Nonrenewable%20Energy%20Resources

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Chapter 12

• Nonrenewable Energy Resources

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All Energy Use Has Consequences

• Oil
• Jan 1969
• 1989
• 2005
• April 2010
• Coal
• April 2010 - ? coal mine
• Coal miners develop black lung disease and other
  respiratory ailments
• Natural Gas
• Considered to be the clean fossil fuel
• Extraction difficult
• So whats the problem?

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Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill April 20, 2010

• Aka BP oil spill
• Oil flowed unabated for 89 days
• Cause explosion on platform
• Methane gas explosion
• Problem?
• July 15, 2010 the leak was stopped
• Estimated 206 million gallons of crude oil
  released

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Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill

• September 19, 2010 the relief well process was
  successfully completed
• November 2010 4,200 square miles of the Gulf
  were re-closed to shrimping after tar balls found
  in shrimpers' nets
• January 2011 oil spill commissioner reported
  that problems still exist
• February 2011 researchers found tar on the
  bottom of the seafloor did not seem to be
  degrading
• July 9, 2011 roughly 491 miles of coastline in
  LA, MS, AL and FL remained contaminated
• September 2011 U.S. government published its
  final investigative report on the accident.
• January 2015 BP Plc will face a maximum fine of
  13.7 billion under the Clean Water Act for its
  Gulf of Mexico oil spill, several billion less
  than feared, after a judge found on Thursday the
  size of the spill was smaller than the U.S.
  government claimed.

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Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill

• Extensive damage to
• Techniques to remove oil/protect beaches,
  wetlands, estuaries

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http//ecopolitology.org/2010/06/08/cutaway-of-dee
pwater-horizon-oil-spill-response-graphic/
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Initial Estimates
January 2015 Legislation Estimate 465,700
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Worst Oil Spills in History, as of Nov 2010
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An interesting animation

• http//www.nrdc.org/energy/gulfspill/belowsurface.
  asp

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Back to your textbook
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Nonrenewable Energy

• Nonrenewable energy resources 2 categories
• Fossil fuels (
  )
• Combustion - burn the fuels
• Nuclear fuels
• Units of energy
• J joule
• EJ (exajoule) 1 x 109 gigajoules
• Quad not used in US
• Btu British thermal unit

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Worldwide Patterns of Energy Use

• Each country uses energy at different rates
• Uses different energy resources
• 2008 R image

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Energy Use

• Energy not distributed equally around world
• WHY?
• Terminology
• Commercial energy sources
• Subsistence energy sources

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Patterns of Energy Use in US

• Many changes since 1850s
• Main energy sources (in order) oil, coal,
  natural gas
• Energy use varies regionally and seasonally

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Process of Energy Use

• Energy efficiency, includes
• Many opportunities for energy loss ? reduces
  energy efficiency
• EROEI (energy return on energy investment)

EROEI Energy obtained from fuel
Energy invested to get fuel
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Efficiency and Transportation

• 30 of energy in US is used for transportation
• Transportation movement of people and goods
• Transportation efficiency does not take into
  account

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Electricity Generation

• Primary source of energy coal, oil, natural gas
• Secondary source of energy electricity

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Energy Efficiency

• Most coal burning power plants are about 35
  efficient
• Combined cycle natural gas-fired power plant
• 60 efficient
• Capacity maximum electrical output
• Capacity factor the fraction of the time a
  plant can operate in a year

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Cogeneration

• Using a fuel to generate electricity and to
  produce heat
• Aka combined heat and power
• Improves the efficiency to as high as 90

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Fossil fuels provide most of the worlds energy

• Fossil fuels coal, oil and natural gas
• Come from deposits of organic matter formed
  50-350 million years ago
• In anaerobic environment
• Are carbon sinks

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Coal

• A solid fuel formed primarily from the remains of
  trees, ferns, and other plant materials
• Four types of coal ranked from lesser to greater
  age, exposure to pressure, and energy content
• Lignite softest coal
• Subbituminous coal
• Bituminous coal most common type
• Anthracite highest grade of coal
• Peat precursor to coal
• Composed of partly decomposed organic matter
• Largest coal reserves United States, Russia,
  China, and India.

