Resource Security Flashcards
Define resource security
The ability of a country to safeguard reliable and sustainable access of resources to maintain the living standards of the population
What is a resource
A resource is that which carries value and is made use of by people
It can be both a tangible item (coal) and an abstract quality (engineering skill)
Give the criteria for something to become a resource
- Recognised of being of value
- Exploitable/obtainable
- Within the physical, economic and ethical reach of people
Give the two types of resource
Stock
Flow
What is a stock resource
Can be permanently expended and are therefore non-renewable, and whose quantity is usually expressed in absolute amounts rather than in rates. (Coal, oil etc.)
What is a flow resource
A natural resource that is simultaneously used and replaced, which includes all perpetual resources and renewable resources. (Solar, wind, tidal etc)
Why is it considered necessary to classify a resource
So you know the full risks and implications of it before extracting or utilising it - enables decision making
In the UN Framework Classification (UNFC) explain the difference between a ‘111’ and a ‘333’
111 = Most feasible, most viable and most knowledge about wether that resource exists in the designated area or not.
333 = opposite
What is the difference between a reserve and a resource
Reserve = those parts of the ‘resources’ that can be economically, technically and legally extracted
Resource = an estimate of the quantity of all deposits of a valued mineral or energy source (including those that are undiscovered and unviable)
Other than reserves, in a McKlevely box, what other factors are included
Conditional resources
Hypothetical resources
Give the life cycle of a stock resource (6)
Demand
Exploration
Exploitation
Development
Depletion
Exhaustion
What is demand
A recognised use and viable need for resource arriving
What is exploration
Searching for and locating economic quantities
What is exploitation
Extracting and transporting the source
What is development
Integrating support infrastructure and maximising production efficiency
What is depletion
Declining returns as extraction costs increase with declining yields
What is exhaustion
Further extraction is no longer viable or stocks are fully depleted
What is a resource frontier
A peripheral environment (on the edge) that attracts the latest exploration and subsequent development of resources
Or an area where resources are brought into production for the first time
Why might oil extraction in the Arctic increase or decrease over time
Increase - more accessible in 30 years time, ironically because of global warming
Decrease - people will be more conscious of the effects and dangers posed by global warming
Give the pros for Shell’s decision to pull out of the Arctic
- Environmentalists were ecstatic with the announcement
- They contend the risks of a major oil spill in the Arctic as being too great to allow Arctic offshore drilling
- It would add to climate warming and further delays in a transition away from fossil fuels
Give the cons of SHell’s decision to pull out of the Arctic
- Disappointing to shareholders and potentially devastating to Alaska
- The company must find another source to fill the 800-mile trans-Alaska pipeline and solve its economic woes
- Declining oil production and low prices have left Alaska with a billion-dollar budget gap
- Loss of jobs would be one of the biggest immediate effects in the state
What is a resource peak
The phase of maximum production from a resource deposit before depletion exceeds new discoveries
Give the largest producer of fossil fuel liquids in the world
US
223 billion barrels of recoverable shale oil and gas deposits
Human………and advancements in……………will be able to exploit oil that was previously…………….
(Fracking)
Innovation
Technology
Unaccessible
For every 1 barrel of oil found…barrels are consumed
3
Describe the graph shape of North Sea oil production
M shape
When is it suggested that peak oil will occur
Hard to determine as a large part depends on the fluctuating market price
Generally estimated at around 2030
What factors determine when a resource peaks
- Quantity of resource
- Demand
- Economically viable
- Goverment policy (promoting renewable materials)
- Price (oil price regulates demand)
- New discoveries
Resource use is rising in tandem with……
GDP
NOT population growth
Define sustainable resource development
The degree to which meeting the economic social and environmental resource needs of today, do not compromise the ability of future generations to meet their future needs
Can the rate of depletion vary
YES
Depletion curves
What causes a high peaked and narrow resource depletion curve
Extract, process, use and discard
With few new discoveries scarcities drives prices up. Demand falls and production drops
What causes a medium peaked and slightly wider resource depletion curve
Resource exploited more efficiently to expand economic life.
Demand peak extended as high prices stimulate new resource discoveries
What causes a low peaked and sustained/prolonged resource depletion curve
Rate of supply supplemented by reuse, recycling and more efficient use of resource
Market reliance extended by lack of economic substitutes/alternatives
Why does HEP contribute less than 2% of the UK’s electricity needs compared to Norway’s 95%
Larger population - harder to resettle
- Focuses more on wind and solar as UK = windiest place in Europe
- Higher energy need
- Norway is far more mountainous (ideal for HEP )
How sustainble is HEP
Disrupts the natural ecology of rivers
Damages forest and biodiversity
Releases large quantities of CO2 when building
Concrete is the 4th largest producer of co2
Disrupts food systems and water quality (agriculture)
The UK’s renewable energy has……..between 2014-2020 from (…% to …%)
Doubled
17
35
Give the 7 procedures involved with an Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA)
RESEARCH - requires an understanding of the project and the range of views it generates
COLLECT BASELINE DATA - describing the original condition of the site
DESCRIBE PROJECT - time frame, scale, environmental impact
DRAW IMPACT MATRIX
OVERVIEW - identify alternatives and propose modifications
ANNALYSE OPTIONS - May be ways to reduce environmental impact (nature conservation strategies etc)
DRAFT - list short and long term effects of the project + list alternatives
