The Impact of Energy Costs

The Impact of Energy Costs

Energy costs, whether directly or indirectly, influence the cost of nearly everything in the market and our general lives today. From transportation costs, to recovering resources, to manufacturing, energy forms a significant cost of nearly all goods on the market.

Specific goods, such as carbon fiber and lithium ion, which possess predominately energy costs, can have their costs reduced to economical levels, to replace gasoline for transportation in electric vehicles, and generally be useful. By generally reducing the cost of electricity, you can reduce the cost of everything, and some materials substantially more than others, allowing for the creation of economical products otherwise not possible before.

As long as there is energy, fertilizer, clean water, basic appliances and modern living can continue. As ammonium nitrate fertilizer makes up 2% of our energy consumption, water x %, and concrete 7%, basic things we need to live such as homes, water and food are all dependent on our energy production, as is their price. We need energy to power our modern society, and any increase in price isn't just felt at the pump or the meter, but all across society, in nearly every venue. Furthermore, most advanced electronics require signification energy investment, such as computers or cellphones, and thus their price is dependent on the price of electricity. Reducing these prices not only means cheaper products in general, but certain options becoming a practical reality that were not before.

For instance, due to cheaper batteries, carbon fiber and electronics, electric cars could be nearly the same price as regular cars or even cheaper, meaning they would become practically affordable. While batteries, such as lithium titanate, are extremely expensive due to their high energy costs, they can be recharged to 90% of their capacity in about 10 minutes, and can store almost as much energy as lithium ion. They also have approximately 20 times the cycle life, meaning they last much longer and be charged and recharged much more frequently. This would allow electric cars to compete against gasoline cars, and with the cheaper electricity itself which it runs on could allow for even cheaper transportation. As electric cars are already approximately 4-5 times more efficient than gasoline cars, and electricity could be over 6 times cheaper with certain methods (Thorium, uranium etc.), transportation costs could be easily 20-30 times cheaper. This would benefit the average person in the U.S., but it could also benefit the transportation industry, such as 18 wheelers shipping cargo or trains, and significantly reduce our pollution. Roads that powered cars as they traveled would become a practical reality, not requiring recharging until you got off of a main road, allowing for nearly limitless travel. Combined with automated driving, this could allow for cars to practically drive themselves, with few inputs or need to stop by their human users.

With cheap enough energy, gold could be made from lead or mercury, and actually turn a profit, meaning we could mass produce it Diamonds, sapphire and other expensive minerals all similarly consume large amounts of energy and with cheaper energy costs, would all become less expensive. In fact, materials such as graphene, capable of filtering water, conducting heat as well as electricity or being bulletproof could be mass produced as cheap enough prices to become practical. From mitigating pollution to simply meeting our energy needs, energy is a primary concern for the U.S., and substantially cheaper, as well as cleaner, energy is not only beneficial to our society, but necessary for it's continuation. Without it, we simply cannot exist. Government intervention, subsidies and low-interest loans (particularly for nuclear power) are not only desirable, but ultimately a necessity to continue our standard of living, and to continue on in to the future.




General Market Costs
U.S. spends approximately 400 billion dollars on electricity, and approximately 1.2 trillion on energy in total. The U.S. annual GDP is somewhere around 15 trillion dollars annually, so this equates to approximately 8% of total GDP on energy alone. The cost of transportation contributes to approximately 5-6% of the cost of most items on the market,while being substantially higher for milk and other kinds of food. However, reduces in the price of certain goods dependent heavily on the price of electricity, such as electronics or electric cars, could allow for drastically cheaper products in certain areas.

The average American family of five spends approximately 2200 dollars on utility bills, while the average person spends X, most of which is based directly on electricity costs. The average American pays approximately 2,000 to 4,000 dollars for gasoline to get to work annually, while the average American family pays X. By themselves, these basic costs could be alleviated if energy cost themselves were reduced, only depending on how much, such as if reduced by a 1/3rd,  1/5th, 1/10th etc. This in turn would allow the average American to save potentially thousands of dollars, and thus spend thousands of more dollars in the market that was otherwise occupied by energy costs, thus increasing the average standard of living, market GDP, and reducing the base cost of living. Uranium for instance could potentially reduce the price of electricity by up to 6 times, with proven technology, and Thorium could result in over 10 times cheaper electricity prices, where as gasoline or coal at best might be 2-3 times cheaper with modern technology than it currently is. The impact of the price of electricity and energy can also have the reverse effect, with solar panels being twice the price of coal, and thus having a negative impact on the economy, the standard of living and technological development.

However, industry and business make up the bulk of energy usage in the U.S.; Civilian based energy expenses formulate only approximately 10% of the entire nation's energy usage, with the bulk of transportation, X percent, being associated primarily with business, that is the transportation of goods. Approximately 70% of our gasoline for instance is consumed by big rigs and oil tankers for cargo transportation, meaning that cutting down on civilian spending would only reduce a fraction of our energy needs. As a result, reduced energy prices could reduce the price of nearly every product in the market by some margin, as all things need to be shipped. Furthermore, reduced energy costs could substantially reduce the cost of industrial products.

On average, electricity contributes to the X percentage of the total cost of goods. This means that, in general, your average good could fall X amount. This would not only help out business, being able to sell more products at a lower price, but also help out consumers who could consume it at a cheaper price. As a result of cheaper prices the GDP would not increase as much, but the standard of living would rise.



