-Fossil Fuels take so long to form, they are essentially non-renewable

Chapter 12: Energy resources.

*Coal (solid)
 Energy Sources and Uses
*Petroleum (liquid)
 Being able to utilize external energy to do useful work is one of
*Natural Gas (Gas)
the most unique characteristics of human.
*Oil Shale and Tar Sands (Semisolid tars trap in rocks)
 Current Energy Uses
 Coal- are vast, ten times greater than conventional oil and gas resources
 Fossil fuels (petroleum, natural gas, and coal)
combined.
-now provide about 86% of all commercial energy in the world.
- Comes in a variety of forms with varying chemical composition,
 Renewable sources (solar, wind, geothermal and hydroelectricity)
harness and energy content.
-make up about 9.5% of our commercial power.
- Lignite- the softest of this family, is not much more concentrated
 In many poorer countries, such as Haiti, Bhutan and Malawi,
than peat and has about 4,000 BTU/lb.
biomass supplies more than 90% of the energy used for heating
- Subbituminous and bituminous coal- have energy contents between
and cooking. --> (forest destruction)
8,000 and 15,000 BTU/lb and generally have 1 to 5 percent sulphur
 Nuclear Power- makes up about 20% of all electric power in more-
content.
developed countries, and has the benefit of not contributing to global
- Anthracite- the hardest coal, can be 96 percent carbon and have
warming.
Energy Consumption: U.S.A. Compared to the Philippines
more than 15,000 BTU/lb.
U.S.A. Ratio Philippines  Oil- is estimated to be about 4 trillion bbl (600 billion metric tons), half
Population: 302 million 3:1 89 million of which is thought to be ultimately recoverable.
(2007) - Largest supply of proven-in-place oil is in Saudi Arabia, which has 250
Energy Consumption: 17,260 77:1 223 billion bbl, about one-fourth of the total proven world reserve.
(million barrels - Like coal, petroleum often contains high sulfur levels. Because it is
of oil equivalent) highly corrosive.
Energy Per Capita: 57.2 23:1 2.5
- Oil is used primarily for transportation and heating.
(barrels of oil
equivalent per person) - Oil drilling is far less destructive to the earth’s surface than coal
 Natural Gas is our most efficient fuel. mining, but the huge amounts of oil shipped around the world and
 FOSSIL FUELS- are organic chemicals created by living organisms million used as lubricants and fuels result in very serious soil and water
years ago and buried in sediments, where high pressures and pollution.
temperatures concentrated and transformed them into energy-rich  Tar Sands- are composed of sand and shale particles coated with
compounds. bitumen.
 - Shallow tar sands- are excavated and mixed with hot water and
steam to extract the bitumen, then fractioned to make new products.
 Oil shales- are fine-grained sedimentary rock rich in solid organic
material called kerogen. Like tar sands, kerogen can be heated,
liquefied, and pumped out like liquid crude oil.
 Natural gas- is the world’s third largest commercial fuel, making up 23%
of global energy consumption.
- large amounts of methane are released from coal deposits.
 NUCLEAR POWER
- In 1953 President Dwight Eisenhower announced that the US would
build nuclear-powered electrical generators to provide clean, abundant
energy. Technology and engineering would tame the evil genie of atomic
energy and use its enormous power to do useful work.
-nuclear power industry has been campaigning for greater acceptance,
arguing that reactors don’t release greenhouse gases that cause global
warming.
-the greatest danger in one of the complex machines is a cooling system
failure. If the pumps fail or pipes break during operation, the nuclear
fuel quickly overheats, and a “meltdown” can result that releases deadly
radioactive material.
-`70% of the world’s nuclear power plants are pressurized water
reactors (PWR).
-one of the most difficult problems associated with nuclear power is the
disposal of wastes produced during mining, fuel production, and reactor
operation.
- some nuclear experts believe that monitored, retrievable storage
would be a much better way to handle wastes. This method involves
holding wastes in underground mines or secure surface facilities where
they can be watched.
 ENERGY CONSERVATION- one of the best ways to avoid energy
shortages and to relieve environment and health effects of our current
energy technologies is simply to use less.
 Using energy more efficiently- much of the energy we consume is
wasted.
-Reducing air infiltration is usually the cheapest, quickest, and most
effective way of saving energy because it is the largest source of losses
in a typical house.
- one of the most direct and immediate ways that individuals can save
energy is to turn off appliances.
 Cogeneration- one of the fastest growing sources of new energy, the
simultaneous production of both electricity and steam or hot water in
the same plant.
-by 1970s, cogeneration had fallen to less than 5% of our power
supplies, but interest in this technology is being renewed.
 SOLAR ENERGY
-the sun is a giant nuclear furnace in space, constantly bathing our
planet with a free energy supply. Solar heat drives winds and the
hydrologic cycle.
-all biomass, as well as fossil fuels and our food, results from conversion
of light energy(photons) into chemical bond energy by photosynthetic
bacteria, algae and plants.
 Passive Solar Heat- our simplest and oldest use of solar energy, using
natural materials or absorptive structures with no moving parts to
simply gather and hold heat.
-a built of thick-walled stone and adobe dwellings that slowly collect
heat during the day and gradually release it at night and maintain a
comfortable daytime temperature within the house, even as they
absorb external warmth glass-walled “sunspace,” or greenhouse in
modern time.
 -Trombe wall- an interior, heating absorbing wall is an effective passive
heat collector.
