notes
Resources
Traditional Energy Conventional Energy
Wood Coal
Field Crops Oil
Fecal Material Natural Gas
Peat Nuclear
NON-Renewable Resources
What is Peat?
What Are the Advantages and Disadvantages of Oil?
Who controls the Oil Prices?
OPEC Controls Most of the World’s Oil Supplies
13 countries have at least 60% of the world’s crude oil reserves
Saudi Arabia: 25%
Canada: 15%
Oil production peaks and flow rates to consumers
The United States Uses Much More Oil Than It Produces
Produces 9% of the world’s oil
Imports 60% of its oil
About One-fourth of the world’s conventional oil is controlled by countries that sponsor or condone terrorism
What are the Advantages
and Disadvantages of Conventional Oil?
Extraction, processing, and burning of nonrenewable oil and other fossil fuels
Advantages
Disadvantages
Oil Shale Rock and the Shale Oil Extracted from It
What Are the Advantages and Disadvantages of Natural Gas?
Conventional natural gas is more plentiful than oil, has a high net energy yield and a fairly low cost, and has the lowest environmental impact of all fossil fuels.
What is Hydraulic Fracturing?
Hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, is a technology used in drilling for oil and natural gas.
What is Hydraulic Fracturing?
What Are the Advantages and Disadvantages of Coal?
Conventional coal is very plentiful and has a high net energy yield and low cost, but it has a very high environmental impact.
Gaseous and liquid fuels produced from coal could be plentiful, but they have lower net energy yields and higher environmental impacts than conventional coal has.
What Are the Advantages and Disadvantages of Nuclear Energy?
Nuclear power has a low environmental impact and a very low accident risk, but high costs, a low net energy yield, long-lived radioactive wastes, vulnerability to sabotage, and the potential for spreading nuclear weapons technology have limited its use.
How Does a Nuclear Fission
Reactor Work? (1)
Controlled nuclear fission reaction in a reactor
Light-water reactors
Fueled by uranium ore and packed as pellets in fuel rods and fuel assemblies
Control rods absorb neutrons
How Does a Nuclear Fission
Reactor Work? (2)
Water is the usual coolant
Containment shell around the core for protection
Water-filled pools or dry casks for storage of radioactive spent fuel rod assemblies
What Is the Nuclear Fuel Cycle?
Mine the uranium
Process the uranium to make the fuel
Use it in the reactor
Safely store the radioactive waste
Decommission the reactor
Will Nuclear Fusion Save Us?
“Nuclear fusion is the power of the future and always will be”
Still in the laboratory phase after 50 years of research and $34 billion dollars
2006: U.S., China, Russia, Japan, South Korea, and European Union
Will build a large-scale experimental nuclear fusion reactor by 2040
Traditional Energy Conventional Energy
Wood Coal
Field Crops Oil
Fecal Material Natural Gas
Peat Nuclear
NON-Renewable Resources
What is Peat?
- Peat is an accumulation of partially decayed vegetation matter and is the first stage in the formation of coal
- Peat forms in wetlands, variously called bogs, moors, muskegs, pocosins, mires, and swamps
- It contains a large amount of water and must be dried before use
- Historically, it has been used as a source of heat and burns with a long flame and considerable smoke
- Peat deposits are found in many places around the world, notably in Russia, Ireland, Finland, Scotland, Poland, northern Germany, the Netherlands and Scandinavia, and in North America
- Approximately 60% of the world's wetlands have peat
- Peat is still mined as a fuel in Ireland and England
- The peat is stacked to slowly dry out
What Are the Advantages and Disadvantages of Oil?
- Conventional oil is currently abundant, has a high net energy yield, and is relatively inexpensive, but using it causes air and water pollution and releases greenhouse gases to the atmosphere.
- Heavy oils from oil sand and oil shale exist in potentially large supplies but have low net energy yields and higher environmental impacts than conventional oil has.
Who controls the Oil Prices?
OPEC Controls Most of the World’s Oil Supplies
13 countries have at least 60% of the world’s crude oil reserves
Saudi Arabia: 25%
Canada: 15%
Oil production peaks and flow rates to consumers
The United States Uses Much More Oil Than It Produces
Produces 9% of the world’s oil
Imports 60% of its oil
About One-fourth of the world’s conventional oil is controlled by countries that sponsor or condone terrorism
What are the Advantages
and Disadvantages of Conventional Oil?
Extraction, processing, and burning of nonrenewable oil and other fossil fuels
Advantages
Disadvantages
Oil Shale Rock and the Shale Oil Extracted from It
What Are the Advantages and Disadvantages of Natural Gas?
Conventional natural gas is more plentiful than oil, has a high net energy yield and a fairly low cost, and has the lowest environmental impact of all fossil fuels.
What is Hydraulic Fracturing?
Hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, is a technology used in drilling for oil and natural gas.
What is Hydraulic Fracturing?
What Are the Advantages and Disadvantages of Coal?
Conventional coal is very plentiful and has a high net energy yield and low cost, but it has a very high environmental impact.
Gaseous and liquid fuels produced from coal could be plentiful, but they have lower net energy yields and higher environmental impacts than conventional coal has.
What Are the Advantages and Disadvantages of Nuclear Energy?
Nuclear power has a low environmental impact and a very low accident risk, but high costs, a low net energy yield, long-lived radioactive wastes, vulnerability to sabotage, and the potential for spreading nuclear weapons technology have limited its use.
How Does a Nuclear Fission
Reactor Work? (1)
Controlled nuclear fission reaction in a reactor
Light-water reactors
Fueled by uranium ore and packed as pellets in fuel rods and fuel assemblies
Control rods absorb neutrons
How Does a Nuclear Fission
Reactor Work? (2)
Water is the usual coolant
Containment shell around the core for protection
Water-filled pools or dry casks for storage of radioactive spent fuel rod assemblies
What Is the Nuclear Fuel Cycle?
Mine the uranium
Process the uranium to make the fuel
Use it in the reactor
Safely store the radioactive waste
Decommission the reactor
Will Nuclear Fusion Save Us?
“Nuclear fusion is the power of the future and always will be”
Still in the laboratory phase after 50 years of research and $34 billion dollars
2006: U.S., China, Russia, Japan, South Korea, and European Union
Will build a large-scale experimental nuclear fusion reactor by 2040