Chapter 17 Nonrenewable energy

Objectives Factors that influence the value of a fuel How are fuels used to generate power? Patterns of energy consumption How fossil fuels form Advantages/disadvantages Production

Fossil fuels What are they? Decayed remains of older animals How do we use them? Everywhere

What do we use them for? 5 main uses Cooking Transportation Manufacturing Heating/cooling Generating electricity

Electricity Almost all power from fossil fuels is turned into electricity With an electric generator Converts mechanical energy to electrical energy Uses a turbine Moving conductive material within a magnetic field The moving of the material gets the energy required from burning of fossil fuels Eg burning coal makes heat, which turns water into steam, which turns the turbines

Energy This energy is used everywhere, from consuming the energy directly yourself to the energy it cost to make a product Price of most things include the cost of energy Eg buying imported food, includes cost of fuel to get it to the store energy use can vary wildly among countries Canada and USA uses almost twice what japan does

Energy in USA We use more energy per person than almost any other country Why? We are so big and so far away from most other countries that we have to transport everything Most countries not as big as we are Fuel and gas is widely available and cheap, so we don’t feel the need to conserve nearly as much as other countries

Fossil fuels Each fossil fuel has its advantages and disadvantages Eg using firewood for an airplane http://schools.birdvilleschools.net/cms/lib2/TX01000797/Centrici ty/Domain/4185/Bill%20Nye%20Pollution%20Solutions.pdf https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iM2G7m-73hc

How do they form? Coal Remains of plants covered by sediment Heat and pressure compressed the remains and turned them into coal How old? 320-300 million years ago for the “rust belt” states Can be much younger, but still tens of millions of years old

How do they form? Oil and natural gas Organisms on the bottom of the ocean Heated after buried by sediments and moved into porous rocks Oil in Texas, Gulf of Mexico, and Alaska If under the ocean then why is it discovered on land as well?

Coal Coal is one of the most widely used fossil fuels Huge deposits in USA and Asia Almost half of energy produced in the United states from coal Why? Inexpensive Doesn't need a lot of refining

Coal Environmental impacts Vary wildly Underground mines are not very harmful to the environment but this is the best case scenario Sometimes the side of a mountain has to be excavated or blown off in order to reach the coal, which can be dangerous Research is going into safer methods of extraction

Coal Varying grades of coals Bituminous is high grade Lignite is low grade Higher grades of coal have less Sulfur which, when burned, produce less pollutants when burned than lower grade coals Burning high sulfur coal is where you get Acid Rain from and serious air pollution All burning of coal produces carbon dioxide which contributes to global warming, jut some coal is more efficient than others

How a coal power plant works https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SeXG8K5_UvU

Petroleum Oil pumped from ground Many things are made from crude oil Can you think of any? Fuels Chemicals Plastics Very common products we use every day

Finding the oil Found around major geologic features Fault lines, folds, etc Why? Bound by impermeable layers of rock, which traps it Oil is not the black liquid we see in the movies, at least not right away Wells to find oil can be as far as 35,000 feet down into the Earth Eg Deepwater Horizon Why would we dig so deep?

Oil and its impacts Burning oil does release harmful pollutants Can you think of any? Carbon monoxide Carbon dioxide How do our cars move? Burning gas and carbon monoxide comes out of our tailpipes These can cause smog (like in china) and other long term health risks Regulations as well as converters are helping to reduce this (white smoke in chimneys) But in areas where this type of filters are too expensive or haven’t reached, it can be far worse

Oil spills Oil spills can be a major problem Eg Deepwater Horizon

Fracking What is it? Natural gas trapped in shales How does it work? Fluid pressure to fracture rocks so gas can flow What makes it different? More chemicals and more frequent

Fracking Benefits? Increased access, so really cheap once its out Employment that cant be shipped away Less pollution, but carbon footprint basically the same Downsides? More water contamination Eg surface waters with methane \ Groundwater contamination Lots of methane

Natural gas 20% of nonrenewable resources Originally thought of as a nuisance Now a valuable resource Burns much cleaner than other fossil fuels But is a much stronger greenhouse gas

The future Fossil fuels supply 90% of the energy in developed countries But energy demands may go up almost 30% Why? Increased population Continued development

The future This increased demand will increase demand for fossil fuels, and bring costs up This will likely make alternate sources of power more desireable

Predicting oil Oil production is hard to predict Oil reserves are deposits that can be extracted profitably No new major deposits expected to be found But some already known less profitable deposits may become more desirable as the major deposits dry up Not considered now but if companies get desperate enough…. But at a point it will get too expensive and we will need alternative sources

Concept questions to turn in What is the relationship between natural gas and petroleum? Are fossil fuels produced today by the same processes as the past? What do you think accounts for the increase in oil production in the past 50 years?

Name a type of fossil fuel and how we use it in every day life Bell ringer Name a type of fossil fuel and how we use it in every day life

How can you reduce pollution in your life? Bellringer How can you reduce pollution in your life?

How can you determine the grade of a coal? bellringer How can you determine the grade of a coal?

What are some forms of renewable energy? Bellringer What are some forms of renewable energy?

What is an advantage of fracking? bellringer What is an advantage of fracking?

Why would we use nuclear energy? Bellringer Why would we use nuclear energy?

why doesn't the USA use a lot of nuclear energy? Bellringer why doesn't the USA use a lot of nuclear energy?

http://whyfiles.org/2012/fracking-classroom-activity-page/

Nuclear energy We need alternatives to fossil fuels Once, nuclear power plants were thought to be the ultimate way to the future Today about 14% of our energy comes from nuclear plants

Fission Nuclear power plants get power from nuclear energy bound within the nucleus of an atom, hence its name Forces that hold the nucleus together are ridiculously powerful 1 million times stronger than chemical bonds https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1U6Nzcv9Vws

Nuclear energy Works very similar to a coal plant Explained in video

Nuclear energy advantages Very concentrated No greenhouse gases Not very much radiation Contrary to belief Good if you don’t have many fossil fuels Eg france (3/4 of all energy)

Nuclear energy If tis so wonderful, then why don’t we use it? Expensive $3000 per kilowatt hour Some plants can make 479000 kw per hour Meanwhile, wind power can be about $1000 per kw hour All of this can change with time

Disadvantages Big issue is storing nuclear wastes Uranium fuel can remain dangerous for thousands of years Used fuel, water, and equipment are also dangerous Hard to store safely Must be geologically stable Makes some areas hard to use

Safety issues Controlled fission process can become out of control Eg Chernobyl fukushima Three-mile island was the biggest incident in the united states Human error and faulty equipment

Future Fusion Safer, makes less byproducts Lightweight nuclei come together to form heavier nucleus In all stars Safer, makes less byproducts As of right now, technology is not quite ready yet But someday……. Possibly use nuclear reactors to make hydrogen

Name a way we will use nuclear energy in the future Bellringer Name a way we will use nuclear energy in the future