in the world transits; 90%, 60%, and 40% of the Chinese, Japanese, and Korean fossil fuel supplies
come from Iran.
When the Democrats took over from G.W. Bush, they returned to action by proxy, such as in
the 2011 Arab Spring, but the end result there is that Libya is now divided between Daesh and the
rebels; Egypt is led by Eghnan El Muslemi after two successive coups; Syria is struggling against
Daesh (which has received help from SA, Turkey, and Qatar, a fact well known by Department of
State secretary Hillary Clinton). One must note that after the destruction of Saddam Hussein’s army
by the U.S. and allies, removed Iraqi officers went on to constitute half of Daesh’s forces; 25,000
warriors were also brought in from Europe. At stake in the conflict in Syria is the control of oil
reserves, where Daesh receives support from the Erdogan regime in Turkey, acting as mediator of
BP’s oil interests.
Future oil wars will depend on the outcome of the conflict surrounding Syria, but likely next
oil conflicts will include Sudan (oil) and then Somalia (gas). Already, gas reserves motivated the
annexation of Crimea by Russia in 2014. The region holds the most gas reserves in the world (Iran >
Russia > Qatar).

2.5.4 Realpolitik among the U.S., Israel, and Iran

One can only understand the U.S.–Israel relationship under the prism of pragmatism on both sides.
Israel’s foreign policy relies on support from abroad and especially lobbying in the U.S. through
AIPAC. Often, but not always, the U.S. and Israel are strategic partners: Israel also buys military
technology from Russia and Europe as a way of gaining political and military support. Moreover,
Israel has sold U.S. weapons to China.
Conversely, the U.S. does not depend on Israel alone in the Middle East: they also partner with
NATO member Turkey, Bahrain (to station the fifth U.S. fleet), Kuwait, SA, and occasionally with
Egypt. The link between SA and the U.S. hinges on SA’s holding USD 800 billion in the U.S. stock
exchange and USD 900 billion in the treasury in Ryad. As to Pakistan, which harbors terrorist
groups, it receives around USD 15 billion each year, because the U.S. pursues the logic of “divide
and rule” in Afghanistan.
Similarly, the relationship between Israel and Iran has been marked by the will of Menachem
Begin to use nuclear weapons against Iran, stopped by Israel’s Defense Minister in 1967. Later,
15,000 Israelis were allowed to volunteer in Iran against Iraq, but Iran refused the offer. During the
Iran–Iraq war, Iran and Israel successively bombed an Iraqi nuclear power plant. As for Irangate,
Iran helped the U.S. control Saddam Hussein, since the U.S. could not fly above the Oman Sea;
sanctions motivated by the Iranian nuclear program were lifted; and the U.S. intended to buy
nuclear fuel and waste from Iran; this all demonstrates the variability of the mutual attitude of the
U.S. and Iran.

2.5.5 The Quest for Energy Autonomy and Nonalignment

History has shown that treatises and alliances have many times been flouted. History also shows
the very high costs of keeping nonaligned. In particular, 2S costs of nuclear power are very
high.

