Energy Resources
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Natural Resource – any natural material that
is used by humans.
 Ex. Water, petroleum, minerals, forests, and
animals.
 Most resources are changed and made into
products that make people’s lives more
comfortable and convenient.

Renewable Resources – natural resource that
can be replaced at the same rate at which the
resource is consumed.
 Ex. Wind, Sun, and water (sometimes).
 Some resources can become nonrenewable if they
are used up too quickly like:
▪ Water
▪ Trees

Nonrenewable Resources- a resource that
forms at a rate that is much slower than the
rate at which it is consumed.
 Ex. Coal, Oil, Petroleum.
 Because these sources are nonrenewable there is
a major need to find sources of energy that are
more reliable for the future.
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Because natural resources carry so much
value to humans one should learn to conserve
them even if they are considered renewable.
How to conserve Resources:

http://www.footprintnetwork.org/en/index.p
hp/GFN/page/calculators/
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Reduce
 Reduce the amount of waste that you create.
 Use cloth bags instead of paper/plastic.

Reuse
 Reuse products as much as possible before throwing them
out.
 Ex. Use a towel twice instead of washing it after one use.

Recycle
 The process of recovering valuable or useful materials
from waste or scrap.
 Newspaper, aluminum cans, plastic, and cardboard can all
be recycled.
Mining
the extraction of valuable minerals or
other geological materials from the earth.
Deforestation
the removal of a forest or stand of trees where
the land is converted to a non-forest
use. Examples of deforestation include
conversion of forestland to farms, ranches, or
urban use.
Agriculture
(also called farming) is the cultivation
of animals, plants, fungi and other life forms
for food, fiber, and other products used to
sustain life.
Overgrazing
when plants are exposed to
intensive grazing for long periods of time, or
without enough recovery time. It can be
caused by either livestock in poorly
managed agricultural applications, or by
overpopulations of native or non-native wild
animals.
Urbanization
the physical growth of urban areas as a result
of global change.
Your Turn!
• What do you think the issue is with
Urbanization, agriculture, overgrazing,
deforestation, and mining?
MAKING NEWS!
• In the groups I assign, you will research a topic
about a human impact on Earths surface.
• Using the information at your station; Video,
Posted information, and Text Book, your group
will create a 2 minute News Story to present
to the class in a live studio recording!
Information you MUST include in your
news story..
• A description of the activity you are
researching.
• Why it occurs.
• Most importantly: The impact this activity has
on the lithosphere both past and present.
• Keep it fun, exciting, and informative!
(Why would someone be interested in
watching your news report?)
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Energy resources – natural resources that
humans use to generate energy.
Fossil fuel – a nonrenewable energy resource
formed from the remains of organisms that
lived long ago
 examples include:
▪ Oil
▪ Coal
▪ Natural gas.

Energy is released from fossil fuels when they
are burned.
 Ex. Burning of coal in power plant is used to
provide electrical energy.

All living things are made up of Carbon.
 Yes that means you are too.

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Fossil fuels are formed from the remains of
plants and animals.
Hydrocarbons – the way carbon is found in
the majority of fossil fuels.
 A combination of hydrogen and carbon.

Fossil Fuels can be found as:
 Solid
 Liquid
 Gas

Petroleum – a liquid mixture of complex
hydrocarbon compounds; used widely as a
fuel source.
 Also known as crude oil.
 Separated into several kinds of products in
refineries.

Different types of products that petroleum
can be separated into:
 Gasoline
 Jet Fuel
 Kerosene
 Diesel Fuel
 Fuel Oil

Petroleum is often referred to as black gold
due to its importance to society.
 40% of the world’s energy comes from petroleum
products.
 Petroleum products are the main fuel for forms of
transportation.

Natural gas – a mixture of gaseous
hydrocarbons located under the surface of
the Earth, often near petroleum deposits;
used as a fuel.
 Used for heating
 Generating electricity
 Some stoves use natural gas

Advantage of using natural gas:
 Using it causes les air pollution than using oil.

Disadvantages
 Very flammable
 Gas leaks can lead to fires or deadly explosions

Main components of natural gas:
 Methane
▪ CH4
•
Other products that can be separated from natural
gas include:
▪
▪
Butane
Propane
▪ These products are often used to cook with in camp stoves and
outdoor grills.
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Coal – a fossil fuel that forms underground
from partially decomposed plant material.
Uses:
 Heating homes
 Transportation in trains and boats.
▪ Coal is no longer used in heating or for transportation
purposes.
 Generation of electricity. ( Main use today.)

Peat – is an accumulation of partially decayed
vegetation.
 Used as a fuel source.
 Releases large amounts of carbon when burned.
1.
2.
3.
4.
Microscopic sea organisms die.
The remains settle on the ocean floor.
The remains decay, are buried, and become
part of the ocean sediment.
Eventually the sediment becomes rock
trapping the remains.
 Petroleum and natural gas form this way.

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Eventually over time, the pressure of
overlying rocks and sediment allow the fossil
fuels to move through the permeable rocks.
Permeable rocks – rocks that allow fluids to
move through them.

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Petroleum and natural gas is an ongoing
process.
Part of the remains of today’s sea life will
become petroleum and natural gas millions
of year from now.
1.
2.
3.
Forms underground from decayed swamp
plants over millions of years.
When the plants die, they sink to the
bottom of the swamp.
This is the start of the process in which coal
is formed.

Petroleum and Natural Gas
 Removed from Earth by drilling wells into rock.
▪ Oil wells exist on land and in the ocean.
 In the ocean, large drills are attached to large
platforms that are anchored to the ocean floor.

