Adebiyi avails self as solution to Nigeria's energy

"LET A GERMAN WEAR A MILITARY ATTIRE THE FIRST TIME IN HIS LIVE,HE WILL BEGIN TO MATCH ALONE WITHOUT A COMMANDING OFFICER" - By: FRANCIS TAWIAH Duisburg - Germany
More Quotes | Submit a Quote �Says he attended same college with President Yar'AduaProfessor George Adebiyi is a seasoned University doyen in Mississippi State University (USA); his research interests largely focus on Solar/Renewable Energy/Fuel Cell applications, Mathematical modelling of advanced energy systems including Thermal Regenerators (such as Packed Bed Storage Systems utilizing Phase-Change Materials), Heat and Mass Transfer Regenerators (such as Desiccant Dehumidifiers, Crop Dryers). Others are: Formulations for the Thermodynamic Properties of Substances and Development of Algorithms for use in Computer Property Codes, Computer-Aided Thermodynamic Analysis and Evaluation of Thermal Systems, Thermodynamics and Heat Transfer Applications in Systems Design and Analysis, Piping networks system design, to mention a few.In an interactive online (electronic) parley with Emmanuel Ajibulu (Modernghana representative in Nigeria), the Professor responded to a number of issues that can bring back hope to Nigeria's energy crunch. The interaction was quite participatory and interesting as the energy guru injects some sense of humour to the question and answer session.Excerpt:1. Can I meet you sir?Ans: I was born in Nigeria, a native of Igosun in Kwara State. My early education began in Ejigbo. Later, I attended Senior Primary School at Laminga (midway between Keffi and Nassarawa) from 1955 to 1956, and Senior Primary School, Bauchi (1957 to 1958). I attended Government College, Keffi (1959 to 1963), and King's College, Lagos (1964 to 1965) for the HSC. I studied Mechanical Engineering at the University of Manchester, Manchester, England, and graduated with a 1st Class Hons. degree in 1969. I worked for a year (1969 to 1970) as a Research Associate at the Central Electricity Research Laboratories in Leatherhead and returned to the University of Manchester for the Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering. I completed my Ph.D. in December 1972, although the award of the degree was dated March 1973. From January 1973 to December 1973 I worked with Shell in Lagos. I was appointed a Lecturer at the University of Lagos and worked there from December 1973 to July 1975. My next appointment was with now Kwara Polytechnic, Ilorin (July 1975 to 1979). At Ilorin I was beneficiary of a Unesco Fellowship to Huddersfield Polytechnic where I earned an Advanced Diplo ma in Further Education (a University of Leeds Award) in 1977. I later served as Director of the School of Technology from 1978 to 1979. In July 1979, I assumed duty as Rector (then Principal) of the Federal Polytechnic, Bida. I continued there as Rector until 1985. Around 1983, we established a Solar Energy Research Centre at the Polytechnic. The Centre continues to provide a focus for students' projects as well as research by Lecturers in the area of solar energy applications. In 1984, I was away from the Federal Polytechnic on sabbatical leave that gave me the first opportunity to work in the U.S.A. The time was spent at Rust College, Holly Springs in Mississippi. Rust College is a Liberal Arts College and is a Private University. I was a Visiting Professor of Physics. On my return to Nigeria I spent 3 months (May to July 1985) with the Solar Energy Centre of the then University of Sokoto, Sokoto. In August 1985, I returned to the U.S.A. this time to the Mississippi State University as a Visiting Associate Professor of Mechanical Engineering. I was promoted to full Professor with tenure in 1991. I co-authored a Classical Thermodynamics textbook with a colleague (Dr. Lynn D. Russell) in 1993. The book was translated to Spanish and is currently in print. My father (now deceased) was an ordained Baptist Reverend who as far back as 1955 began a career as an Educationist and served in several civil service positions in the former Northern Region of Nigeria. My mother (also deceased) was the first woman to complete Standard 6 in Ilorin province in the 1930's, and she served until her death in 1983 as Church Organist everywhere we lived. Although I was born into a Christian family, it was not until 1960 that I got saved and became a Christian. I have often served as Church Pianist/Organist in Churches that I belong to. I currently play the piano at a Church in Columbus, Mississippi, which has a Missionary Pastor from Nigeria.2. Can you share with the world what you think is causing persistent power failure in Nigeria?Ans: I always dramatize the seriousness of power failure in much of Africa by pointing to a NASA picture of the Earth at night. (See the following web site, for example: http://www.novaspace.com/POSTERS/PHOTO/EBN.html ) Virtually all the continents are lit except Africa! Let me now share some facts and figures that explain why Nigeria experiences vexing and perennial power failure. Nigeria currently has a population of around 140 million. In a recent interview, Nigeria's President announced that total electric generating capacity in the country was effectively below 3 GW. If you divide this by the population you will find that there is only about 20 W per person. Increasing generating capacity to 5 GW will raise this to a little over 35 W per person. The household bulbs we use are rated 25 W, 40 W, 60 W, or even 100 W. The 2-ft fluorescent lights consume around 20 W powers. Thus, if all the electricity generated