2.5.5.1 Security Lessons from Chernobyl

Assessments of the Chernobyl catastrophe have failed to ascertain the strategic facet. The collapse
of the reactors partly resulted from Soviet security decisions to suspend support to Ukraine. To
understand the rationale of Soviet nuclear security, three principles are worth recalling: first, that to
withstand attacks, the technology had to be deployed in several Republics; second, that Russia was
central, Ukraine peripheral, and Kazakhstan marginal; and third, that technology needed to be only
partially transferred to be controlled. Accordingly, uranium from the reactors in Kazakhstan and
Exploring the Variety of Random
Documents with Different Content
 "In my opinion, the very moment a sinner trusts in Christ Jesus for
the salvation of his soul, he places himself under an obligation to
render obedience to his laws. The first petition is, 'Lord, save, or I
perish;' the next in order, and which should immediately follow, is,
'Lord, what wilt thou have me to do?' He distinctly states what he
would have us do:—'Whosoever therefore shall confess me before
men, him will I confess also before my Father which is in heaven'
(Matt. x. 32)."
"But is it not a wise discretion to tarry awhile, to test the strength
of the religious principle, before the garb of a public profession is put
on? Should we not avoid precipitation in a matter of such
importance?"
"But would you, during this probationary period, depend on your
own moral strength to sustain the vital energy of your religious
principles?"
"Certainly not."
"Then you would depend on the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ to
preserve the vitality of your principles, while you are passing through
this probationary period; the length of it to be decided by your own
discretion."
"I would depend on him to keep me steadfast in his ways."
"And could you not depend on him with as much implicitness and
constancy to keep you steadfast after you have put on the yoke of
obedience, as you can when preparing to do it?"
"Most certainly."
"There is a little incident recorded in Matthew xvi. 21, which
embodies one of the laws of the mediatorial government of Jesus
Christ. 'From that time forth', that is, after his apostles had made a
public avowal of their belief in him as the Son of God, he began to
show unto them the coming events of his wonderful history. Yes, my
friend, the path of duty is the path of safety, and obedience brings
its own reward, as clearer manifestations of the love of Christ usually
follow an open profession of devotedness to him."
"I remained a spectator the last time the ordinance of the Lord's
Supper was administered at your chapel; I thought it a very solemn
service, and I was a good deal impressed by it."
"I hope you have outlived the scrupulous objections of your
educational training, and now admit that the ordinances of baptism
and the Lord's Supper are of perpetual obligation?"
"I must confess that they have engaged some portion of my
thoughts, particularly the Lord's Supper. I recently read Joseph
Gurney's remarks on it, but they did not satisfy me. I thought them
more ingenious than solid; and they seemed to me very much a
piece of special pleading. From his book I turned to 1 Cor. xi., and I
recollect saying when I had finished, the apostle Paul and Joseph
Gurney don't think and write alike on this subject. As they can't both
be right, one must be wrong; which shall I follow?"
"I suppose," said Miss Chester, "you don't find that a difficult
question to decide?"
"Why, my dear, it is not a very easy matter to get over long
cherished scruples—to obliterate early impressions, and adopt new
religious habits and customs. But still, I must confess, that an
inspired apostle is a safer guide, than an uninspired partizan writer.
However, there is a previous question, which, if I may be permitted
to mention it, I should like to have answered. What, in your
judgment, are the spiritual advantages which are connected with the
regular observance of the ordinance of the Lord's Supper?"
"In the first place," I replied, "it tends, and I think very forcibly, to
give fixedness and solidity to our faith in the historic truthfulness of
our Lord's sufferings and death. He himself instituted the ordinance,
even before his death was accomplished; and he assigns his reason
for so doing: 'And as they were eating, Jesus took bread, and
blessed it, and brake it, and gave it to the disciples, and said, Take,
eat; this is my body. And he took the cup, and gave thanks, and
gave it to them, saying, Drink ye all of it; for this is my blood of the
new testament, which is shed for many for the remission of sins'
(Matt. xxvi. 26-28). Immediately after his death, we find, by
consulting the Acts, that his disciples partook of it in obedience to
his authority, and for the purpose which he specified. The apostle
Paul tells us that he had a special revelation from heaven in relation
to it (1 Cor. xi. 23, 26). And this ordinance, instituted by Jesus
Christ, and observed by all the primitive disciples, is handed down to
us as a standing memorial of the wonderful fact that Christ died for
our sins, according to the Scriptures."
"Yes, I see. Then this ordinance stands like a monument erected
at the time when the event occurred, to commemorate it, and to
perpetuate the remembrance of it?"
"It does."
"Then as people are not so foolish as to erect monuments to
commemorate what never took place, the historic certainty of the
death of Jesus Christ receives an indisputable confirmation from the
perpetual celebration of the Lord's Supper?"
"Exactly so."
"This is a new idea to me, and an important one. Then I must
disapprove of the conduct of Friends, who have not merely defaced
this monumental pillar of the Christian faith, but entirely removed it.
Why, the removal of a landmark is more like the work of an enemy,
who has an interest in destroying boundary lines, than the work of a
friend, who has an interest in preserving them. I wonder that Joseph
Gurney did not see this."
"But this ordinance does something more than perpetuate a
remembrance of the historic fact of the death of Jesus Christ: it is
significant of its moral design. When he gave the cup of wine to his
disciples, and commanded them to drink of it, he added, as
explanatory of the purpose which he had in view by this
arrangement—'For this is my blood of the new testament, which is
shed for many for the remission of sins' (Matt. xxvi. 28)."
 "Yes, I see it is this that attaches supreme importance to the
ordinance, which would become an unmeaning ceremony if we
exclude the atonement from our theory of belief."
"Very true. The historic fact, and its moral design, are inseparably
blended; and the truthfulness of both is confirmed by the same
ceremonial rite. When our Lord had supped, he took the cup, saying
to his disciples, 'This cup is the new testament in my blood: this do
ye, as oft as ye drink it, in remembrance of me. For as often as ye
eat this bread, and drink this cup, ye do shew the Lord's death till he
come' (1 Cor. xi. 25, 26)."
"I am quite satisfied that the ordinance should be received by the
disciples of Christ, in obedience to his authority, when they believe
that they are his disciples. And I must say, that I think the Friends
are wrong in rejecting it as an obsolete ceremony. By doing so, they
remove an ancient landmark."
"It is worse than that," said Miss Chester; "it is destroying an
ancient monument which was designed to perpetuate, as long as
time shall last, a remembrance of the great event it was erected to
celebrate."
"Do you," said Miss Osbourne, "administer the Lord's Supper
indiscriminately to persons in general, or do you restrict its
administration to the decidedly pious?"
"Amongst us Dissenters it is a test of character; none are
permitted to partake of it, unless they profess repentance towards
God, and faith in the Lord Jesus Christ; and, at the same time, give
some practical proof that they are renewed, and walk worthy of the
vocation wherewith they are called."
"What is called open communion prevails, I believe, in the
National Establishment."
"It does. The clergyman of our national church is the minister of
the parish in which he officiates, and he baptizes all children whose
parents wish him to do it; and unless they should be
excommunicated, which is rarely done, they are treated as members
of the church, and have the right of access to the sacrament of the
Lord's Supper."
"Indeed! What! are any immoral persons ever permitted by a
clergyman to partake of the Lord's Supper? I should judge from
what I read in the New Testament, that it belongs exclusively to true
believers in Christ."
"Yes; in National Establishments, all the varieties of the human
character, from the most pious to the most profane, may be seen
mingling together at the sacramental table."
"Indeed! this must be a perversion of the ordinance. The apostles,
if I recollect rightly, required repentance towards God, and faith in
the Lord Jesus Christ, as essential qualifications for admission into
the church; and if any member walked disorderly, he was separated
from Christian fellowship."
"It is so amongst us Dissenters. We do not profess to have a
perfect church, but we do not suffer any one to remain in
membership with us who dishonours his profession by any known
act of impiety or immorality."
"That seems to me to be adhering to the rule of the Scripture."
"To that rule we should always adhere; and hence it is obligatory
on all to observe the ordinance who are trusting in Christ for
salvation. They should do so, as a visible expression of their
subjection to his authority, and of their gratitude and love to him for
his marvellous loving-kindness in shedding his blood for the
remission of their sins, and for giving his life a ransom for their
redemption. I recently heard an esteemed minister deliver the
following address, just before the administration of the ordinance:—
"'We are now, my dear Christian brethren, going to commemorate
the death of a beloved Friend, whose friendship derives its value
from his death. We often muse with intense interest on the
wondrous events of his wondrous life; we repeat to each other, with
strong emotions of delight, his soul-inspiring sayings. But it is his
death which enkindles the purest, the most powerful, and the most
joyous emotions of our heart. It is true, he was crucified by wicked
hands, but crucifixion touched no vital part. He could have lived on
the cross as long as he pleased, free from pain, and with as much
placid ease as, when seated on the mountain side, he dictated the
beatitudes to his disciples. He could have stepped down from the
cross, had he pleased, and arrayed himself with as much celestial
beauty as when he stood transfigured on Tabor; and he could have
changed in a moment the humiliating and conflicting scene of
Calvary into the awful grandeur of the final judgment; and at his
bidding the trumpet would have awakened the dead, to stand before
him for their final sentence. But no. Such prodigies of power, and
displays of justice were not to take place then and there. The only
event to take place then and there was his shedding his blood for
the remission of sins, and his giving his life a ransom for sinners.
This he did, unsolicited, voluntarily, and cheerfully; and when he
calls on you to take the cup, in remembrance of his sufferings and
death, will you hesitate to do so? or can you do it with formal
indifference?

