Paper 3 Section C - Consuming energy resources

Name the three different classifications of energy resources and name the examples of each

• Non-renewable

  • Finite stocks of fossil fuel coal, oil and gas

• Renewable

  • Solar, wind, hydroelectric power

• Recyclable

  • Nuclear, biofuels

Define

• Renewable energy resources

• Non-renewable energy resources

• Recyclable energy resources

• Renewable: can be replenished at the same rate (or faster) as the rate of consumption

  • Also known as flow resources as they are constantly being renewed by natural processes, and the Earth has an endless supply)

• Non-renewable: cannot be replenished at the same rate as the rate of consumption, so will run out

• Recyclable: energy resources that can be reused or regenerated; this is because they have usable waste products

  • For example:

    • Nuclear waste can be reprocessed and reused

    • The waste products from the production of biofuels can also be used as fuels

Describe the environmental impacts of mining and drilling (non-renewable energy resources)

• Open cast coal mines strip away large areas of soil, reck and vegetation to reach materials; this can cause landscape scarring

  • This can result in the destruction of natural landforms, making areas less attractive and reducing tourism

  • Abandoned mines can cause soil erosion and water pollution

• Carbon emissions

  • Mining processes can release greenhouse gases

  • Burning the fossil fuels extracted releases greenhouse gases that can cause climate change

  • This also releases other pollutants, such as sulfur dioxide which causes acid rain, damaging forests and aquatic wildlife

• Removal of forests

  • Land must be cleared, which may destroy habitats, disrupting ecosystems and reducing biodiversity

  • Contributes to global warming as fewer trees are available to absorb carbon dioxide

• Oil spills - oil can leak during drilling or from tankers transporting the fuels

  • Oil coats marine animals’ fur, destroying the insulating ability of the fur, leading to hypothermia

  • Poison marine animals

  • Destroy ecosystems and habitats such as coral reefs

Non-renewable resource extraction usually has long-lasting and global scale impacts on the environment

Describe the landscape impacts of renewable energy

• Hydroelectric power

  • Building dams floods valleys, submerging farmland, habitats and sometimes indigenous communities

  • Disrupts river ecosystems by preventing fish migration (eg. may prevent fish from reaching breeding grounds)

• Wind turbines

  • Require large areas of land, visually unappealing

  • Noise pollution

  • Spinning blades can kill birds and bats

• Solar panels

  • Take up large areas of land

  • This can destroy habitats, disrupting ecosystems

  • Heat reflected from mirrors in solar farms can kill wildlife

Explain the factors affecting access to energy resources

• Accessibility

  • Some countries have large energy resources but cannot access them eg due to permafrost or as energy resources are found in protected areas

• Conflict

  • Can prevent energy sources from being extracted

• Development level of a country

  • Levels of economic development and technology determine whether countries can effectively exploit their energy resources

    • LIC lack technology to extract and utilise fuels

• Geology

  • Fossil fuels are found only in sedimentary rock

  • Countries on plate boundaries can use geothermal

• Climate

  • Sunny climates can use solar

  • Windy areas can use wind turbines

• Landscape

  • Must be on a coast to use tidal

  • Dams must be built in mountainous/ high altitude areas

What is energy use per capita?

The amount of energy consumed by each person in a country annually

Explain the global patterns of energy use

• High income countries use the most energy per capita

  • High living standards

  • Widespread car ownership

  • Presence of energy-intensive industries

• Rising levels

  • Newly emerging economies have rapidly increased energy use in recent decades, due to rapid industrialisation and urbanisation

• Low income countries use the least energy per capita

  • Lack access to electricity

  • Rely on basic fuels such as wood or dung - traditional fuels are less efficient and so release less energy

(Colder countries require more energy overall as they need to heat homes and buildings)

Describe the causes in variations of global energy use per capita

• Levels of economic development

  • HIC: people can afford more electrical goods and cars, energy needed for electric heating and cooling

  • NEES: rapid economic growth increases demand for energy to power factories

  • LIC: fewer industries and lower incomes; many people live in rural areas without electricity grids