is used exclusively in homes (with nothing for industries, businesses and commercial centres), there is just enough to light one bulb for every Nigerian. In actual fact, typically 50% of grid electricity is consumed in homes, while the commercial and industrial sectors account for about 25% each. Nigeria still has ways to go to generate at the 5 GW level. The Kainji Dam can only provide 960 MW (less than 1 GW). Not all the turbine units are in operation because water level in the reservoir is often low for a multitude of reasons including drought. The power from the dam is only about 500 MW to 600 MW most of the time. Also, there is an agreement that requires much of this power to be delivered to Niger Republic. This is necessary to avoid a situation where Niger Republic diverts much of river Niger to take care of its own needs for water power. Thus, on average less than 3 kWh of electricity can be supplied per household per day in Nigeria for the forseeable future. This assumes that all electricity generated is used entirely in houses and residences. Let us make a few comparisons. South Africa with a population of a little over 44 million has electric generating capacity of 30 GW. This translates to an annual per capita consumption of electricity of 4500 kWh. For Nigeria, the annual per capita consumption of electricity is estimated at between about 100 kWh and 135 kWh. Here in the U.S.A. the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) provides electric power to about 8 million people. TVA's generating capacity is currently 33 GW, and the average daily electrical energy sold per household in 2006 in Mississippi alone was 44 kWh per household per day. A daily average TVA sale to commercial and industrial customers for the same period was 220 kWh per customer. Ironically, during the summer months in Mississippi and other states in the TVA region, the weather is so hot that a ir conditioners have to run �full throttle�, and in July especially, TVA often cautions its customers to slow down on the use of air conditioners or else risk power loss.Why is there persistent power failure in Nigeria? The answer is simply that supply is way below demand; the Power Holding Company of Nigeria (PHCN) is generating less than 2% of the power needed (if the TVA, or even South Africa, record is taken as standard). In addition, there are human factors that make the power situation in Nigeria a lot worse. A source recently indicated that over 40% of generated electricity is lost. In recent years, thieves have stolen transmission line wires (only to resell to NEPA/PHCN), causing serious disruption to electricity supply. Even transformers have been stolen and resold. Pipelines supplying fuel to power stations have been sabotaged and vandalized. If fuel does not get to a power station, no power can be generated. There are lots of illegal power connections. As a result, there is shortfall in revenue that could be applied to improving electricity supply in the country. All these compound the problems and frustrate any effort being made to solve the crisis.3. Why is there persistent power failure in Nigeria? Ans: Conventional power generation uses fossil fuels (coal, gas, and oil), which are non-renewable and are being used up very rapidly. Fossil fuels take millions of years to form, and with heightened global demand they may be exhausted a lot sooner than later. The future of electrical power generation from fossil fuel combustion is threatened by escalating fuel prices and by adverse environmental consequences of large scale combustion of carbon-rich fuels. Combustion of these fuels unleashes intolerable amounts of carbon dioxide to the environment contributing to turning the Earth's atmosphere to a greenhouse with the harmful effect of producing global warming. In this regard, coal-fired plants, while offering electricity on the cheap is the worst culprit, and power utilities that propose these plants are increasingly incurring enormous (capital) costs in assuring adequate emissions control and carbon dioxide sequestration to minimize the pollution they unleash on the environment. Natural gas (mostly methane) also adds significant amounts of carbon dioxide to the environment. Meeting these challenges adds significant costs to electricity production from the use of the non-renewable primary energy resources. In other words, there is every indication that electricity production from the mix of conventional fossil fuels will occ ur in the future at increasing cost to consumers than the current levels. Nigeria is blessed with an abundance of renewable energy both as direct solar energy and indirect solar energy. Indirect solar energy includes water power in the form of hydroelectric power, wind power, bio-fuels derived from corn and other plants, biomass, and biogas from garbage and other biological wastes. Solar energy can be exploited directly in thermal applications (crop drying, water heating, distillation, solar cooking, refrigeration and air conditioning, thermal power generation) and in solar electricity production using photovoltaic converters.Solar/Renewable energy is attractive principally because it is manna-like. It is a renewable energy resource. It is a widely distributed form of energy. In other words, it is available where needed; this eliminates the need for long transmission lines that could be easily disrupted by robbers and saboteurs. It is free. Only the energy converters cost money, and the investment needed is largely capital. Maintenance cost is generally minimal. It is a non-polluting