EARTH AND ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCEReview modules 5, 6 & 7

MODULE FIVE: NON-RENEWABLE ENERGY

FOSSIL FUELS

Coal, oil, natural gas, kerogen from shale oil, and peat were all formed from the bodies of ancient plants and animals that have been buried in sedimentary rock, under heat and pressure for millions of years.

Made mostly of methane, natural gas

burns cleaner than any other fossil fuel.

Although these are limited, non-renewable, and produce pollution, we still burn them, because we already have the infrastructure (ways and means) to get and use fossil fuels, they are relatively cheap, and changing over to newer alternatives is expensive.

USGS Fact Sheet 26-03: Geologic Sequestration of Carbon Dioxidepubs.usgs.gov - 500 × 236 - Search by imageRed lines indicate CO 2 being pumped into the reservoirs for sequestration, green lines indicate enhanced recovery of fossil fuels caused by CO 2

PEAT IS THE FIRST STAGE OF COAL.

The Carbon Cycle

All living things are made of carbon. Carbon is also a part of the ocean, air, and even rocks. Because the Earth is a dynamic place, carbon does not stay still. It is on the move!

In the atmosphere, carbon is attached to some oxygen in a gas called carbon dioxide.

Plants use carbon dioxide and sunlight to make their own food and grow. The carbon becomes part of the plant. Plants that die and are buried may turn into fossil fuels made of carbon like coal and oil over millions of years. When humans burn fossil fuels, most of the carbon quickly enters the atmosphere as carbon dioxide.

Carbon dioxide is a greenhouse gas and traps heat in the atmosphere. Without it and other greenhouse gases, Earth would be a frozen world. But humans have burned so much fuel that there is about 30% more carbon dioxide in the air today than there was about 150 years ago, and Earth is becoming a warmer place. In fact, ice cores show us that there is now more carbon dioxide in the atmosphere than there has been in the last 420,000 years.https://eo.ucar.edu/kids/green/cycles6.htm

Carbon Cycle Diagram from the DOE with numbers | Spark

spark.ucar.edu900 × 700Search by image

Credit: Office of Biological and Environmental Research of the U.S. Department of Energy Office of Science.

DAMAGE TO THE ENVIRONMENT

Getting coal involves old-fashioned subsurface mining, using tunnels. This is very dangerous due to collapse of tunnels, methane gas build up and acid mine drainage, emissions of more greenhouse gases than the country of Denmark, and more habitat destruction than mountain top removal are hazards of subsurface mining.

Mountain top removal and strip mining are modern ways of digging out the seams of coal.

Fly ash, sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxides are two pollutants that come from burning coal.

Mercury Contamination from Historical Gold Mining in Californiapubs.usgs.gov - 504 × 645 - Search by imagePhotograph showing Monitors (water cannons)

NUCLEAR ENERGYNuclear power plants create electricity by using uranium for nuclear fission. While it does not pollute the air, other hazards exist.

Nuclear waste has an extremely long half-life and remains deadly for centuries, so storing it is a problem. Meltdowns of reactors, fires and explosions have spread deadly nuclear fallout worldwide.

Although uranium is not a fossil fuel, it is in limited supply, and someday, there will be no more to fuel these power plants.

Right: HowStuffWorks "Inside a Nuclear Power Plant"science.howstuffworks.com - 360 × 340 - Search by imagePage by Robert Lamb - In order to turn nuclear fission into electrical energy, ...

fission1.gifwww.kids.esdb.bg

MODULE SIX: RENEWABLE ENERGY

RENEWABLE ENERGY Biomass: fuel made from fermentation of plants

Hydrogen can be used in fuel cells for cars, with only water as a waste product.

Hydroelectric dams: using water falling by gravity ,turns turbines, which creates electricity.

Wind turbines: expensive to set up, but produce tremendous amounts of electricity when the wind is blowing.

U.S. Geological Survey: Ecosystemswww.usgs.gov - 232 × 300 - Search by imageImage of Product: Wind Energy and Wildlife Research at the Forest and Rangeland Ecosystem Science

SOLAR POWERPassive solar energy is simply allowing the sunlight to enter and provide light and heat to a place.

Active solar energy is made by using solar panels to convert the sun’s energy into electrical energy.

The Southwestern states in the US use more solar panels, because they receive more sunny days than the eastern states.

Although it is not yet popular everywhere, because it is expensive to start up, the use of solar panels for energy is growing.

Right: NASA Invites Media to Showcase of Solutions Finalists Announcement ...www.nasa.gov - 4256 × 2832 - Search by imageElectrical power required for the building is more than offset by on-site photovoltaic solar panels and solid oxide fuel cell technology from aBloom Energy .

CONSERVATION OF ENERGY

Allows us to phase in renewable energy, slows global warming, lowers environmental damage, decreases our dependency on oil. This can give us a little more time to phase in the renewable, non-polluting energy sources.

Right: USGS Scientific Investigations Report 2008-5195: U.S. Geological Survey

pubs.usgs.gov - 250 × 323 - Search by image

Southwest Wyoming's wildlife and habitat resources are increasingly affected by energy and urban/exurban development, climate change, and other key drivers.

 

MODULE SEVEN:

GEOLOGIC TIME AND NORTH CAROLINA GEOLOGIC HISTORYAccording to fossil records, life first emerged from shallow seas.

Dinosaurs disappeared from Earth 65 million years ago.

The largest time span on the geological time scale is the EON.

Right: Geologic Maps - Geologic Map of North Carolina, 2000x1340geology.about.com - 2000 × 1340 - Search by image North Carolina geologic map page

TEXT FROM THE LESSONS

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