Renewable and non-renewable energy resources
resource: any part of environment that can be used to meet human needs.
energy resource: something that can be used to provide people with heat light and
power.
Why do we need energy?
UK 2010: transport 34%, domestic use 29%, industry 23%, commerce and other
14%.
Non-renewable energy resources (finite stock or capital energy) built up over long
time period, can’t be used without reducing amount available. fossil fuels (coal, oil
and gas) and uranium (main resource for nuclear energy).
Renewable energy resources (flow or income) have unlimited availability (solar) or
replenished fast (wood). Yield continuous flow of energy.
Non critical renewable energy resources have unlimited availability. everlasting
and don’t worry about rate they’re used (solar, wind and tidal)
Critical renewable energy resources require careful management as can be used at
a faster rate than replacement (wood, biomass and animal wastes)
Wood is renewable resource, important in LICs. critical as if too much wood used in
short space of time, natural replenishment cycle is disrupted and resource used up.
happens when population rises rapidly, extra people put too much pressure on
resource. if woodland managed carefully by replanting or coppicing, can be
considered as renewable resource.
Factors affecting the supply of and demand for energy at the national scale
use varies per country. supply determined by resource availability, ability to
harness resources and ability to purchase from abroad. demand influenced by pop
size and economic development.
sustainability: requires able to meet current energy needs without compromising
ability of future generations to meet their needs. don’t do unacceptable damage to
natural environment. many countries signed Kyoto treaty, shows most national
government aware of need for sustainable energy policy, commits countries that
sign to reduce greenhouse emissions. non-renewables used sparingly as will run
out. maximise renewable use and invest in new tech to develop. try to reduce
environmental impact to ensure future supplies and reduce damage.
levels of development: high energy use confined to HICs/oil rich states (Venezuela
and Saudi Arabia), as can afford. NICs (china, brazil, Mexico) have medium but
rapidly growing energy use. LICs have minimal usage. commercial agriculture and
manufacturing industry use high energy levels, increases use in NICs and HICs.
countries have tech to exploit domestic energy resources and can afford importing
resources.
resource endowment: resources not evenly distributed. Russia, large oil/gas
reserves. China, coal reserves. Australia/Canada, large uranium quantities. HEP
best produced in a rainy climate/high relief (Norway). solar works best in warm
sunny climate (south Spain).
climate: affects supply. Denmark, windy climate so invested in wind power. Spain,
sunny climate and uses significant amounts of solar power. Norway, rainy and
obtains most energy from HEP. Climate affects demand. Canada/Scandinavian
countries use more energy, reflects need for heating/lighting during long cold
winters.
world energy prices: vary. As demand growing faster than supply, prices increase
over time. tech to produce oil from Canadas tar sands existed for many years but
until recently oil produced was too expensive to trade on world markets. past 15
years, oil price rise made it possible to produce crude oil from vast resources in a
profitable way.
Capital: most resources require investments before can be used. finding and
developing oil fields is costly. power stations expensive to build. infrastructure to
transport energy from production to use is expensive to develop. HICs have capital
but MICs/LICs rely on TNCs to invest, lose freedom of action regarding national
energy policy.
technology: tech in production/use of energy changes. early coal mines,
small/shallow as no tech to ventilate/drain deeper mines. Trucks/draglines in opencast/strip mining developed in 20thC. Machines cheaper than miners. HICs with
high labour costs, coal from strip mines is cheaper to produce than deep mines.
demand affected by development. invention of internal combustion engine using
petrol/diesel led to transport changes, move from rail to road. reduced coal
demand, increased petrol demand. Private car, cheap/popular, reasons for high oil
demand. Fracking, increased gas reserves and supply in USA, large price reduction.
pollution: energy production, transport and use can pollute. west Virginia, whole
mountains being destroyed for coal. north Russia, oil well sites covered in spills,
other places contaminated by leaks from pipelines. oil tankers can leak, kill wildlife
destroy habitats and cover beaches in black tarry oil. burn fossil fuels, causes
global warming, environmental/economic impacts. early stages of economic
development, MICs ignore pollution. critical role energy plays in development is so
important that pollution is price worth paying for economic growth. QoL more
important and cleaner environment moves up political agenda with development.
energy policy: gov has a big impact on production/use nature by adopting policies.
capitalist economy, supply dictated by market and decisions of big energy TNCs.
most gov know energy market is imperfect so policies are adopted to secure
supply and ensure price not too high. national policies influenced by principles of
supply and demand management. supply management, ensuring supplies
sufficient to match demand. demand management, decreasing demand for energy
to match limited supply. energy security at national scale, uninterrupted
availability of energy at affordable price. long term security, ensuring future supply
in line with developments and needs. short term security, ability of system to react
promptly to demand changes. access to affordable energy essential if economy is
to function and grow. uneven distribution and needs variation leads to shortage
vulnerability. gov will interfere in market to ensure future.
