Conservation and Management of Energy Resources

• Reduce consumption (effective energy use) (1)

  • use more equipment and less energy if the equipment uses energy efficiently e.g. less waste
  • Reducing the amount of energy used to heat a building
  • Insulation - material with good insulation properties will prevent loss of heat to the air like a blanket so less energy is used to heat the building
  • putting insulation in the roof is the most effective as the most heat is loss there
  • homes with cavities between the inside and outside wall can be filled in with insulating material so heat is pass through far slower
  • less heat loss will mean less energy used
• Insulation in homes

  A) roof

  B) window

  C) walls

  D) air leakage

  
• Insulation in walls

  A) inner wall

  B) insulation

  C) outer wall

  
• Reduce consumption (effective energy use) (2)

  • Energy is lost through windows
  • reducing window size will reduce the energy loss - might increase the amount of artificial light used, increasing the amount of energy used
  • energy can be reduced through double glazing - using two panes of glass with a gap in the middle to act as an insulator, gap needs to be filled with clear material like argon or air which will improve the insulation properties of the window
  • triple glazing (using 3 panes of glass ) helps stop energy loss more - can be too expensive for the amount of energy they are saving
• Reduce consumption (effective energy use) (3)

  • Electrical devices should be turned off when not in use - ‘standby’ modes allows devices to be accesed rapidly but uses 15 watts of power
  • Energy-efficient devices should be bought - using newer and efficient versions can significantly save the amount of energy used
  • Using alternative fuels in vehicles and further developments in energy technology are still needed to meet energy demanded
• Reduce consumption (effective energy use) (4)

  • Using ‘scrappage’ schemes to remove inefficient machines from use where the consumer is paid a sum of money to trade in their old machine for recycling - purchase of a new version improves energy efficiency and newer vehicles will increase air quality as well
• Reduce energy from waste (1)

  • Reusing existing materials to extract the energy from them before they are thrown away - reduces consumption of finite resources
  • Anaerobic digestion - breaking down of organic waste using bacteria
  • takes place in a sealed container and produces methane
  • methane can be used for a variety of heating purposes
  • composted waste can be used on land to help improve soil structure
• Reduce energy from waste (2)

  • Household rubbish can be incinerated to produce heat which can be used to generate electricity
  • disliked by many as it produces poisonous gases during combustion
  • waste from burning (ash) is small in volume and doesn’t take up lots of space when disposed off
  • Large quantities of oils used in food-processing industries can be collected and recycled into biofuels suitable for running vehicles
  • may be an additive to fuels like diesel
• Education (1)

  • Benefits of the technology need to be communicated to others
  • Countries set up special energy conservation departments to help promote new ways of thinking and the purchase of energy-efficient systems
  • not easy - investment in new equipment for the home or factory might be expensive and more expensive for a traditional method
  • Educational messages must be that significant savings in energy bills can be made over the longer term by reducing energy use even if there are initial costs
• Education (2)

  • Education should be reenforced by governments to have energy-efficiency ratings are provided for new products so they can be compared with other models when making a purchasing decision
  • The use of education to get the desired response is slow so laws have to be passed to make changes happen rapidly
  • e.g. stricter building regulations requires new constructions to be more energy efficient, preventing the sale of inefficient types of light bulbs to force the use of other types
• Education (3)

  • Providing grants to encourage the purchase of more efficient technologies
  • e.g. insulating older houses that are inefficient, replacing older and inefficient heating boilers, scrapping older and inefficient cars which emit more pollutants into the air
  • Need to use a combination of methods to have effect on its own
• Exploiting existing energy sources (1)

  • Electricity shortages disrupt daily life and cause dissatisfaction withing a population
  • Power companies have the responsibility to provide uninterrupted supply and the end consumer may not be aware what power source has been used to generate the energy
  • a problem for electricity suppliers because the sources of energy with available supply and supply that can be stored tend to be the fossil fuels which is polluting and non-renewable
  • Renewable sources are not consistently available so it’s a problem to give consistent supply
• Exploiting existing energy sources (2)

  • Current solution is to use renewable sources
  • e.g. wind turbines on a wind farm to use and use a fossil-fuel powered station to supply energy when conditions aren’t right for window generation, makes it much more reliable and reduces the usage of fossil fuels
  • can be considered more expensive for electricity generators but international agreements can force companies to use this method
• Transport policies (1)

  • Transportation of goods uses a lot of energy
  • Governments need to regulate the use of transport and encourage more efficient use - less impact on the world oil reserves and improve air quality
• Transport policies (2)

  • Current government initiaves
  • regulations on the quality of exhaust gases from vehicles and fuel efficiency
  • restrictions on where vehicles may go
  • taxation on fuels
  • surcharges for travelling to certain places like cities at peak time
  • improve public transport so its easier and cheaper than using cars
  • improving routes for cyclists and pedestrians
  • encouraging car-sharing
  • restricting when cars can be used
  • providing grants to buy more fuel-efficient vehicles
  • providing grants for vehicles using cleaner technology e.g. electric-powered vehicles
• Development of new resources

  • Concern that the demand of energy will not be met by the current development of renewable technologies
  • more pressure on finite resources
  • International agreements prevented the exploitation of large supplies of oil, gas and coal in Antartica because of the great environmental impacts and damage to the ecosystem
• Fracking - the common term for hydraulic fracking, the process of obtaining oil or gas from shale rock by the breaking open to rocks using water, sand and chemicals (1)

  • controversial source of fuel
  • blasts large amounts of water, sand and chemicals underground to extract oil and natural gas by digging a vertical hole to reach the fuel-rich rocks
• Fracking (2)

  • water, chemicals and sand are pumped down into the shale rock layer under pressure which causes the rock to fracture, releasing oil and natural gas which are forced back to the surface and collected
  • water - plentiful and easy to handle, can be pumped under pressure
  • chemicals - added to assist the process and to stop blockage of pipes but many of them are toxic
  • sand - used to keep the cracks in the rock open as they occur, allos oil and gas to escape aka proppant
• Fracking diagram

  A) water

  B) water

  C) chemicals

  D) sand

  E) pumped

  F) presssure

  G) gas and oil

  H) shale rock

  I) extra pressure

  J) ractures

  K) gas

  L) oil

  
• Proppant - a material used to keep cracks in the shale rocks to allow gas or oil extraction
• Arguments against and for fracking

  • For
  • allows access to more gas and oil which are in limited supply
  • uses gas and oil produces less pollution than burning coal so it is better to extract extra supplies than rely on coal
  • reduces the need to import oil and gas from other countries
  • shale rock is a lot underground, far below the water table, so poses little threat
  • fracking will support many jobs locally
• Arguments against and for fracking

  • Against
  • risk of toxins from fracking entering the water table
  • mixture of chemical used is toxic and may affect local residents
  • fracking uses a lot of water which reduces availability for other purposes
  • noise pollution
  • fracking in an area will affect the local economy
  • natural areas will be destroyed when new drills are developed
  • fracturing lower levels of rocks may cause earth tremors
  • long term impacts of the technology is unknown and damage may be irreparable
• What are ways to encourage use of electric vehicles?

  • taxation of other vehicles
  • raise awareness
  • increase availability of electric charging points
  • incentives to purchase and use electric vehicles