Earth’s Resources

Chapter Sixteen: Natural Resources and Conservation 16.1 Natural Resources and Energy 16.2 Supplying Our Energy Needs 16.3 Resources and Conservation

Investigation 16B How fast are we using nonrenewable resources? Non-Renewable Resources

16.2 Supplying our energy needs Electricity is made in a power plant. Most power plants burn fossil fuels (natural resources like coal, oil, or natural gas) to produce heat.

16.2 Supplying our energy needs In a power plant, heat generated from an energy source is used to boil water. The steam from the boiling water turns a turbine. The turbine turns a generator which produces electricity.

16.2 Electricity from fossil fuels A nonrenewable resource is not replaced as it is used. Because it takes so long for these resources to form, someday we will not have enough fossil fuels to produce the electricity we need. The three major fossil fuels are coal, oil, and natural gas. They are nonrenewable.

The United States gets about 20% of its electricity production from nuclear power plants. The element uranium is used to fuel these plants. Uranium is nonrenewable.

16.2 Electricity from nuclear energy The main advantage of using nuclear energy to produce electricity is that it doesn’t pollute the air.

16.2 Electricity from nuclear energy Storage of nuclear waste has always been a major disadvantage of nuclear power plants. Uranium fuel from the reactor stays dangerously radioactive for a long time.

16.2 Electricity from renewable resources A renewable resource can be replaced naturally in a relatively short period of time. The Sun (solar) and wind are renewable resources that can be used as energy sources.

16.2 Electricity from renewable resources Other renewable energy sources: – moving water (hydroelectric) – hot spots near Earth’s surface (geothermal) – fuels made from once-living things like wood or corn (called biomass) or – tides to produce electricity.

16.2 Transportation and energy Americans use about 375 million gallons of gasoline every day. 130 billion gallons per year. The U.S. does not produce enough crude oil to make all of the gasoline used by American motorists.

16.2 Transportation and energy If a machine is efficient, the machine is able to use most of its energy source to do a job. Only about 20% of the gasoline energy in a car is converted to motion. Almost 80% the energy is lost as unusable heat.