Nonrenewable

Energy
Resources
Presented by Kesler Science
Vers. 08/2020 © Kesler Science, LLC
Reflect on the Essential
Questions before you dive in…
1. If you were quizzed today,
which questions would you know
the answers to already?
Type your answer here
2. Which questions would you
need to learn more about to
answer confidently?
Type your answer here
Nonrenewable Energy Resources
Essential Questions:
1. What are the
advantages and
disadvantages of
nonrenewable energy
sources?
2. How can my research
findings be presented
in a debate format?
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 Quick Action: INB
Look around you (classroom, living room, backyard.)
List things you can name that are nonrenewable or
Define nonrenewable come from something that is nonrenewable?
What does it mean if
something is
nonrenewable?

Type your answer here

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 Nonrenewable Energy Resources

What are
Nonrenewable
Energy Resources?
• Energy resources which
do not naturally renew or
replenish themselves
• Become depleted by use

What does nonrenewable mean?

Type your answer here

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 Nonrenewable Energy Resources

What do we mean by advantage and disadvantage?

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 Nonrenewable Energy Resources Fossil Fuels
• Coal, oil, and natural gas

• Formed when layers of

buried plant, gases, and
How are fossil animals are exposed to
fuels formed?
intense heat and
Type your
answer here pressure over a long
period of time

• Currently the world’s

primary energy source

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 Nonrenewable Energy Resources Coal
• Fossilized carbon
• Combustible (burns)
Where is coal • Recovered through
found?
mining
Type your
answer here
• Occurs in layer or veins
called coal beds or coal
seams
• Burned to produce heat
or electricity

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Coal – 4 Types Nonrenewable Energy Resources
• Lignite – young,
brownish, less value

• Subbituminous –
black lignite

• Bituminous – soft,
dense, black

• Anthracite – hard,
What is the best type of coal?
black lustrous, best
Type your answer here
for fuel
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 Nonrenewable Energy Resources

COAL
Coal Advantages Coal Disadvantages
1. No shortage any time 1. Environmental impacts
soon (burning, by-products,
2. Inexpensive acid rain, increased
greenhouse gases)
3. Reduces dependence
on oil 2. Mining impact on the
land
4. Creates jobs
3. Impact on miners’
health

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 Think About It
Coal can burn, even before it is mined. In Centralia,
Pennsylvania, there is an underground coal fire that has been
burning since 1962. The town had to be permanently evacuated
due to sinkholes, toxic smoke filling basements, and ground
temperatures over 900°F in places.

Imagine you’re in charge of monitoring the fires and determining

when the area will be safe for human occupation.

You don’t know what parts of the ground are safe and what parts are
thin crusts of soil covering fires or sinkholes. Design a system that
can access the area and take measurements that show changes in
the fires. Describe it on the next page.

© Kesler Science, LLC

 Think About It
You don’t know what parts of the ground are safe and what parts are thin crusts of soil covering
fires or sinkholes. Design a system that can access the area and take measurements that show
changes in the fires.

Type your answer here

© Kesler Science, LLC

 Quick Action: INB Nonrenewable Energy Resources
Let’s debate
Choose a partner.
One person is a miner and the
other is a representative from the
EPA (Environmental Protection
Agency.)
Use what you have learned to
support your position. Use the next
slide to record your argument.
Position 1:
The Miner
You come from three generations
of miners. The coal mine you are
working for is about to close
because the EPA discovered it is
contaminating the river with toxic
chemicals. You don’t have any
skills other than mining.
How will you support your family?
Can you convince the EPA
representative to keep the mine
open?
Position 2:
The EPA Representative
You have to confront the miner.
How will you break it to them
that they are about to lose their
job and probably their way of
life?
What suggestion do you have for
the miner as they move through
this difficult time?
What opportunities can you
provide for them to support their
family?
© Kesler Science, LLC
 Quick Action: INB Nonrenewable Energy Resources
What is your position?
Let’s debate
Use what you have learned to Present your argument here.
support your position. Record
your argument in the space to
the right.

© Kesler Science, LLC

 Nonrenewable Energy Resources Oil
• Known as petroleum or
crude oil
• Thick black liquid
What is oil • Composed mostly of
made of?
hydrogen and carbon
Type your
answer here
(hydrocarbons)
• Found in specific rock
reservoirs
• Extracted through
drilling

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 Nonrenewable Energy Resources

Oil Advantages Oil Disadvantages

1. Small amount produces
a lot of energy
2. Easy to transport
3. Easy to produce
4. Constant reliable
resource for years to
come
OIL
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1. Emits greenhouse
gases
2. Spills cause water and
land pollution and
death to wildlife
3. Harmful emissions
from plants can make
people sick
Natural Gas Nonrenewable Energy Resources
• Found deep in the
earth and drilled to
extract
• Flammable,
colorless, odorless
• Made of methane
and other
hydrocarbons

What is natural gas made of?

