Welcome! Please find your carbon cycle diagram and read the board!

Time to put your thinking cap on!  Please get out your notes on Keystone XL and read the board.

Keystone XL  Who, What, Where, When, Why?  Summarize in your working group

Tradeoff statements  Lame vs. AP!!!!!

Net Energy - The difference between the energy expended to harvest/produce an energy source and the amount of usable energy gained from that harvest  The more steps of production there are, the lower the net energy.  Concept is useful in evaluating sustainability of energy choices.

How is energy used in oil production?

Tar Sand production

Which has lower net energy – traditional oil production or tar sands?  The difference between the energy expended to harvest/produce an energy source and the amount of usable energy gained from that harvest  What information/data would you need to answer this question accurately?

Coal– dig it! Formation Extraction Production of Electricity

Biggest Reserves: US, Russia, China, India

Check for understanding!  Explain how coal formation is similar to oil formation.  Explain how coal formation is different from oil formation.  Name the four stages of coal formation. Which one is NOT actually considered coal?  What materials increase as coal ages, and what substances decrease?  Name the four countries with the biggest coal reserves.

Mountain top removal  500+ mountains leveled in W Va  1.2 million acres of hardwood forest destroyed  Overburden (rocks, soil) is dumped into river valleys, increasing turbidity and exposure to heavy metals and radioactive materials.

Surface mine/strip mine (Coal mine in Canada)

Kimberly Big Hole, South Africa  a diamond mine over 1,097 meters deep. The mine was closed in 1914 but was later reopened as a tourist attraction.

Mirny Diamon Mine Serbia  The mine itself is over 525 meters deep and more than 125 kilometers in diameter. The hole is so wide and so deep it is believed to cause a suction effect, which has caused several aircraft accidents in the area. The Mirny Diamond Mine is now considered a no fly zone!

Bingham Canyon Mine, Utah  this is supposedly the largest man-made excavation on earth. extraction began in 1863 and still continues today, the pit increasing in size constantly. in its current state the hole is 3/4 mile deep and 2.5 miles wide.

Subsurface mining

Risks – black lung disease, collapse, explosions from leaking CH 4

From coal to electricity

 Major air pollutants:  CO 2, SO x, NO x, particulates, Hg  Using natural gas?  NO x, CO 2, trace of SO x

Natural gas vs. coal  2007 – coal provided 50% of US electricity.  2011 – coal provided 34% of US electricity.  WHY?

Technology Strategies: trap pollutants at the source

Pollution control  Selective Catalytic Reduction (SCR)  captures % of NOx

Net energy – comparing coal/natural gas  The difference between the energy expended to harvest/produce an energy source and the amount of usable energy gained from that harvest  What information/data would you need to answer this question accurately?