Learning Experience 1.2
Renewable Energy
The following information is taken from BP Energy Business Booklet
(2007): Gas, Power and Renewable Energy.
Renewable energy
The evidence that links climate change with greenhouse gas emissions
means many people believe that the world needs to reduce its
dependency on fossil fuels, especially coal and oil, and turn to energy
supplies from renewable sources, such as the sun and wind. In the
longer term, these offer the possibility of sustainable energy resources
without damage to the environment.
For the present, however, the world will have to rely on fossil fuels for
most of its energy needs. Natural gas produces lower carbon dioxide
emissions than coal or oil and will become more important in the
world’s energy balance for several decades to come, along with other
low-carbon fuels. At the same time, we need to ensure that the
technology to produce lower-cost renewable energy will continue to be
developed.
Around 90% of the world’s energy needs are met by fossil fuels.
Currently, the only renewable energy source of any significance is
hydroelectric power.
The chart does not include the contribution made by fuels such as peat,
wood and animal wastes, which, though important in many countries, have
no reliable figures for consumption.
What is renewable energy?
Sources of renewable energy will never run out because they can
always be replaced. Renewable energy resources include sunlight or
solar energy and other sources such as wind and wave energy, which
indirectly come from solar energy. Fossil fuels such as coal, oil and gas
come from the remains of plants and animals that were produced
millions of years ago and which have been transformed into fuels by
geological changes. Because the world’s reserves of fossil fuels are not
endless (therefore finite) and are being used up, they are called nonrenewable energy resources.
Of course, the processes that produced crude oil are still taking place
very slowly but it will take millions of years to replace the fossil fuels
we are burning today. Uranium, which is used to produce nuclear
energy, is not a fossil fuel, but requires the extraction of finite physical
reserves, so it is also considered a non-renewable energy source.
Renewable energy covers a number of energy sources.
The main ones are:
• solar • water • biomass • wind • geothermal.
Each of these renewable energy sources depends on different
technologies, which are at different stages of development. Wind,
water and solar are dependent on location or climatic conditions. Some
renewable sources, including solar and wind, can be classed as ‘clean
energies’, because they have very little effect on the environment and
could do much to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Biomass, when
burnt as a fuel, produces carbon dioxide, which is a major greenhouse
gas. However, the impact of this is reduced by the fact that growing
biomass absorbs CO2 during growth.
Using the information you have just read complete the following questions
using full sentence answers…
1.
Why do we need to reduce our dependence on fossil fuels for
producing our energy supplies?
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2.
Explain in your own words the term ‘sustainable energy resources’.
In your explanation provide some specific examples.
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3.
Why do you believe for now the world will have to continue to rely
on fossil fuels to produce its energy supplies?
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4.
To what extent are fossil fuels currently used to produce the world’s
energy supplies?
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5.
Study the graph, ‘World Primary Energy Consumption 1979 – 2004’.
Write 5 sentences that could be used to describe the patterns of
renewable and non-renewable energy resource consumption.
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6.
Why will renewable energy sources never run out?
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7.
Explain the origin of both renewable and non-renewable energy
resources. Provide examples of each.
Renewable:
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Non-Renewable:
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8.
Although not a fossil fuel, explain why uranium is considered a nonrenewable resource.
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9.
Name some energy resources known as ‘clean energies’ and
explain why they are classified this way.
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10.
Respond to the following statement:
“Although a never ending supply of renewable energy sources such
as wind, solar and water is guaranteed, for now the world has no
choice but to maintain its dependence on fossil fuels; especially oil
and coal, to meet its energy needs.”
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