Energy

1. Energy Non-renewable and Renewable Resources

2. Non-renewable Resources • Defined: • An energy source that cannot be renewed in our lifetime • Examples: • Oil • Natural Gas • Coal • Aluminum • Gold • Uranium

3. Non-renewable resources – Environmental Impacts • Mining • IMPACTS: • Disrupts land • Disrupts ecosystems • Causes acid rain

4. Surface Mining • Description – if resource is <200 ft. from the surface, the topsoil is removed (and saved), explosives are used to break up the rocks and to remove the resource, reclamation follows • Benefits – cheap, easy, efficient • Costs – tears up the land (temporarily), byproducts produce an acid that can accumulate in rivers and lakes

5. Underground Mining • Underground Mining • Description – digging a shaft down to the resource, using machinery (and people) to tear off and remove the resource • Benefits – can get to resources far underground • Costs – more expensive, more time-consuming, more dangerous– mining accident in Chile

6. The dangers of mining • Mining fatality reports in the US onlyUS mining fatality reports • Chilian mining rescue 2010 chilian mine rescue • Video of rescue: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GR8mTntp5Jw

7. Open-pit Mining • Machines dig holes and remove ores, sand, gravel, and stone. • Toxic groundwater can accumulate at the bottom. Figure 15-11

8. Area Strip Mining • Earth movers strips away overburden, and giant shovels removes mineral deposit. • Often leaves highly erodible hills of rubble called spoil banks. Figure 15-12

9. Contour Strip Mining • Used on hilly or mountainous terrain. • Unless the land is restored, a wall of dirt is left in front of a highly erodible bank called a highwall. Figure 15-13

10. Mountaintop Removal • Machinery removes the tops of mountains to expose coal. • The resulting waste rock and dirt are dumped into the streams and valleys below. Figure 15-14

11. Reclamation • Laws make mining companies reclaim land after mining it. • Very expensive! • Allows for land to be used again after it has been mined

12. Coal • Used for heat & electricity • Forms from compression of ancient peat moss bogs • Types of Coal • Lignite • Bituminous • Anthracite

13. Benefits of Coal • Large supply • Some coal plants are now using technology that does not release Carbon dioxide into the air • Relatively inexpensive

14. Drawbacks of Coal • Pollution • Transportation costs • Acid rain from sulfur mined up with the coal • Surface disruption from mining • Non-renewable resource • Water pollution from mining activity

15. Increasing heat and carbon content Increasing moisture content Peat (not a coal) Lignite (brown coal) Bituminous (soft coal) Anthracite (hard coal) Heat Heat Heat Pressure Pressure Pressure Partially decayed plant matter in swamps and bogs; low heat content Low heat content; low sulfur content; limited supplies in most areas Extensively used as a fuel because of its high heat content and large supplies; normally has a high sulfur content Highly desirable fuel because of its high heat content and low sulfur content; supplies are limited in most areas Fig. 16-12, p. 368

16. Waste heat Cooling tower transfers waste heat to atmosphere Coal bunker Turbine Generator Cooling loop Stack Pulverizing mill Condenser Filter Boiler Toxic ash disposal Fig. 16-13, p. 369

17. Fossil Fuels • Only about 30% efficient • Benefits – • easy to use, currently abundant • Costs – • a nonrenewable resource, produces pollutants that contribute to acid rain and the greenhouse effect • Oil- Supplies the most commercial energy in the world today. People in the U.S. use 23 barrels of petroleum per person or 6 billion barrels total each year!!!

18. Oil • Oil is pumped from the Earth’s crust and then distilled for use

19. Benefits of oil • Relatively inexpensive • Most of our current transportation systems use it • It can be used for multiple purposes

20. Drawbacks of oil • Creates dependence • Limited Supply • Much of the known supply is in politically unstable areas of the world • Pollution • Oil Spills • High exploration costs

21. Gases Gasoline Aviation fuel Heating oil Diesel oil Naptha Heated crude oil Grease and wax Furnace Asphalt Fig. 16-5, p. 359

22. How Long Will the Oil Party Last? • We have three options: • Look for more oil. • Use or waste less oil. • Use something else. Figure 16-1

23. Deep Water Hoizon Oil RigGulf Oil Spill of 2010 • http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2010/12/26/us/20101226-deepwater-horizon-rig-video-diagram.html?_r=

24. Oil Spills • The Bad

25. Gulf Oil Spill • The Good: • Warm water made for a much easier clean up • Location of the spill was close to land = more people available to clean up • Gulf waters sent oil to beaches where it was cleaned up • Most animals were rescued • Long lasting effects much less than anticipated

26. Exxon Valdez Oil Spill 1989 After drinking 5 double vodkas, Captain Hazelwood banked ran his oil barge ashore in the Valdez Narrow in the Gulf of Alaska releasing 11 million tons of crude oil into the ocean.

27. Effects of the Exxon Valdez Oil Spill • Killed millions of marine organims including whales, dolphin, sea otters, birds, fish and many others • Marine mammals froze to death as the oil takes away the insulating capabilities of the fur • 4 humans died during clean up efforts • The Valdez canal is still suffering effects over 25 years later!

29. Difficulty in cleaning up the oil in Alaska: • Cold water – much more difficult to get oil out of the water • Higher species diversity • Less people available to help out • More extreme temperatures for people cleaning up – more risk! • Remote area – harder to get to

30. Punishment for the Exxon Valdez spill: • Exxon pleaded not guilty. U.S. Attorney General Dick Thornburgh said the company faced $600 million in fines. • But when the Justice Department unveiled a plea bargain on the eve of the second anniversary of the spill, Exxon agreed to pay only $100 million in fines and restitution. • After a two-month trial, an Anchorage jury convicted the captain of the Exxon Valdez only on the misdemeanor. • Hazelwood served his sentence -- 1,000 hours of community service and $50,000 in restitution -- picking up trash along Anchorage roadsides

31. Oil Spill fast facts • http://www.cnn.com/2013/07/13/world/oil-spills-fast-facts/

32. NATURAL GAS • Natural gas, consisting mostly of methane, is often found above reservoirs of crude oil. • Formed through decomposition • When a natural gas-field is tapped, gasses are liquefied and removed as liquefied petroleum gas (LPG).

33. Benefits of Natural Gas • Global reserves should last 62-125 years. • Natural gas is versatile and clean-burning fuel • Low exploration costs (usually found with oil)

34. Fracking

35. Nuclear • The process of splitting atoms to harness energy • Requires the construction of a nuclear core and facitity – usually takes about 10 years to construct!

36. Benefits of Nuclear Energy • Very clean energy source once the facility is built • High energy effeciency

37. Drawbacks of Nuclear Energy • ACCIDENTS!!! • Cherynobyl – Ukraine • Three Mile Island – New York • Japan • Expensive to build and run • Safety of workers • Storage of radioactive waste is a HUGE problem

42. What is Yucca Mountain? • Site that has been declared “scientifically sound” and technically suitable” to geologically isolate nuclear waste for at least 10,000 years. • Located 100 miles from Las Vegas • Accept over 77,000 metric tons of nuclear waste before another site is built. • Transportation of nuclear waste to Yucca Mountain will take 24 years to complete.