AP Environmental Science Unit 6: Energy Resources and Consumption

Renewable energy source

Energy source naturally replenished faster than it’s used

Nonrenewable energy source

Resource that cannot be replenished at a rate that matches its consumption

Subsistence fuel

Fuels easily gathered or collected

• eg. wood, crop, animal waste

• very commonly used in less developed nations

Charcoal

Solid fuel created by burning wood, removing moisture and volatile compounds

Peat

Accumulation of partially decayed vegetation or organic matter

How can peat become anthracite coal?

Through coalification

• involves burial, increased temperature and pressure, and changes in carbon content

• intermediate coal forms are lignite, subbituminous, and bituminous coals

Petroleum

Primarily a mixture of carbon and hydrogen

• extracted from underground reservoirs through drilling

Fractional distillation

A process used to separate a mixture of liquids with slightly different boiling points, like those found in crude oil

• involves heating a mixture and allowing the components to evaporate and then condense at different points along a cooling column

Difference between extraction of petroleum from oil/tar sands and traditional petroleum extraction

Bitumen in oil sands is made of hydrocarbons, which are significantly more costly and more difficult to extract