Type your answer here

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 Nonrenewable Energy Resources

Natural Gas NATURAL Natural Gas

Advantages GAS Disadvantages
Compared to coal and oil 1. Gas leaks can be
1. Less damage to the dangerous. Can cause
environment explosions
2. Burns cleaner 2. Burning creates
greenhouse gases.
3. More abundant
3. Expensive
4. Safer
infrastructure for
5. Cheaper production and
6. Best among fossil fuels distribution
© Kesler Science, LLC
Quick Action: INB Nonrenewable Energy Resources
Make a list of where you
COAL OIL NATURAL GAS
would find coal, oil and
Start your list here Start your list here Start your list here
natural gas being used.
Which list can you make
the longest?

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 Nonrenewable Energy Resources
How does fracking work?
Type your answer here
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Fracking
• A technique designed to
recover gas and oil from
shale rock
• Drilling process similar
to oil
• A high-pressure water
mixture is directed into
the rock to break up the
cracks and release the
gas and oil inside.
• Can be drilled
horizontally or vertically
 Nonrenewable Energy Resources
Fracking Fracking
Advantages FRACKING Disadvantages
1. Can reach more oil 1. Keeps us from
and gas than developing renewable
traditional methods resources
2. Makes us less 2. Uses a lot of water in
dependent on foreign the process
oil 3. May pollute
3. Less air pollution groundwater
4. Creates jobs 4. Noise pollution
5. Chemicals used
unknown
© Kesler Science, LLC
 Think About It
A YouTube video brought more attention to fracking in 2013 when a man set water on fire as it
poured from his faucet. The water itself wasn’t flammable, but methane gas contained in the
water was.
Some people said there was methane in the water due to nearby fracking operations. Others
said the methane was naturally occurring; the high methane content of the ground was the
reason for the local fracking to begin with.
If the fracking was the cause of the elevated methane levels, what would you expect the levels to do over time?
If the increased method merely correlates with the nearby fracking, what would you expect to happen to the
methane levels in the water?
Type your answer here

© Kesler Science, LLC

 Nuclear Nonrenewable Energy Resources
• The energy generated
during nuclear fission,
especially when used to
generate electricity
• Fission – the act of
dividing or splitting
atoms into two or more
parts.
• Nuclear materials –
uranium and plutonium.

How is nuclear energy generated?

Type your answer here

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 Nonrenewable Energy Resources
NUCLEAR
Nuclear Advantages Nuclear
1. Low pollution Disadvantages
2. Reliable 1. Environmental impact in
3. Low cost to produce mining uranium
electricity 2. High cost in securing
4. Little fission material radioactive waste
needed to produce a 3. Expensive to build a
lot of energy plant and purchase fuels
5. Easily transported 4. Accidents at plants are
costly and dangerous.

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 Think About It
Did you know that nuclear power plants don’t
always run at their maximum capacity? They only
produce the power needed by the areas they
serve. The graph shows the yearly pattern of
output for American nuclear reactors.

Why do you think the output follows the same pattern

throughout each year?
Type your answer here

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 Nonrenewable Energy Resources
Generating electricity from
nonrenewable resources
1. Fossil fuels are burned to induce heat.
Nuclear energy is produced from
splitting atoms.
2. The energy is used to heat water.
3. The water turns to steam.
4. The steam turns a turbine. oil

5. The turbine shaft is connected to the Nuclear

shaft of a generator. natural
gas

6. Magnets spin within wire coils of the

generator to produce electricity.
Note: In Powerpoint, gif will play in slideshow mode

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 Last Look Nonrenewable Energy Resources
Complete the chart for
“Different Energy Forms.”

Click on and drag the cards to their

correct positions.

-Low Pollution
-Reliable
-Low cost to produce
-Leaks can be electricity
-Found in lots of
dangerous and could -Little fission material
places around the -Relatively cheap
cause explosions needed to produce a
world -Easily transported lot of energy
-May contribute to
-Among fossil fuels, -Found in many -Easily transported
global warming
it is cleaner and places
-Non-renewable
cheaper resource

-The waste is harmful

-Could cause -Produces most and needs to be Disadvantages
environmental greenhouse gases disposed of carefully
change -May contribute to -Risk of sabotage or
-Non-renewable global warming terrorist attack
-May add to global -Non-renewable -World uranium
warming resource supply may run out in
50 years
 Give your best answer to...

1. What are the advantages and disadvantages of two

nonrenewable energy sources?
Nonrenewable energy source:
Type your answer here

Check for
Understanding Nonrenewable energy source:
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 Which essential questions do you still need help to understand?

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questions?