'O for this love, let rocks and hills

Their lasting silence break,
And all harmonious human tongues
The Saviour's praises speak.'"

"I like the sentiments and expressions of this address; but I think
you must admit that hesitation does not always bespeak reluctance."
"Very true; but it arrests the progress of obedience, and entails
the loss of spiritual privileges and enjoyments."
"I hope, my dear Miss Osbourne," said Miss Chester, "you now feel
no reluctance to yield obedience to the dying command of your
beloved Saviour and Friend; and that you will, by one sacred resolve,
yield yourself to him as one alive from the dead—have your fruit
unto holiness, and the end everlasting life."
"A sublime termination to a painful, and often a depressing
conflict! It would be wrong in me not to confess that I have derived
instruction from the conversation of the evening. Some new ideas
have been suggested to me, and some lingering doubts have been
removed. My hesitation, which sprang from caution, rather than
reluctance, now yields to a sense of duty. I will do what my Lord
commands me; and because it is his command. You will both pray
for me, that my faith fail not, and that I may endure to the end,
steadfast in the path of duty."
She kept her promise; and on the first communion day, with us
commemorated the death of the Lord Jesus Christ in the way of his
appointment. Soon after, I received an interesting letter from her;
and as its conclusion is an appropriate sequel to the long and painful
conflict through which she had to pass, its transcription may serve
as a guide and solace to others.

"'O, happy day, that fixed my choice

On Christ, my Saviour and my God!
* * * * *
Now rests my long-divided heart.'

