ENERGY

ENERGY

Types of energy sourcesRenewable

HydroelectricSolarWindGeothermal

Non-renewableFossil Fuels

FOSSIL FUELS

Fossil Fuel is the burning of natural gas, oil, and coalIt is a non renewable form of energy

FOSSIL FUELS

Oil and Coal Power plantsOil/Coal is burned to produce heatHeat boils waterSteam is producedSteam spins turbine

Only 35% of energy in oil is used65% is lost into environment

FOSSIL FUELS

A coal power plant

FOSSIL FUELS

Uses for fossil fuelsPowers combustion enginesTrains and carsElectricity and heatingPropane tanks for barbeques

FOSSIL FUELS

Impacts – AtmosphereCause less oxygen in the atmosphereGlobal warmingAcid Rain

Impacts – LithosphereDamage soilsSoil erosion and soil degradation

FOSSIL FUELS

Impacts – HydrosphereFloodingMelting ice capsWater contamination

Impacts – BiosphereKills marine lifeAnimals unable to migrate

FOSSIL FUELS

Poorly ManagedEcosystems in areas of oil explorationExample – Oil exploration in 1996, AlaskaOff-shore drilling

Good ManagementTankers designed with double hullsExample – Exxon Valdez

FOSSIL FUELS

SolutionsUse resources more efficientlyReuse waste heatCan achieve efficiencies of 80 – 90 %Modern technologies and strict controls

Pros – Can remove up to 97% of SO2 emissionsCons – Decreases efficiency of combustion process

FOSSIL FUELS

ArticlesVancouver Sun – May 19, 2001Air pollution caused by gasoline affects people’s

health

Vancouver Sun – May 21, 2001Air pollution deaths increase dramatically

FOSSIL FUELS

Articles ContinuedVancouver Sun – May 21, 2001Environment Canada and Health Canada had

meetings with CEOs of oil refineries to stick to the 1999 regulation of reducing sulfur in gasoline

Sulfur in gasoline damages anti pollution devices in cars

GEOTHERMAL

Geothermal energy is heat energy found deep below the Earth's surface.geo = Earth , thermal = heat

GEOTHERMALThe heat energy can be utilized in a couple

of ways:1) Water in pipes can run through the hot rocks and

be heated up. The water can be used as hot water in homes.

2) Water in pipes can be run very deep below the Earth's surface. Here the water will be heated at very high temperatures and it will turn into steam. The steam build-up can drive turbines and produce electricity.

steam from geothermal energy also occurs naturally in geysers

GEOTHERMAL

GEOTHERMALImpacts – Atmosphere

geothermal plants do emit some carbon dioxide emissions, but they're very low compared to other kinds of power plants

Impacts – Lithospheremost geothermal plants

require digging into the soil and rocks to run the pipes deep below the Earth's surface

GEOTHERMAL

Impacts – Hydrosphereno impactgeothermal plants run the same water in a cycle

cooling and heating it in various stages, without affecting outside sources

Impacts – Biosphereno impactgeothermal plants do not produce any harmful

emissions

GEOTHERMAL

Management of Geothermal EnergyGeothermal energy is best used in regions where there

is the most heat energy from magma.

GEOTHERMAL

To limit the amount of lithosphere and atmosphere impact, plants can be built on top of pre-existing natural geysers. 

The first geothermal power plants in the U.S. were built in 1962 at The Geysers dry steam field, in northern California. It is still the largest producing geothermal field in the world

NUCLEAR

Nuclear energy is the use of the nuclear fission of uranium to produce electricity.

NUCLEAR

-1 tonne of uranium produces the same amount of electricity as 25 000 tonnes of coal or 100 000 barrels of oil

 This process occurs to make electricity from uranium:

1) Uranium mined from uranium or is compressed into pellets and put into fuel rods.

NUCLEAR

2) Uranium atoms in the fuel rods are split and this causes a chain reaction with other uranium atoms.

NUCLEAR

3) The intense heat, caused by the splitting of the uranium atoms, heats up water into steam.

4) The steam builds up pressure and turns a turbine, which produces electricity.

5) Control rods are used to absorb excess radioactivity from the reaction.

NUCLEAR

6) The hot water is cooled by a coolant and reused.

NUCLEAR

This process produces 2 types of wastes:1) Low Level wastesClothing and other materials exposed to radioactivity.2) High Level wastesFuel and control rods (takes 3 million years for the

radioactivity to decay to safe levels)

NUCLEAR

There are 2 types of management of these wastes: 1) Low Level wastes are generally stored in bunkers.2) High Level wastes are buried deep into the ground. i.e. In the US, Yucca Mountain in Nevada is the

national nuclear waste disposal site, because it is solid rock, there isn't much rainfall, there haven't been any recent earthquakes, and there aren't any volcanoes near there.

