Welcome!
Please find your carbon cycle diagram and
read the board!
Time to put your thinking cap on!
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Please get out your
notes on Keystone XL
and read the board.
Keystone XL
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Who, What, Where, When, Why?
Summarize in your working group
Tradeoff statements
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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
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The more steps of production there
are, the lower the net energy.
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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?
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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!
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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 CH4
From coal to electricity
From coal to electricity
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Major air pollutants:
CO2, SOx, NOx, particulates, Hg
Using natural gas?
NOx, CO2, trace of SOx
Natural gas vs. coal
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2007 – coal provided 50% of US electricity.
2011 – coal provided 34% of US electricity.
WHY?
Technology Strategies: trap pollutants at the source
Pollution control
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Selective
Catalytic
Reduction
(SCR)
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captures 8590% 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?