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6GEO3 > Energy > Flashcards

Energy Flashcards

1
Q

What is Energy Security?

A

To have access to reliable/affordable energy resources

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2
Q

What are Continuous Sources?

A

Renewable (solar, wind, tidal, geothermal)

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3
Q

What are Flow Sources?

A

Can be renewable if flow is sustained (timber)

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4
Q

What are Stock Sources

A

Non-renewable, altered or destroyed by use (fossil fuels, nuclear)

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5
Q

What is a Baseload?

A

Core of electricity that keeps things running

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6
Q

What are the Advantages and Disadvantages of Gas?

A

A: reliable, cleaner than coal, less CO2 emissions
D: domestic reserves are running out so growing dependency on imports (increasing vulnerability to rising prices and instability)

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7
Q

What are the Advantages and Disadvantages of Coal?

A

A: well established, cheap, reliable, UK has large reserves, prices are rising but slower than for gas/oil
D: high emissions of CO2 and SO2, expensive to mine

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8
Q

What are the Advantages and Disadvantages of Nuclear?

A

A: minimal CO2 emissions after construction, efficient/ effective/reliable, not as vulnerable to fuel price fluctuations as oil/gas
D: higher cost of building/decommissioning reactors, problems of nuclear waste/concerns about safety wont help meet Kyoto targets (10yrs to plan/build)

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9
Q

What are the Advantages and Disadvantages of Landfill Gas?

A

A: site gives of methane, GHGs 20x more potent than CO2, burning it reduces contribution to climate change
D: burning methane still releases CO2/NO2

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10
Q

What are the advantages and disadvantages of hydro?

A

A: no CO2 emissions, no vulnerability to fuel price or political instability, cheap once dam has been built
D: Natural flow hydro is reliant on rainfall and vulnerable to drought, relies on off-peak electricity to pump water back uphill

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11
Q

What are the advantages and disadvantages of oil?

A

A: reliable technology, well established
D: inefficient generation, price instability, CO2 emissions

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12
Q

What are the advantages and disadvantages of Bio Fuels?

A

A: energy crops considered carbon neutral because carbon released when crops are burned is balanced by carbon absorbed from atmosphere during growth
D: space required to grow crops, impact on landscape, release of GHGs in harvesting and transport of crops, particulates and hydrocarbons given off during combustion

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13
Q

what are the advantages and disadvantages of wind?

A

A: renewable, not vulnerable to fuel price fluctuations, turbines are emission free and quick to build
D: local opposition and concerns about noise and impact on landscape, more expensive than fossil fuels, wind levels fluctuate

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14
Q

What are the advantages and disadvantages of solar?

A

A: free and renewable, can generate electricity from photovoltaic cells, can be used to heat water directly
D: UK sunshine is unreliable/limited, its confined to daylight hours unless photovoltaic cells are used to store power in batteries

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15
Q

What are the advantages and disadvantages of tidal?

A

A: renewable, part of UK have strong potential
D: development costs, potential environmental changes in tidal basins

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16
Q

What is mineral availability determined by?

A

Location, chemical form (whether it needs much processing), purity, availability of suitable technologies

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17
Q

What is a resource?

A

Naturally occurring substance that is known or thought to exist in concentrations that make extraction commercially possible either now or in the future

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18
Q

What is a reserve?

A

The quantity of a resource that can be extracted profitably under existing conditions, the mineral must be at a concentration higher than the cut-off grade
The reserve is a subset of a resource

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19
Q

What are the advantages and disadvantages of the Kyoto Protocol?

A

A: international scale - has more impact (182 countries), fair-cuts are more depending on use
D: USA (big emitter) didn’t originally join, didn’t include developing countries

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20
Q

What are the advantages and disadvantages of emissions trading?

A

A: acts as an incentive to maximise products, carbon market created from supply and demand
D: potential protectionism, cant let less committed off (not a big incentive, can pay their way out), almost went bust in 2004 - now introduced market stability reserve (MSR) to make carbon credits more expensive

21
Q

What are the advantages and disadvantages of green taxes?

A

A: vehicles tax is fair - biggest emitter pays more (polluter pays)
D: smaller scale

22
Q

What are the 3 main types of key players for oil?

A

Cartels (OPEC or political) - able to manipulate price
State controlled companies
TNCs

23
Q

What are the advantages and disadvantages of OPEC?