Coal
 Obtained by either subsurface mining or surface
mining.

Acid precipitation – precipitation, such as rain
sleet or snow that contains a high
concentration of acids, often because of the
pollution of the atmosphere.
1. Sulfur dioxide is released into the atmosphere
when coal is burned without pollution controls.
2. Sulfur dioxide combines with moisture in the air
to produce sulfuric acid.
3. Sulfuric acid is the cause of acid rain.
4. Can effect wildlife, plants, buildings, and
statues.

The mining of coal can also create
environmental problems.
 Surface mining removes soil in which some plants
and animals need for shelter.
 Can lower water tables and pollute water supplies.
 Coal mines endanger the lives of miners.

Producing, transporting, and using petroleum
can cause environmental problems and
endanger wildlife.
 Ex. Treasure, an oil rig, sank off the coast of South
Africa and spilled more than 400 tons of oil.
 The oil coated thousands of blackfooted
penguins.
▪ Hindering the penguins from swimming and catching
fish for food.

Smog – photochemical haze that forms when
sunlight acts on industrial pollutants and
burning fuels.
 Result of millions of automobiles that burn
gasoline.
 Due to the Mountains that surround Los Angeles
it prevents winds from blowing the pollutants
away.
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Nuclear energy – the energy released by a
fission or fusion reaction; the binding energy
of the atomic nucleus.
Fission – a process in which the nuclei of
radioactive atoms are split into two or more
smaller nuclei.
 Releases a large amount of energy.

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A lot of energy is being produced.
Economically it is fairly cheap once the plant
has been made.
Cheapest and most clean way of producing
electricity, since no greenhouse gasses are
produced.

Accidents Happen:
 If cooling system stops working the plant could
experience a meltdown.
 Ex. Chernobyl, USSR
 Three Mile Island

Nuclear Waste
 Storage
 Transportation

In 1986 a runaway fission reaction at the
power plant caused a violent explosion.
 31 people were killed from the explosion.
 15,000 people are expected to die in the next 50
years from radioactive fallout.

Home of the power plant and the people that
worked at it.
 Population before the accident was approximately
50,000.

Today the city is considered to be safe to visit
but many people are scared to enter the city
due to its past.


March 28,1979 a nuclear reactor near
Middletown, Pennsylvania partial melted
down.
Due to the small amount of exposures of
radiation there has been no links between
cancer or other complications and the
accident.

Fusion – is the joining of two or more nuclei
to form a larger nucleus.
 This process releases large amounts of energy.
 Occurs in the sun naturally.
 Too expensive to use fusion reactions on Earth.
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Produces very few dangerous wastes.
Abundant fuel supply would be available.
No Air Pollution
No risk of a nuclear meltdown.
No generation of weapons material.

Solar energy – the energy received by the
Earth from the sun in the form of radiation.
 Renewable resource of energy. (Sort of)
 Can be used directly to heat building and to
generate electricity.
 Currently we do not generate the energy needed
to use solar energy.

Solar panels – large panels made up of many
solar cells wired together.
 Provide some of the electrical energy used in
buildings.
 Change sunlight into electrical energy through the
use of photovoltaic cells.
▪ Ex. Solar powered calculator.

Solar collectors – dark colored boxes that
have glass or plastic tops.
 Used to heat water.
 Commonly used in Florida and California

Pros:
 No pollution is produced.
 Renewable source of energy.

Cons:
 Some climates don’t have enough sunny days to
benefit from solar energy.
 Solar cells and solar collectors are expensive to
make.

Wind Power – the use of a windmill to drive
an electric generator.
 Use of a windmill to drive an electric generator.
 Wind energy is renewable
 No pollution is Caused.
Con
Wind isn’t strong enough or frequent enough to
create energy on a large scale.

Hydroelectric Energy – electrical energy
produced by falling water.
 Man has used water power since ancient times.
 During the Industrial Revolution, water wheels
provided energy for many factories.

Pros:
 Inexpensive and causes little pollution
 Renewable (Kind of)

Cons:
 Not available everywhere.
 Can be produced only where large volumes of falling
water can be harnessed
 Large dams could destroy forest and wildlife habitats.
▪ Ex. Columbia river in Washington state salmon are prevented
from migrating up stream.

Biomass – organic matter that can be a
source of energy.
 Animals and Plants both absorb energy from the
sun and store it for later use.
 Leaves, wood, and other parts of plants contain
the stored energy.
 Even the dung of a plant-grazing animal is high in
stored energy.

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Biomass energy can be released in several
ways.
Burning the biomass is the easiest and most
common way.
 About half of the world burns wood or charcoal to
heat their homes and cook their food.

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Gasohol – a mixture of gasoline and alcohol that
is used as a fuel.
Biomass material can be changed into liquid
fuel.
 Plants that contain sugar or starch can be made into
alcohol by a process known as fermentation.
 Biomass requires approximately one complete
harvest to provide only 10% of our gas usage in the
US.
 Gasohol also requires a lot of land in order to grow the
corn.

Geothermal Energy – the energy produced by
heat within the Earth.

Geysers – natural vents that discharge steam
or water in a column into the air.

Power plants are built on top of these drilled
wells to harness the energy.
 The world largest is located in California called
The Geysers.
▪ Producing electricity for 1.7 million homes.
 Geothermal energy can also be pumped through
building in order to heat them.
▪ Many building Iceland are heated this way.
ALTERNATIVE SOURCE
OF ENERGY
HYDROELECTRIC
SOLAR
FUSION
FISSION
CHEMICAL
GASOHOL
GEOTHERMAL
WIND
PROS
CONS
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Urbanization
Deforestation
Agriculture