Carbon Fiber
Carbon fiber has the potential to be cheaper than steel if the energy costs were lowered by just a third their current amount.

Carbon fiber's cost is currently around 15 dollars per pound, while steel is around 1 dollar per pound. However, carbon fiber is approximately the same strength as steel, although 5 times lighter weight, in terms of volume. With a density of approximately 7.85 grams per cubic centimeter, compared to approximately 1.5 grams per cubic centimeter for carbon fiber, it is around 5 times lighter weight than steel, in terms of volume or over-all strength. Therefore, the same amount, to say form a body of a car, would only be approximately 3 times more expensive than a similar steel car. So, if carbon fiber costs were alleviated by approximately three times their current amount, carbon fiber could compete with steel, or be around the same price.

Carbon fiber is significantly lighter weight than steel, while around the same strength. For cars made predominately out of steel, this could mean significant reduction in weight without reduction in size or safety. By reducing the weight of a vehicle, for instance say, three times the amount, the vehicle could use three times less fuel, or be three times more fuel efficient.. In 2004, oil consumption was blank, this means that if cars were just three times more fuel efficient, we could kick out all foreign oil usage, reduce the annual cost for the consumption of gasoline to the equivalent of around a dollar per gallon, or even potentially switch to electric cars if the increased range of a more efficient vehicle warranted it. Since carbon fiber is approximately 5 times lighter weight than steel, at the same strength, cars could be even lighter than three times the weight, and thus similarly more fuel efficient.

Carbon fiber's substrate material, Polyacrylonitrile, or PAN, is a common precursor to many textiles, and acrylic materials. PAN is approximately 3 dollars per pound. Carbon fiber is usually created using PAN as a precursor, n stuff. Due to intense, and precise heat and pressure treatment, carbon fiber's cost increases to somewhere around 15 dollars dollars per pound. Since is also dependent on energy intensive processes for creation, being created from rayon, the predominate cost of PAN as well comes predominately from energy costs.

Since most of this cost is in the use of electricity, or energy, by alleviating these costs, say a fourth their amount, carbon fiber would be at least three times cheaper than it is now, allowing it to compete with steel. As a result, more fuel efficient, yet not more expensive, smaller, or less safe vehicles, could exist.

Electric cars might have a significantly further range, as well. According to the Department of energy's fuel economy website, the average electric car has a range of some 100-200 miles per charge, while gasoline is around 300 miles. If 3 times more efficient, the vehicles could theoretically have three times range, or 300-600 mile ranges, therefore giving electric vehicles compatible, if not superior range to current gasoline cars. Combined with reduced electricity costs, electric cars could be considerably cheaper to drive, per mile, than standard gasoline vehicles, and yet potentially be practical.

Even if three times more efficient, your average car would go from, on average, 20 miles per gallon to approximately 60 mpg. Extra aerodynamic features, usually only providing a minimal advantage (such as 20% increased fuel efficiency only going from 20 mpg to 24 mpg, compared to 60 to 72) may become more useful, and cars may become significantly more efficient, not only reducing the cost of transportation of your average person, but potentially for all goods as well.


Lithium ion and other Batteries
Lithium ion is currently fairly expensive. Car batteries made of lithium ion range from 10,000 to 15,000 dollars in their own right, complicating the economics of long ranged electric vehicles.

Lithium ion is made from potassium chloride and lithium chloride, through electrolysis. Electrolysis is an incredibly inefficient process, in this case intended to electrocute, transmute and ionize salts. Lithium ion, industrially is generally made from the  lithium chloride and potassium chloride. Since lithium chloride and potassium chloride are both roughly a dollar per pound or less, when in industrial use, and lithium ion is roughly 30-40 dollars per pound, lithium ion's primary costs rest in manufacture. Electrolysis works by bathing these materials in enormous amounts of electricity until the chemical bonds of each material are broken down and changed; if electricity costs were alleviated, say to being 10 times cheaper, it's easy to see how the nearly negligible lithium chloride and potassium chloride cost would allow a previously 40 dollar per pound battery, to be roughly 4-5 dollars per pound. At 1/10th the cost, an average 10-15,000 dollar lithium ion battery could be reduced to around 1000-1500 dollars. At 1/5th the cost, it could compete with the price of nickel metal hydride, while possessing a substantially lower self discharge rate. This might make long range, easily rechargeable batteries a feasible reality, allowing for a non-polluting, and allow for a significantly cheaper, long range highly efficient emission free electric car.

Other batteries, such as lithium titinate and lithium "carbonized" batteries, could be recharged much quicker. Since both use lithium ion as a base material, and these costs could be alleviated, the over-all cost of the battery could be greatly reduced.

Lithium titanate costs come in large part from chemical costs. Utilizing vaporized titanium, the

In the case of the graphite based "carbonized" battery, the battery could be recharged 30-120 times faster, or in minutes rather than hours; this might make recharging at a "pump" a tad more realistic for long range travel. These batteries would need to be carbonized, essentially use an energy intensive method, pyrolysis or destructive distillation, both of which require large volumes of electricity. By reducing the base cost of electricity, the costs for these batteries could be reduced, as well, in addition to reducing the cost of lithium ion, their precursor cost. This alone would allow for cheaper, easily recharged batteries, making convenient electric cars an affordable reality.


Computers

Solar panels


Water 


Food


High Strength materials

Graphene.


Government Spending
Social security, medicare etc.