energy resources

Question 1

how does affluence effect energy consumption/production

Answer 1

-people buy more and use more energy in activities such as travelling and larger homes wit more appliances.
-more energy to construct housing
-energy shortages limit transportation, waterr access, power and preservation of food.

Question 2

how does social and environmental awareness affcet energy shortages.

Answer 2

regions of past energy shortages often have a tradition of managing their energy use carefully e.g Scandinavia has led to an energy conservation culture.

Question 3

what has led to changes in energy use

Answer 3

-industrial energy consumption changes e.g industrialisation era.
-population growth
-income levels.
-changes in environmental; awareness.

Question 4

how does politics/economics influence energy

Answer 4

governments assistance e.g development costs of new technology or increase national energy security.

Question 5

new technologies to extract coal is coal gasification wat is this

Answer 5

coal too deep to be mines can be burnt underground to produce a mix of fuel and gas including hydrogen and methane.

Question 6

what is primary oil recovery

Answer 6

using natural pressure of water below and the pressure forces oil up the production well.

Question 7

what is directional drilling

Answer 7

allows wells to be drilled that are not vertical. so energy can be extracted for under locations such as urban areas.

Question 8

what is fracking

Answer 8

crude oil and natural gas is trapped in pore spaces of shale rock. Hydraulic fracking uses high pressure to open fissures in the surrounding shale rock so oil can flow through them.

Question 9

what are the concerns over fracking

Answer 9

-natural gas may enter aquifer water.
-chemicals injected underground may enetr aquifers .
-mobile toxic chemicals.
-large volumes of water needed.
-earthquakes.

Question 10

what is enhanced gas recovery -natural gas

Answer 10

increases gas recovery rates using processes such as injecting c02 or nitrogen to maintain pressure.

Question 11

what is nuclear fission

Answer 11

splitting the nuclei of large atoms e.g isotopes of uranium-is commercially now. Fusion is a research project. releases enegry.

Question 12

give a cas study that shows the concerns of nuclear fission

Answer 12

reactor incidents at Chernobyl (1986, Ukraine) or Fukishima (japan,2011).

Question 13

what are new technologies for uranium extracion

Answer 13

polymer absorpton
-phosphatye mining
-coal ash.

Question 14

thorium reactors

Answer 14

thorium 232 is not fissile so does not release energy after neutron bombardment. It can be converted to fissil;e uranium 233.

Question 15

what is nuclear fusion

Answer 15

joining of the nuclei of small atoms such as iasotopes of hydrogen e.g tritium produced by neutron bomabrdment of lithium.

Question 16

toroidal reactors

Answer 16

several projects are being developed e.g ITER that is a new project that builds on the knowledge from JET and is planned to release more energy than it uses.

Question 17

what are the methods of harnessing solar power

Answer 17

photothermal solar power-absorb sunlight to produce heat for low temp uses e.g space heating.
-passive solar architecture- maximising absorption through building design- overheating in summer can be reduced with fixed solar screens that deflects sunlight.

Question 18

new hydroelectric power technologies

Answer 18

Kaplan turbines-axial flow turbines with blades that can be rotated to allow variations in water flow - they can harness 90% of kinetic energy.
micro-hydro schemes- small scale projects divert part of the flow of a river t drive a turbine but don’t create a barrier across the whole river.

Question 19

what are advantages of biofuels

Answer 19

supply rate of energy crops can be controlled.
-can be stored until needed.
-some can replace petrol/diesel for cars
-carbon neutral fuels.
-biodiesel and alcohol have an energy density nearly as high as fossil fuels.

Question 20

low temperature geothermal schemes -

Answer 20

-geothermal springs and aquifers -hot water may be pumped to surface for district heating.

Question 21

high temperature geothermal shemes

Answer 21

geothermal steam systems and hot dry rock systems.

Question 22

low temerature fluids-Geothermal

Answer 22

neew turbine technology that use liquids which boil and turn turbines at lower temperatures. Water as cool as 60c can be used to boil butane or propane.

Question 23

tidal barrages

Answer 23

The barrage is constructed so that the incoming tide passes through turbines. Turbines in a power station turn the generators. to generate electricity. It also harnesses the reverse flow of the water when the tide goes out.

Question 24

developments in energy storage technologies

Answer 24

-peak shaving using pumped HEP-surplus energy used to pump water uphill which stores the energy as gravitational potential energy and can be converted to kinetic energy through water flowing to the lower reservoir.
-chemical energy-stored fossil fuels, hydrogen and battery fuel call store energy.

Question 25

vehicle to grid systems

Answer 25

Energy can be transferred between national electricity grid and vehicle batteries. The proposal is that all vehicles are plugged into the grid when parked for long periods. If there is peak demand then a small proportion from vehicle batteries may be used.

Question 26

kinetic energy

Answer 26

flywheels can be used as a temporary store of kinetic energy, the rotating flywheel can be used to drive machinery ore generate electricity when needed.

Question 27

industrial energy conservation

Answer 27

heat recovery
-insulation
-high volume storage.
-combined heat and power
-integrated manufacture.
-recycling.
-mass reduction

Question 28

transport energy conservation

Answer 28

bulk transport -carrying larger loads on fewer vehicles -more efficient.
reduced mass- e.g plastic instead of steel of aluminium engine blocks instead of cast iron-limits energy consumption.

Question 29

transport energy conservation

Answer 29

-bulk transport
-vehicle design
-reduced mass
-regenerative braking
-wheel design
-fuel combustion efficiency.-vehicle design for end of life.

Question 30

building energy conservation

Answer 30

building surface area
-high thermal mass materials
-low embodied energy materials
-earth sheltered buildings.
-building insulation
-window energy conservation
-ventilation
-occupancy sensors
-programmable thermostats.
-low energy appliances.