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Chapter 12
Name: Sarah Montgomery
Date: 12
...
15
Section: Nonrenewable energy resources
Questions/Main
Ideas/Vocabulary
Period: F
Notes/Answers/Definitions/Examples/Sentences
Nonrenewable energy
accounts for most of our
energy use
In the US, each person averages 10,000 watts of energy use
continuously
...
The supply is
finite
...
Fossil fuels
They are derived from biological materials that became
fossilized millions of years ago
...
TO access the ancient solar energy contained
in the chemical bonds, we burn them and take the heat energy
from their combustion
...
We
harness that energy by transferring heat as well
...
A gigajoule is 2 billion
joules, or the same energy in 30 L of gasoline
...
In the US, we report energy as the quad (it
is equal to 1
...
Although only 20% of the world’s
population lives in developed countries, those people use 70%
of the world’s energy annually
...
Commercial energy
sources
Are those that are bought and sold, such as coal, oil, and natural
gas
...
There is a much greater use of this in the developing
world and rural areas
...
By 1950, electricity generated
by nuclear energy became part of the mix, and hydroelectricity
became more prominent
...
Energy in order of
importance: oil, coal, and natural gas
...
In the US, 30% of energy comes
from other countries; industry uses the most energy, followed by
transportation
...
Energy types and quality
Certain forms of energy are best suited for a particular purpose
(ex: gas for transportation)
...
When energy is transformed, its ability to do work is
diminished; some energy is lost during each conversion
...
Every energy
source requires an expenditure of energy to obtain it; we can
calculate aw ay to account for the energy by EROEI (energy
obtained/ energy invested)
...
From an
environmental perspective, it is important to look at the overall
system efficiency when considering the pros and cons (ex:
electric vs
...
Efficiency and
transportation
In the US, transportation is achieved primarily through the use of
vehicles fueled by petroleum products and electricity
...
In the US, light trucks—typically
SUVS, minivans, and pickup trucks—account for roughly ½ of
auto sales, while hybrid electric cars are 2-3%
...
Laws have been passed to increase the
average fuel efficiency of new cars and light trucks sold each
year to deliver a fleet average of 15 km per liter by 2016
...
Electricity is a secondary source of energy, meaning we obtain it
from the conversion of a primary source
...
Energy carrier
Something that can move and deliver energy in a convenient,
usable form to end-users
...
Electricity is clean at the point of use
...
The transfer of energy from a fuel to electricity is
only 35% efficient; although electricity is highly convenient, it
isn’t all too efficient (especially for things that can allow a long
time, like heating a home)
...
As the
energy in the steam turns the turbine, the shaft in the center of
the turbine turns the generator, which generates electricity
...
It connects power plants
together and links them with end users of electricity
...
A typical power plant might have a capacity of
500 megawatts
...
When it is time to start up a
power plant, nuclear and coal-fired plants may take a number of
hours to come up to full generating capacity
...
Combined cycle
A natural gas-fired power plant, which has two turbines and
generators
...
In addition, the waste heat from this
process boils water
...
Capacity
A maximum electrical output
...
Most thermal power
plants have factors of 0
...
Cogeneration
The use of a fuel to generate electricity and produce heat
...
It can
have efficiencies as high as 90% whereas the two methods
(steam heating and electricity generation) alone could have 75%
and 35% respectively
...
Starting with peat, increasing time and pressure creates
denser coal w/ more carbon molecules and more potential
energy
...
Coal
A solid fuel formed primarily from the remains of trees, ferns,
and other plant materials that were preserved 280-360 million
years ago
...
A precursor to coal, peat, is made up
partly of decomposed organic materials
...
Advantages and
disadvantages of coal
Because it is energy-dense and plentiful, coal is used to
generate electricity and for industrial processes such as making
steel
...
However, subsurface mining becomes
necessary as deposits are depleted
...
Coal has a number of
impurities (like sulfur) that are released when it is burned;
compounds not released in the atmosphere are left behind as
ash
...
Petroleum contains natural gas;
some separates naturally, and some is burned off by workers to
prevent an explosion
...
The top petroleum producing countries are Saudi
Arabia, Russia, the US, Iran, China, Canada and Mexico (these
seven make up ½ worldwide production)
...
The fluid nature of its products, like oil
and gasoline, makes them ideal for mobile combustion
applications (like cars)
...
Crude oil
Liquid petroleum that is removed from the ground
...
The process is complex, dangerous, and
expensive
...
Whenever oil is extracted and
transported, there is a risk for leaking—large spills can be
catastrophic (think Exxon or the Persian Gulf War or BP)
...
