ENERGY
ENERGY
Types of energy sources
Renewable
Hydroelectric
Solar
Wind
Geothermal
Non-renewable
Fossil Fuels
FOSSIL FUELS
Fossil Fuel is the burning of natural gas, oil, and
coal
It is a non renewable form of energy
FOSSIL FUELS
Oil and Coal Power plants
Oil/Coal is burned to produce heat
Heat boils water
Steam is produced
Steam spins turbine
Only 35% of energy in oil is used
65% is lost into environment
FOSSIL FUELS
A coal power plant
FOSSIL FUELS
Uses for fossil fuels
Powers combustion engines
Trains and cars
Electricity and heating
Propane tanks for barbeques
FOSSIL FUELS
Impacts – Atmosphere
Cause less oxygen in the atmosphere
Global warming
Acid Rain
Impacts – Lithosphere
Damage soils
Soil erosion and soil degradation
FOSSIL FUELS
Impacts – Hydrosphere
Flooding
Melting ice caps
Water contamination
Impacts – Biosphere
Kills marine life
Animals unable to migrate
FOSSIL FUELS
Poorly Managed
Ecosystems in areas of oil exploration
Example – Oil exploration in 1996, Alaska
Off-shore drilling
Good Management
Tankers designed with double hulls
Example – Exxon Valdez
FOSSIL FUELS
Solutions
Use resources more efficiently
Reuse waste heat
Can achieve efficiencies of 80 – 90 %
Modern technologies and strict controls
Pros – Can remove up to 97% of SO2 emissions
Cons – Decreases efficiency of combustion process
FOSSIL FUELS
Articles
Vancouver Sun – May 19, 2001
Air pollution caused by gasoline affects people’s
health
Vancouver Sun – May 21, 2001
Air pollution deaths increase dramatically
FOSSIL FUELS
Articles Continued
Vancouver Sun – May 21, 2001
Environment Canada and Health Canada had
meetings with CEOs of oil refineries to stick to the
1999 regulation of reducing sulfur in gasoline
Sulfur in gasoline damages anti pollution devices in
cars
GEOTHERMAL
Geothermal energy is heat energy found deep
below the Earth's surface.
geo = Earth , thermal = heat
GEOTHERMAL
The heat energy can be utilized in a couple
of ways:
1) Water in pipes can run through the hot rocks and
be heated up. The water can be used as hot water in
homes.
2) Water in pipes can be run very deep below the
Earth's surface. Here the water will be heated at very
high temperatures and it will turn into steam. The
steam build-up can drive turbines and produce
electricity.
steam from geothermal energy also occurs naturally
in geysers
GEOTHERMAL
GEOTHERMAL
Impacts – Atmosphere
geothermal plants do
emit some carbon
dioxide emissions, but
they're very low
compared to other kinds
of power plants
Impacts – Lithosphere
most geothermal plants
require digging into the
soil and rocks to run the
pipes deep below the
Earth's surface
GEOTHERMAL
Impacts – Hydrosphere
no impact
geothermal plants run the same water in a cycle
cooling and heating it in various stages, without
affecting outside sources
Impacts – Biosphere
no impact
geothermal plants do not produce any harmful
emissions
GEOTHERMAL
Management of Geothermal Energy
Geothermal energy is best used in regions where there
is the most heat energy from magma.
GEOTHERMAL
 To limit the amount of
lithosphere and atmosphere
impact, plants can be built on
top of pre-existing natural
geysers.
 The first geothermal power
plants in the U.S. were built
in 1962 at The Geysers dry
steam field, in northern
California. It is still the
largest producing geothermal
field in the world
NUCLEAR
Nuclear energy is the use of the nuclear fission of
uranium to produce electricity.
NUCLEAR
-1 tonne of uranium produces the same amount
of electricity as 25 000 tonnes of coal or 100 000
barrels of oil
 This process occurs to make electricity from
uranium:
1) Uranium mined from uranium or is
compressed into pellets and put into fuel rods.
NUCLEAR
 2) Uranium atoms in the fuel rods are split and this
causes a chain reaction with other uranium atoms.
NUCLEAR
3) The intense heat, caused by the splitting of the
uranium atoms, heats up water into steam.
4) The steam builds up pressure and turns a
turbine, which produces electricity.
5) Control rods are used to absorb excess
radioactivity from the reaction.
NUCLEAR
 6) The hot water is cooled by a coolant and reused.
NUCLEAR
This process produces 2 types of wastes:
1) Low Level wastes
Clothing and other materials exposed to radioactivity.
2) High Level wastes
Fuel and control rods (takes 3 million years for the
radioactivity to decay to safe levels)
NUCLEAR
There are 2 types of management of these wastes:
1) Low Level wastes are generally stored in bunkers.
2) High Level wastes are buried deep into the ground.
i.e. In the US, Yucca Mountain in Nevada is the
national nuclear waste disposal site, because it is solid
rock, there isn't much rainfall, there haven't been any
recent earthquakes, and there aren't any volcanoes
near there.