 Active Solar Heat- generally pump a heat-absorbing fluid medium(air,
water, or an antifreeze solution) through a relatively small collector,
rather than passively collecting heat in a stationary medium, such as
masonry.
-active collectors can be located adjacent to or on top of buildings,
rather than being built into the structure.
-a flat, black surface sealed with a double layer of glass makes a good
solar collector.
 High-Temperature Solar Energy
-Parabolic mirrors are curved reflecting surfaces that collect light and
focus it into a concentrated point.
-we haven’t had enough experience with these facilities to know how
reliable the mirrors, motors, heat absorbers, and other equipment will
be over the long run.
 Photovoltaic Energy
-offers an exciting potential for capturing solar energy in a way that will
provide clean, versatile, renewable energy. This simple device has no
moving parts and negligible maintenance costs, produces no pollution,
and has a lifetime equal to that of a conventional fossil fuel or nuclear
power plant.
-the photovoltaic effect, which is the basis of these devices, was first
observed in 1839 by French physicist Alexandre-Edmond Becquerel, who
also discovered radioactivity.
-one of the most promising developments in photovoltaic cell
technology in recent years is the invention of amorphous silicon
collectors.--> noncrystalline silicon semiconductors can be made into
lightweight, paper-thin sheets that require much less material than
conventional photovoltaic cells. They are vastly cheaper to manufacture
and can be made in variety of shapes and sizes.
 Transporting and Storing Electrical Energy
 Electrical energy is difficult and expensive to store or to transport over
long distance, to depend on solar, wind, or other renewable energy
sources may need many more high-voltage power lines to transport
electricity to distant markets.
 Storage is a problem for photovoltaic generation as well as other
sources of electric power.
 Traditional lead-acid batteries- can store only moderate amounts of
energy per unit mass or volume. (acid from batteries are hazardous)
 Pumped-hydro storage- involves pumping water to an elevated
reservoir at times when excess electricity is available.
 Flywheels- are also the subject of current experimentation for energy
storage.
 Promoting Renewable Energy
1. “distributional surcharges” in which a small per kilowatt-hour
charge is levied on all utility customers to help finance renewable
energy research and development,
2. “renewable portfolio” standards to require power suppliers to
obtain a minimum percentage of their energy from sustainable
sources, and
3. Green pricing that allows utilities to profit from conservation
programs and charge premium prices for energy from renewable
sources.
 FUEL CELLS
-are devices that use ongoing electrochemical reactions to produce an
electrical current. They are very similar to batteries except that, rather
than recharging them with an electrical current, you add more fuel for
the chemical reaction.
-all fuel cells consist of a positive electrode (the cathode) and a
negative electrode (the anode) separated by an electrolyte, a material
that allows the passage of charged atoms, called ions.
 -fuel cells provide direct-current electricity as long as they are supplied
with hydrogen and oxygen and produces no waste product except
drinkable water and radiant heat.—far less pollutants.
 BIOMASS
 Dung and Methane as Fuels
- where wood and other fuels are in short supply, people often dry and
burn animal manure.-dung
-Methane gas, the main component of natural gas, is produced by
anaerobic decomposition of any moist organic material.
-burning methane produced from manure provides more heat than the
dung itself, and the sludge left over from bacterial digestion is a rich
fertilizer, containing bacterial biomass as well as most of the nutrients
originally in the dung.
-methane is a clean fuel that burns efficiently produced in a low-
technology, low-capital process from any kind of organic material:
livestock manure, kitchen and garden scraps, and even municipal
garbage and sewage.
 Fuels from Biomass
-Ethanol (grain alcohol) and methanol (wood alcohol) are produced by
anaerobic digestion of plant materials with high sugar content, mainly
grain and sugarcane.
-gasohol- a mixture of gasoline and ethanol
 ENERGY FROM THE EARTH’S FORCES
-the winds, waves, tides, ocean thermal gradients, and geothermal areas
are renewable energy sources.
 Hydropower
-falling water has been used as an energy source since ancient
times. The invention of water turbines in the 19th century greatly
increased the efficiency of hydropower dams.
-the total world potential for hydropower is estimated to be
about 3 million MW.
-much of the hydropower development in recent years has been
in enormous dams.
-in tropical climates, large reservoirs often suffer enormous water
losses.
 Wind Energy
-like solar power, hydropower, wind power taps a natural physical
force.
-like solar power, wind power is an abundant, non-polluting
resource, and it causes minimal environmental disruption but also
it requires expensive storage during peak production times to
offset non-windy periods.
-wind farms are large concentrations of wind generators
producing commercial electricity.
-The 1978 Public Utilities Regulatory Policies Act required utilities
to buy power generated by small hydro, wind, cogeneration, and
other privately owned technologies at a fair price.
 Geothermal, Tidal, and Wave Energy
-while few places have geothermal steam, the earth’s warmth can
help reduce energy costs nearly everywhere. Pumping water
through deeply buried pipes can extract enough heat so that a
heat pump will operate more efficiently.
-Ocean tides and waves contain enormous amounts of energy
that can be harnessed to do useful work.
-a tidal station works like a hydropower dam, with its turbines
spinning as the tide flows through them.
-Ocean wave energy can easily be seen and felt on any seashore.
The energy that waves expend as millions of tons of water are
picked up and hurled against the land, over and over, day after
day, can far exceed the combined energy for both insolation (solar
energy) and wind power in localized areas.