• Reliance on traditional fuel sources

  • Traditional fuels are less efficient, so they produce less usable energy and people consume less

• Demand from different economic sectors

  • Primary sector economies: focus on farming and small scale activities that require little energy

  • Secondary sector economies: manufacturing and industry require large amounts of energy

  • Post-industrial economies have shifted towards service industries, which require energy, but less than manufacturing economies

(Cold countries require more energy for heating)

True or false: Oil reserves are evenly distributed throughout the world

FALSE: oil reserves are found in only a few countries (mostly in the middle east

Explain why oil production is unevenly distributed

Oil production doesn’t just depend on a country’s oil reserves:

• Infrastructure + technology

  • In order to extract oil, countries need expensive and advanced technology

• Political stability

  • Conflict can damage infrastructure, and may also mean countries invest their money elsewhere (eg. defences)

• Domestic demand

  • High domestic demand means a country may produce more oil to meet their own energy needs

• Shrinking reserves

  • Shrinking reserves reduces oil production because when oil reserves become depleted, there is less oil available to extract

Explain why oil consumption is rapidly growing

• Rising per capita GDP

  • People in wealthier countries have more disposable income, so consume more goods which require energy to produce

  • More individuals own cars

• Rapid industrialisation in emerging economies

  • Growing population = more resources needed

  • Growing cities consume energy for construction

  • Factories require large amounts of energy to produce goods

What does oil supply and oil prices depend on?

• Changing international relations

  • Conflicts

    • Disrupts oil production, which leads to a decrease in oil supply. Shortages of oil cause prices to increase

  • Diplomatic relations

    • Poor diplomatic relations can lead to other countries refusing to trade oil to certain countries, reducing supply in those countries and thus increasing prices

• Economic factors

  • Periods of recession verses boom

    • Recessions lower the demand for oil because industrial activities and economic growth slows down, causing prices to fall

    • Economic booms increase oil prices due to increased consumption and demand

  • Over or under supply

    • Oil prices depend on supply and demand; if global demand is higher than supply, oil becomes scarce which causes oil prices to rise

Define conventional and unconventional energy resources

• Conventional: used for a long time and are easy to extract using well-established methods; simpler and cheaper as the technology needed to extract them is already developed

• Unconventional: harder to extract because because the fuel is trapped in difficult geological conditions, and require new or more complex technologies to extract; more expensive and has greater environmental impacts

Describe the economic costs and benefits of developing new conventional oil and gas sources in ecologically-sensitive and isolated areas

Benefits:

• Reduces energy imports which costs lost of money

• Countries can make money by exporting the energy

• Energy companies bring investment and jobs to an area

Costs:

• Isolated locations and harsh climates make drilling expensive

• Pipelines and roads must be built, which brings large transport and infrastructure costs

• Risk of environmental damage, which can impact tourist and fishing industries

Describe the unconventional energy sources

• Shale gas

  • A form of natural gas that is trapped in shale rock underground

  • It is extracted by fracking: liquid is pumped into the shale rock at high pressure, causing the rock to crack (fracture) releasing that gas which is collected as it comes out of the well

• Tar sands

  • Mixtures of sands that contain bitumen, which can be refined to produce oil

  • Surface mines collect tar sand and transport it to processing plants which use water and chemicals to separate the bitumen from the sands

• Deep water oil

  • Extracting oil from deeper and harder-to-access depths from the ocean

Describe the environmental costs of developing new unconventional oil and gas sources in ecologically-sensitive and isolated areas

• Shale gas

  • Chemicals used in fracking liquid as well as the shale gas itself can pollute groundwater and drinking water

  • Land has to be cleared to build drilling pads for fracking, which destroys animal habitats and disrupts ecosystems

  • Methane can escape during extraction

  • Can trigger small earthquakes

• Tar sands

  • Open mining requires large amounts of space, so habitats are destroyed; this can cause a reduction in biodiversity as organisms have less space to live and find food

  • Processing tar sands produces large amounts of liquid waste full of harmful chemicals which can pollute water supplies if not managed properly

  • Processing bitumen releases large amounts of carbon dioxide

  • Large amounts of water are needed, leading to a strain on local water resources

General:

• Permanent landscape scarring

• Greenhouse emissions can escape during extraction

• Soil degradation

• Air and noise pollution

Describe how the demand for energy can be reduced

• Energy conservation

  • Changing behaviours

• Energy efficiency

  • Appliance performs the same task but wastes less energy, so less overall energy is consumed

Why is energy efficiency and energy conservation important?