NUCLEAR

Impacts – Atmospherea nuclear power plant meltdown may contaminate the

atmosphere with radioactive substancesit has little impact from greenhouse gasses on the

atmosphere

NUCLEAR

NUCLEAR

Lithosphere - fuel and control rods have to be buried deep into rock and this may damage the rock structureuranium ore has to be mined and this can damage the soil and

rocks in and around the mineHydrosphere - there is a chance that buried radioactive

materials may leak into the groundwater and this can severely contaminate the water

Biosphere - during a possible nuclear power plant meltdown radioactivity released into the air can kill many organisms i.e.. in the Chernobyl power plant in 1986 a meltdown

released radioactivity into the atmosphere and 5000 people died and 30 000 became disabled

NUCLEAR

Managing Nuclear PowerMake transportation, burial, and storage of

radioactive feel and control rods as safe as possible. This means the use of strict government intervention and controls.

Stop the use of old and worn out nuclear power plants, so a risk of a meltdown is minimised.

HYDROELECTRIC

Hydroelectricity is used to provide electricityBy converting the kinetic energy in the falling water

into electricity.

HYDROELECTRIC

Impacts – AtmosphereGives off Greenhouse gases (Methane)Decaying plants flooded in reservoirs

Impacts – LithosphereHydroelectric dams flood large areas of landSiltation and Erosion

HYDROELECTRIC

Impacts – HydrosphereSlows down the natural flow of rivers

Impacts – BiosphereFish get caught in turbinesReservoirs flood trees and plant lifePreventing fish going upstream to spawnFish die because of mercury in the water

HYDROELECTRIC

Poorly ManagedReservoirs flooding the plant-life causing

plants to drown

Environmentally ManagedGrain and SawmillsWater Wheel

WIND

Wind energy is the use of wind to produce electricity.

WINDWind Turbine - blades

attached to the turbine rotate when wind hits them, causing the turbine to rotate, and this produces electricitysimilar to a windmill the amount of energy

produced is dependant on the wind speed and the size of the blades

WIND

Impacts – Atmosphere no impactwind turbines do not release any emissions

Impacts – Lithospherewind turbines are high in the air and they need to be

anchored onto the ground, so they may affect the ground's soil and rock structure

WIND

Impacts – Hydrosphereno impactwind turbines do not affect the water cycle at all

Impacts – Biosphere the spinning blades attached to the wind turbine can

hit and injure birds that get near them and this could degrade local bird populations

WIND

Management of Wind Energyas more people use wind energy to power their homes,

the price of the turbines goes downthe amount of electricity produced is dependant on

the location, so it would be better to produce most of the turbines in windy areas, such as the coasts, on mountains, etc.

an area with wind speeds of an average of 20 kilometres per hour is needed so that wind energy is economical

SOLAR

Solar energy from the sun can be captured as heat in homes and other buildings, or it can be converted to electricity.

SOLAR

Passive Solar - many architects design homes and other buildings that aregood at absorbing heat from the suna well-designed passive solar building can store solar

heat for many hours and it even stays warm after the sunsets

reduces the energy needed for heat

SOLAR

Flat-Panel Collectors - panels are used to concentrate the suns rays and heat up water flowing through tubes the hot water can then be circulated around a building and this can be used to heat homesif the water is heated to a very high temperature, the

steam that is generated by the very hot water can be used to drive turbines and produce electricity

SOLAR

Photovoltaic Panels - when light hits a solar cell electricity is produced e.g. many calculators use solar cells to produce

electricitylarge panels could supply the electricity needed for a

building, and when spread over hundreds of hectares they can even power a whole city

SOLAR

Impacts – Atmosphereno impactsolar panels release no emissions and don't affect air

quality whatsoever Impacts – Lithosphere

no impactsolar panels do not require any drilling into rocks,

and many of them can be placed on top of existing buildings and structures without affecting the lithosphere at all

SOLAR

Impacts – Hydrosphereno impactsolar panels do not affect the water cycle at all

Impacts – Biospherelight reflected from solar panels may actually be

dangerous for birds and airplane pilots, because they can blind them and cause accidents

SOLAR

Management of Solar Energyfurther research can reduce the costs of solar panels

and reduce the size of the space they take up solar energy is best used in areas with low annual

cloud coverage, and therefore it may not be very suitable in B.C.

REFERENCES

World Nuclear Associationhttp://www.world-nuclear.org

The Virtual Nuclear Touristhttp://www.nucleartourist.com

Geothermal Education Officehttp://geothermal.marin.org

How Hydroelectric Workshttp://www.ucsusa.org/energy/brief.hydro.html