NUCLEAR
Impacts – Atmosphere
a nuclear power plant meltdown may contaminate the
atmosphere with radioactive substances
it has little impact from greenhouse gasses on the
atmosphere
NUCLEAR
NUCLEAR
 Lithosphere - fuel and control rods have to be buried
deep into rock and this may damage the rock structure
 uranium ore has to be mined and this can damage the soil and
rocks in and around the mine
 Hydrosphere - there is a chance that buried radioactive
materials may leak into the groundwater and this can
severely contaminate the water
 Biosphere - during a possible nuclear power plant
meltdown radioactivity released into the air can kill
many organisms
 i.e.. in the Chernobyl power plant in 1986 a meltdown
released radioactivity into the atmosphere and 5000 people
died and 30 000 became disabled
NUCLEAR
Managing Nuclear Power
Make transportation, burial, and storage of
radioactive feel and control rods as safe as possible.
This means the use of strict government intervention
and controls.
Stop the use of old and worn out nuclear power
plants, so a risk of a meltdown is minimised.
HYDROELECTRIC
Hydroelectricity is used to provide electricity
By converting the kinetic energy in the falling water
into electricity.
HYDROELECTRIC
Impacts – Atmosphere
Gives off Greenhouse gases (Methane)
Decaying plants flooded in reservoirs
Impacts – Lithosphere
Hydroelectric dams flood large areas of land
Siltation and Erosion
HYDROELECTRIC
Impacts – Hydrosphere
Slows down the natural flow of rivers
Impacts – Biosphere
Fish get caught in turbines
Reservoirs flood trees and plant life
Preventing fish going upstream to spawn
Fish die because of mercury in the water
HYDROELECTRIC
Poorly Managed
Reservoirs flooding the plant-life causing
plants to drown
Environmentally Managed
Grain and Sawmills
Water Wheel
WIND
Wind energy is the use of wind to produce
electricity.
WIND
Wind Turbine - blades
attached to the turbine
rotate when wind hits
them, causing the
turbine to rotate, and
this produces
electricity
similar to a windmill
the amount of energy
produced is dependant
on the wind speed and
the size of the blades
WIND
Impacts – Atmosphere
no impact
wind turbines do not release any emissions
Impacts – Lithosphere
wind turbines are high in the air and they need to be
anchored onto the ground, so they may affect the
ground's soil and rock structure
WIND
Impacts – Hydrosphere
no impact
wind turbines do not affect the water cycle at all
Impacts – Biosphere
the spinning blades attached to the wind turbine can
hit and injure birds that get near them and this could
degrade local bird populations
WIND
Management of Wind Energy
as more people use wind energy to power their homes,
the price of the turbines goes down
the amount of electricity produced is dependant on
the location, so it would be better to produce most of
the turbines in windy areas, such as the coasts, on
mountains, etc.
an area with wind speeds of an average of 20
kilometres per hour is needed so that wind energy is
economical
SOLAR
Solar energy from the sun can be captured as
heat in homes and other buildings, or it can be
converted to electricity.
SOLAR
Passive Solar - many architects design homes and
other buildings that are
good at absorbing heat from the sun
a well-designed passive solar building can store solar
heat for many hours and it even stays warm after the
sunsets
reduces the energy needed for heat
SOLAR
Flat-Panel Collectors - panels are used to
concentrate the suns rays and heat up water
flowing through tubes
the hot water can then be circulated around a
building and this can be used to heat homes
if the water is heated to a very high temperature, the
steam that is generated by the very hot water can be
used to drive turbines and produce electricity
SOLAR
Photovoltaic Panels - when light hits a solar cell
electricity is produced
e.g. many calculators use solar cells to produce
electricity
large panels could supply the electricity needed for a
building, and when spread over
hundreds of hectares they can even power a whole
city
SOLAR
Impacts – Atmosphere
no impact
solar panels release no emissions and don't affect air
quality whatsoever
Impacts – Lithosphere
no impact
solar panels do not require any drilling into rocks,
and many of them can be placed on top of existing
buildings and structures without affecting the
lithosphere at all
SOLAR
Impacts – Hydrosphere
no impact
solar panels do not affect the water cycle at all
Impacts – Biosphere
light reflected from solar panels may actually be
dangerous for birds and airplane pilots, because they
can blind them and cause accidents
SOLAR
Management of Solar Energy
further research can reduce the costs of solar panels
and reduce the size of the space they take up
solar energy is best used in areas with low annual
cloud coverage, and therefore it may not be very
suitable in B.C.
REFERENCES
World Nuclear Association
http://www.world-nuclear.org
The Virtual Nuclear Tourist
http://www.nucleartourist.com
Geothermal Education Office
http://geothermal.marin.org
How Hydroelectric Works
http://www.ucsusa.org/energy/brief.hydro.html