Unit 6 Apes

Renewable and Nonrenewable Resources

• Nonrenewable energy sources

  • Energy sources that will be depleted faster than they can be replenished within ONE HUMAN LIFETIME

    • They can be replenished over millions of years, and through climate cycles

  • Fossil fuels

    • Fuels that formed from compression of dead biomass

    • Required to be burned in order to be used for energy and not sustainable

• Renewable energy sources

  • Energy sources that can be replenished during a human’s lifetime

  • Potentially renewable resources are only renewable if agriculture can regrow them as fast as we are using them 

    • Biofuel and biomass are potentially renewable, as trees can takes years to grow, but minutes to chop all down

  • Nondepletable resources that can never be depleted over the lifespan of a human

• Global Energy Consumption

  • Commercial energy sources

    • Due to high demand, the developed world uses more fossil fuels as they are easier to access

    • Fossil fuels are the most used energy source commercially

    • Renewable resources would start in the developed world, until they become cheaper 

  • Subsistence energy sources are biomass and biodiesel fuels that are cheaper to access and used in the developing world more often

  • Hubbert curve shows 2 estimates (an upper and a lower) that show how oil production and consumption will eventually peak, and then start to sharply decline

• Using less energy

  • Energy return on energy investment

    • Basically stating how much energy is returned or gained in profit for the amount of energy that was invested

    • (Fill in equation)

Fuel Types and Uses

• The Sun is the ultimate source of many of the fuels we use

  • Biofuels → plants grow to create biofuels and these plants need sunlight to be photosynthesis and survive

  • Modern carbon → The carbon that is found as CHNOPS in the plants ued for biofuel. This is called modern carbon, as no new carbon from different eras of the Earth are released into the atmosphere. Considered carbon neutral

  • Fossil carbon → carbon that is found in fossil fuels from a long time ago, which is not recycling through the planet now, and adds to carbon dioxide in the atmosphere

  • Carbon neutral fuels are those that do not add to carbon dioxide in the atmosphere

  • Even fossil fuels come from the sun, because the dead biomass that compresses to become fossil fuel fed off plants that used sunlight for photosynthesis

• Optimal Uses of Fuel Types

  • Wood

    • Used as a biofuel from trees, and burned to heat homes and cook

    • A potentially renewable resource, as trees can be cut down faster than they can regrow

    • Overuse can lead to deforestation, soil erosion and a lack of carbon sequestration

  • Coal

    • Coal forms when peat or other organic material is compressed over millions of years under high heat and pressure

    • Lower layers have a higher energy density, making those layers more productive

    • Coal was used to power cars, and now it is a source of energy for heating homes and cooking

    • Peat is the organic material that has settled to the bottom of the ocean

    • Lignite is the highest layer of coal formation, and is the least energy dense

    • Bituminous is the second/third or middle layer of coal formation, and is mediocre energy dense

    • Anthracite is the bottom layer of coal, and is the most dense in energy, meaning it can be used more efficiently

  • Natural Gas

    • A fossil fuel that can be created on top of oil reserves, when gas is struck between layers of impervious rock and has to be drilled for

    • Fracking → a method to expand the amount of natural gas available

      • To access natural gas in impervious and hard to drill areas, water is heated and sent through a horizontal well to get to the rock

      • Shale is then cracked by fracking liquids, and the natural gas can be pumped out by pressure

    • Two largest uses are fuel and heating/cooling

  • Crude oil

    • Oil found under the ocean, when humus and other remnants of dead organisms cannot be decomposed due to anoxic conditions and compress over millions of years

    • Oil must be drilled for as it is stuck between layers of rock underground

    • Pumps are dug underground, and the oil is pumped out by pressure

    • Used as fuel for gasoline powered cars 

  • Tar sands

    • Way of getting oil in land

    • Found mainly in AB (Canada) and very environmentally dangerous to extract

    • Very water intensive to heat water and use steam to melt bitumen into usable slurry, and then takes even more water to extract the other elements out of the substance and just have oil

    • Can lead to groundwater depletion and contamination of water

• Uses of Fossil Fuels

  • Hot water heaters

  • Choices and transportation

• Generation & Cogeneration

  • Energy carrier

  • Combined cycle

  • Capacity

  • Capacity factor

  • Cogeneration

    • When leftover energy frog enerating electricity is used for heating a building rather than letting it out into the atmosphere and using new energy to heat the building

    • Conserves energy and uses 90% of the energy

Fossil Fuels

• Fossil fuel and ore distribution around the globe depends on the geology of the region

  • Advantages

    • Coal

      • High energy density making it more effective to use as fuel

      • Has multiple layers (Lignite, sub-Bituminous, Bituminous, Anthracite) of different energy densities

    • Oil

      • Most common form of fuel to power cars and engines today

      • Easily found in the oceans and drillable

      • Abundant in certain countries

    • Natural gas

      • Burns cleaner than other fossil fuel types and releases no ash or soot when burned

