Energy Choices

1. Energy Choices CHAPTER 19 By: Celina P, Cass, Alex, Aleandra

2. ARE YOU PART OF THE PROBLEM OR PART OF THE SOLUTION?

3. As we are burning a large amount of fossil fuels daily for our everyday energy supply we are speeding up the process of many major environmental issues. In this chapter we will be discussing changes that can be made in regards to energy choices that can help save the environment.

4. A slogan picked up by social and environmental activists in the 1960s/70s was “If you are not part of the solution, you are part of the problem”. We can use this slogan today while examining energy issues. As a country Canada, and the rest of North America, is not helping the energy problem.

5. Many important global issues of the 21st century are tied to the use of energy, such as:

6. Link between energy use and global warming, which you can learn more about in chapter 20.

7. The burning of fossil fuels, such as: coal, petroleum products, natural gas, etc., for transportation purposes and electrical generation causes air pollution, which is damaging to people’s health. (Air pollution is examined in chapter 18)

8. The supertankers that transport oil pollute the oceans through day-day operations. If there is ever an oil spill from the supertanker it can cause major environmental damage. (Water Pollution is discussed in chapter 17)

9. Production processes- examples being: burning off unwanted gas, oil sands processing, pipeline construction, and refining- cause environmental damage.

10. Wars are fought over energy (look at fig. 19-1 in your textbook, pg. 292).

11. On a per-capita basis Canada is one of the world’s leaders in using-or wasting-energy. Canada was ranked the third worst country in per-capita of energy consumption of the 30 OECD (Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development) countries. OECD countries are the world’s 30 most developed countries. As an Old Core country, Canada needs energy to support its advanced economy. Because of factors such as climate, and land area we need to use more energy to meet these demands. There are a number of energy initiatives giving Canada and the world hope for the future; we are widening our use of non-polluting, renewable energy sources such as wind power. Also researches are developing new ways of energy use that are less polluting than they are now.

12. A GUIDED TOUR OF WORLD ENERGY

13. This guided tour of the world’s energy will give you the opportunity to learn about: • The pattern of energy production and consumption in various parts of the world • How energy production, consumption, and trade are all related

14. The amount of non-renewable energy reserves-the quantity of a resource-that can be removed using current technology • A region’s (or country’s) R/P ratio- number of years before the non-renewable energy resource runs out

15. 1. Overall Production and Consumption

16. This stop illustrates energy production globally and in Old Core, New Core, Near Core, and Far Periphery Countries (Fig. 19-3 in textbook, pg 294). This figure outlines the percentages of energy production, looking at oil, natural gas, coal, nuclear energy, and hydro-electricity, within Old Core, New Core, Near Core, and Far Periphery Countries. This stop also illustrates the patterns of energy use in different countries and regions. Figure 19-4 in the textbook, pg 294 looks at oil, natural gas, coal, nuclear energy, and hydro-electricity usage.

17. 2) Crude Oil

18. Oil is vital as transportation fuel, an energy source for industry, and domestic and commercial heating. It is also important for the manufacture of plastics, chemicals and synthetic materials.

19. Oil-producing nations fall into two categories. Countries in the first category, such as the U.S, produce large amounts as well as consume large amounts of oil; in some cases they could use more oil than they produce. Countries in the second category produce more oil than they consume, such as Canada, Saudi Arabia and Mexico. Countries in this category sell crude oil to nations that cannot meet their own needs. Figure 19-6 on page 296 in the textbook summarizes patterns of oil production, consumption, and trade in the world.

20. 3. Natural Gas

21. Generally, natural gas production follows the same pattern as oil production (fig. 19-9, pg 298). The difference comes in with transportation. Natural gas is not as cheap to move to the market as gas is, unless a pipeline can be built. If a pipeline is being built two conditions have to be met. One is that there must be a land link between the exporter and importer, and the second is that the amount of gas being shipped has to be large enough to justify the building of such a costly pipeline. Pipelines have allowed the export of vast quantities of natural gas from country to country. If a pipeline between gas fields and markets are impractical the natural gas is liquefied and shipped in specially outfitted ocean tankers.

23. Is There a Better Way to Produce and Use Energy?

24. Many people contend that the way we produce and use energy causes environmental and economic problems that threaten the sustainability of our energy resources. • People in old core countries think of energy only as a commodity- something to be used, purchased or sold.

25. Our willingness to use energy wastefully is related to its relatively inexpensive cost and to the way we are influenced by lifestyle advertising. • We can change our behavior; environmentalists say that if we make different choices, we can significantly reduce the impacts of energy production and use on earth • We can use energy in a better way by shifting our consumption of electrical power from times of peak demand to times of low demand

27. Coal • Most of Canada’s coal comes from BC and Alberta and then exported to Japan • In eastern Canada coal is imported from the us to burn to create electricity • Coal is expected to become more widely used for electricity sources since it is less expensive to mine and transport • Between 2005 and 2030 the coal demand will increase by 2101 million tonnes

28. Nuclear Power • 50 years ago nuclear power plants seemed like a promising energy source for the future • Very few plants were every produced due to the cost being substantially higher than predicted • The extreme radioactivity breaks down the structure of the building raising maintenance costs higher than expected

29. Serious environmental hazards are occurring with nuclear power due to having no long term disposal methods for the waste. • The ultimate threat is the release of large amounts of radiation into the atmosphere • Nuclear energy is now becoming a substantial power supplier to the world as it supplies 15% of the world’s electricity and the percent is climbing. • Oil is soon going to disappear and the world is looking to nuclear power as a solution • Uranium is found in large quantities over the world which makes the use of nuclear power a practical solution.

