Non-renewable Resources

1. Non-renewable Resources APES Ch 15

2. Activity • Renewable Resources vs Non-renewable Resources • Give examples of each • How many Non-renewable Resources can easily be converted to a Renewable Resource

3. Alaska!!! What do you know about the area?

4. Alaska’s North Slope has 3 Regions • The National Petroleum Reserve–Alaska (NPR-A): • Its 23 million acres were to remain untapped unless the nation faced an emergency. • It has been opened recently for drilling and faces increased drilling pressure in key caribou and waterfowl breeding areas. • Prudhoe Bay consists of state lands that are drilled for oil that is transported via the trans-Alaska pipeline to the port of Valdez. • The Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR) is federal land set aside for wildlife and to preserve pristine ecosystems. • It has been called the “Serengeti of North America.”

5. Alaska’s North Slope

31. So Does it Pay to Drill Here? • Estimates for ANWR’s oil deposits • 11.6–31.5 (average = 20.7) billion barrels • enough for 33 months at current consumption rates • But………… only 4.3–11.8 (average = 7.7) billion barrels are technically recoverable, equivalent to 1 year of consumption

32. Scientists anticipate negative impacts in ANWR • Some scientists anticipate damage if ANWR is drilled. • Vegetation killed • Degraded air and water quality • Other scientists say little harm will be done. • ANWR will be developed with environmentally sensitive technology and approaches.

33. Activity: • What are your thoughts? • 3-4 people per group: • With no more research than todays discussion, would your group be for or against drilling in the ANWR area of Alaska? Give your reasoning. • No matter the side you have taken, try to see the opposition and help to create ways to find a happy medium

34. Activity: • Outline Chapter pages 328-338 (Sources of Energy and Fossil Fuels) • How are fossil fuels created • What is EROI, and how does it work? Compare todays ratios to that of the 40’s • 3 major fossil fuels are…. • Which is most abundant, what country has the most of it, and how is it both created and mined • 2 ways natural gas is formed, how is it extracted • Weighing the Issues: The End of Oil (pg. 337)

35. Background Non-renewable Resources Coal, Gas, Natural Gas, Nuclear

36. Fossil fuels provide most of our energy These fuels generate electricity: a secondary form of energy that is easier to transfer and apply to a variety of uses

37. Resources are renewable or non-renewable • Renewable energy: supplies will not be depleted • Sunlight, geothermal energy, and tidal energy • Nonrenewable energy: at current rates we will use up Earth’s accessible storage in a matter of decades to centuries • Oil, coal, natural gas, nuclear energy • They cannot be replaced in any time span useful to our civilization.

39. Fossil fuel reserves unevenly distributed • Nearly 67% of the world’s proven reserves of crude oil lie in the Middle East. • Russia contains the most natural gas. • The U.S. possesses more coal than any other country. People in developed regions consume far more energy than those in developing nations. Industrialized nations divide their energy use between transportation, industry, and other uses. Fossil fuels provide the majority of this energy. Developing nations use energy for subsistence activities (agriculture, food preparation, and home heating).

40. Global fossil fuel reserves

41. It takes energy to make energy • To harness, extract, process, and deliver energy requires substantial inputs of energy. • Roads, wells, vehicles, storage tanks • Net energy: the difference between energy returned and energy invested • Net energy = energy returned – energy invested • Energy returned on investment (EROI): calculated as: • energy returned ÷ energy invested • EROI for petroleum: 1940s = 100:1, today = 5:1

42. Food for Thought…… • Explore what could happen to US relations w/other countries if: • Adequate alternative energy sources were developed and we no longer relied on imported fossil fuels • We fail to limit US greenhouse gas emissions while other countries are actively regulating such emissions

43. Coal and Natural Gas APES Ch 15 Non-renewable Resources

44. Coal • World’s most abundant fossil fuel • Coal: organic matter (woody plant material) compressed mya under very high pressure forming dense, solid carbon structures • Very little decomposition • Peat: organic material that is broken down anaerobically but remains wet, near the surface and not well compressed • Additional pressure turns peat into coal.

45. Coal contains impurities • Sulfur, mercury, arsenic, and other trace metals • Sulfur content depends on whether coal was formed in salt water or freshwater. • High sulfur coal in the eastern U.S. was formed in marine sediments. • Burning high-sulfur coal releases sulfate air pollutants, which contribute to smog and acidic deposition. • Mercury can bioaccumulate.

46. Coal is mined using two methods • Strip mining: for deposits near the surface • Subsurface mining: underground deposits • First uses of coal were for direct heating and running steam engines • Today, coal is burned to produce electricity. • Coal combustion turns water to steam, which turns a turbine.