A

A: fair and stable prices for members, efficient supply of oil to consuming nations
D: prices for members may be disproportionate to non members as they produce 45% of the worlds crude oil (may lead to inequality)

24
Q

What is the price of oil determined by?

A

Supply and demand

25
Q

How much of the worlds gas reserves does GAZPROM control?

A

1/3

26
Q

How much of EUs natural gas is provided by GAZPROM?

A

25%

27
Q

Name 3 examples of countries where GAZPROM is their sole supplier?

A

Finland, Latvia, Moldova

28
Q

What is the Russia-Germany pipeline designed to do? What do critics say about this?

A

Bypass Ukraine and guarantee EUs supply

It just increases Russia’s ‘turn off’ power

29
Q

How much of Russia’s GDP does oil and gas account for? What does this mean?

A

Over 20%

These fossil fuels are vital to the countries economic success

30
Q

Who is the largest buyer of Russian gas in absolute terms?

A

Germany

31
Q

What are energy pathways?

A

Transportation process

Energy is taken from key areas of supply (energy secure) to areas of demand (insecure) - Russia to Ukraine

32
Q

What are the Physical and Human problems that the ESPO energy pathway faces?

A

Current energy pathway includes Straits of Malacca (piracy)
Destroys habitats of worlds rarest big cat - Amur Leopard
Increased cost due to rising steal prices
Building in soils affected permafrost
Initial route is too close to Lake Baikal - worlds largest fresh water lake, UNESCO protected site, pipeline moved north (costly)
Spills would cause environmental disaster

33
Q

What are tar sands?

A

Bitumen from petroleum, high viscosity, sticky and dense - a mixture of sand or clay and water - harder to extract the ‘oily’ bit then from conventional ‘oil’ sources

34
Q

What are frontier hydrocarbons?

A

Those grades of oil, such as tar sands, that are considered inferior to conventional oil sources

35
Q

Why may individuals/organisations want to reduce their consumption?

A

Reduce costs (maximise profits)
Reduce harmful emissions
Promote energy security on a regional/national scale

36
Q

Where are tar sands primarily found?

A

Alberta, Canada

37
Q

What are they key players for tar sands?

A

First Nationers - own land
Fort McKay - provide jobs
90 oil companies - lease land from government

38
Q

What are the environmental advantages of tar sands?

A

Mining companies are required to reclaim land disturbed by mining

39
Q

What are the environmental disadvantages of tar sands?

A

Largest CO2 emitter on planet (industrial)
Large cysts/abrasions on fish
Lake Athabasca could be polluted
Large quantities of water/soil destruction

40
Q

What are the social advantages of tar sands?

A

People move there as they can make $1,000 a day

Secure, sizeable source of oil for Canada/USA

41
Q

what are the social disadvantages of tar sands?

A

Bad smell
Tar sands changed way of life - killed edible fish
Caused rare forms of cancer

42
Q

What are the economic advantages of tar sands?

A

1.3m barrels a day
Production set to double in the next 10 years
$500 million per year for Fort McKay
Oil is vital to economy - nearly 20% of total value of Canada’s exports in 2007

43
Q

What are the economic disadvantages of tar sands?

A

Could run out in 200 years time

Energy intensive to make - 1 barrel of oil to make 2 barrels of crude oil from tar sands

44
Q

What are the arguments for nuclear in the future?

A

More reliable than hydro/wind as always available
Safe, modern power stations
0 emissions of GHGs when operating
Not as vulnerable to fuel price fluctuation as gas/oil

45
Q

What are the arguments against nuclear in the future?

A

Wind/solar have lower estimated CO2 emissions
Takes around 10-20 years to set up a nuclear power station - have to reply on coal during this time
Causing more deaths from air pollution per year than wind/solar
Emissions during construction

46
Q

What are the arguments for wind in the future?

A

Individual turbines can provide electricity to isolated locations
Land can still be farmed - small footprint
5-10x more wind worldwide than we need

47
Q

What are the arguments against wind in the future?

A

Fluctuations in wind speed can cause problems
Local opposition - scars landscape, danger to wildlife - NIMBY
Suitable areas are often near the coast where land is expensive
Only accounts for 1% of worlds global electricity supply

48
Q

Describe how wind turbines helped Germany

A

Wind turbine industry hires 100,000 people
Contributed 6 million Euros in export earning
7% of Germany’s energy in 2007

6GEO3 (5 decks)

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