Our energy?Where do we find sources for

Earth and Environmental Science

• Compiled for my energetic students• By Kella Randolph M.Ed.

What is energy?• Energy is the ability to cause changes, exert forces or

do work. • (In other words, energy is the ability to make things

happen!)

We find energy in sources that are non-renewable.

We also find energy in sources that are renewable and cleaner to use.

renewable resource

a natural resource that can be replaced in a reasonable amount of time.

Non-renewable resourceresource that is unable to be replaced naturally or is replaced very slowly

nonrenewable resource

a natural resource that cannot be replaced reasonably soon

Energy can exist in many forms. It can be stored or expressed actively.

Energy can be converted to another form, but can never be created or destroyed.

Anthracite coalEnergy is stored in the coal.

Burning anthracite coal

Energy is released as heat.

Gasses are released and ash remains.

fossil fuela fuel formed deep in Earth’s crust from the remains of plants and animals.

Fossil fuels include peat, coal, oil, and natural gas.

Fossil fuels

There are three major forms of fossil fuels: coal, oil and natural gas. All three were formed many hundreds of millions of years ago before the time of the dinosaurs – hence the name fossil fuels.

At some point, the supply of fossil fuels will be gone, and humans must use other, cleaner, and renewable sources for energy to power our factories, homes, cars and so on.

oil

Oil, also called petroleum, is found in many places throughout the world.

The top ten oil reserve countries

  List of Top 10 Oil Reserves Countries in the World  

Rank Country Oil Reserves (Billion Barrels) % of World Total

1 Venezuela 297.6 18.2

2 Saudi Arabia 265.4 16.2

3 Canada 173.1 10.6

4 Iran 154.6 9.4

5 Iraq 141.4 8.6

6 Kuwait 101.5 6.2

7 UAE 97.8 6

8 Russia 80 4.9

9 Libya 48 2.9

10 Nigeria 37.2 2.3

SOURCE: U.S. Energy Information Administration, International Energy Outlook 2013

Drilling for oilSome oil rigs are on land. Wells may go down very deep to get to a pool of oil.

Some oil rigs are in the ocean

An oil platform, (offshore platform or colloquially oil rig) is a large structure with facilities to drill wells, to extract and process oil and natural gas, and to temporarily store product until it can be brought to shore for refining and marketing. In many cases, the platform contains facilities to house the workforce as well.

Depending on the circumstances, the platform may be fixed to the ocean floor, may consist of an artificial island, or may float. Remote subsea wells may also be connected to a platform by flow lines and by umbilical connections. These subsea solutions may consist of one or more subsea wells, or of one or more manifold centers for multiple wells.

Offshore oil drilling in the Gulf of Mexico

This image is in the public domain because it contains materials that originally came from the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, taken or made as part of an employee's official duties.

Working on an offshore oil rig

Workers live on the platform for several weeks, then go home for a week or two, and come back again to work.

The nature of their operation — extraction of volatile substances sometimes under extreme pressure in a hostile environment — means risk; accidents and tragedies occur regularly. The U.S. Minerals Management Service reported 69 offshore deaths, 1,349 injuries, and 858 fires and explosions on offshore rigs in the Gulf of Mexico from 2001 to 2010.[14] In July 1988, 167 people died when Occidental Petroleum's Piper Alpha offshore production platform, on the Piper field in the UK sector of the North Sea, exploded after a gas leak.

nuclear energyenergy released by changes to the nuclei of atoms.

Uranium is used in nuclear power plants.

Nuclear reaction produces heat.

Renewable energy resources?

What if we just switched to

renewable resources

Wind power, solar power, hydroelectricity, and ethanol are renewable resources.

hydroelectricityelectrical current produced by water flowing through a turbine.

Hydro-electric power

In areas that have a large supply of flowing water, dams are built to provide a steady supply of water that can fall onto turbines. These turbines turn and help to produce electric power.

Thermal energyenergy that comes from the movement of tiny particles. As an object heats up its particles move faster, increasing thermal energy

Thermal energySome energy plants use the heat from magma chambers deep below the surface.

Some homes use solar power to heat water.

How a solar water heater works:

Solar power in the United States includes utility-scale solar power plants as well as local distributed generation, mostly from rooftop photovoltaics. In mid-2013, the U.S. passed 10 GW of installed photovoltaic capacity[1] with an additional 0.5 GW of concentrated solar power. In the twelve months through October 2013, utility scale solar power generated 8.86 million megawatt-hours, 0.22% of total US electricity.[2] The largest solar power installation in the world is the Solar Energy Generating Systems facility in California, which has a total capacity of 354 megawatts (MW).

Http://www.ca.blm.gov/cdd/alternative_energy.htmlInformation presented on this website is public information and may be distributed or copied. Use of appropriate byline/photo/image credit is requested.

Transferred from de.wikipedia to Commons by User:Wdwd using CommonsHelper..

Mojave Desert

Author USA.Gov - BLM - BUREAU OF LAND MANAGEMENT

Wind farmsIn some areas, there are wide open spaces that have plenty of room for a field of windmills. Wind blows almost constantly in these remote areas, so the wind farms are perfect for producing electric power.

Wind energyWind mills convert wind motion to make electricity.

Biomass• “Waste products” can be

used as fuel.

Ethanol is a renewable fuel made from various plant materials collectively known as "biomass."

Ethanol is an alcohol-based fuel made by fermenting and distilling starch crops, such as corn. It can also be made from "cellulosic biomass" such as trees and grasses. The use of ethanol can reduce our dependence upon foreign oil and reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

Sources• http://www.mapsofworld.com/world-top-ten/world-top-ten-oil-reserves-countries-map.html

• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oil_platform

• http://www.afdc.energy.gov/fuels/ethanol_fuel_basics.html

• http://www.energyquest.ca.gov/story/chapter08.html

• ShutterStock

• Bing Online Images

Our earth is our only home.• Handle it with care.