Conservation of Energy Resources
• Energy Crises
• Dependence on Nonrenewable resources
• Implementing Sustainable Energy Use
Mining
Oil
Nuclear
Nonrenewable EnergyResources: Fossil Fuels
• Provide 85-90% of the energy demand of the industrialized world– coal, oil, natural
gas• developing
countries mainly use renewable– wood & dung– switching to non-
renewable resources
Coal Creation
• Coal in use today originated as plant matter that grew in hot, muggy regions 225 to 350 million years ago
• Over time, heat and pressure converted fallen
organic matter into peat, then coal
Coal
• Industrial Revolution in the 1800’s
• Coal mining began in USA in 1860
• Didn’t replace wood until late 1800’s, early 1900’s
• Burned by electric companies and in some homes and factories
Types of Coal
• Three major types– lignite (brown
coal) (lowest value)
– bituminous (soft coal)
– anthracite (hard coal) (highest value)• Vary in their
carbon content, heat value
Mining Coal
Underground Mining
Mining Impactsunderground mines
• Wastes are removed and dumped– acid mine
drainage: rainwater combines with iron pyrite creating sulfuric acid
– costly
Surface Mining: Contour Mining
Surface Mining: Strip Mining
Mining Impacts- surface mines
• Overburden (overlying soil and rock) must be removed and put somewhere– aesthetics– can affect streams
(sedimentation, turbidity, toxics)
– New executive rule to allow dumping in waterways - 2003
Reclamation• The rehabilitation of
land altered by mining (or any other human activity)
• 1977, The Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act– companies must
restore land to its previous condition
– ONLY coal mining
New Methods
• Fluidized Bed Combustion: crushed and mixed with limestone.– Low levels
CO2
– Reduced NO – Reduced
SO2
New Methods
• Coal Gasification: slurry formed, heated and injected with Oxygen. Cooled and burns like natural gas.– Less NO, SO2
produced– More CO2
New Methods
• Coal Liquefaction: treated like crude oil– Very costly– Released Phenol
• Carcinogen
– Same level of CO2 produced
Exxon-Valdez Oil Spill – 1989
10+ million gallons
Oil
• Relatively easy to transport long distances (by ship or pipeline)
• Burns cleaner than coal, but dirtier than natural gas
• Refined to produce gasoline
• In short supply• 30 - 45 years• But, oil
consumption has been increasing-– may only last
20 years total
Impacts of Oil
• Extraction of Oil
• Destroy habitat• Increase soil
erosion• Leaks or spills
– kills vegetation and wildlife
– seeps into groundwater
Oil Shale• Sedimentary rock formed
millions of years ago at the bottom of prehistoric lakes– within the rock is a solid
organic: kerogen– oily residue, = shale oil.– Refined to produce
gasoline– Enormous economic and
environmental costs to extract
– Major reserve in Colorado, Wyoming and
– Utah- the Green River Formation
• 30 years of energy?
Oil Shale
• Same problems as with mines– habitat destruction,
pollution etc
• Disposal of waste: spent shale (contaminated rock)- can contaminate water– Process expands the
rock by 12% so not all of it fits back in the mine
– Uses LOTS of water– Toxics, SO2, NO2
Nuclear Power
• Fission: Splitting of certain atoms when
they are hit by radiation, gives off
energy.
Nuclear Power:Benefits
• longer availability of raw materials than fossil fuels, produces much more energy
• less air pollution• reduces dependency on
foreign oil• releases less radiation
than a coal plant!• Risk of accident is VERY
low, much safer than mining Palisades Nuclear Power Plant
Covert, MI
Nuclear Power: Drawbacks
• catastrophic accidents,– releases radiation
• production costs– break even after 30
years (life span of facilities is also about 30 years)
• Doesn’t replace oil• thermal pollution• dealing with spent fuel
– have to bury it somewhere like hazardous waste
– Nevada/ Yucca Mountain a repository for waste
Yucca Mountain Nuclear Waste Disposal
• Receive by 2010
RR transport
AccidentsChernobyl
• Released radiation for about 2 weeks
• 31 people were killed immediately, 237 were hospitalized with burns
• People were evacuated, never to return home
• 60 square miles were so badly contaminated that it will lie fallow for many decades (prime ag land)
• Total costs amount to $10 billion• Causing livestock loss in
neighboring countries• 20 countries were dusted with
radiation• Cancer increased dramatically
Case Study: ANWR
•Created with passage of Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act
-passed 1980 signed by Pres. Carter-19.5 M acres = National Refuge
- 8 M acres designated Wilderness
- 1002 Area (1.5 M acres)
Case Study: ANWR
Case Study: ANWR
Case Study: ANWR
Case Study: ANWR•1002 Area = coastal plain closed to oil
& gas exploration unless authorized by Congress & signedby President
•1995 – Congress passed budget legislationto allow drilling, Pres. Clinton veto
•Summer 2000 – House of Rep. voted todrill in ANWR
•April 2002 – Senate rejected oil drilling provisions
•Conference committee must resolvedifferences between House & Senatebills
•President Bush will sign bill to drill in ANWR
Case Study: ANWR
Case Study: ANWR
• North Slope oil facilities have physical “footprint” on 10,000 acres • North Slope industrial complex (roads, pipelines, satellite wells) extends over 800 square miles (100 miles wide)
Case Study: ANWR
Case Study: ANWR
Case Study: ANWR
•1,400 miles of seismic lines surveyed in 1002 Area, 1984-1985
•1985 exploratory well drilled on KIC lands; well plugged; results confidential
Case Study: ANWR
Case Study: ANWR
Case Study: ANWR
Case Study: ANWR
Case Study: ANWR
Case Study: ANWR
Case Study: ANWR
* 5% reduction in calf survival = pop. decline
Case Study: ANWR
* 40% dens in 1002 Area
Case Study: ANWR
Case Study: ANWREconomically-recoverable oil (at $24 per barrel)
• 95% chance of 1.9 billion barrels of oil (BBO)• 50% chance of 5.3 BBO• 5% chance of 9.4 BBO
• If drill today, oil will be available for use in 10 years
• Current oil consumption in USA = 19 million barrels of oil per day = 7 BBO per year
• If 50% chance of 5.3 BBO in ANWR = 9 month supply• Raising automobile fuel efficiency standards from 27.5 mpg
to 35 mpg by 2013 would save 1 BBO per year by 2020