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Coal
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Advantages and Disadvantages of Coal
Advantages Disadvantages







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Petroleum

• Mixture of hydrocarbons, water, and sulfur
• Remains of ocean-dwelling phytoplankton
• Crude oil liquid petroleum removed from ground
• US uses petroleum more than any other fuel for
• Gasoline about ½ of the petroleum we use
• Raw materials for
• Most petroleum Saudi Arabia, Russia, the United
  States, Iran, China, Canada, and Mexico

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Petroleum
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Advantages and Disadvantages of Petroleum
Advantages Disadvantages




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Natural Gas

• Natural gas- exists as a component of petroleum
  in the ground as well as in gaseous deposits
  separate from petroleum
• From phytoplankton
• Contains 80 to 95 percent methane and 5 to 20
  percent ethane, propane, and butane
• Uses in US
• Compressed natural gas fuel for vehicles
• Liquefied petroleum gas in lieu of natural gas,
  portable barbecue grills and heaters

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Advantages and Disadvantages Natural Gas
Advantages Disadvantages



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Other Fossil FuelsOil Sands

• Not readily available
• Oil sands- slow-flowing, viscous deposits of
  bitumen mixed with sand, water, and clay
• Bitumen (tar or pitch)-
• Benefits- extends petroleum supply
• Negative environmental impacts

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Other Fossil FuelsLiquefied Coal

• CTL coal-to-liquid
• Converts soil coal to liquid fuel
• Technology has been around for decades
• Benefits
• Downsides

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Fossil fuels are a finite resource

• Energy intensity energy use per unit of gross
  domestic product
• Energy used more efficiently but
• More people
• More energy used

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The Hubbert Curve

• Hubbert curve- a graph that shows the point at
  which world oil production would reach a maximum
  and the point at which we would run out of oil
• Peak oil point at which ½ of total known oil
  supply is used up
• 1969 Hubbert predicted 80 of worlds oil
  would be used up in 60 years

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The Future of Fossil Fuel Use

• How long will our fossil fuels last? - If
  current global use continues, we will run out of
• Conventional oil
• Natural gas
• Coal supplies
• Some factors influencing use of fossil fuels

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Nuclear Energy Fuel-Uranium

• Another conventional, nonrenewable fuel that does
  not significantly add to greenhouse gases in
  atmosphere.

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Nuclear Energy

• Fission- a nuclear reaction in which a neutron
  strikes a relatively large atomic nucleus, which
  then splits into two or more parts
• Chain reaction
• Releases heat
• Fuel U-235 common
• Byproducts radioactive waste

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Nuclear Reactors
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Advantages and Disadvantages of Nuclear Energy
Advantages Disadvantages


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Fukushima, Japan

• 6 reactors affected
• Loss of power reactors overheated
• Full meltdown of 3 reactors
• Attempt to use seawater ? ruined reactors
• Other concerns
• Total radioactivity released was 1/10 of
  Chernobyl
• Most at risk workers
• Recommendations for infants?

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Since

• Pale grass blue butterflies
• 2 months after (sample 144)
• 12 of butterflies affected
• 6 months after (sample 258)
• 28 of butterflies affected
• http//worldnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2012/08/14/1327
  4288-study-japan-nuclear-disaster-caused-mutated-b
  utterflies?lite

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Radioactive Waste

• Radioactive waste nuclear fuel that can no
  longer produce enough heat to be useful in a
  power plant but continues to emit radioactivity
• 3 types
• High-level radioactive waste
• Low-level radioactive waste
• Uranium mine tailings

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Radioactive WasteMeasuring Radiation

• Units
• Becquerel (Bq)
• 1 Bq the decay of one atom per second
• Curie
• 1 curie 37 billion decays per second

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Radioactive Wastes

• Spent fuel rods remain threat for 10 or more ½
  lives ? long term storage is important
• All spent fuel rods must be stored at the plant
• Long term solution to waste
• Possibilities
• Standards for LTS
• So what was thought up Yucca Mountain burial

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Radioactive WasteYucca Mountain, NV

• 1978 started looking at location
• Lots of protest/ controversy
• 2006 considered safe storage location
• Few years later ? cancelled

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Stuff to add from old textbookDecommissioning
Nuclear Power Plants

• Licensed to operate for 40 years
• Several have received 20-year extensions
• Power plants cannot be abandoned when they are
  shut down
• Three solutions
• Storage
• Entombment
• Decommissioning (dismantling)

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Fusion

• Nuclear fusion- occurs when lighter nuclei are
  forced together to produce heavier nuclei
• Heat is released
• Most promising reaction
• Promising, unlimited source of energy in the
  future
• Input hydrogen
• Problem creating fusion requires reactor can
  heat material to 10x the temperature of the Suns
  core
• Promising technique

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• Look at Table 12.2 in your book!