Lesson 2

Question 1

What is an energy superpower?

Answer 1

Countries which have a great supply of a resource and so have great influence on the market of that resource

Question 2

What are some issues caused by uneven distribution of resources?

Answer 2

• Conflict/geopolitical issues
• Disparity between LIC and HIC development
• Over-dependence from countries on other countries

Question 3

What is a resource frontier?

Answer 3

Place which may have profitable reserves of resources and has been newly discovered

Question 4

Why is extracting from a resource frontier risky?

Answer 4

• Geographically remote
• Difficult climate
• Technical difficulties
• Environmental sensitivities
• Uncertainty in actual quantity of reserves

Question 5

Describe characteristics of Arctic as a resource frontier

Answer 5

• Cold climate - Difficult to navigate due to large glaciers and cause mechanical equipment to malfunction
• Remoteness - Expensive to transport equipment and people to extract
• Environment issues - Could negatively impact ecosystems (i.e oil spills)

Question 6

Name some other resource frontiers

Answer 6

Ocean floor, Mongolia, Antarctica, Amazon rainforest

Question 7

What is resource peak?

Answer 7

When a stock resource reaches max production level and after this decline occurs (this can be applied at any scale)

Question 8

Why is reaching resource peak an issue?

Answer 8

• Development of a resource becomes more expensive as accessible reserves run out
• Prices of resource rise
• A country may have to start importing, potentially leading to over-dependence on a country

Question 9

Why is resource peak hard to predict?

Answer 9

• Resource frontiers
• Technological advancements to reach less accessible reserves
• Government policies to reduce usage and extraction of a resource