Topic 1b - Energy Resources Flashcards
What is a renewable energy resource?
A renewable energy resource is one that is being (or can be) replenished as it is used - made at same rate as usage, so never runs out.
What is a non-renewable energy resource?
An energy resource which is not being produced at the same rate at which it is used => will run out.
What are 4 examples of non renewable energy resources?
- Coal
- Oil
- (Natural) Gas
- Nuclear fuels (uranium + plutonium)
What are 7 examples of renewable resources?
- Wind
- Tidal
- The Sun (Solar)
- Water waves
- Bio-fuel
- Hydroelectricity
- Geothermal
How are renewable energy resources different to non-renewable energy resources? (3)
- Not as much damage to the environment as non-renewable
- Doesn’t provide as much energy as non-renewable
- Can be unreliable as most are weather dependent
What are the 3 main uses of energy resources?
- Transport
- Heating
- Electric
How are energy resources used for transport and which are renewable and non-renewable? (3)
- Petrol and diesel - fuel created from oil used to power vehicles (non-renewable)
- Coal - used in some old fashioned steam trains to boil water to produce steam (non-renewable
- Some vehicles in modern day, run on biofuel (renewable)
What are some non-renewable energy resources used for heating? (3)
- Natural gas - burned to heat water, which is pumped into radiators in the home
- Oil - some homes are heated by burning oil in a tank
- Coal - burnt in fire places
What are some renewable energy resources used for heating? (2)
- Geothermal power - a geothermal heat pump can be used to heat buildings
- Solar power - solar water heaters use electromagnetic radiation from the sun to heat water which is then pumped into radiators in the building
What can energy resources be used to generate for transport and heating?
Renewable + non-renewable can be used to generate electricity used in transport and heating, e.g, electrically powered vehicles, electric heaters etc.
What do wind turbines do (wind power)? (2)
- Generate electricity when exposed to the weather, as each one has a generator inside.
- Electricity = generated directly from the wind turning the turbines.
What are the pros of wind power? (5)
- No pollution (minimal amount during manufacturing)
- No permanent damage - if removed everything returns to how it was prior to the instalment
- Reliable 70-85% of the time
- Initial costs are high, but there are no fuel costs and minimal running costs
- Renewable
What are the cons of wind power? (3)
- Need 1500 wind turbines to replace 1 coal-fired power station - ruins the view/scenery
- Noisy
- Reliability problems - not enough or too much wind
What do solar cells do? (2)
- Generate electric currents directly from the sun’s radiation
- The electric currents directly from the sun’s radiation can be plugged straight into electrical components just like batteries
What are the pros of solar cells? (3)
- Initial costs are high, but after that energy is free and running costs are almost nothing
- Reliable in sunny areas and in the daytime
- Renewable
What are the cons of solar cells? (2)
- Often best if not a lot of energy is required, or in remote areas where energy is minimal
- Usually used on small scale, e.g, powering individual homes
How are tides produced?
By the gravitational pull of the sun and the moon.
What are tidal barrages?
Big dams built across river estuaries, with turbines in them, which are connected to electrical generators which generate electricity.
How do tidal barrages work? (2)
- As the tide comes in, it fills up the estuary
- The water can be allowed out through the turbines at a controlled speed - when there is a height difference of water between the 2 sides of the barrage
What are the pros of tidal barrages? (4)
- No pollution
- Initial costs are high, but no fuel costs and minimal running costs
- Creates significant amounts of energy
- Renewable
What are the cons of tidal barrages? (3)
- Prevents free access by boats, spoiling the view and altering the habitats of wildlife
- Tides are fairly reliable but the height isn’t
- 4 times a day when water height is the same each side - barrage won’t work
What is wave power and how does it work? (2)
- To generate electricity using water waves, you need lots of small wave powered turbines located around the coast
- The up and down motion of waves on the shore can be used to drive a generator, as air is pushed out by the water and into a turbine which turns a generator and produces electricity
What are the pros of wave power? (3)
- No pollution produced
- Initial costs are high but no fuel costs and minimal running costs
- Renewable
What are the cons of wave power? (5)
- Disturbs the sea bed and habitats of animals
- Spoils the view
- Hazard to boats
- Unreliable as waves tend to be wind dependent
- Can be useful on small islands, but not on a larger scale
How do hydroelectric power stations work? (5)
- A valley must be flood
- A dam is built
- Water is stored behind a dam
- Water is released from the dam and passed through the turbines at a controlled rate
- A generator driven by the turbines then generates electricity
What are the pros of hydroelectric power stations? (5)
- No pollution
- Can provide an immediate response to an increased demand for electricity
- Only reliability issues come with drought
- Initial costs are high, but no fuel costs and minimal running costs
- Renewable
What are the cons of hydroelectric power stations? (3)
- Flooding of the valley leads to rotting vegetation (releasing methane + carbon dioxide) and possible habitat loss for some animals and people - environmental issues
- Reservoirs can look bad when dried up
- Useful in smaller areas, however not usually practical or economical to connect it to a whole national grid
What is geothermal power and how does it work? (4)
- Uses energy in the thermal energy stores of hot underground rocks to generate electricity
- The source of a lot of the energy = the slow decay of various radioactive elements, including uranium, deep inside the earth
- Steam and hot water rise to the surface and are used to drive a turbine - the turbine turns a generator which generates electricity
- In some places its used to heat water/buildings directly without generating electricity
What are the pros of geothermal power? (3)
- Reliable energy
- Very little impact on the environment
- Renewable
What are the cons of geothermal power? (2)
- Aren’t many suitable locations for power stations
- The cost is often high compared to the amount of energy received
What are bio-fuels and how do they work? (4)
- Renewable - created from either plant products or animal dung
- Solid, liquid or gas
- They are burnt to heat a boiler, which heats water to produce steam, which turns a turbine, which turns a generator and generates electricity
- Burnt to produce electricity or run cars - like fossil fuels
What are the pros of bio-fuels? (3)
- Fairly reliable - however cannot respond to immediate energy demands. To combat this, bio-fuels are always produced and stored for future use
- Bio-fuels made from plants are theoretically carbon neutral
- Renewable
How are bio-fuels made from plants theoretically carbon neutral? (2)
- plants grown to produce the fuel absorb carbon dioxide from atmosphere during growth
- when the fuel is burnt the carbon dioxide is rereleased into the atmosphere, effectively having a neutral effect on atmospheric carbon dioxide levels if everything happens at the same rate
What are the cons of bio-fuels? (4)
- Expensive, and takes away resources for crops needed for food/farming
- Creates methane emissions - mainly from animals
- Some large areas of forest have been cleared to make room to grow bio-fuels, so lots of species lost their natural habitats => decay and burning of this vegetation results in increased carbon and methane emissions
- Has potential, but use is limited by amount of available farmland
What are the 3 fossil fuels?
