Bio-fuels and non-renewables & trends in energy resource use

What are bio-fuels?

What are bio-fuels?

renewable energy sources created from plant products or animal dung.

How are bio-fuels used?

Burnt as a solid, liquid or gas to produce electricity or to run cars the same way as fossil fuels

What are the positives of bio-fuels?

• Carbon neutral if plants are grown at the same rate they are burnt

• Reliable

• Crops take a short time to grow

• Can be stored fr future use or demand

What are the negatives of bio-fuels?

• Cost to refine bio-fuels is very high

• Limited access to space and water makes the crops available limited

• Loss of habitats to make space

• Decay and burning cause Carbon dioxide and methane emissions

Why are non-renewable resources reliable?

• meet the current demand for power

• power plants can respond quickly to changes in demand

• cost effective

What are the problems with non-renewable resources?

• Slowly running out

• High set up costs

• Bad environmental impact

What are the environmental problems of non-renewable resources?

• Releases carbon dioxide which contributes to the greenhouse affect and then global warming

• Burning coal and oil releases sulphur dioxide which causes acidic rain ( can be reduced if sulphur is removed before burning )

• Coal mining messes up the landscape and it ruins the view

• Oil spillages cause serious environmental problems severely affecting wildlife and sea-life

• Nuclear waste is dangerous and hard to dispose of

• Nuclear power has the risk of catastrophe

What is the current trend of energy resource use?

• heavily depend on fossil fuels

• The electricity demand is huge due to population increases

• Electricity use is slowly decreasing due to more efficient appliances

• Fossil fuels and nuclear power is used for electricity, heating, gas and cooking

What are the current trends for renewable energy resources?

• Knowledge of fossil fuels being damaging to the environment is common

• Aware non-renewables are running out

• People think its better to learn to live without non-renewables before they run out

• Pressure on governments from the public is causing introduction of targets for renewable resources

• electric cars and hybrids are becoming more popular due to the public changes in a attitudes

How are reliability, money and politics limiting the use of renewable resources?

• Building new renewable resources is costly do to and more expensive for everyone

• Many people won’t be able to afford renewable sources

• Disturbances from the sources may cause future protests making the decision unethical

• Some renewable sources are not reliable or do not make enough power to supply the demand in the world

• renewable resources are not reliable, popular or cost effective enough to become dependable on them

• Politicians have too many varied opinions to make steady progress