Balance between different energy sources at the national scale — the
primary energy mix
energy mix: energy sources a country uses. countries need to supply from more
than one source. different sources have different uses. e.g. solar power not useful
at night. countries use energy mix in choice of primary energy resources.
France’s primary energy mix in 2010: nuclear 38%, oil 33%, natural gas 17%,
renewables 7%, coal 5%. limited coal/oil reserves, supplies imported. coal mining
ended in 2004. coal imported due to fuel demand. import natural gas from north
Africa, amount used increasing but less than other EU’s. limited fossil fuel, invest
heavily in nuclear power to secure energy production. 2nd biggest producer of
nuclear in world. renewable comes from HEP (alps and Rhone river) and biomass.
first large-scale tidal power station in the world.
Kenya’s primary energy mix in 2007: biomass 74%, oil 19%, geothermal 5% and
HEP 2%. biomass in form of fuel wood/charcoal. live in rural areas where main
energy source for cooking/heating is biomass. Wood demand increased as growing
pop but gov wants to reduce as of deforestation. wood use exceeds natural growth,
biomass critical renewable energy resource. oil for transport/electricity. increase in
world oil prices is problem for economy, gov wants to reduce oil dependence but
hard to find alternatives. Geothermal use rising since first plant built in 80s in rift
valley. HEP for electricity generation, depends on unreliable rainfall. 14 small hydro
stations and 2 additional projects planned but number of sites is limited.
Crude oil
most used and commodity. important as moved by ship/pipeline cheap, only
practical transport fuel. use grows slower than consumption as finite.
OPEC (cartel) group of 13 oil producing countries, control production, influence
prices. demand increased so OPEC increased production to stop price rising. rise in
price after 2005 due to static supply, demand rising in rapidly industrialising
countries. OPEC tried to resist price by increasing production but rises occurred. in
rich, oil-importing countries price rises led to inflation and reduced economic
growth. middle east wars led to production reduction. oil companies drilling in more
extreme environments. pushes tech to limits, bad environmental consequences.
world stock markets speculators influence prices for personal gain.
global peak oil production is point in time when greatest global oil production
occurs. production of finite resources predicted by Hubbert curve, predicts a rising
build up phase as more oil reserves discovered and exploited. production peak
occurs as demand drives production up. production decline due to reserves running
out and leads to oil price rise. look for alternatives or new oil reserves with new
tech, decline less steep and tail of production can continue. global peak oil
production occurred in 2007. new tech and discoveries make determination of
global peak oil very hard. until recently, not cost-effective to extract oil and tech
development meant vast reserve of oil is now exploited.
mining disturbs/removes large land areas, habitat loss, release of dust, noise,
surface water contamination, building large waste heaps.
Transporting, spills kill wildlife, reduce visual attractiveness of beaches
burning, acid rain damages forests and threatens freshwater wildlife.
burning vehicle fuels causes local air pollution (dust, smog and photochemical
smog)
crude oil provides range fuels and produces plastics. dirty substance; thick black
and tarry, sticks to anything in contact with. transported from oil fields to refineries
in oil tankers or pipelines. doesn’t cause any problems unless spillage.
tankers can carry 250,000 tonnes. spills caused when tanker runs aground and
cargo spills out onto sea. pipelines carry huge amounts overland, when bursts has
a local scale impact, polluting water and killing plants/wildlife.