30. Hydro-Electric Power • A power source that causes no environmental harm or disruption • This mean of creating power has the lowest negatives compared to other energy production ways • Only negative is there are few places of the world that has the right circumstances to generate power from • Niagara Falls is one of the major Hydro plants of the world

31. Outlook for Conventional Sources of Energy • Most of these energy producing methods use non-renewable resources to create energy • Hydro-electric plants are a concern as global warming may disrupt the water flow causing the production of energy to decrease

32. In 1956 a geologist M. King Hubbert came up with the theory that once we have consumed half of the world’s conventional oil reserves, oil production will start to decline. This theory is called peak oil. Peak oil: the point in history at which half of the world’s oil reserves have been used. It is thought that oil will become more and more expensive as production becomes more costly. This doesn’t mean that we’ll right out of oil, but we’ll run out of cheap oil. Hubbert predicted that the crude oil production would peak between 1995 and 2000. Then other researchers predicted that peak oil will not be reached until 2020s or 2030s. This is based on the fact that new technology has been produced to discover new producing areas. However do we actually have an energy crisis in the near future? Right now it is unpredictable. Is There An Energy Crisis?

33. Alternative Sources of Energy

34. Scientists are researching and developing several alternative energy sources in hopes of finding better ways to supply our energy needs including: • Wind and solar power for heating and electricity production • Tidal power • Geothermal energy • Biomass conversion

35. Here Comes the Sun: Solar Energy

36. Scientists have developed both simple and complex technologies to harness solar energy that can then be used in different ways • Solar power can be produced ideally in places where sunlight is abundant throughout the year, this limits the number of sites where plants can be built

37. The advantage of solar power plants is that they do not produce greenhouse gases or other pollutants during the production of electricity • At the same time, the cost of electricity produced from solar energy is greater than the cost of electricity produced from fossil fuels

38. Biofuels • Vegetable oil can be processed to make one of several biofuels • Broadly defined as solid, liquid or gas fuels derived from biomass- plant or animal material used to make fuel • Two biofuels most associated with transportation are biodiesel and bioethanol

39. Biodiesel • Potential growth for biodiesel market in North America is huge due to the fact that biodiesel can be used in most conventional diesel engines • a combination of a non-petroleum based fuel, made from vegetable oils or animal fats, and diesel oil

40. Bioethanol: • Usually referred to as ethanol • Is the most common biofuel in the world • Can be mixed with gasoline for use in all engines • Produced by the fermentation of sugars in corn, sugar cane, wheat and sugar beets

41. E-85 is a mixture of 85% ethanol and 15% gasoline; can be used in flex-fuel vehicles that have modified engines designed to operate on any mixture of gasoline and ethanol of up to 85% ethanol • Some researchers say that ethanol produces 34% more energy than it consumes, while others say that it consumes more energy than it produces • In the 2007 US budget, $150 million was allocated to research ethanol production from wood chips, switch grass, and agricultural waste which requires a different technology than that used to make ethanol from corn or sugar cane

42. Biofuels have several positive aspects: • Generally give off fewer pollutants than conventional fuels when burned • They are biodegradable and relatively harmless to the environment when spilled and are made from renewable resources • Many developing countries have extensive biomass resources for producing biofuels

43. Most countries can grow their own biomass resources and produce their own biofuels • Although fuels release carbon dioxide when burned, the growing plants absorb large amounts of CO2 from the atmosphere • Domestically produced biofuels reduce oil import costs

44. Biofuels also have several negative aspects: • Biodiversity is lost as more land is devoted to the production of biofuels • Oil can be more efficiently pumped and processed than biofuels can be grown and processed because the infrastructure is already in place • Ethanol is less efficient than conventional gasoline; contains 34% less energy per unit volume than gasoline

45. Some researchers have reported that the production of ethanol from corn and similar crops consumes more energy than it yields • Subsidies distort the true cost of production • High food prices have reduced the amount of food the US government has purchased for its food aid programs around the world • The increasing of production of corn and similar crops for ethanol use is driving up the price of many food crops

46. Geothermal Energy and Earth Energy • Comes from steam or boiling-hot water found in the Earth’s crust • Can heat buildings and water, or power turbines to produce electricity • Although it is widely used in Iceland, the Philippines, Italy, Indonesia, Mexico, New Zealand, Japan, and China, it produced less than 1% of the worlds energy in 2007

47. Geothermal energy can also be extracted from the earth itself; the use of earth energy is based on the fact that Earth’s temperature is quite constant, no matter how greatly the air temperature varies • The system that extracts energy from the ground and uses it to heat your house works like this: • A ground loop buried near the house picks up heat from the ground and runs it to the heat pump • The heat pump concentrates the low-grade heat, raising its temperature • Heat is then distributed through the house via a forced-air or in-floor heating system. Heat is also fed to the hot-water tank. In the summer this system is reversed, the heat of your house is extracted and pumped into the ground

48. Earth energy is more efficient than a furnace; rather than burning fossil fuels to generate heat, the heat pump redistributes existing heat • There are more than 30 000 earth energy installations in Canada, but it is more widely used in Northern Europe

49. Wind power • During the 19th and first half of the 20th century, North American farmers commonly used windmills to power water pumps, but the use of wind power slowly declined when electricity and oil-based fuels were developed to provide power. Although it has declined, researchers continued to take an interest in it. As a result, wind energy has recently become a more mainstream source of electricity.

50. Advantages of wind power and Disadvantages in wind power • Non-polluting • Can be only located in areas that have strong, reliable winds • Does not produce greenhouse gases because it does not use fossil fuels • Can be noisy • Land where windmills are located can be used for other purposes, example: farming • Some people consider windmills to be unsightly