Energy management Flashcards
What is energy security determined by
The balance between energy supply and demand
What is energy surplus and energy insecurity
Energy surplus is where the supply exceeds the demands
Energy insecurity is where demands exceed the production and there is an energy deficit
Reasons for increasing energy consumption
- Economic development, as countries develop demand for energy rises due to industrialisation and greater wealth
- Population growth, growing number of people will increase demand for energy
- Technology, increasing use of technology means greater demand for electricity, demand for vehicles increases as quality of life and prosperity increased, heating and air conditioning also increases
How do physical factors affect energy supply
- Geology determines the location of fossil fuels
- Natural gas and oil and trapped in folded layers of rocks
- Coal is formed from vegetation laid down over millions of years
- Geothermal energy is produced in areas of tectonic activity
How do costs affect energy supply
- Most energy sources are very expensive to develop, particularly on large scales
- An oil rig is very expensive
- Cost of nuclear power stations is giant
How do political factors affect energy supply
- They affect which energy sources to exploit and from which countries energy can be obtained
- Political instability, many countries in the middle east are looking for alternative sources of energy
- German government plans to phase out nuclear energy
- want to stop iran from developing nuclear power
How does technology affect energy supply
- Technological advances have allowed energy sources in remote environments to be exploited
- Technology has developed more efficient methods of generating renewable energy
Impacts of energy insecurity
- Exploration of difficult and environmentally sensitive areas, frozen artic
- Economic and environmental costs, high price of buying energy from other countries, impacts such as oil spills from pollution, sea animals killed
- Food production, energy is used to power farm machinery and fertilisers, biofuels are often grown on land used for crops, use of biofuel has increased food prices
- Industrial output, frequent power cuts, closure of companies
- Potential for conflict, when a country is dependent on another
Different types of renewable energy sources
- Biomass
- Wind
- Hydro (HEP)
- Tidal
- Geothermal
- Solar
Is natural gas renewable or non renewable
Non renewable
Advantages of extracting natural gas
- Cleanest of the fossil fuels, lowest CO2 emissions and less toxic chemicals
- Less risk of environmental accidents than oil
- Provides employment for 1.2 million people
- Provides electricity during peak demand periods, can be shut off and turned back on when required
- Relatively abundant compared to other fuels
Disadvantages of extracting natural gas
- Dangerous if handled or transported carelessly
- Contributes to global warming, CO2
- Fracking is controversial, chemicals could contaminate groundwater and minor earthquakes are possible
- Pipelines are expensive to build and maintain
Relationship between GNI and energy consumption
At lower stages of development countries have a low GNI
therefore they can not spend money on energy
As countries increase in wealth they are able to spend more money on exploiting further energy sources
this will leader to higher energy consumption
How can energy be conserved in a home
- Solar panels
- Double glazing
- Energy efficient lighting
How can individuals reduce their use of energy and carbon footprint
- Walking or using the bus rather than driving
- switching to low-energy domestic appliances (technology)
- replace diesel and petrol cars with electric ones