form of energy. (As indicated already, fossil fuels are known to generate a lot of greenhouse gases that produce global warming and threaten the future of the planet. Solar energy is clean and safe to use. Electric generators pollute with the noxious emissions and the noise. Solar converters provide electricity without emissions and without noise.)Attractive as solar energy is, there are challenges to be met in its exploitation: Solar insolation levels on the Earth's surface are generally low, and, therefore, collectors and solar converters must have large surface areas to meet even relatively low energy demand applications. For many locations in Nigeria, the amount of solar energy inflow exceeds 5 to 6 kWh per m2 per day, which is a typical threshold value needed for viable solar energy applications. Current technologies for solar cell production are energy intensive. Typical energy pay back periods are on the order of 6 to 11 years. New technologies are emerging, however, that significantly cut manufacturing costs and as a result make solar converters increasingly more affordable. Solar energy flow to the Earth occurs on a diurnal cycle. This intermittency imposes an energy storage requirement, which adds to the capital cost and reduces overall system efficiency. (Storage systems have regeneration efficiencies that can be as low as about 60% for thermal storage systems and as high as about 80% to 90% for battery storage.)Can solar energy rescue Nigeria from its current energy crises? The honest answer is that solar energy alone cannot be the answer, but it can be a significant part of solving the problem. Let me begin by sharing some of the experiences of other countries: Solar water heating is saving on use of non-renewable energy in many parts of the world. An article by John Perlin (http://www.californiasolarcenter.org/history_solarthermal.html ) recalls the widely known fact that Israel requires its inhabitants to heat their water with the sun. �Today, more than 90% of Israeli households own solar water heaters.� California, Florida, and several states in the United States use solar water heaters extensively. The United States Embassy in Abuja, Nigeria, uses solar water heaters to enable self-sufficiency and lower use of fossil-fuels. Hot water is available even during routine black-outs. Solar thermal power stations are being built all around the world. A Wikipedia listing on this is indeed informative (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_solar_thermal_power_stations ). These include: An 11 megawatt PS10 solar power tower in Spain that produces electricity from the sun using 624 large movable mirrors called heliostats. Three hundred and fifty four (354) MW Solar Energy Generating Systems (SEGS) power plant in California, U.S.A. World Bank financed integrated solar thermal/combined-cycle gas-turbine power plants in Egypt, Mexico, and Morocco. Significant developments in the area of photovoltaics will foster widespread solar electricity generation in the very near future. For example, solar shingles are now available in the market place that can make solar electricity available to houses without using extra space other than the roof. Concentrating photovoltaic systems are being developed with a potential for increasing solar cell efficiencies to over 40%. California provides an example of how to tackle energy crises using a mix of approaches. California was forced to implement rolling black outs a few years ago because there was not sufficient power generated to meet the demand. Here is a summary of some measures adopted since that time to address the bigger issue of holding down power demand: Lighting accounted for an estimated 37% of electricity use per California household in 2006. Energy-efficient compact fluorescent lamps (CFLs) use about a quarter as much electricity as incandescent light bulbs, and the CFLs last several times as long as the regular bulbs. The utilities heavily subsidized the CFL industry and brought down cost of CFLs from $5 to $10 dollars in 1999 to a mere 25 to 50 cents in the marketplace. In summary, solar energy can complement other forms of energy available in Nigeria today. In the short- and medium-term, the use of solar energy ought to be focused on the following applications:(1) Thermal applications such as heating and cooling, crop and food drying, cooking;(2) Lighting applications that use energy-efficient CFL and LED light fixtures;(3) Powering of low wattage electrical appliances such as energy-efficient TVs, fans, refrigerators and freezers, water pumps. Appliances like air conditioners are typically rated in the kilowatt range, and while they can be powered using solar electricity, the cost will be inevitably high.Substituting solar energy for conventional energy in the home will provide succor for many households while making more of grid electricity available to industries and commercial units. Can an individual solve Nigeria's energy crises? I wish! I am reminded of the proverbial rooster that claims credit for making the sun rise by its crowing! The magnitude of the problem calls for making prudent use of Nigeria's human talent. I am impressed at the tremendous contributions that Sons and Daughters of Nigeria have made, and continue to make the world over. Some have confidently asserted that if you go to any part of the world and you do not find a few Nigerians there, something must be wrong with that place. Frankly, I think this is an overstatement of what is anecdotally true. 

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