ENERGY

Types of energy sources Renewable Hydroelectric Solar Wind Geothermal Non-renewable Fossil Fuels

FOSSIL FUELS Fossil Fuel is the burning of natural gas, oil, and coal It is a non renewable form of energy

FOSSIL FUELS Oil and Coal Power plants Oil/Coal is burned to produce heat Heat boils water Steam is produced Steam spins turbine Only 35% of energy in oil is used 65% is lost into environment

FOSSIL FUELS A coal power plant

FOSSIL FUELS Uses for fossil fuels Powers combustion engines Trains and cars Electricity and heating Propane tanks for barbeques

FOSSIL FUELS Impacts – Atmosphere Cause less oxygen in the atmosphere Global warming Acid Rain Impacts – Lithosphere Damage soils Soil erosion and soil degradation

FOSSIL FUELS Impacts – Hydrosphere Flooding Melting ice caps Water contamination Impacts – Biosphere Kills marine life Animals unable to migrate

FOSSIL FUELS Poorly Managed Ecosystems in areas of oil exploration Example – Oil exploration in 1996, Alaska Off-shore drilling Good Management Tankers designed with double hulls Example – Exxon Valdez

FOSSIL FUELS Solutions Use resources more efficiently Reuse waste heat Can achieve efficiencies of 80 – 90 % Modern technologies and strict controls Pros – Can remove up to 97% of SO2 emissions Cons – Decreases efficiency of combustion process

FOSSIL FUELS Articles Vancouver Sun – May 19, 2001 Air pollution caused by gasoline affects people’s health Vancouver Sun – May 21, 2001 Air pollution deaths increase dramatically

FOSSIL FUELS Articles Continued Vancouver Sun – May 21, 2001 Environment Canada and Health Canada had meetings with CEOs of oil refineries to stick to the 1999 regulation of reducing sulfur in gasoline Sulfur in gasoline damages anti pollution devices in cars

GEOTHERMAL Geothermal energy is heat energy found deep below the Earth's surface. geo = Earth, thermal = heat

GEOTHERMAL The heat energy can be utilized in a couple of ways: 1) Water in pipes can run through the hot rocks and be heated up. The water can be used as hot water in homes. 2) Water in pipes can be run very deep below the Earth's surface. Here the water will be heated at very high temperatures and it will turn into steam. The steam build-up can drive turbines and produce electricity. steam from geothermal energy also occurs naturally in geysers

GEOTHERMAL

Impacts – Atmosphere geothermal plants do emit some carbon dioxide emissions, but they're very low compared to other kinds of power plants Impacts – Lithosphere most geothermal plants require digging into the soil and rocks to run the pipes deep below the Earth's surface

GEOTHERMAL Impacts – Hydrosphere no impact geothermal plants run the same water in a cycle cooling and heating it in various stages, without affecting outside sources Impacts – Biosphere no impact geothermal plants do not produce any harmful emissions

GEOTHERMAL Management of Geothermal Energy Geothermal energy is best used in regions where there is the most heat energy from magma.

GEOTHERMAL To limit the amount of lithosphere and atmosphere impact, plants can be built on top of pre-existing natural geysers. The first geothermal power plants in the U.S. were built in 1962 at The Geysers dry steam field, in northern California. It is still the largest producing geothermal field in the world

NUCLEAR Nuclear energy is the use of the nuclear fission of uranium to produce electricity.

NUCLEAR -1 tonne of uranium produces the same amount of electricity as tonnes of coal or barrels of oil This process occurs to make electricity from uranium: 1) Uranium mined from uranium or is compressed into pellets and put into fuel rods.

NUCLEAR 2) Uranium atoms in the fuel rods are split and this causes a chain reaction with other uranium atoms.

NUCLEAR 3) The intense heat, caused by the splitting of the uranium atoms, heats up water into steam. 4) The steam builds up pressure and turns a turbine, which produces electricity. 5) Control rods are used to absorb excess radioactivity from the reaction.

NUCLEAR 6) The hot water is cooled by a coolant and reused.

NUCLEAR This process produces 2 types of wastes: 1) Low Level wastes Clothing and other materials exposed to radioactivity. 2) High Level wastes Fuel and control rods (takes 3 million years for the radioactivity to decay to safe levels)

NUCLEAR There are 2 types of management of these wastes: 1) Low Level wastes are generally stored in bunkers. 2) High Level wastes are buried deep into the ground. i.e. In the US, Yucca Mountain in Nevada is the national nuclear waste disposal site, because it is solid rock, there isn't much rainfall, there haven't been any recent earthquakes, and there aren't any volcanoes near there.