"My experience proves the truthfulness of a remark you made in

our recent interview 'obedience brings its own reward.'"
Those who have been early initiated into the Christian faith, and
who have advanced, under judicious training, from one stage of
inquiry and attainment to another, till they have acquired a perfect
knowledge of the truth as it is in Jesus, both in its unity and
harmony, and who have felt it on their hearts, in the spirituality of its
power, can form no just conception of the severe and often
prolonged conflict to which others are subjected, who have not been
favoured with similar advantages. They are in a moral condition
somewhat analogous to that of the lonely traveller who, when on a
strange road, is suddenly enveloped in a mist—hearing sounds of
danger, while unable to discover from whence they come, why they
are given, or how he shall effect his escape. Their mind gets
bewildered, jaded, and paralyzed by its own fruitless labours and
solicitudes; becomes irresolute, unwilling to relinquish the question
of inquiry, yet unable to pursue it; and like the maniac amongst the
tombs, seeks for rest, but cannot find it. The secret of relief to all
such anxious inquirers, lies imbedded in the invitation of Jesus
Christ: "Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I
will give you rest" (Matt. xi. 28). This invitation has ministered
consolation to myriads; its efficacy now, is as powerful as it was
when it first fell from his lips; and whosoever receives it in faith, and
yields to it, will find rest to his soul.
AN ESCAPE FROM A FALSE REFUGE.
When surveying my congregation one Sabbath evening, I
noticed an interesting stranger in the front gallery,
whose manner indicated that he had never been in the
chapel before. I had selected for my text Isa. lvii. 18: "I
have seen his ways, and will heal him; I will lead him
also, and restore comforts unto him, and to his mourners." As he sat
just opposite the pulpit my eye caught his, when delivering the
following introductory remarks:—
"No one can read the Bible with serious attention, without feeling
that he is brought into contact with God. While intently fixed on the
subject which engages his attention, he feels isolated from others—
existing apart from others, yet existing in immediate connection with
God and the eternal world. The same novel effect is sometimes
produced, and often to a greater degree, when a congregation is
attentively listening to the ministrations of the pulpit. People are
drawn together into a place of worship: the reading, the singing, and
the prayer are gone through; and then the preaching commences.
The preacher is known, but he is soon lost sight of; his subject
absorbs attention, excites emotion; impression succeeds impression;
and though, in some instances, there may be a momentary degree
of astonishment awakened as to the source from whence the
preacher has obtained his knowledge of individual character, yet that
astonishment soon subsides, and nothing is left to engross the
attention of the hearer, but an overwhelming sense of his own guilt,
misery, and danger, which is now discovered, and felt, FOR THE FIRST
TIME. Yes, many a person has entered this chapel to scorn, who has
left it to breathe the prayer of the publican—'God be merciful to me
a sinner.' Yes, many a person has taken his seat with others, and by
being blended with the mass of the congregation, has seemed to
lose the individuality of his existence; but the high and lofty One,
that inhabiteth eternity, whose name is Holy, speaks—and though his
voice is not heard, it is felt—'I have seen his ways.' Yes, O sinner, he
has seen your ways in the gone-by times of your impenitence, when
you were living without him, and without hope in the world. Yes, he
has seen your ways, when you either neglected the ordinances of
religion, or observed them with careless indifference, as though they
bore no relation to the Holy One, who inhabiteth eternity. Yes, he
has seen the ways you have adopted to obliterate your religious
impressions; to pacify your consciences; and to reconcile your habits
of gaiety and folly, with a sense of your obligations to him. But he
has never yet seen you walking in the narrow way that leadeth to
eternal life. He has never seen you at his footstool deploring the
error of your ways, and praying for mercy. Shall he abandon you to
your irreligious course, and leave you to perish? or shall he come to
heal you, to guide you, and to comfort you?"
His attention was arrested; he looked and listened as though he
had never previously seen a minister in a pulpit, or heard a sermon;
and on his countenance there was impressed an air of expressive
solemnity, indicating profound thought.
I saw him again on the next Sabbath evening, then I missed him
for several Sabbaths; he again re-appeared, became more frequent
in his attendance, and at length I saw him walking up the area of
the chapel accompanied by a lady, whom I presumed to be his wife.
On this occasion he was invited into a pew belonging to one of my
elders; and at the close of the service they left the chapel together.
On inquiry I found that this elder knew him; and from him I obtained
the outlines of his history, which he prefaced by saying, "I was not
at the chapel on the first night of his attendance, and was rather
surprised when he told me of it, because I rather apprehend he is a
sceptic, though he does not avow it. However, though he gave me
no reason to expect that he should repeat his visit, he made one
remark which I was gratified to hear, as it was a proof that he had
listened to the discourse, and was rather pleased than otherwise.
'The sermon,' he said, 'was simple and plain, yet somewhat original.
I have heard more eloquent, and more argumentative discourses,
both in my own country, and in England, but I never heard one
which took such a firm hold of my attention, or one which brought
after it such a train of novel thought; indeed, I cannot escape from a
recollection of it.'"
Mr. Christopher Lobeck, the gentleman in question, was born in
Berlin, in 1794. His parents were Protestants, with whom he lived till
he had finished his literary education; and then he travelled for two
years, visiting Spain, France, and Switzerland, and the principal
