L8 + 9 - Energy in the UK

• Traditionally, the UK's 'Energy Mix' consisted of:

  • In 1970, 91% of energy came from oil and coal
  • By 1980, 22% of the UK's energy came from gas due to the discovery of gas beneath the North Sea
  • The use of nuclear power increased during the 1990s
• Currently, the UK is reliant on imported fossil fuels due to a decline in reserves of oil and gas
• Problems with relying on coal, oil, and gas:

  • Burning them releases carbon emissions, causing climate change and pollution
  • Coal mining causes environmental problems and health issues for miners
  • Oil drilling and transportation are risky and can lead to environmental disasters
  • Natural gas is a powerful greenhouse gas and a non-renewable resource
• Definition of 'renewable' and 'non-renewable' energy:

  • Renewable sources can be used repeatedly and include the sun, waves, tides, running water, and geothermal heat
  • Non-renewable sources will run out and are formed over thousands of years
• Nuclear energy is considered renewable, but the fuel required is not renewable

  • Fracking is a technique for recovering gas and oil from shale rock, making natural gas a fossil fuel
• Nuclear:

  • Advantages: creates jobs, cheaper energy, cleaner
  • Disadvantages: high costs, adverse environmental impact
• Fracking:

  • Advantages: generates jobs, cheap
  • Disadvantages: pollution, high water consumption, contaminated sludge
• Biomass:

  • Advantages: renewable, reliable
  • Disadvantages: huge building costs, waste storage challenges
• In the future, the UK's energy supply should be more renewable-based with minimal reliance on non-renewable resources. More funding should be allocated to greener energy sources to create jobs. Cutting down on nuclear energy supply is recommended.
• Coal:

  • Advantages: easy to store, inexpensive to convert into energy, reliable
  • Disadvantages: emits toxic substances, causes environmental problems, health issues for miners
• Wind:

  • Advantages: no need for fuel, does not contribute to climate change
  • Disadvantages: poses a threat to wildlife, can be noisy
• Solar:

  • Advantages: decreases non-renewable resource use, long-term savings
  • Disadvantages: sunlight dependent, high upfront costs
• Hydropower:

  • Advantages: inexpensive in the long run, renewable
  • Disadvantages: expensive upfront costs, location-specific
• Geothermal:

  • Advantages: environmentally friendly, reliable
  • Disadvantages: high initial costs, location-specific
• Oil:

  • Advantages: versatile, high energy density
  • Disadvantages: releases gases, risky drilling, dangerous profession, non-renewable
• Natural Gas:

  • Advantages: abundant, relatively clean, cheap
  • Disadvantages: powerful greenhouse gas, non-renewable
• description of coal:

  coal burned power plants burn coal to make steam and the steam turns turbines to generate electricity
• description of oil:

  oil energy is produced when the ancient remains of pressurised plants and animals is refined into petroleum and combusted in oil-fired power plants. the process creates steam which turns a generator to produce electricity
• description of natural gas:

  gas is a fossil fuel which can be used to generate electricity. by burning gas we create heat which powers a turbine. the rotation of this turbine spins a generator which creates electricity
• description of nuclear:

  nuclear power reactors use heat produced during atomic fission to boil water and produce pressurised steam. the steam is routed through the reactor steam system to spin large turbines blades that drive magnetic generators to produce electricity
• description of fracking:

  deep holes are drilled down into the shale rock, followed by horizontal drilling to access more of the gas, as shale reserves are typically distributed horizontally rather than vertically
• description of wind:

  wind turbines work on a simple principle: instead of using electricity to make wind - like a fan - wind turbines use wind to make electricity, wind turns the propeller like blades of a turbine around a rotor, which spins a generator and creates electricity
• description of solar:

  when the sun shines onto a solar panel, energy from the sunlight is absorbed by the PV cells in the panel. this energy creates electrical charges that move in response to an internal electrical field in the cell, causing electricity to flow
• description of HEP:

  hydropower is powered by the kinetic energy of flowing water as it moves downstream. hydropower utilises turbines and generators that convert kinetic energy into electricity which is then fed into the electrical grid to power homes, businesses and industries
• description of geothermal:

  geothermal power plants use steam to produce electricity. the steam comes from reservoirs of hot water found a few miles or more below the earths surface. the steam rotates a turbine that activates a generator, which produces electricity
• description of biomass:

  direct combustion is the most common method for converting biomass to useful energy. all biomasses can be burned directly for heating buildings and water, for providing industrial process heat, and for generating electricity in the steam turbines