By: Maribel Cruz

Explanation and Usages  Used for industry, electricity, and  92% of coal is used for electricity  4 types of coal - Lignite- young coal that has moisture - Subbituminous- contains 35-45% carbon - Bituminous coal- has 45-86%carbon - Anthracite- contains 86-97% carbon  1/3 of coal comes from Appalachian coal region  Coal also comes from Interior Coal Region and Western Coal Region  Makes 28% of our energy

Advantages  Not expensive  Reduces Americans to rely on foreign oil  Easy to transport  Produces electricity  There are now “clean coal technologies” that clean sulfur from coal  Found in many places especially in the United Kingdom Disadvantages  Nonrenewable  Takes millions of years to create  Causes black lung disease  Mostly causes acid rain  Produces large amount of ash  Mining can be dangerous and difficult

 Made from the remains of plants and animals  Crude oil for the U.S. comes from: Texas, Alaska, California, Louisiana, and Oklahoma  ¼ of oil comes off shore  Used to fuel airplanes, cars, trucks, and heating houses.

Advantages  Makes it easy to transport because its liquid.  Easier to get out of the ground than coal  Is affordable  No other technology is needed to drill oil out of the earth  One of the most abundant energy resources. Disadvantages  Nonrenewable  Sent by ships place to place can spill the oil.  Harder to find making it more expensive  Releases carbon dioxide into the atmosphere  Drilling endangers the environment

 Made of once living things (plants & animals)  Over millions of years it turns into coal, and oil.  Natural gases are tiny bubbles that have no odor to it  Can burn with enough lightning or fire.  Measured and sold by cubic feet. Drills out the natural gas from earth

Advantages  Cleanest fossil fuel  Not harmful to humans  Does not leave any odor or ash behind  Odor is added to detect a leak  Has 70% less CO 2 than other fossil fuels.  Less expensive than coal Disadvantages  Nonrenewable  Very flammable  Toxic if inhaled in large amounts indoors  Harmful to animals (poison)  Pipelines are very expensive because they have to be put under ground

 Used to fuel vehicles, heating homes, refrigerating, cooking, and drying clothes  About 2% is used for the country’s energy  Naturally turns into a gas  Turns into liquid when at high or low temperature  Travels by underground pipelines Propane is stored in large tanks such as this one above.

Advantages  Easy to replace  Clean burning fossil fuel  Easily stored in tanks  When stored in tanks, it can be easy to transport  Less expansive than gasoline  Depending on the amount it can be stored anywhere as long as its in a tank to prevent explosions Disadvantages  Nonrenewable  Fuel is expensive  Flammable  Limited amount is left  Can easily spill when transported  Prices can increase just like gasoline

 Energy in the center of an atom  Energy can be released in two ways: - nuclear fission- atoms are split into smaller atoms -nuclear fusion- atoms are fused (combined) together  Makes 19% of the country’s electricity How fission occurs.

Advantages  Power plants don’t need big spaces  In a way it does not pollute the air  Fission does not contribute to global warming  No greenhouse gases are released into the atmosphere from the power plants Disadvantages  Very expansive  Reactors last only years  when used in the wrong way it can pollute the air  Nuclear explosions make radiation which harm the human cells causing the human to get sick

 Mainly used for electricity  Windmills are used to collect energy  Two types of wind mills: horizontal-axis and vertical-axis  Horizontal axis is the best know wind machine  Caused by heating of the earth’s surface Wind Cycle

Advantages  Renewable as long as the sun shines, it blows air  Environmentally friendly, does not let out green house gases  Wind is free, gives us free energy  Wind turbines can be built almost anywhere but has to have the right amount of wind Disadvantages  Not always is there wind for us to receive energy  Wind turbines are expensive  Turbines can kill birds when they collide with the blades  Windmills make noise when blades turn

 Rays of sun that reach earth  Can be made into thermal energy to heat water for homes and heating swimming pools.  Heat green houses  Used to power most calculators  Solar energy is becoming more popular

Advantages  Renewable  Clean fuel, does not pollute the air  No noise pollution  Once installing solar panels there are no more costs, energy is free  Never runs out unless on cloudy days Disadvantages  Does not send energy to one place, requires big areas to collect energy  Amount of energy depends on time of year/day and weather.  When clouds are in sight we can’t get rays from the sun  Installing solar panels is expensive

 Energy from moving water  Turbines underwater provide energy when water moves  About 10% of our energy in the United States comes from hydropower  Waste products are needed  Does not pollute the water or air

Advantages  Safe and environmentally friendly because it does not produce green house gases  Renewable because it’s a natural resource  Can be used for the whole world  Hydro power is very inexpensive Disadvantages  Hydroelectric generating stations can harm the environment  Dams are expensive to build  When dams are built some villages can get flooded  Dams can take large amounts of space

 Energy that comes from the earth  Heat comes from the earth’s core (hottest part inside the earth)  Geothermal makes its way to us by volcanoes and fumaroles ( holes where the gases of volcanoes are released),geysers and hot springs  Geothermal activity mostly happens in an area called Ring of Fire  When magma comes close to the earth’s surface it heats the ground giving off heat energy.

Advantages  Renewable because heat from the earth keeps coming to us  Does not pollute the air  We are less depending on coal and oil  Does not contribute to the greenhouse effect Disadvantages  Not available in many places  Some places can loose its “steam” for more than 10 years  Power plants cant be built anywhere, has to have the right types of rocks

 Is organic, energy comes from the sun  When burned it releases heat into the atmosphere  May pollute the air but not as much as fossil fuels  produces CO 2 but absorbs the same amount it lets out

Advantages  Cuts down on America to use fossil fuels  Renewable because we are still producing waste  Available in most places  Its affordable  Does not contain much sulfur, that which causes acid rain Disadvantages  Partly causes global warming  Some materials that are used to make biomass are not always available  Pollutes the atmosphere  Installing technology to make power is expensive  Puts green house gases in the air

1. Energy Kids Page. 11/29/ Energy Matters Green living ideas. 12/2/08http://greenlivingideas.com/ 4. Paul Kruger. The Quest for Sustainable Energy. John Wiley.