Have a go matching the facts and figures below.
In 2007 how much of the
world’s energy was
generated by wind?
In the 1960’s how much of the
UK’s electricity was generated
by coal burning?
By 2050 how much of the UK’s
energy will be supplied by
renewables?
How many wind farm sites are
there in the UK?
What is the cost of the
production of offshore wind
energy? Per kWh?
75%
40%
100
5.5
2%
What is a resource?
Key ideas:
• A resource is anything – natural or man-made –
which humans can use.
• All industries need resources in order to operate.
• Most resources come originally from the Earth, for
example iron ore, copper, coal, oil and lead. A farmer
will consider the land itself as a resource, and for a
modern industry the skill of its workers is its most
important resource.
What is a resource?
• A resource is anything that can be used by humans for a
purpose. Resources are constantly changing in importance
e.g Uranium was not a resource until the invention of Nuclear
power. Resources can be classified as:
- Renewable – Resources that can be used again and again and will
not run out in the foreseeable future e.g the wind, wave power
or the sun.
- Non-renewable – Resources which can only be used once and
which have a finite supply i.e. they will run out.
• People use resources every day to improve their lives and
standard of living. In general terms, HIC’s use more resources
than LIC’s although this does not mean that they have more
resources to begin with. Resources are distributed across the
world by trade. This is dependent on how rich you are. USA has
6% of the world’s population but uses 36% of the world’s
resources
Classification of resources
Resources
Natural (physical)
resources
Human and economic
resources
•
•
•
•
Non-renewable
people
skills
machinery
capital
Renewable
Fossil fuels
Minerals
• oil
• iron ore
Continuous
• wind
• waves
Sustainable
•
•
•
•
•
forests
soils
water
ecosystems
landscapes
Why is the world demand for resources increasing?
The demand for, and use of, the world’s resources continues to grow at an
increasingly faster rate. This is mainly due to the three following factors.
Factor
What is happening?
Population
Growth
Total world population:
• 1980 = 4.4 billion
• 2005 = 6.4 billion
• 2015 (est) = > 7 billion
Increasing
Wealth
Technological
Advances
Many MEDCs have had stable
populations for the last 30 years
but energy used per person has
increased. The richer a country
gets, the more energy it uses.
New products are continually
being invented and new
resources constantly being
developed.
Explanation of why this
increases the demand for
resources
A growing population needs food
and water. The more people
there are, the more resources
we need.
The more we have the more we
seem to want.
Lets take one example, the
invention of the car. This alone
has contributed to the increased
use of oil.
1. 1990’s –
historically Britain
has always
generated the
majority of its
electricity from
burning coal. In
1960 75% of
Britain’s power
was generated
from burning coal.
2. As Britain
continued to
industrialise and
develop its energy
demands grew.
Britain began to
use a combination
of fossil fuels – oil,
gas and coal!
3. The UK’s
economy is reliant
on a efficient
energy system.
We need
electricity to
power factories,
heat and light
homes and for
computers and
office machines.
4. Scientists have
known for a long
time that fossil
fuels are a finite
resource and in
recent times we
have started to
witness ‘a dash
for gas’ as
resources are
becoming
depleted.
5. On top of this
the burning of
fossil fuels has
been linked to
atmospheric
pollution and is a
major contributor
to climate change.
6. For a while now
the government
has realised that a
sustainable
solution is needed
to the UK’s
pending energy
crisis.
7. A long term
natural renewable
resource is the
only solution. This
could include
harnessing wind,
solar or tidal
power to generate
electricity.
8. As the UK is
windiest country
in Europe.
Harnessing wind
energy by building
wind farms seems
the best solution.
9. The UK
government
favour wind
energy as the
best option for
hitting their 20%
by 2020 target. So
is encouraging
energy firms to
invest in wind
farms and put
pressure on local
authorities to
grant planning
permission.
10. There are
stacks of benefits
to wind energy
including wind is a
renewable
resource, it
doesn’t cause air
pollution, jobs
would be created,
could meet 30%
of Britain’s
electricity needs
by 2040.
11. Most recently
a proposal was
put forward to
build a wind farm
on the isle of
Lewis in the Outer
Hebrides.
12. The proposal
was rejected for
several reasons
the ecology and
environmental
damage the
turbines could
cause to the local
peatland
ecosystems. The
11,000 population
of the Isle of
Lewis are pleased
with the outcome.
Saved by the wind?
Our use of fossil fuels is not sustainable. They are
linked with global warming – and they’ll run out
one day.
Now the pressure is on to get less electricity from
fossil fuels such as coal, oil and gas, and more
from renewable sources of energy such as wind
power.
Renewable sources wont add to global warming.
Availability of resources
• ANSWERS
Term
Definition
Example
Non renewable
Can be renewed by Wood
humans and
therefore will last
Sustainable
resources
Can’t be remade,
Wave
being used up,
once gone they are
gone
Renewable,
sustainable
resources
These renew
themselves and
don’t need
managing
Diamonds
1
Solar Energy
There are 3 types :
•
Thermal solar energy (black water-filled tanks
which absorb the sun’s heat and turns cold water
into warm/hot water. Reasonably cheap to produce.