- Coal
- Gas
- Oil
How does a typical fossil fuel power station work? (4)
- The fuels are fed into the boiler which heats water
- The steam produced is then sent to a turbine and causes it to turn (cooled water sent back to boiler)
- The turbine is linked to a generator which is also turned
- Electricity produced is then sent to the national grid
What are the pros of fossil fuels? (3)
- Cost effective => produces large amounts and is readily available
- Reliable => enough to meet current demand, and extracted from earth at a fast enough rate that power plants are always stocked
- Set up of power stations = expensive, running + fuel extraction costs are fairly low
What are the cons of fossil fuels? (6)
- Slowly running out, if no new resources are found, some stocks may run out within 100 years - non-renewable
- All 3 fossil fuels release carbon dioxide into atmosphere when burnt => coal releases the most, then oil, then gas
- Adds to greenhouse effect and contributed to global warming
- Burning coal and oil releases sulphur dioxide => acid rain, which can be harmful to trees, soils and ecosystems - can be reduced by removing sulphur dioxide before the fuel is burned or by cleaning up the emissions before they’re released into the atmosphere
- Coal mining => makes mess of landscapes
- Oil spillages are usually avoided but can cause environmental problems, with animals living in/around the sea
What is the greenhouse effect?
Where gases in the atmosphere block radiation from the sun from leaving the atmosphere, causing overall temperature in the atmosphere to rise.
What are nuclear fuels and how do their power stations work? (2)
- Power stations work mostly the same as the fossil fuels power stations but the fuel isn’t burnt
- Nuclear fission of nuclear fuel (uranium/plutonium) releases the energy to heat water into steam which drives turbines
What are the pros of nuclear fuels? (2)
- Clean - doesn’t release harmful gases/chemicals into environment
- Reliable - enough to meet current demand
What are the cons of nuclear fuels? (5)
- Non-renewable
- Takes the longest time to set up out of all the power stations
- Nuclear waste produced = very dangerous and difficult to dispose of because it stays highly radioactive for a long time, so it needs to be stored safely far away from people’s homes
- Nuclear fuels = relatively cheap, but overall cost of nuclear power is high due to the cost of the power station and final decommissioning (shutting down the power station so it’s completely safe + poses no risk to people or the environment)
- Always carries the risk of a major catastrophe, like the Chernobyl disaster in 1986, or the Fukushima disaster in 2011
What is the reliance on fossil fuels like? (5)
- Over the 20th century, use of electricity in the UK hugely increased as the population grew and people began to use electricity for more things
- Since the beginning of the 21st century, electricity use has been slowly decreasing as we get better at making appliances more efficient and try to be more careful with energy usage in our homes
- Some of our electricity = produced using fossil fuels and nuclear power
- Fossil fuels = used for cars, heating homes and to cook
- We are trying to increase use of renewable energy resources
How are we moving towards renewable energy resources? (4)
- Fossil fuels have lots of negative effects on environment which pushes people towards renewable energy resources that effect the environment less
- People are trying to get by on renewable before non-renewable runs out
- Pressure has meant the governments have begun to introduce targets for using non-renewable resources => puts pressure on energy providers to build new renewable energy resources so they don’t lose business/money
- Car companies are putting electric cars and hybrid cars on the market and their popularity is increasing
What are the main 5 factors limiting change in regards of non-renewable energy resources to renewable energy resources?
- Use of renewable is limited by reliability + money, and building new power plants costs money => smaller providers are reluctant to do this, especially when fossil fuels are a cost effective way of meeting demand
- Many people don’t want to live next to a wind farm, which can lead to protesting
- Some renewables aren’t as reliable as fossil fuels + can’t increase power input on demand => having to use multiple power plants (which is expensive), or finding other ways to improve reliability
- Improving the reliability requires lots of research => time and money, and it might be years before improvements are made, whilst non-renewable power plants are used in the mean time
- Making personal changes is quite expensive;
hybrid cars = more expensive than petrol cars
solar panels = quite expensive
The cost of those things is slowly going down, but it’s still not an option for many people
