1. Non-Renewable Energy Resources: How do dead things power our lives?
Life requires energy – it is stored, transferred, and converted
Ultimate source of energy for life – the Sun
For humans, our source of energy is food
Fuel – any substance that can be used for energy
Fuel is never 100% efficient – only 5-20% of what is received is actually used
During conversions, some energy is lost - some is converted into heat, light, or sound energy
Human need for energy has changed through time
Hunter-Gatherers – wood
Industrial Revolution – oil, coal
Contemporary – use many types of energy sources

2. Evaluating Energy Resources
The types we use determine our quality of life and the amount of harmful environmental effects
Questions to ask ourselves:
How much of the energy source will be available in the future?
What is this source’s net energy yield?
How much will it cost to develop, phase in, and use this resource?
How much will extracting, transporting, and using the energy resource affect the environment?
What will using this energy source do to help sustain Earth?

3. Net Energy
The total useful energy available from the resource over its lifetime
minus
The amount of energy used, lost, and wasted in finding, processing, concentrating, and transporting it to uses

4. Non-Renewable vs. Renewable
Non-renewable – resources that cannot regenerate quickly (takes thousands or millions of years)
Renewable – resources that regenerate quickly (within decades)

5. Nuclear Energy – What is It?
Produced through the fission (dividing) of uranium atoms  heats water to produce steam  drives turbines to produce electricity

6. Nuclear Energy – Pros
Nuclear power plants don’t emit air pollutants (when operated properly)
Water pollution (thermal pollution) and disruption of land are low to moderate
Safety measures reduce the likelihood of a catastrophic accident

7. Nuclear Energy - Cons Harmful radiation leaks into the environment
Chernobyl ( ): reactor explosions in the Ukraine killed 3,576 people (officially, but other estimates say 32,000) and over 500,000 were exposed radioactivity causing cancer, tumors, eye cataract, and genetic mutations
Three-Mile Island ( ): plant in Pennsylvania lost is coolant water (mechanical and human errors); no known injuries/deaths were reported, but some studies show increased cancer rates in the area from radioactive materials leaking into the atmosphere
Radioactive Waste
High-level waste must be stored for 10, ,000 years
Low-level waste must be stored for 100s of years (dumped in the ocean during the 1970s)
After years, the nuclear reactor becomes too radioactive and must be dismantled or shielded with a barrier
Used to be inexpensive, but maintaining the building and storing wastes is now expensive

8. Fossil Fuels – What is It?
Fuel formed hundreds of millions of years ago from the remains of dead plants and animals
Made of hydrocarbons
When combined with oxygen  light and heat energy are released (combustion)
Types: Coal, Natural Gas, Petroleum/Oil

9. Coal
Plant remains converted by heat and pressure into a solid rock over millions of years
Has stages of development that concentrates the coal and the energy it produces
Peat – low amount of carbon / least amount of energy (not true “coal”)
Lignite – 40% carbon, must be mined from below ground
Bituminous Coal – 85% carbon, deep in Earth’s crust, most abundant type in the United States
Anthracite Coal – 95% carbon; deepest in the ground; has the least amount of water and impurities and has the greatest amount of energy

10. Coal – Pros and Cons Pros Cons
Most abundant fossil fuel (should last at least 220 years at the current rate of use)
High net energy yield (25-28%)
Cons
Coal mining is dangerous (accidents, black lung disease) and harmful to the environment (land and water pollution)
Dirtiest to burn and release many air pollutants (carbon monoxide, carbon dioxide, and radioactive elements)
Threat to human health (respiratory diseases from air pollutants) and results in property damages

11. Natural Gas
Mixture of mostly gaseous hydrocarbons (methane is the primary component)
Forms from the remains of plankton, plants, and animals living in shallow water millions of years ago

12. Natural Gas – Pros and Cons
Cheaper than oil
Reserves are expected to last years
Can be transported easily
Has a high energy yield (4.9%)
Produces less air pollution than any other fossil fuel
Extraction damages the environment less
Can be used to power vehicles and highly efficient fuel cells
Cons
Toxic sulfur can be released into the air
In order to ship it over the ocean, it has to be converted to liquid, which is expensive and dangerous (explosions)
Leaks from pipelines, tanks, and distribution facilities increases the amount of methane (greenhouse gas) in the atmosphere

13. Petroleum/Oil Forms the same as oil
Can “gush” out of the ground or need to be pumped to the surface with drilled wells
Refined to make a variety of products
Gasoline, jet fuels, diesel fuel, fuel oil, grease (Vaseline), asphalt, nylon, polyester, plastics, styrofoam

14. Petroleum/Oil – Pros and Cons
Relatively cheap
Easily transported within and between countries
High net energy yield (4.7%) when easily accessible
Cons
Reserves may be depleted with 85 years
Oil-drilling process cases damage to the environment which increases erosion
Oil spills contaminate soil and/or water
Burning fuel oil releases carbon dioxide which leads to global warming and other air pollutants that harm people, crops, trees, fish, and other plants/animals

15. Should we reduce our dependence on fossil fuels?
Used to make fuels, plastics
Fossil fuels provide numerous products
They are easy to use and relatively cheap
Rich in hydrocarbon energy
Should we reduce our dependence on fossil fuels?
Remains of organisms
Requires combustion for energy
Takes millions of years
Source depleting
Spills contaminate the ecosystem
Fossil fuels are non-renewable
They pollute the environment