CASE STUDY - Aspects of physical enviroment affects the availability and cost and the way in which it is used.

Question 1

Netherlands and Fossil Fuels

Answer 1

• Small country in western europe that borders the North Sea, it is falt and almost 1/4 of its land is below sea level.
• The Netherlands is a highly developed and densely populated with 488 people per km2, there is high demand for energy.
• 90% of its demand comes from fossil fuels.
• In 2015 less than 6% of its energy cam from renewable sources.

Question 2

Energy availability and cost are influenced by physical factors - Climate

Answer 2

• The prevailing wind blows SW from the north sea, coastal areas are particulary windy by the small size and high population density of the country means there is little land available for onshore wind farms.
• However offshore wind farms have been built in the North Sea, in May 2017 Gemini Offshore Wind Park was opened this is one of the largest offshore wind farms in the world and is situated 85km of the ocast, the new wind farm has resulted in a drop in the price of energy.
• On average the sun shines for 30% to 40% of each day, this means that the nerthlands can generate solar power by not as much as the sunnier locatons, solar power currenlty contributes very little to enery supply but it is increasing, in 2017 a new solar farm opened on the island of Ameland that can power 1500 homes.

Question 3

Energy availability and cost are influenced by physical factors - Geology

Answer 3

• The country has large natural gas reserves and over 150 onshore and offshore has fields, for example the Groningen gas field in the nporth of the Nerthlands is the largest natural gas field in Europe.
• This means the gas is readily available and almost every household is connected to the gas grid, however gas remains expensive because taxes on gas remain high.
• The country also has onshore and offshore oil reserves, however oil production has declined by 2/3s between 1986 and 2015, the price of oil therefore has been incresing.
• Geology effects the coal formation, the last ocal mines closed in 1974 but there are measured and indicated reserves in the southeast of the country.

Question 4

Energy availability and cost are influenced by physical factors - Drainage

Answer 4

• There are lots of rivers in the Nertherlands but few of the have been dammed to produce HEP, this contributes to less than 0.1% of the energy generated.
• This is partially due to the flat topography meaning rivers flow slowy and they dont carry much energy.
• Resevoirs created by damming rivers would flood large amouns of agriculture and residential land, this would reduce income from agriculture and require compensation payments to residents which would add to the overall cost of energy generated.

Question 5

How does physical enivroment effects consumption and demand

Answer 5

• Industry is the largest energy consumer, there is losts of industry in the Netherlands because it is very accessible, it is located on the coast, several major waterways flow through the country, and the flat landascape is good for infastructure transport. For example steel and iorn are common.
• Transport consumers relatively little energy, the flat terrain makes cycling poppular in the Nertherlands, 25% of communting by bicycle, all eletric trains now run of wind power.
• Residential sector demand is effected by climate and latitude, low temperatures and short days mean that winter heating and lighting are necessary, however demand is reduced as around 400,000 homes have solar panels to fulfil part of their demand.

Question 6

How to make supply more sustainable - Gas

Answer 6

Reducing reliance on gas, gas services will eventually run out and the Nertherlands is likely to be a net importer of gas by 2025, since 2013 the dutch government has been reducing gas production by setting caps on the amount that can be extracted. For example the cap was set at 24billion m3 for 2016 for the Groningen gas field.

Question 7

How to make supply more sustainable - Renewables energy

Answer 7

As well as increasing offshore wind power the Netherlands may also increase the amount of energu it gets from other renewable sources, for example the government set up the SDE+ scheme to give grants to organisation that produce renewable energy. The Netherlands could also buy surplus energy from solar farms in spain or hydropower plants in Norway as part of the European emissons trading scheme.

Question 8

How to make supply more sustainable - Reducing coal use

Answer 8

• Five coal fired power stations were closed in 2015, and in 2016 the durch parliament voted to close all remianing ones.