The Carbon Cycle EQ2 Flashcards
How is solar energy used?
-Solar water heaters = use solar energy to heat water
-Solar cookers = convert sunlight to heat energy
-Photovoltaic cells (PV) = convert energy to electrical energy
What are the benefits and negatives of solar energy?
Benefits:
-Renewable
-Reduce farmers costs if used in greenhouses
Negatives:
-Releases CO2
-High initial investment
-Requires large amounts of land
-UK sun is unreliable
What are biofuels?
-Primary biofuels: wood chips, fuel wood, pellets
-Secondary biofuels: from plants e.g. bioalcohol or biodiseal
What are the benefits and negatives of biofuels?
Benefits:
-Renewable if managed carefully
-Become self sufficient as you aren’t reliant on other countries
-Reduces burning of fossil fuels
Negatives:
-Requires large amounts of land
-Stress on natural environment
-Uses pesticides and fertilisers
What is wind power?
When wind energy is converted to mechanical energy and a generator converts it to electrical energy
What are the benefits and negatives of wind power?
Benefits:
-Doesn’t take up much space
-Becoming cheaper than nuclear
-Pollution free
Negatives:
-Wind is unpredictable
-Kills birds and bats
-Requires lots of turbines to produce significant amounts of energy
What is renewable energy?
Forms of energy that can be naturally replenished on a human timescale
What is recyclable energy?
Forms of energy and waste that can be reused to produce more electricity
What does carbon neutral mean?
A process or activity resulting in no net release of carbon into the atmosphere
What are the benefits and negatives of nuclear power?
Benefits:
-Low carbon dioxide emissions
-Less toxic waste released to environment
-Generates large amounts of energy from small amounts of fuel
Negatives:
-High radioactive waste
-Uranium is a finite resource
-Environmental issues and health problems
What is an unconventional fossil fuel?
-Non standard source of oil and gas
-Difficult and expensive to extract
-Extraction increases as normal, conventional sources become depleted
What is hydraulic fracturing?
Injecting water, chemicals and sand at a high pressure into rocks until the rock cracks and natural gas flows up the well
What are the benefits and negatives of hydraulic fracturing?
Benefits:
-Can produce up to 360 million meters cubed of gas
-Could make the USA self sufficient in gas production by 2030
Negatives:
-Contaminates groundwater
-Airborne pollutants e.g. methane, sulphur dioxide
-Industrial explosions
-Animal deaths
What is Brazilian deepwater oil?
Huge oil reserves (50-80 billion barrels) found 200km of Brazil’s shore
What are the benefits and negatives of Brazilian deepwater oil?
Benefits:
-Diversify the energy mix
-Provide energy security
-Economic growth
-Creates jobs
Negatives:
-Very high costs
-Oil spills pollute waters
-Contains toxic and flammable gases
-Risky as it’s so far from help
What are the facts about oil?
-Middle East holds around 48% of the world’s oil reserves
-Venezuela has around 300 billion barrels
-Mainly transported via pipelines
-Demand is highest in North America, Europe and East Asia
What are the facts about natural gas?
-Russia has the largest amount of reverses (24% of global reserves)
-Transported through pipelines for shorter distances, converted to liquefied natural gas when travelling far
-Europe is highly dependant on Russia for gas imports
What are the facts about coal?
-China has the most coal reserves (13%)
-Transported by bulk carriers over sea or using railways
-China is the largest consumer and uses around 50% of global reserves
-Europe and North America are trying to move away from coal
What are the different types of energy pathways?
-Pipelines (coal and gas)
-Bulk carrier ships (coal and uranium)
-Tankerships (oil and LNG)
-Over sea
-Underground energy cables
What are the human problems of energy pathways?
-Technical problems e.g. pipeline leaks
-Supplies may run out
-Supplies may be diverted for greater profit
What are the physical problems of energy pathways?
-Vast distances to travel
-Difficult terrain e.g. tundra in Alaska
-Hurricane seasons in deep waters e.g. Gulf of Mexico
What are the political problems of energy pathways?
-May block pathways
-Socio economic issues
-Armed conflicts
-E.g. Somalian pirates, Iraq wars, Russia and Ukraine conflict
What are tar sands?
A mixture of clay, sand, water and bitumen which have to be mined before ignited with steam
What is oil shale?
Oil-bearing rocks that are permeable enough to allow oil to be pumped out directly by fracking
What is shale gas?
Natural gas that is trapped in fine-grained sedimentary rocks which can be mined or ignited to pump the oil fractions out
What is deepwater oil?
Oil and gas that is found offshore at oceanic depths which can be drilled out
What are the benefits and negatives of Canadian tar sands?
Benefits:
-Expect $4 trillion to go into their economy
-Created 151,000 jobs
-Could meet 16% of North America’s oil needs by 2030 which offers energy security
Negatives:
-Destroys forest and peat bog ecosystems
-Created waste material ponds contaminating water
-Declined local Caribou population which is expected to be extinct by 2040
What are the main energy players?
-TNC’s
-OPEC (organisation of petroleum exporting countries)
-Consumers
-Governments