•
PVC – Photo-voltaic cells (like the ones on your
calculator) which convert sunlight directly into a
small electric charge. Fairly expensive to produce
but the cost is coming down
•
Reflective solar energy : redirecting and focusing
the sun’s rays onto a central point to boil water to
steam, which then turns a turbine to make
electricity
Needs :
•High % of cloudless skies
•High angle of sun in the sky (not high latitudes)
•Low rainfall region
Massive solar array at Seville in S. Spain – Europe’s
first commercial solar power plant of its type.
Limitations :
Potential :
• No energy is produced at night
• Significant potential in high sunshine areas
(California, S. Europe, much of Africa.) as a
‘supplement’ to energy use
• less energy is produced in winter –
when demand is higher
• energy can’t be ‘stored’ easily – needs
to be used as it is produced
• countries in high latitudes (so having
cold winters) have little solar potential.
• Can be used on a small scale for such
things as refrigerators to keep anti-malaria
drugs cool in carry-cases in Africa. See
article on this. Plus BBC report on solar
fridge in Earthquake zone.
2
Wind Power
•
Main variations are whether there should be
individual building turbines, or turbines
concentrated together in multiple ‘wind farms’
•
Reliability concern is that the wind is not
always blowing.
•
Environmental concern is the spoiling of rural
views, and potential hazard to migrating birds.
•
Britain has some of the highest potential for
wind energy in Europe – due to it facing across
the Atlantic on a prevailing westerly wind.
•
But the highland areas facing the Atlantic are
often also National Parks (Lake District,
Snowdonia, Pembrokeshire coast) – so the
environmental impact is more severely
protested against.
•
Eon are proposing an 83 turbine wind farm off
the Holderness coast called Humber Gateway.
•
The UK government favours Wind Power as
one of the best options for hitting our 20%
renewable energy target by 2020 – so is
encouraging energy firms to invest in wind
farms and putting pressure on local authorities
to give planning permission for more wind
farms
A second way of generating tidal
power is to have underwater
‘windmills’ turning one way as the
tide comes in – and the other way as
the tide goes out. See the e.on site
for an example.
This has been suggested for the
Humber estuary.
The Severn Barrage (see BBC report)
Advantages:
•
Would generate huge amounts of renewable energy twice every day
•
The barrage dam could carry a road between England and S. Wales
•
Very little visual impact on the landscape.
Disadvantages:
•
Much valuable mud-flat feeding ground for sea birds would be permanently covered in
water
•
Thousands of archaeological sites on the estuary shore would be flooded
5 Biomass
This can take 3 forms:
•
1 Growing fast-growing crops to burn in coal-fired
power-stations. The carbon they emit equals the
carbon they’ve taken in by growing – so is ‘carbonneutral. Areas around Yorkshire’s power stations are
being planted with fast-growing willow to be
harvested each year – and burnt instead of coal at
Drax power station. (See BBC report) and E.on info.
•
2 Growing crops for them to be turned into
ethanol (like alcohol) – which can be added to diesel
and used in a normal engine – reducing the need for
oil-based fuels. These are known as Biofuels. (see
BBC summary). Some people argue that farmland
should be used to provide food – not fuel-crops to
burn in cars, given the likely food shortages we’ll face
in the future.
•
3 Generating fuel from waste – either fermenting
sewage to collect the methane which can be burnt as
fuel – or burning household waste once the recycleable material has been removed, e.g the ‘energy
recovery’ plant in Sheffield and the Isle of Man
Sheffield City council
have an energy
recovery unit run by
Veolia Environmental
service.
They take the
household waste from
the city, recycle what
they can, burn the rest
and pump the heat to
the city’s council
housing, university,
library, hospital etc. –
over 140 buildings in
the city.
Advantages:
Reduces landfill
Provides cheap hot
water to Sheffield
Disadvantages:
Local protest over the
incineration effects
(pollutants in the air)
Adds to CO2 emissions
Appropriate Energy Technology
•
This refers to energy efficient or lowtechnology approaches to energy use in
LEDCs. Here are some examples which use
local raw materials, can be built without
expensive equipment, and which reduce fuel
needs or use renewable energy. All are
sustainable and allow for rising energy
demand in fuel-poor countries.
Methane production from waste
Fuel-efficient stove
Solar powered light
Solar powered phone
recharging
3
Wave Power
•
Waves are much more reliable than
wind or sun in many coastal areas.
Waves are a constant feature of sea
movement.
•
With so much coastline, and the
oncoming Atlantic waves, the west
coast of Britain is ideally suited to
wave power.
•
But the constant buffeting of
equipment by powerful waves and
occasional storms means there has
not been a commercially economic
system of wave-power put into use
yet.
•
This is still an area of a lot of
research – but no practical system
has yet been put into use.
4 Tidal Energy
•
The constant motion of the sea-level into
High-tide and Low-tide twice each day as a
result of gravitational pull of the moon and
sun, offers the potential to extract energy
from this movement of the sea.
•
A Tidal Barrage is simply a dam with
turbines inside. As the water rises one side
of the dam as high-tide approaches, it
forces its way through the barrage, turning
turbines. As the tide ‘goes out’ the process
is reversed – and turbines are turned as
sea-water moves in the opposite direction.
•
The best ‘shape’ for a tidal barrage is a
funnel-shape estuary where water is forced
to rise higher as it enters the ‘bottle-neck’,
and then falls a long way down to low-tide
level, known as a ‘large tidal range’ eg the
Severn Estuary.
•
This would permanently flood large areas of
shoreline which at present form mud-flats
along estuaries – leading to loss of habitat
for many coastal bird life
R. Rance
tidal barrage,
France