Energy Resources

Energy Resources

Sources of fuel for human activities

Non-renewable resources

Cannot be replaced once used up, finite

Renewable resources

Can be used over and over again, non-finite

Oil

Yellow-black liquid in rock formations (oil wells or reservoirs) in the Earth's crust

High energy content

Oil Formation

Dead jelly-like sea creatures build up on the sea floor and are altered by heat and pressure

How is oil extracted?

By drilling

Oil uses

Petrol and diesel, processed to make plastics, paints and tar

Oil advantages and disadvantages

Easier to use and burns more cleanly than coal, easily available and transported

Oil spills damage the environment, using oil releases carbon dioxide

Natural Gas extraction

Drilling to Earth's crust, refined for impurities, smell added so people know if it is leaking in homes

Natural Gas uses

Heating, cooking, and electricity generation.

Natural Gas advantages and disadvantages

Cheap and readily available

Finite, controversial extraction, source of greenhouse gases

Coal

Brown-black sedimentary rock formed when layers of dead plant material are put under heat and pressure

Coal extraction

Opencast mining or shaft mining

Coal uses

Heat homes, generate electricity and to smelt iron ore in steel manufacturing

Can be liquified to produce other chemicals

Coal advantages and disadvantages

Cheap and readily available source of fuel

Highly polluting and is linked to poor health in coal mining areas, 25% of greenhouse gas emissions

Peat

Collection of partly decayed plant material found in peatlands, wetlands or bogs

Peat uses

Heating homes, fuel for power stations and in gardening products

Peat advantages and disadvantages

Cheap and easily available

Not as energy dense as coal or oil, emits carbon dioxide when burned

Nuclear Power

Relies on enriched uranium

Nuclear Power uses

Produce electricity in homes and industries

Nuclear Power advantages and disadvantages

Cheap

Highly radioactive waste, expensive waste disposal, can remain radioactive for hundreds of thousands of years

Solar

Converted from the sun using solar panels in solar farms

Solar uses

Heating water and powering appliances

Solar advantages and disadvantages

Clean, no CO2 emissions

Sunlight variation

Wind

Produced by wind turbines that can be on an off shore or on shore wind farms

Wind advantages and disadvantages

Clean and non-finite

Can look unsightly, flicker

Tidal

Tidal stream generator uses the change in tides each day

Tidal advantages and disadvantages

More predictable than solar and wind, clean

Currently limited, tidal generators can affect marine life

hydroelectric power

Flow of water in a river

HEP Dams

Located in upper course of rivers.

Lake forms behind the dam, water flows and drives a turbine

HEP advantages and disadvantages

Cheaper and cleaner

Land behind dam gets flooded, concrete used to build dams releases large amounts of carbon dioxide

Biomass

Burning plants, such as wood or wooden pellets, or organic mass matter

Can be turned into biofuels, i.e rapeseed oil

Biomass uses

Heating homes using a wood pellet boiler, commercial biomass plants generate electricity

Biomass disadvantages

Land used to grow biomass takes up space that could be used to grow food

Geothermal

Heat from hot water stored in volcanic locations or stored in soil layers heated by the sun

Geothermal uses

Heating, electricity and food production

Geothermal advantages and disadvantages

Clean but expensive

Environmental impacts of oil on Saudi Arabia

Efficient that doesn't emit a lot of smoke, gives off more energy

Spills can kill fish, birds and animals, emits harmful greenhouse gases and adds to the formation of acid rain

Economic impacts of oil on Saudi Arabia

Brought huge wealth, employs 80,000 people globally, started to diversify and develop other sectors of the economy

Could lead to an economic collapse once finished, as income from oil decreases non-nationals may lose their jobs

Social impacts of oil on Saudi Arabia

High standard of living, demand for workers led to inward migration

As job market shrinks non-nationals will be more affected, class divide