Natural gas
60s, by-product of oil production. cleaner and more energy efficient than coal. hard
to transport, flared off in oil fields. 25% of world energy consumption. large
reserves, enough for 70 years. 1/3 in Russia, 1/3 in middle east. cleanest fossil fuel,
no sulphur dioxide, half CO2 of oil/coal, so great demand.
new tech to extract from shale rocks (fracking) most extracted from porous rocks,
flows up the boreholes quite readily. pore spaces in shale smaller and more difficult
for gas to escape rock group. borehole tech in USA allows a series of holes drilled
into the gas-bearing shales. mud/liquid pumped into rocks under pressure, cracking
rocks and allowing gas to escape. once liquids removed, gas flows readily. huge
increase in production in USA, 50% reduction in prices. tech will spread, increasing
world production. UK gov sees as important way to increase energy supplies,
environmental impacts may lead to protests.
Fracking contaminates groundwater supplies.
Coal
use grew during first decade of 21stC. growth in Chinese economy, huge coal
reserves that are cheap to exploit. use will grow. modern strip-mining techniques
make cheap to extract. 2nd most used energy source.
large reserves, enough for 150 years and 70 countries have reserves. USA Russia
China and Australia have 60% of world reserves. dirty fuel, hard to mine so
declining use in HICs, but fuel in NICs/MICs. stations easy to build, simple to run,
produce large amounts in one place. 40% of world electricity generated from coal.
future hard to predict but as reserves decline and prices rise, new tech developed
so easier to extract. carbon capture at stations allows without contributing to
climate change.
burning, acid rain damages forests and threatens freshwater wildlife.
burning vehicle fuels causes local air pollution (dust, smog and photochemical
smog)
Nuclear power
Uranium is a major fuel for industry. uranium fuel rods are radioactively decayed,
heat is produced, converted into electricity. half the world’s reserves are in USA,
Canada and Australia. power stations mainly HICs but NICs (India, china and brazil)
also developed it.
problems: accidents at three-mile island (USA), Chernobyl (Ukraine) and Fukushima
(japan) led to releases of dangerous radioactive material. stations expensive to
build so why only in HICs. long to build so planned well in advance, not quick fix.
old stations, difficult and expensive to decommission. used fuel roads contain
highly toxic nuclear waste and no safe way to dispose. stations produce byproducts that can make nuclear weapons.
future uncertain. doesn’t contribute to climate change and one station can produce
as much electricity as wind farm size of wales. nuclear power reduces country’s
dependence on imported fossil fuels.
escape of radioactive material, leads to genetic deformities and death of
people/wildlife.
heat from radioactive decay (nuclear fission) of uranium is used to generate
electricity. accidents can cause illness or kill human/animals/plants. land around
gets contaminated and remains unusable.
1986 explosion at Chernobyl was local scale disaster that affected close area,
regional scale problem that affected many north Europe. 56 deaths in local area
(now exclusion zone) and radiation released caused 1000’s more deaths in regions
surrounding (Ukraine, Belarus, Poland). many still ill with radiation-linked illnesses
(thyroid cancers and leukaemia). continental scale impacts were short lived but
affected farm animals as far away as British Isles.
HEP
stations beside flowing water source, flowing water that turns the turbines. needs
large head of water, stations associated with dams in mountainous regions with
high rainfall. can be built into barrages, barriers built across rivers that water flows
through. pumped storage HEP schemes have low and high lake. water falls from
high lake down to low turning turbines as it flows. Water pumped from low to high
at low demand and reused when demand rises. future uncertain, stations provide
huge electricity, expensive and long build. don’t burn fossil fuels or contribute to
global warming. negative environmental impacts. small scale micro hydro schemes
successful in LICs but contribution to country’s overall energy supply is tiny.
if built in rainforest areas and forest not been cleared, rotting uncleared vegetation
produces huge amounts of greenhouse gases. also affect fish migration and fish
breeding patterns.
Wind power
use increased last 15 years. growing realisation fossil fuels cause global warming,
negative future consequences. desire to reduce carbon footprint. cost falling,
competitive with other forms. costs only 10% of 1994’s price. tech means modern
multi megawatt turbines are bigger and more efficient. turbine manufacture, big
business with many firms/factories. demand exceeds supply. bigger ones turn
slower and more aesthetically pleasing. world leading producers are USA, china,
India and west Europe HICs. UK is island so windy, many new offshore wind farms
where wind blows strongly. growth slow due to local objections and
environmentalists.
noisy, spoil view and kill birds that fly into them
electricity transmission lines are visual pollution. building of new wind farms in mid
wales after 2010 meant electricity transmission pylons needed to be built through
beautiful, rural area of north Shropshire. local issue and locals tried to stop pylons
being built.
