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Nonrenewable Energy Resources

Nonrenewable Energy Resources. Oil Rules!!! What is crude oil?. Petroleum, or crude oil is a thick, gooey liquid consisting of many combustible hydrocarbons.

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Nonrenewable Energy Resources

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  1. Nonrenewable Energy Resources

  2. Oil Rules!!! What is crude oil? Petroleum, or crude oil is a thick, gooey liquid consisting of many combustible hydrocarbons. • Formed over millions of year from decaying organic materials buried under the seafloor and subjected to extreme temperatures and pressure.

  3. Oil Rules!!! Transportation How crude oil is transported: • Pipelines • Trucks • Oil Tankers

  4. Oil Rules!!! What is crude oil? Crude oil and natural gas often found together in deep deposits in pores and cracks. • Found using sophisticated equipment. • Usually only 30-35% is extractable • Higher prices mean more can be extracted.

  5. 1 barrel is 42 gallons

  6. Conventional Oil: Disadvantages • Running out • Low prices encourage waste • Air pollution and Greenhouse gases • Water pollution • World Politics and Trade Imbalances • Most is located outside of the US

  7. Conventional Oil: Advantages • Relatively low cost • High net energy yield • Efficient distribution system

  8. Oil, What Is Left? Most energy expert believe there are about 1,050 billion barrels left. Peak Production This Decade Rising Demand, Dwindling Supply = Higher Prices

  9. Arctic National Wildlife Refuge Controversy: Trade-offs • Would create jobs -mostly short-term • Oil resources are uncertain • Harmful environmental impacts • Drilling controversies

  10. The Last True Wilderness: The Arctic National Wildlife Reserve

  11. What is at stake? The pristine boreal forests of Canada-the greatest songbird nursery in our continent

  12. What it would look like if Keystone XL is approved

  13. Carbon Dioxide Emissions Per Unit of Energy

  14. What is natural gas? Mainly methane CH4 Also • Ethane C2H6 • Propane C3H8 • Butane C4H10 Formed like oil from buried animals and plants millions of years ago.

  15. Where is it found? Deposits usually found above oil deposits. In past was seen as unwanted waste and burnt off.

  16. U.S. Natural Gas U.S. supplies should last 55-80 years depending upon demand. Supplies have been declining for years. Canada???

  17. How is it used? • 53% of heat in U.S. homes • 16% of electricity and growing quickly • Hot water heaters • Can be used in vehicles

  18. Advantages of Gas • Cleaner burning than coal or oil. • Emits far fewer CO2 per energy units • More efficient energy producer and plants are cheaper to build

  19. Disadvantages of Natural Gas • Nonrenewable • Releases CO2 when burned • Wasted when burned off at oil sites • Methane(another greenhouse gas) can leak from pipes

  20. What is coal? Coal is a solid fuel formed in several stages from remains of buried plants and animals. Consists mostly of carbon and trace amounts of sulfur, mercury and radioactive materials.

  21. Coal Formation and Types

  22. How is coal extracted? Surface Mining: • Area Strip Mining • Contour Strip Mining • Mountaintop Removal Underground Mining Large environmental impact from different mining techniques.

  23. How is coal used? Coal provides 51% of current U.S. electricity. (62% worldwide) Used to make ¾ of worlds steel. A typical 1,000 Megawatt power plant uses 8,000 tons of coal every day…1 mile long train worth of coal every day.

  24. How is coal used? 91% of coal in U.S. is used for power production. Not useful for transportation energy needs.

  25. How long will coal last? According to USGS… U.S. reserves could last 300 years at current rate of consumption…or 64 years if consumption grows by 4% a year. World’s most abundant fossil fuel. U.S. Energy Projections

  26. Coal Advantages • Most abundant fossil fuel. • High “Net Energy” • Relatively inexpensive. • U.S. has plenty of it for a while. • Power Plants relatively cheap to build.

  27. Coal Disadvantages • High environmental impact (air, water, land, acid rain) • Global Warming, high CO2 emissions • Toxic Mercury and radioactivity • Dangerous to mine

  28. Origin of Nuclear Power • Uranium, a radioactive element mined from the ground

  29. What is nuclear power? • Nuclearpower is an alternative power source that uses the nuclearfission- splitting an atom of uranium to create heat and radioactive waste. • Heat and lighter atoms are produced.

  30. Advantages of Nuclear Power • Large Fuel Supply • Little Air Pollution and CO2 emissions • Moderate to low water and land environmental impact • Low risk of accidents (multiple safety levels – except in old Soviet reactors)

  31. Disadvantages of Nuclear Power • High cost of building and operating plants • Possibility of catastrophic accidents • No long-term solutions for waste • Spreads knowledge of nuclear weapon technology • Terrorist Attacks

  32. Dealing with Nuclear Waste • High- and low-level wastes • Terrorist threats • Underground burial • Disposal in space • Burial in ice sheets • Dumping into subduction zones • Burial in ocean mud • Conversion into harmless materials

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