manufacturing districts and marts of commerce of his own country,
to qualify himself to engage in mercantile pursuits. Soon after the
termination of the war in 1815, he was introduced to an English
merchant, with whom he made an arrangement to serve his
establishment in the capacity of a corresponding clerk; and this led
to his settlement in London. While in this situation, which he held for
seven years, he married the daughter of a citizen of worth and
distinction; and by his advice, and with the concurrence of the house
in which he had been engaged, he accepted an eligible offer of
partnership in a firm of high respectability in ——, to which place he
removed in 1822. His private residence was situated about a mile
and a half from the centre of the town, a neat snug cottage, with
the usual appurtenances, &c., &c. "He is," the elder added, "both
intelligent and communicative, and has acquired a large amount of
scientific and general information; and notwithstanding his doubts
on the great question of the Christian faith, he generally attends
church on Sabbath morning with his wife and children. Mrs. Lobeck
is a contrast to her husband on religious matters; he looks with
equal indifference on all the external forms of Christianity—she is
one of the most impassioned admirers of Episcopacy and its clergy I
ever knew. She is, in fact, what may be termed a devotee—excited,
as by an electrical shock, if she hear any remark derogatory to the
absolute perfection of her church and its priestly orders." He
concluded by saying, "I think you should now go and see them; as
they have both been to hear you preach, I think it likely they will be
expecting it as an act of courtesy. It is possible that this may be the
opening of a new epoch in their moral history, which may lead to
some grand spiritual result."
I made a call, and was gratified by my reception. Mr. Lobeck was
very cordial, and Mrs. Lobeck very polite; he was free and easy in
chit-chat, but she was rather reserved; yet both seemed to be
pleased by my visit. After looking through his museum, which
contained a choice though not very extensive collection of birds,
reptiles, and fossils, a few coins of different ages and countries, and
a good assortment of autographs, I then strolled round his garden
and shrubbery, and took my leave of them—both equally pressing
for a more lengthened visit. Their attendance at the chapel now
became more regular on a Sabbath evening, and occasionally on a
Sabbath morning; and after the lapse of a few weeks, I met a select
tea-party at their house, and though nearly all were strangers to me,
and most of them high church, yet I spent a very pleasant evening.
No controversial subject was introduced for debate or discussion;
conversation was desultory, without being frivolous, and was
sustained without being prosy, or degenerating into dry common-
place. Having intimated to Mr. Lobeck that it was my usual habit to
conduct family prayer where I spent an evening, the Bible was
presented to me; I read Psalm ciii., offering a few expository
remarks, and then we knelt together at the throne of grace.
At a subsequent interview, when Mr. Lobeck called on me, he said,
"We have decided on attending your chapel if we can be
accommodated with a pew." On expressing some degree of surprise
that Mrs. Lobeck should be willing to leave her church, with all its
long-cherished predilections and associations, he replied—
"She still gives it the preference, but a paramount sense of duty
now compels her to take this step. She was pleased with the
extreme simplicity of your mode of worship the first time she came;
and has on several occasions expressed her approbation of the
momentous truths you have inculcated on the attention of your
audience; but your discourse on Sabbath evening, from Acts xvi. 14,
brought her long-hesitating mind to this decision. As we were
returning home, after alluding to the hymn, and to the singing,
which she very much enjoys, she remarked she now felt no surprise
that I should prefer the preaching at the chapel to the preaching at
the church; because, in her opinion, it is more interesting and
instructive. 'It is,' she added, 'quite a relief to hear no more prosing
about the regular succession question, or about the font and its
mysteries. This clergyman makes one think of one's self, of God, of
another world, and our Saviour Jesus Christ.'"
As they were now become my stated hearers, a close intimacy
soon sprang up between us; and on one occasion, when alluding to
the state of religion on the Continent, he said, with emphatic
earnestness, "My country, Sir, is the land of spiritual barrenness;
death reigns there. Infidelity is awfully dominant, and fatally
powerful."
"But I have heard it now assumes an aspect somewhat different
from the infidelity introduced by Voltaire, and which I believe was
aided in its progress by the more fascinating genius of Rousseau."
"Yes, Sir, it is now the infidelity of Goethe, a man of extraordinary
mental power—a most subtle and beguiling writer. Voltaire was an
intellectual sceptic, who denounced Christianity as an imposition on
human credulity, and he advocated its suppression and
extermination. Rousseau was a sentimental sceptic, who
contemplated Christianity with the same class of emotions as he
surveyed the beauties and the deformities of nature; regarding it as
a strange compound of moral grandeur and of meanness, which, in
his estimation, might remain amongst a people without doing any
social injury, and might be got rid of without their sustaining any
irreparable loss. Goethe is a rational sceptic, or what is called in
Germany a rationalist. His disposition is not mocking like that of
Voltaire and others, nor does he ever indulge in burlesque or
ridicule, when speaking of the popular faith. He uniformly evinces a
marked respect for the ordinary doctrines and ethics of Christianity,
while the drift of his writings is to prove that the real religion of a
man's heart, and the real end of his existence, lie in the refined
cultivation of his mind and affections, and in subjecting all irregular
impulses and passions to a course of due restraint."
"The infidelity of these sceptical writers who have done so much
mischief on the Continent, and in England too, is substantially the
same in its origin, in its essence, and in its tendencies, though there