It reduces demand for energy which:

• Helps finite energy supplies last longer

• Reduces carbon emissions

Describe how energy consumption can be reduced in the home and in transport

Through energy conservation and energy efficiency

• Home

  • Insulation

  • Turning off lights

  • Using energy efficient appliances (eg. modern boilers)

  • Solar panels

• Transport

  • Hybrid or electric cars

  • More efficient engines

  • Improving public transport

  • Encouraging walking or cycling

Describe the advantages of using alternatives to fossil fuels

• Reducing carbon footprints

• Improving energy security

  • Energy security: reliable, uninterrupted and affordable supply of energy

  • Renewable sources ensures that energy is still available when the supply of fossil fuels run out

• Diversifying the energy mix

  • This reduces a country’s reliance on a single source of energy, which increases energy security as countries are less affected by shortages of one energy source, reducing the risk of energy deficits

  • Using renewables will make non-renewables last longer

Give the costs and benefits for using alternatives to fossil fuels:

• Biofuels

• Wind energy

• Solar energy

• HEP

• Hydrogen fuel

Energy source	Benefits	Costs
Biofuels	Can be locally produced, enhancing energy security Cause less pollution than fossil fuels when they are burned Some biofuels are made from waste products, so they reduce the total amount of waste produced Renewable	Land use conflicts with food production Still produces some greenhouse gases when burned Requires large amounts of water, which can lead to a strain on local water resources Land must be deforested/ cleared to grow biofuels
Wind energy	Once running, it doesn’t release any greenhouse emissions Renewable Relatively cheap	Wind is unpredictable, so unreliable source of energy Releases greenhouse emissions during manufacturing Visually intrusive and noisy Can harm birds and bats
Solar energy	Once running, doesn’t produce any greenhouse emissions Doesn’t require much maintenance Renewable Technology is widely-available	High initial costs Sunny climates are needed, so is not always a reliable source Releases greenhouse gases during production Can disrupt habitats and ecosystems
HEP	Flow of water can be controlled, so the supply of energy is reliable (energy production can be increased if there is a surge in demand) Produces no direct emissions Renewable	Expensive to build Requires large amounts of water and land (land must be flooded) May displace communities Can disrupt ecosystems (eg. can disrupt fish migration, preventing them from reaching breeding grounds)
Hydrogen fuel	The only byproduct is water, so it doesn’t release any harmful greenhouse emissions Hydrogen is abundant Renewable	High production and infrastructure costs Hydrogen is flammable so is dangerous to store Large amounts of energy is required to extract it from compounds as hydrogen rarely exists by itself

Describe the different attitudes that different groups have towards energy futures

Describe how and why attitudes to energy and environmental issues are changing

• Rising affluence

  • People with more money can afford to make a choice about energy use (eg. buying newer more energy-efficient cars and appliances, solar panels)

  • Governments in developed countries have more money to invest into public transport and renewable energy

• Environmental concerns

  • Due to increasing living standards, peoples needs for food, shelter and water are being met, meaning that they are no longer main concerns and therefore environmental concerns are becoming increasingly important

• Education

  • People have access to education so they have a better understanding of the consequences of using non-renewable energy

  • People are educated on how to reduce their carbon footprint, so there is more interest in using cleaner energy sources and reducing overall consumption

Define carbon footprint

Carbon footprint: measure of the amount of greenhouse gases generated by the activities of an individual or organisation or by a product over its lifetime

Define ecological footprint

Ecological footprint: measure of how much land is needed to support an individual’s lifestyle