Energy

1. Energy Fact or Fiction: Determine if the following statements are fact or fiction

2. Fact or Fiction • Petroleum is the ultimate source of energy on Earth. • Traditional sources of energy come from plants. • Fossil fuels are available in limitless supplies. • The stored energy in petroleum originally came from the Sun. • Natural gas is formed from the remains of living things.

3. Fact or Fiction • Alternative energy sources are renewable sources. • Solar heating uses fans to distribute heat. • There are no drawbacks to using hydroelectric power. • Energy obtained directly from heat in the earth’s crust is called geothermal energy.

4. Fact or Fiction • Wind is one of the least expensive ways to produce electricity. • Nuclear fuel is a nonrenewable resource. • No greenhouse gases are released from nuclear power plants. • Biomass energy sources are nonpolluting. • Shale oil is profitable to extract and refine.

5. Traditional Energy Resources

6. Fact or Fiction – Answers • Petroleum is the ultimate source of energy on Earth. • Fiction • Traditional sources of energy come from plants. • Fact

7. Transfer of Solar Energy • The Sun is the ultimate source of energy on Earth. • Fuels are materials that are burned to produce heat or power.

8. Traditional Sources of Energy • Wood • most commonly used biomass fuel • Used for thousands of years

9. Traditional Sources of Energy • Field Crops • Used as fuel when wood is scarce. • The simplest way – burn them

10. Traditional Sources of Energy • Fecal Material • Feces are the solid wastes of animals. • used when have limited forest resources

11. Traditional Sources of Energy • Peat • formed when dead plant material is compressed in a bog • burns better than wood • a fossil fuel

12. Fact or Fiction – Answers • Fossil fuels are available in limitless supplies. • Fiction

13. Fossil Fuels • formed over geologic time • nonrenewable -- millions of years

14. Fact or Fiction – Answers • The stored energy in petroleum originally came from the Sun. • Fact

15. Fossil Fuels • formed from plants and animals that lived 300 million years ago in swamps and oceans • the plants and animals died and decomposed under tons of rock and ancient seas

16. Fossil Fuels • Coal • formed from compressed organic matter in ancient swamps.

17. Fossil Fuels • Petroleum • natural crude oil • formed in shallow seas

19. Fact or Fiction – Answers • Natural gas is formed from the remains of living things. • Fact

20. Fossil Fuels • Natural Gas • Methane -- bacteria • colorless, shapeless, and odorless

21. Alternative Energy Resources

22. Alternative Energy Resources • Petroleum - 50 years?? • Coal - 150 years?? • At current usage rates! • Are rates going to stay the same?

23. Fact or Fiction – Answers • Alternative energy sources are renewable sources. • Fact(most of them)

24. Solar Energy • The Sun is the ultimate source of energy on Earth. • The main advantages • Free • No pollution

25. Fact or Fiction – Answers • Solar heating uses fans to distribute heat. • Fiction

26. Solar Energy • Passive Solar Heating • Sun shining through a window • Sun shining on bricks, asphalt – heat can be released at night.

27. Solar Energy • Active Solar Heating • solar panels collect light • fans and pumps distribute heat

28. Solar Energy • Photovoltaic Cells • convert solar energy into electrical energy that is stored in batteries

29. Fact or Fiction – Answers • There are no drawbacks to using hydroelectric power. • Fiction

30. Hydroelectric Power • energy produced by moving water • 20% of the world’s electricity

31. Aswan High Dam

32. Three Gorges Dam

33. Three Gorges Dam

34. How it Works

35. Advantages • Controls flooding • Low operating and maintenance costs • No polluting waste products • Long (but finite) life spans • Areas of recreation

36. Disadvantages • Controls flooding • Large flooded areas; people displaced • Slow moving water  pathogen breeding ground • Destroy habitat • Disrupt fish migration

37. Disadvantages • Sedimentation • Dredging • Sediments don’t enrich farmland • Expensive to build • Destroys rivers • Earthquakes

38. More Dams? • Not in US -- why not? • Outside US?

39. Tidal Power • Energy from the Oceans • energy in waves used to generate electricity • may disrupt coastal and marine ecosystems

40. Fact or Fiction – Answers • Energy obtained directly from heat in the earth’s crust is called geothermal energy. • Fact

41. Geothermal Energy • energy produced by steam and hot water generated by Earth’s own internal heat

42. Geothermal Energy • Advantages: • abundant and reliable • Disadvantages: • must be managed carefully • contains large amount of minerals - pollution • Transporting is not practical

43. Fact or Fiction – Answers • Wind is one of the least expensive ways to produce electricity. • Fact

45. Wind Energy • Wind  mechanical energy  electrical energy • Most wind farms are in California, • ND, SD, and TX have the best locations • 10% of the world’s electricity by the year 2050

46. Wind Energy • Advantages: • virtually unlimited • nonpolluting • can be built quickly • inexpensive, but only in areas with steady winds • Disadvantages: • not very attractive • may interfere with and even kill birds • requires land lease/purchase

47. Fact or Fiction – Answers • Nuclear fuel is a nonrenewable resource. • No greenhouse gases are released from nuclear power plants. • Fact

48. Nuclear Energy • During nuclear fission, atoms are split, releasing large amount of energy • Uranium is commonly used • 17% of the world’s electricity

49. Nuclear Energy

50. Nuclear Energy • No new nuclear plants have been built in the United States since 1978. • Poor management • Costs • poor designs