is a slight variation in its phases, its developments, and in its
designs."
"Infidelity, Sir, under any phase, or in any form of development, is
a destroying power; and its progress may be traced, like that of an
epidemic, by the scenes of desolation which it leaves in its track.
There would be some difficulty in adjusting the comparative injury
which these distinguished sceptics have entailed on the moral and
religious world; but it is very evident to any one who studies their
writings, that they all tend to the same issue. The primary lessons
which they all teach are these—that man needs no Divine instructor,
which supersedes the necessity of revelation; that his own reason is
sufficient to enable him to discover the safe road to true happiness
and moral greatness, which supersedes the necessity of priestly
instruction and training; and that he need do nothing more for his
present well-being, and his future destiny, if there be a futurity, than
cultivate his own tastes and social virtues."
"But I suppose Goethe has done more moral injury amongst the
theologians of Germany than any other sceptical writer."
"I have no doubt of it; and also amongst all classes of literary
men. I was once one of his devoted disciples; he ruled my mind with
despotic sway. I revered him as an oracle. He stood, in my
estimation, both in intellectual greatness and in the accuracy of his
moral discoveries, far above any of the writers of the Old or New
Testaments. He gave me a distaste for the Bible, and a loathing
against its sublime and momentous doctrines; and I believe that his
writings have tainted to a fearful extent the theology of the pulpits
of Germany. There are a few able and eloquent men, who preach
Christ and him crucified, in close imitation of Paul; but only a
comparatively small number. Human reason is the popular idol
amongst the majority; they keep the cross of Christ in the
background; the atonement is repudiated by them. They maintain
from the press and from the pulpit, and with as much strenuous
earnestness as any of the infidel fraternity, that man has within
himself a self-sufficient power to secure his present and his future
happiness, without being at all dependent on the grace of God or
the love of Christ."
"A sad change since the palmy days of Luther, and the other great
Reformers."
"A most melancholy one; I should not like to return to live amidst
such signs of decay and scenes of moral desolation—it is as Eden in
ruins."
"Your removal, Sir, to England has proved a very important event
in your history."
"It has indeed; a local change often leads to many other changes.
If I had tarried in Berlin, I had not known my wife or had my three
dear children; and most likely I should still have remained a disciple
of Goethe, rather than become a disciple of Jesus Christ."
"Will you permit me to ask you one question, What circumstance
induced you to come to the chapel the first time you came?"
"Your question, Sir, revives in my recollection a proposition which
you illustrated by a series of facts, when delivering a discourse on
John iv. 6, 7, and which, if my memory does not fail me, you stated
in the following words:—'When a crisis approaches in the history of a
nation, or even of a private individual, we may sometimes observe
prognostic signs of its coming; and in taking a review after its
occurrence, we may sometimes see a marked conjunction of
determining events naturally leading to it.' The fact is, on the
Sunday of my first visit to your chapel, we had arranged with a few
friends to take a drive into the country; but just as we were in
readiness to start, a tremendous thunderstorm compelled us to give
up our jaunt. After it had cleared off, as it was too late for our
country excursion, I took a walk into the town to see an old friend;
but the rain again came down in torrents, just as I was passing your
chapel; I ran into it for shelter, not for worship. I had no more
thought of being converted to the faith of Christ when I entered
your chapel, than the woman of Samaria expected to see the
Messias when she left home to get some water from Jacob's well."
"The Psalmist, when calling on all the powers of the celestial and
terrestrial creation to praise the Lord (Psal. cxlviii.), speaks of fire
and hail, of snow and vapour, and stormy wind as fulfilling the Divine
purpose; they come and go at his command, doing the work he
assigns to them."
"So I now believe. I recollect, when watching the coming up of the
dark thunderstorm, feeling vexed that it should come just then,
when we were all in such high glee, and in complete readiness to be
off. I did not then know that on that storm my future destiny was
depending. Had it not come when it did come, we should have been
desecrating the Sabbath by recreative indulgence; and had it not
been followed by the second storm, I should have been with my
friend enjoying the convivialities of hospitality and mirth. In either
case, when laying my head on my pillow, on that memorable night,
my bosom would have heaved to other emotions than those which
your discourse had stirred up within it. There and then I felt what I
never expected to feel; and if the strange commotion had been
predicted by an angel of God, I should have ridiculed it as a mere
phantom. Indeed, my philosophy, which led me to believe that such
a moral change as I have experienced was unnecessary, compelled
me also to believe that it was impossible."
"I recollect the text from which I preached on the occasion to
which you refer, but I do not recollect employing any arguments to
expose the fallacy and delusions of scepticism, or any in
confirmation of the Divine origin of the Christian faith."
"Argument, Sir, in favour of Christianity I could have withstood;
but I could not withstand the great moral power by which I felt awe-
struck and subdued."
 "Do you think you were renewed in the spirit of your mind during
the first service you attended at the chapel?"
"I know I felt very differently when I came out of the chapel that
evening, from what I felt on entering; but whether I then actually
passed from a state of spiritual death to newness of life, is a
question I cannot decide. But now I can say what Paul said—By the
grace of God I am what I am."