Biofuels
any energy source coming from organic biomass. renewable and carbon-neutral.
includes solid biofuels (fuelwood), liquid biofuels (bioethanol and biodiesel), biogas.
fuelwood in LICs: cooking accounts for 90% of domestic energy use. houses have
no access to electricity/kerosene so use wood from surrounding land. 2.5b people
rely on fuelwood. wood renewable if gathered sustainably, use has social consequences, gathering for young women/girls, withdrawn from school to help so
affects education. burning in poorly ventilated homes leads to respiratory diseases,
reducing life expectancy. irreversible effect on environment, desertification. pop
pressure results in woodlands being removed. wind erosion of fertile topsoil in dry
season, nothing grows, people move away. solution to replace trees and educated
in sustainable use. kerosene stoves are alternative but made from oil and
expensive to buy. clay stoves only use 1/3 of wood so reduces usage from 150 to
40 trees a year, less smoke so health benefit, quicker and portable, benefits
environment and provides sustainable incomes. gathering leads to deforestation,
habitat loss, desertification and soil erosion.
other biofuels: liquid made from crops (maize, oilseeds, sugar cane). liquid fuels
used instead of petrol/diesel. biogas made from manure, domestic rubbish in
landfill and organic waste in digester. used as domestic fuel but can generate
electricity. Biomass, bulky crop, burnt in conventional thermal power station,
burning of rubbish in waste-to-power incinerators. global production rising rapidly.
Renewable use will increase in future, HICs with money to invest. stable prices,
supplies more secure than imported fuels, carbon neutral as part of natural carbon
cycle. burn to produce CO2, not new CO2, absorbed from atmosphere as plants
grew, returned to atmosphere from where it came from. HICs, food supplies are
secure and land available to produce. burning domestic rubbish for energy
preferred than dumping landfill. grown on land previously used to grow food, leads
to food supply reduction and increased food price, won’t grow in future in LICs.
The environmental impacts of energy production and use at the local and
regional scale — acid rain
1970-80 Scandinavia, aware forests/aquatic wildlife being damaged. pH similar to
vinegar. caused by fossil fuels, produces sulphur dioxide/nitrogen oxides, dissolve
in clouds to produce acid rain. Scandinavia suffering from pollutants produced in
UK. acid rain known as wet deposition, regional scale impact. UK, corroded
buildings, dry deposition, local scale impact.
coal contains sulphur, burning releases sulphur dioxide. when cars burn petrol,
produce range of exhaust gases, includes nitrogen oxides.
impacts: attacks limestone statues, graves and buildings. causes respiratory
problems. damages trees, especially coniferous. aluminium leached out of soil,
washed into streams rivers and lakes, toxic for aquatic life.
EU introduced legislation in 1988. 1999, levels in Scandinavia fallen by 30%.
catalytic converters made compulsory, cutting down nitrogen oxides. old coal
power stations replaced with gas, cleaner fuel and produces little sulphur dioxide.
coal stations use sulphur scrubbers on chimneys to remove sulphur dioxide.
The environmental impacts of energy use at the global scale — global
warming
human induced climate change produced by enhanced greenhouse effect. in HICs/
NICs, energy use is increasing.
problem recognised at earth summit in Rio 1992, nations agreed to reduce
emissions. not easy but consequences of sea level rise, increased atmospheric
hazards and reduction in global food supplies.
greenhouse gases trap heat, can’t escape so heats atmosphere. greenhouse effect
is natural but enhanced due to humans. Main greenhouse gases are carbon dioxide
(burning fossil fuels) methane (rotting rubbish in landfill sites by rice fields and
cows digestive systems)
greenhouse effect produced global warming, increase in average global temp that
impacts global ecosystems. more gales and storms. rain patterns change, more
droughts and floods. ice caps melt and sea levels rise. land flooded by sea. sea
gets warmer and expand, levels rise even more.
LICs/MICs affected more as no money for infrastructure/resources to prepare/cope
with consequences.
managing problem hard as damage done, burning fossil fuels since industrial
revolution. signed Kyoto agreement, suggest a desire to reduce future effects.
Strategies of developing energy conservation, using cars less and more energy
efficient cars, public transport or walking, use more nuclear and HEP, plant trees
and stop deforestation, have international agreements and co-operation. HICs must
help LICs