Energy Fundamentals, Statistics and Fossil Resources

Comprehensive vocabulary flashcards covering energy classification, sustainability definitions, the energy trilemma, statistical modeling, and fossil resource categories.

Energy

Power derived from the utilisation of physical or chemical resources, especially in order to provide light, heat, or to do work.

Non-renewable (fossil) source

An energy source formed and stored within the Earth’s crust over geological time, existing in a finite quantity that is not replenished on any human timescale, such as crude oil, natural gas, and coal.

Renewable source

Zero carbon energy sources that can be continuously re-produced, such as wind, solar, and hydro.

Sustainable source

Energy sources that are cleaner than fossil fuels and have much lower emissions but are not net zero, such as nuclear, biofuel, and wood.

Green source

An energy source that produces zero emissions during operation, such as wind, solar, and hydro.

Energy trilemma

The challenge of finding an energy source, or means of supply, that satisfies three contradicting requirements: environment/sustainability, security of supply, and cost.

Hybridisation

A method of satisfying the energy trilemma by combining two or more sources so that the weakness of one (e.g., intermittency) is compensated by the strength of another (e.g., dispatchable output).

Microgrid

A defined local network combining generation with energy storage, which balances supply and demand within its own boundary.

Capacity factor

The total energy generated during a year, divided by the hours of utilisation, divided by the installed capacity of the generator multiplied by the number of hours in a year; simply, the total output power required divided by installed capacity.

Dispatchable generation

Generation whose power output can be commanded up or down on demand by the operator and is available at any required time, such as coal, gas, nuclear, and hydro.

Non-dispatchable generation

Generation whose output is determined by the availability of the underlying resource and cannot be controlled by the operator, such as wind and solar.

Tonne of oil equivalent (toe)

A normalised unit of energy equal to the energy released by burning one tonne of crude oil, allowing different energy sources to be expressed on a single comparable scale.

Crude oil

A naturally occurring liquid hydrocarbon consisting of chains of more than five carbon atoms, which may contain water, dissolved natural gas, sulphur, and other minerals.

Proved (proven) resources

Resources that are $90\%$ certain to be recoverable using current technology under current economic conditions.

Provable (probable) resources

Resources that are $50\%$ certain to be recoverable.

Possible resources

Resources that are $10\%$ certain to be recoverable.

Unrecoverable resources

Resources known to exist but which cannot be extracted due to lack of technology or environmental/prohibitive grounds, such as polar oils.

Undiscovered resources

Resources estimated to exist based on geological and statistical modelling but which have not been located by exploration.

Reserves-to-production (R/P) ratio

The ratio of proven reserves of a fuel to the annual rate of production or consumption ($R/P = \frac{\text{Total proven reserves}}{\text{Consumption per year}}$), giving the number of years a reserve will last at the current rate.

Hubbert’s model

A model stating that production of a finite resource peaks when approximately half of the total recoverable resource has been extracted, and declines thereafter.

Uppsala / Campbell model

A model stating that once a natural production peak is reached, the remaining usable lifetime of the fuel is approximately equal to the time taken to rise to that peak.

Unconventional oils

Oils not available in conventional liquid form, occurring as slurry, trapped in rocks, or in inaccessible locations; they are typically more expensive to extract and refine.

Heavy oils

Oils of high density and viscosity, such as tar sands (bitumen) or tight oil (oil shales recovered via hydraulic fracturing).

Polar oils

Oil resources located in polar regions (e.g., Antarctica/Arctic) that carry unacceptable environmental risks and high extraction costs.

Deep-water oils

Oil located beneath more than $500\,m$ of water, difficult to extract due to depth and pressure.

Large Combustion Plant Directive (LCPD)

An EU directive targeting emissions from large power plants, requiring emission control processes like flue gas desulfurisation (FGD) or closure by March 2016.

Co-firing

The simultaneous combustion of biomass together with coal in the same plant to reduce net emissions while retaining existing infrastructure.

Dedicated biomass plant

A power plant designed or converted to burn biomass alone, often utilizing fluidised bed boilers for better combustion control.