"Do you ever doubt the reality of the spiritual change which you
have undergone?"
"No, Sir, that's impossible. I know that I was once living in a state
of spiritual death, or mental alienation from God, neither loving nor
fearing him—living without him in the world; but it's the reverse of
this now. I now revere him as my sovereign, whose laws are my
delight; and I now love him as my reconciled Father through Jesus
Christ. All through life, up to my first visit to your chapel, the
invisible world flitted before my imagination, more as a fairy land
than a real world of spiritual beings; and the immortality of man I
considered more a thing of speculation than of positive certainty; but
now I am compelled to believe, and by the force of evidence which
sophistry cannot falsify, that it is the habitation of the high and lofty
One whose name is Holy, and before whom I hope to be presented
faultless with exceeding joy when the crisis comes."
"But, Sir, does your old philosophy never suggest to you the idea
that these new discoveries and emotions, with their consequent
anticipations, may be referable to the mysterious action of a
disturbed imagination, rather than the direct action of a supernatural
power—what scepticism designates the flights of fancy?"
"I must confess that such an idea has more than once obtruded
itself on my mind; but I at once dismiss it as an intangible fiction; for
when I turned my attention to study the Christianity of the Bible,
which I did very closely as soon as I felt the new impulse from your
first sermon, I perceived that it not only offers remission of sin to
the penitent and contrite sinner, but that it is essentially a restorative
scheme of grace, constructed for the very purpose of rescuing man
from the moral ruin in which sin has involved him, and ultimately to
re-produce that spiritual similitude to the Divine likeness in which
man was created, and which would still have adorned humanity, if
the first transgression had not been committed. Hence the
discoveries and emotions I have made and felt, and the conflicts
through which I am now passing, are the initiate of this grand
design of the high and lofty One—the preparatory steps in the
progress of recovery, which is to lead to such a glorious issue."
"Have you, Sir, any distinct recollection of the order of thought
which followed—the unanticipated impressions and emotions which
you felt while listening to the sermon?"
"I recollect saying to myself, when passing home—I have heard
many sermons in my own country, and many in England, more
elaborate, more argumentative, and more brilliant; and yet no one
ever produced such a series of novel and strange convictions and
impressions as this simple and plain appeal to which I have been
listening. Myself, my moral condition and danger, now absorbed my
attention: I felt, and for the first time in my history, that I had been
living without God—living the life of a practical atheist—that I
deserved his anger, and that he might justly leave me to perish."
"Did you entertain any idea that this new moral discovery would
lead to an eventful issue; or did you suppose it would vanish away,
and leave you to live as in former years?"
"Why, Sir, I felt that the discovery I had made was no mental
illusion, but a palpable and awful reality; and though it excited
emotions of alarm and terror which I could scarcely endure, yet I felt
more inclined to cherish than repress them; and at times during the
ensuing week, I did indulge a vague hope that God would have
mercy on me and comfort me."
"Did you tell Mrs. Lobeck where you had been, and what you
felt?"
 "No, Sir. I deemed it inexpedient to do that; because I knew it
would distress her to hear that I had been to a Dissenting chapel.
But there were other considerations which imposed silence. I knew
not what opinion to form of the issue of the mental process through
which I was passing. I thought it might bring on some change in my
moral character and history; and I also thought it might end in
nothing. I therefore resolved, while in this state of perplexity and
confusion, not to say anything to any one on the subject, till I
actually knew the result."
"Did you remain long in this state of mental perplexity and
distraction?"
"For several months, during which time I accompanied my family
to our church every Sabbath morning, and very generally I was at
your chapel in the evening. I perceived that the religion of the two
places is the same in its broad outlines; yet I soon discovered a
great difference, not only in its impressiveness, but even in the
doctrines of its public ministrations."
"The Rector and his Curate, I believe, dwell principally on the
efficacy of the sacraments, and the absolute necessity of a steady
adherence to the church, as an implied condition of salvation."
"Yes, Sir: they virtually reject what many of our Protestant
ministers in Germany openly repudiate—the inherent depravity of
man, the atonement for sin made by Jesus Christ, and the necessity
of the agency of the Divine Spirit to enlighten and renovate the soul
of man. In fact, they adopt the leading principle of Goethe's
philosophy, and place our hope of future happiness on our doings
and attainments. Goethe and his disciples work the principle without
the alliance of any auxiliary powers or influences; but the clergymen
of our church identify it with ecclesiastic ceremonies and
associations. In either case, it is man doing something for himself
which makes him his own saviour."
"I often wonder how it is that intelligent persons, who admit the
authority of the Bible, can make such egregious mistakes as they
often do on the question which relates to the way of salvation, or
the method of a sinner's reconciliation with God; when it is stated
with so much explicitness and precision by the sacred writers,
'Believe and be saved.' 'For through him we both have access by one
Spirit unto the Father' (Ephes. ii. 18)."
"The terms are very explicit and simple—believe and be saved:
but judging from my own experience, I should say they are very
difficult of apprehension, and for this reason, we cannot trace a
connection between such an action of the mind and such a glorious
result."
"Nor, Sir, are we required to do so: we are to rest our belief on
Christ and his promise, and then expect the issue."