      • Can be used a a bridge fuel to eventually get off fossil fuels

      • Is abundant to use, especially in the US

    • Fracking

      • Increases the production of natural gas and allows humans to use it for longer

      • Water is sent down into a horizontal pipe heated as steam to break open the shale layer, and then natural gas is pumped up to the surface through pressure

  • Disadvantages

    • Coal

      • Release carbon dioxide, SOx, NOx, PM and soot when burned

      • Worst pollutant of the 3 types of fossil fuels

      • Requires lots of land to set up a coal refinement plant

    • Oil

      • Release carbon dioxide, SOx, NOx, PM and soot when burned

      • Oil spills can occur if the rigs are not maintained properly, severely damaging oceanic ecosystems

      • Finite amount of oil, and takes millions of years to form

      • Water and energy intensive to refine oil and separate it from other chemicals and substances

      • Not available in all countries, and must be imported from parts of the world

      • Distilliation into types of petroleum and fuel takes energy

      • Mini-spills or oil sheens are common along the Gulf Coast during major hurricanes (Ivan, Infamous Duo, etc…)

    • Natural gas

      • Release carbon dioxide, SOx, NOx, PM and soot when burned

      • Fracking can contaminate groundwater and destroy rocks that ocean ecosystems depend on

      • Finite amount of nat gas on the planet, and is being used faster than replacable

    • Fracking

      • Very water intensive to pipe down enough water 

      • Water supply can be contaminated if not maintained correctly

• Fuel is converted to electricity and releases carbon dioxide and heat energy

  • Along with carbon dioxide, other air pollutants are released into the atmosphere, and can become secondary pollutants, especially CFCs and carbon monoxide which can break the ozone layer by bonding with oxygen

• Energy Quality

  • This is the measure of how much air pollutants are released to the atmosphere with the particular energy source

Nuclear Energy

• Fusion is when the nuclei of 2 atoms come together to form energy such as the fusion of hydrogen and helium in the sun

• Fission is when a neutron from one nucleus causes the release of neutrons in other nuclei and a positive feedback look keeps occurring

• Uranium enters a reactor, and then 

• Explain half-life and its importance when discussing nuclear power.

• 3 Nuclear Accidents

  • Three Mile Island (3/28/1979)

    • Partial meltdown in PA, in 1979

    • A cooling valve was missing, but able to be fixed in time to stop a complete meltdown

    • None to very minor long term environmental impacts such as cancer rates and radiation poisoning

  • Chernobyl (4/26/1986)

    • Full meltdown in 1986 due to a test of the reactor being run without the cooling valve operating

    • Major radiation outflow from the reactor, and spread across Europe by favorable wind patterns

    • Plant still unsafe to enter today (39 years later) due to high radiation

    • Heavy environmental impacts and cancer rates in those who worked the plant or lived in the area

  • Fukushima Daiichi (3/11/2011)

    • Caused by an earthquake (9.0/9.1)  and tsunami that shut off power to the plant

    • Loss of power caused reactor overheat and meltdown, and water now must be used to cool the reactor

    • Upto 20,000 deaths from the entire disaster and high rates of radiation poisoning in the immediate Miyagi and Fukushima prefectures

    • Water used is still stored on the plant, and is being treated and released into the Pacific Ocean, causing fishing industry issues

Biomass, Solar & Hydroelectric Energy

• Biomass 

  • Biofuels are ethanol and diesel, which are alternatives to modern gasoline

  • Biomass is obtained from living organisms like plants and animals

  • Can be produced in forests, which offer organic materials such as wood, humus and plants

  • Capturing methane gas from landfills using 

  • Mostly found in tropical rainforests (90%)

  • Solid biomass

    • Wood

      • Only as renewable as trees can be replanted

    • Charcoal

    • Manure chips

      • Animal waste hardened and used as a fuel

  • Liquid biofuels

    • Ethanol

      • Formed from the fermentation of corn

      • Only as sustainable as the agriculture used to plant carbon

    • Biodiesel 

      • Actually releases more carbon dioxide over the years than do fossil fuels

      • Canola, soy and palm are different plants whose oils are used to create biofuels

      • These plants are very heavy to the soil, and can be unusutainable if produced the wrong way

• Sources from Solar Energy

  • Passive solar heating

    • When the design of a house or building is made to have heating or cooling impacts based on the sun’s natural rays

    • Overhangs on roofs can prevent sunlight from getting in during the summer months

    • Having a home facing south,and the windows facing that direction help heating and cooling

  • Active solar energy technologies

    • Active infrastructure that is built to capture solar energy and turn in into viable electricity

    • Solar water heating systems

    • Photovoltaic systems

      • Solar panels that are built on top of homes to capture solar energy

      • Energy is captured through the solar panel, and then metal splits the photons

    • Concentrating solar thermal electricity generation (CST)