In the US, debate
continues over whether or not oil should be a domestic or
imported thing
...
It is 80-95% methane and up to
5-20% ethane, propane, and butane
...
The
two largest uses are for electricity generation and industrial
processes
...
Liquefied
petroleum gas—LPG—often is used in place of natural gas bc it
is less energy dense
...
Advantages and
disadvantages of natural
gas
Because of a lot of natural gas pipeline systems, roughly one
half of US use natural gas for heating
...
Disadvantages:
unburned gas (methane) can still be a powerful greenhouse gas,
its extraction is still problematic (“fracking”)
Oil sands
Slow-flowing, viscous deposits of bitumen mixed with sand,
water, and clay
...
Bitumen
Often called tar or pitch, is a degraded type of petroleum that
forms when a petroleum deposit is not capped with a nonporous
rock
...
The remaining mix no longer flows at ambient
temps/pressures and can be extracted by surface mining
...
In the meantime, we are
using energy more efficiently, but because there are more
people and more processes that require energy, our overall use
has increased
...
Hubbert curve
A bell-shaped curve representing oil use and projecting both
when world oil production will reach a maximum and when we
will run out of oil
...
Future of fossil fuel use
If current global patterns continue, conventional oil supplies will
disappear in less than 40 years; natural gas will last longer; coal
supplies will last for 200+ years
...
Nuclear energy is getting a Nuclear energy is an alternate to fossil fuels
...
The use of fission in
nuclear reactors
Electricity generation from nuclear energy uses the same basic
process as electricity generation from fossil fuels: steam turns a
turbine that turns a generator that generates electricity
...
1 neutron +235U à 142Ba+
91Kr+ 3 neutrons in motion
...
The by products of nuclear
reaction include radioactive waste that is hazardous for
hundreds of thousands of years
...
Steam is produced,
which turns a turbine, which turns a generator
...
It could take up
to 2k lbs
...
6 lbs
...
Because most uranium ores aren’t 100% 235U, it
must be chemically enriched to be useful as a fuel; typically,
suitable nuclear fuel contains 3% or more of 235U
...
Reactions have to take place at an appropriate speed to be used
for energy collection
...
Control rods
A cylindrical device inserted between fuel roads in a nuclear
reactor to absorb excess neutrons and slow or stop the fission
reaction
...
Advantages and
disadvantages of nuclear
energy
Nuclear power plants don’t produce air pollution and is one way
to achieve independence from imported oil
...
In 50’s
and 60’s, thought it’d be cheap to make plants; but people
protested over safety and the waste; in 80’s, was too expensive
to make; in US, currently 104, but now there’s a resurgence in
interest
...
Nobody died, but
many evacuated
...
31 died and more later
from related causes, hundred thousand people were evacuated
from the vicinity
...
Many
people point to accident for rise in cancer, specifically thyroid
cancer
...
All three
levels are gov regulated
...
Presently, power plants are required to store spent them at the
plant itself
...
Waste can’t be incinerated, safely destroyed using chemicals,
shot into space, dumped on the ocean floor, or buried into a
trench because those all leave the option for radioactivity to
enter the ocean/atmosphere
...
Radioactive waste
Nuclear fuel that can no longer produce enough heat to be
useful in a power plant but continues to emit radioactivity
...
Curie
A unit of measure for radiation
...
Fusion power
Nuclear fusion seems to promise a seemingly unlimited source
of energy that only requires hydrogen and produces relatively
small amounts of radioactive waste
...
It’ll probs be several decades before fusion
power can be realized
...
Summary: Energy changes over time with industrial developments
...
Each energy source is best suited for certain activities
...
Electricity
generation plants convert chemical energy of fuel into electricity; most common are coal, oil,
natural gas and nuclear fuels
...
Coal is
energy dense and common; however, its combustion is a major source of air pollution and
greenhouse gas emissions
...
Natural gas is relatively clean
...
Fossil fuels are finite resources
...
MULTIPLE CHOICE
1
...
The fact that global transfer of energy from fuel to electricity is about 35% efficient is mostly
a consequence of (d) the second law of thermodynamics
3
...
Which of the following is not associated with the surface extraction of coal? (d) Underground
tunnels and shafts
5
...
Nuclear power pants produce electricity using energy from the radioactive decay of (a)
uranium-235
...
Currently, most high-level radioactive waste from nuclear reactors in the US is (e) stored at
the power plant that produced it
...
A radioactive isotope has a half-life of 40 years and a radioactivity level of 4 curies
...
25 curies? (b) 120
9
...
This graph shows © the point
at which world oil production will reach