"The discourse, Sir, which you delivered some time since on John
iii. 14, 15, set my mind at rest on this simple and important
question. You sketched the scene in the camp of Israel—the people
dying under the judicial infliction; and when representing one and
another, on moving out of their tents, feeling an instantaneous cure
when they looked on the elevated brazen serpent, the scales fell
from my mental vision, and I saw clearly, through the medium of
this illustrative fact, that it is by faith in the death of Jesus Christ
that we are to be saved. I shall never forget the effect which this
discovery excited within me. I felt joy and peace in believing. The
cloud of obscurity which had hung so long over the sacred page, and
over the spiritual parts of your ministrations, instantaneously
vanished; and I saw THE truth in its clearness, because I again felt it
in its power. I hastened home under an impulse of emotion which I
know not how to describe; and as soon as I saw Mrs. Lobeck, I
disclosed the long pent-up secrets of my heart. She listened to my
communications with intense interest; and after offering me her
congratulations on my escape from the snares and delusions of my
sceptical philosophy, she then added, what both surprised and
delighted me to hear—'I will very willingly go with you on a Sabbath
evening, where you have received so much spiritual good, if you will
continue to go with us to church on a Sabbath morning.' I at once
consented to this proposal, and we continued for many months to
alternate an attendance at the two churches, till at length she came
to the decision which I have mentioned. We are now one in spirit,
and I hope one in faith; but I regret to say that at times she feels a
mental depression which I know not how to account for, nor can I
remove it."
Mrs. Lobeck was a truly interesting person—as genteel in her
manners, as she was amiable in her disposition; and as our intimacy
increased, she gradually threw off her constitutional reserve, and
became more free and communicative. She was naturally more
buoyant in spirits than her husband, yet there was an expression of
grief in her countenance which excited my sympathy, and I felt
desirous of ascertaining the cause of it. She had been, from her
youth up, a most rigid devotee of ecclesiastical formalism; no
Puseyite could be more scrupulous in observing the times and
seasons and ceremonies of his church. I knew, from many incidental
allusions, that she had idolized her Prayer Book, which led her to
neglect her Bible; and this made me suspect that she was still
placing some undue dependence on ecclesiastic ceremonies. I had
preached a sermon on the eunuch going on his way rejoicing (Acts
viii. 39), to which she made a reference when I was spending an
evening with her.
"To be candid, Sir, it is not with me as it was with the eunuch; for
I am not quite so easy in my mind now, as I was before I left the
church; sometimes I think I must return, though I should regret
depriving myself of the benefit I derive from your ministry."
"You do not feel quite so much at ease in your mind now, as you
did when attending to your long established religious customs?"
"I do not. Indeed, I feel at times quite unhappy."
"Were you quite happy when you were attending to your religious
duties. Did you habitually feel that you were prepared for death; that
is, were you assured that your sins were forgiven, and that you
would go to heaven when you died?"
 "No, Sir, I was never perfectly happy, because I was not quite
assured that I should go to heaven, but I always thought that if I
continued to the end in the religious course in which I had been
trained, the Almighty would take me to himself. I recollect
mentioning to our Rector the fears which I occasionally had on this
subject, when he quoted a passage from the Bible which gave me
much comfort, 'He that endureth to the end shall be saved.' I now
feel that I am failing in this duty, which makes me unhappy."
"Did you, when practising your religious duties, think much about
Jesus Christ, and much about coming to him by faith, to save you?
Did you ever feel that you loved him?"
"I always thought he was our Saviour, but I have thought more
about him lately than I used to think. Your preaching puts some new
ideas into my mind about Jesus Christ, but they soon pass away. I
cannot retain them, because I do not clearly understand them."
"If I do not mistake, you cherished a hope that the Almighty
would save you, because you were regular and conscientious in the
observance of your religious duties?"
"Yes, Sir, I did. Was I doing wrong by doing this?"
"You will see presently. In consequence of having left the church,
you cannot now attend, with the uniformity of former times, to the
same order of duties; and therefore you cannot now indulge the
hope that the Almighty will save you. And this depresses your spirits
and makes you feel unhappy."
"It does, and very painfully so. I think I have forfeited the
blessing, because I am not enduring to the end."
"You say you always thought that Jesus Christ was our Saviour;
but do you not perceive, that as long as you indulged the hope of
being saved in consequence of your scrupulous and constant
attention to your religious duties, you were expecting to be saved
without being indebted to him for your salvation? If you had
succeeded, you would have got into heaven without his help; how
then could he be your Saviour?"
Welcome to our website – the perfect destination for book lovers and
knowledge seekers. We believe that every book holds a new world,
offering opportunities for learning, discovery, and personal growth.
That’s why we are dedicated to bringing you a diverse collection of
books, ranging from classic literature and specialized publications to
self-development guides and children's books.

More than just a book-buying platform, we strive to be a bridge

connecting you with timeless cultural and intellectual values. With an
elegant, user-friendly interface and a smart search system, you can
quickly find the books that best suit your interests. Additionally,
our special promotions and home delivery services help you save time
and fully enjoy the joy of reading.

Join us on a journey of knowledge exploration, passion nurturing, and

personal growth every day!

ebookbell.com