  • Benefits and drawbacks of active energies systems

    • Benefits

    • Drawbacks 

• Hydroelectricity Production

  • Electricity can be produced by using the kinetic energy of moving water to run a turbine and create electricity

  • Hydorelectric power is the second most used form of renewable energy in the US

  • Depends on location and climate, as droughts can drop water levels too low for the moving water to reach the generator

    • During the 2020-2022 western megadrought, Lakes Oroville, Powell, and Mead got dangerously close to shutting down

  • Methods

    • Water Impoundment Systems (Dams)

      • Built along a river to create falling water and generate hydroelectricity

      • Control flooding downstream as officials can control how much water is released down the dam (Ex: Lake Oroville Spillway)

      • Dams flood habitats behind where it is constructed, causing those species to relocate if it is outside their zone of ecological tolerance

      • Sediment flow downstream is stopped by the dam, which causes ecosystems downstream to be deprived of nutrients while those upsteam will have too much

      • Waters upstream become warm due to decreased albedo and increased turbidity

    • Run-of-the-river systems

      • Systems where a channel is built for water to run through next to the river, as to avoid flooding of ecosystems 

      • Flowing water through the channel can still run a turbine, but does not allow for the sedimentation and backstream flooding that occurs with dams

    • Tidal systems

      • Uses the tidal motion of ocean waves to generate electricity

      • Limited, as this is only available in costal areas and still a new resource 

      • Not as cheap as other sources of hydroelectric

    • Sustainability

      • Non depletable, as water will never run out on the planet, but groundwater will

      • Not sustainable as to the ecosystems that are damaged by building a dam

      • Fossil fuels are burned in the process of constructing the dam

Geothermal Energy and Hydrogen Fuel Cells

• Geothermal Generation

  • This energy comes as magma heats up water from deep inside the Earth, converting it to usable steam that can be pipelined to communities

  • Pipes must be dug deep into the ground to access geothermal energy, as the lithosphere is thick and can be expensive

  • Potentially renewable resource, so long as the groundwater that is heated by magma is resurfaced

  • Digging needs to be deep in the ground, as heat must stem up from the core to the lithosphere, and the lithosphere is made up of deep crust

  • Ground source heat pumps

    • NOT geothermal energy, but energy stored in the ground by the sun’s heat

    • Can be used to heat or cool a home depending on the season

    • During the winter, the ground 10 ft deep is hotter than the surface, so surface air gets heated up from the ground and then is passed up

    • During the summer when the ground is cooler, heat is lost the the ground, and cooler air flows into a home

  • True geothermal heating is achievable, but requires digging to be far too deep for a backyard system, and is usually on the scale of municipalities

• Hydrogen fuel 

  • Hydrogen gas is used to generate electricity which can be stored in fuel tanks and transported long distances

  • Hydrogen is difficult to find in its pure form, and must be extracted from either water or methane (CH4). 

    • Extraction uses fossil fuels 95% of the time, as it requires burning natural gas to separate the hydrogen and oxygen atoms or hydrogen and carbon atoms

    • Electrolysis can also be used, where an electric current is passed through the atom to separate the atoms to 2 sides of the current

  • Hydrogen atoms are split into a proton channel and an electron channel, where electrons flowing together create an electric current

  • Hydrogen fuel is not sustainable when natural gas us used to create the hydrogen, and with electrolysis is only as sustainable as the underlying electricity source is

  • Nearly zero pollutants and greenhouse gases released at the point of electricity generation

Wind Energy and Energy Conservation

• Wind energy is the most rapidly growing source of electricity

  • Wind causes turbines to spin, which then runs a generator, creating electricity

  • Turbines are long towers with blades on top that spin and capture wind energy

  • Turbines are installed close to transmission lines often in wind farms together to send energy to the transmission lines

  • Pros

    • Nondepletable and entirely clean

    • No extra fossil fuels required for any step of the process

  • Cons

    • Building turbines can cause habitat destruction, and humans may be sensitive to the noise or asthetic looks

    • Birds can be killed by flying into spinning turbines

    • Solutions to the problem can be identifying common migratory paths and not building in them 

• Use less energy and use different technologies to conserve energy

  • Efficiency

    • Conserving energy is better than using renewable as renewable sources still have cons, and conservation can take pressure off the grid

      • Methods of energy conservation can prove effective during massive heatwaves (i.e. PNW June 2021 heatwave), extreme cold events (Feb. 2021 event) and avoid rolling blackouts

    • Energy Star certified appliances are efficient in energy and can be money savers

    • Energy efficient fuel tanks use less fuel per mile driven than regular cars

    • Efficieny can also reduce the amount of energy that is used

  • Sustainable design

    • Homes can be designed to sustainable use less energy

    • Homes facing south can be naturally kept cooler during the summer months and warmer in the winter months due to sun angles, leading to smaller outside source energy demand

  • Energy summary and synthesis