Energy Resources Flashcards
What are the non-renewable energy resources?
Coal
Oil
Gas
Nuclear (uranium and plutonium)
What are the renewable energy resources?
Wind Wave Tide Hydroelectric Solar Geothermal Food Biofuels
How do power stations work?
- Fossil fuel is burned (chemical to heat)
- This heat is used to heat water to produce steam
- The steam turns a turbine (heat to kinetic)
- The turbine is connected to a generator (kinetic to electrical)
What are the advantages of wind power?
There’s no co2 emissions
No fuel costs and minimal running costs
No permanent damage to landscape
What are the disadvantages of wind power?
Visual Pollution
Can be noisy
Unreliable eg. No power when the wind stops
Initial high costs
What are the advantages of solar cells?
Good for remote places
No co2 emissions
Very reliable in sunny countries
Free energy and minimal running costs
What are the disadvantages of solar cells?
Only work in the day time(unreliable )
Initial high costs
Only practical on small scale
What are the advantages of hydroelectric power?
No co2 emissions Provide immediate response to an increased demand for electricity No reliability issues (except drought) No fuel costs and minimal running costs Small scale electricity
What are the disadvantages of hydroelectric power?
Flooding of valley releases methane and co2
Loss of animal habitat
Initial costs are high
What are the advantages of pumped storage?
Can cope with high demands of electricity
What are the advantages of wave power?
There is no co2 emissions
No fuel costs and minimal running costs
Useful on small islands
What are the disadvantages of wave power?
You need a lot of them Visual pollution Hazard to boats Unreliable Initial high costs
What are the advantages of tidal barrages?
No co2 emissions Quite reliable Good for storing energy ready for peak demand No fuel costs and minimal running costs Can generate large amounts of energy
What are the disadvantages of tidal barrages?
Visual pollution Altering habitats Prevents free access Tide is variable Initial high costs
What are the advantages of geothermal energy?
Free energy
No real environmental problems
What are the disadvantages of geothermal energy?
There are few suitable locations (volcanic areas)
High cost or power plant for energy you get back
What are the advantages of biofuels?
Can be used in cars
Better for the environment than fossil fuels
What are the disadvantages of biofuels?
Burning of vegetation increases co2 and methane emissions
Habitat loss to make room for biofuel growth
Disadvantages of fossil fuels?
Releases co2 when burned
Contributes to greenhouse effect and climate change
Burning coal and oil Releases sulphur dioxide which leads to acid rain
What is carbon capture storage (CCS)?
Works by collecting co2 from power stations before it’s released into the atmosphere
The captured co2 can be pumped to empty gas and oil fields like those under North Sea and stored without adding to the greenhouse effect
What is the purpose of CCS?
To reduce the amount of co2 building up in the atmosphere
Reduce the strength of the greenhouse effect
What is a nuclear reactor?
Nuclear fission of uranium and plutonium provides heat to Make stream to drive turbines ect
Which power station takes the most / least time to start up?
Nuclear = most
Natural gas= least
What are the disadvantages of nuclear power?
The over all cost is high despite fuel being cheap due to the high cost of the power plant and final decommissioning
Caries risk of major disaster
It is clean but nuclear waste is dangerous and difficult to dispose of
What six things should you consider when comparing energy resources?
Set up cost Reliability issues Environmental issues Set up / decommissioning time Running fuel / costs Location issues