NUCLEAR Impacts – Atmosphere a nuclear power plant meltdown may contaminate the atmosphere with radioactive substances it has little impact from greenhouse gasses on the atmosphere

NUCLEAR

Lithosphere - fuel and control rods have to be buried deep into rock and this may damage the rock structure uranium ore has to be mined and this can damage the soil and rocks in and around the mine Hydrosphere - there is a chance that buried radioactive materials may leak into the groundwater and this can severely contaminate the water Biosphere - during a possible nuclear power plant meltdown radioactivity released into the air can kill many organisms i.e.. in the Chernobyl power plant in 1986 a meltdown released radioactivity into the atmosphere and 5000 people died and became disabled

NUCLEAR Managing Nuclear Power Make transportation, burial, and storage of radioactive feel and control rods as safe as possible. This means the use of strict government intervention and controls. Stop the use of old and worn out nuclear power plants, so a risk of a meltdown is minimised.

HYDROELECTRIC Hydroelectricity is used to provide electricity By converting the kinetic energy in the falling water into electricity.

HYDROELECTRIC Impacts – Atmosphere Gives off Greenhouse gases (Methane) Decaying plants flooded in reservoirs Impacts – Lithosphere Hydroelectric dams flood large areas of land Siltation and Erosion

HYDROELECTRIC Impacts – Hydrosphere Slows down the natural flow of rivers Impacts – Biosphere Fish get caught in turbines Reservoirs flood trees and plant life Preventing fish going upstream to spawn Fish die because of mercury in the water

HYDROELECTRIC Poorly Managed Reservoirs flooding the plant-life causing plants to drown Environmentally Managed Grain and Sawmills Water Wheel

WIND Wind energy is the use of wind to produce electricity.

WIND Wind Turbine - blades attached to the turbine rotate when wind hits them, causing the turbine to rotate, and this produces electricity similar to a windmill the amount of energy produced is dependant on the wind speed and the size of the blades

WIND Impacts – Atmosphere no impact wind turbines do not release any emissions Impacts – Lithosphere wind turbines are high in the air and they need to be anchored onto the ground, so they may affect the ground's soil and rock structure

WIND Impacts – Hydrosphere no impact wind turbines do not affect the water cycle at all Impacts – Biosphere the spinning blades attached to the wind turbine can hit and injure birds that get near them and this could degrade local bird populations

WIND Management of Wind Energy as more people use wind energy to power their homes, the price of the turbines goes down the amount of electricity produced is dependant on the location, so it would be better to produce most of the turbines in windy areas, such as the coasts, on mountains, etc. an area with wind speeds of an average of 20 kilometres per hour is needed so that wind energy is economical

SOLAR Solar energy from the sun can be captured as heat in homes and other buildings, or it can be converted to electricity.

SOLAR Passive Solar - many architects design homes and other buildings that are good at absorbing heat from the sun a well-designed passive solar building can store solar heat for many hours and it even stays warm after the sunsets reduces the energy needed for heat

SOLAR Flat-Panel Collectors - panels are used to concentrate the suns rays and heat up water flowing through tubes the hot water can then be circulated around a building and this can be used to heat homes if the water is heated to a very high temperature, the steam that is generated by the very hot water can be used to drive turbines and produce electricity

SOLAR Photovoltaic Panels - when light hits a solar cell electricity is produced e.g. many calculators use solar cells to produce electricity large panels could supply the electricity needed for a building, and when spread over hundreds of hectares they can even power a whole city

SOLAR Impacts – Atmosphere no impact solar panels release no emissions and don't affect air quality whatsoever Impacts – Lithosphere no impact solar panels do not require any drilling into rocks, and many of them can be placed on top of existing buildings and structures without affecting the lithosphere at all

SOLAR Impacts – Hydrosphere no impact solar panels do not affect the water cycle at all Impacts – Biosphere light reflected from solar panels may actually be dangerous for birds and airplane pilots, because they can blind them and cause accidents

SOLAR Management of Solar Energy further research can reduce the costs of solar panels and reduce the size of the space they take up solar energy is best used in areas with low annual cloud coverage, and therefore it may not be very suitable in B.C.

REFERENCES World Nuclear Association The Virtual Nuclear Tourist Geothermal Education Office How Hydroelectric Works