Energy resources - 1B

• Non renewable resources


  • Coal
  • Oil
  • Natural gas
  • Nuclear fuels (uranium and plutonium)
• Fossil fuels


  Natural resources that form underground over millions of years, typically burned to produce energy
• Non renewable fuels are not being made at the same rate as they are being used and will run out one day
• Non renewable fuels do damage to the environment through emissions or because of issues with their mining, storage and disposal, but they do provide most of our energy
• Renewable energy resources


  • Wind
  • Water waves
  • Tides
  • Hydroelectricity
  • The sun (solar)
  • Geothermal
  • Biofuel
• Renewable energy resources can be made at the same rate as they're being used and so will never be run out
• Most renewable energy resources do damage to the environment, but in less nasty ways as the non renewable resources
• Renewable energy resources often don't provide as much energy as the non renewables do and some of them are unreliable because they depend on the weather
• Main uses of energy resources

  • Transport
  • Heating
• Wind power


  Generating electricity from wind by putting up wind turbines exposed to wind, rotating turbines turn generator which produces energy
• Advantages of wind power

  • No pollution (except manufacturing)
  • No permanent damage to landscape
  • Clean
  • Non-finite
  • Cheap to run and produce after initial cost
• Disadvantages of wind power

  • Visual pollution
  • Many turbines needed to replace little fossil fuel
  • Lots of land needed for big effect
  • Unreliable wind
  • Can be noisy
  • High initial cost
• Solar cells


  Generate electric currents directly from the sun's radiation
• Advantages of solar power

  • No pollution
  • Best to charge devices with little energy
  • Running fee is almost zero
• Disadvantages of solar power

  • High energy needed to manufacture
  • High initial cost
  • Unreliable in cloudy days or night
  • Cannot increase power output when extra demand
• Geothermal power


  Uses energy in thermal energy stores of hot underground rocks to generate electricity
• Advantages of geothermal power


  • Free energy
  • Reliable
  • Very little harm to environment
  • Can heat buildings directly
• Disadvantages of geothermal power

  • Not many suitable locations
  • High cost of building power plant compared to energy produced
• Hydroelectric power stations


  Generating electricity by allowing water through turbines in a dam that floods a valley
• Advantages of hydroelectric power

  • No pollution
  • Can provide immediate response to increased demand
  • Low running costs
  • Reliable
• Disadvantages of hydroelectric power


  • Flooding of valley leads to rotting vegetation
  • Possible loss of habitat for animals
  • Whole villages evacuated and flooded
  • Reservoirs can be visual pollution
• Wave power


  Generating electricity using small wave-powered turbines located around the coast
• Advantages of wave power

  • No pollution
  • No fuel costs
  • Low running costs
  • Useful on small islands
• Disadvantages of wave power

  • Disturbs seabed and habitats
  • Visual pollution
  • Hazard for boats
  • Unreliable
  • Unlikely to provide energy on large scale
• Tidal barrages


  Big dams built across river estuaries, with turbines to generate electricity from the tide
• Advantages of tidal power

  • No pollution
  • Reliable
• Disadvantages of tidal power

  • Preventing free access by boats
  • Visual pollution
  • Altering habitats
  • Varying tide height means less power produced some days
• Biofuels


  Renewable energy resources created from plant products or animal dung, that can be burned to produce electricity or run cars
• Advantages of biofuels


  • Carbon neutral
  • Fairly reliable
• Disadvantages of biofuels


  • Cannot respond to immediate energy demands
  • High cost to refine
  • Contributing to deforestation and loss of animal habitats in some places
• Advantages of non-renewable energy

  • Reliable
  • Enough to meet current demand
  • Can respond quickly to demand
  • Running costs aren't cheap
  • Cost effective way to produce energy
• Disadvantages of non-renewable energy


  • Bad for the environment
  • Slowly running out
  • High set up costs
  • Release CO2 and sulfur dioxide causing greenhouse effect and acid rain
  • Harmful to trees and ecosystems
  • Oil spillage damages biodiversity
  • Open cast mining damages landscape
  • Nuclear waste is very hard and dangerous to dispose of
  • Risk of major nuclear catastrophe
  • Nuclear very costly