Week 6, Term 1_Energy Resources (2)

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ENERGY RESOURCES – KS3

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KEY WORDS

Energy – being able to do work. e.g. food gives us energy, so that we can move

Fuel - Fuel is anything that is burned or altered to obtain energy

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SOLAR POWER

Most of the Earth's energy comes from the sun

Solar power is energy from the sun

There are two main ways that we use the Sun's energy

1. Solar Cells

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WHY USE SOLAR POWER?

Advantages

Solar energy is free - no fuel, no waste or pollution. In sunny countries, easy to use in remote places

Good for low-power uses such as solar powered garden lights and battery chargers

Disadvantages

Doesn't work at night.

Very expensive to build solar power stations.

Can be unreliable unless you're in a very sunny place

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ENERGY FROM FOSSIL FUELS

Fossil fuels are coal, oil and gas

Coal oil and gas

Fossil fuels were formed from dead plants and animals over millions of years.

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ENERGY FROM FOSSIL FUELS

Fossil fuels have formed over millions of years. Plants and animals died and were immediately covered by sediment in seas or swamps.

After millions of years of pressure and heat (900C to

1200C), these remains turned into COAL, OIL and

NATURAL GAS.

Coal comes mainly from dead plants, like trees, falling into swamps.

Oil and gas occur together and were formed from both plants and animals being buried.

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HOW ‘FOSSIL FUEL’ POWER STATIONS

WORK:

Coal is crushed to a fine dust and burnt. Oil and gas can be burnt directly.

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WHY USE FOSSIL FUELS TO MAKE

ELECTRICITY?

Advantages

_{Electricity can be generated fairly cheaply.}

_{Transporting oil and gas to the power stations is easy.} _{Gas-fired power stations are very efficient.}

_{A fossil-fuelled power station can be built almost anywhere.}

Disadvantages

_Pollution._{Burning any fossil fuel produces}_{carbon dioxide}_{, which}

contributes to the "greenhouse effect", warming the Earth.

Burning coal produces more carbon dioxide than burning oil or gas.

Mining coal can be difficult, dangerous and ugly.

_{Coal-fired power stations need}_{huge amounts of fuel}_.

_{Fossil fuels are a non- renewable energy resource.}

Once we've burned them all, there isn't any more and our use of fossil fuels has nearly doubled every 20 years since 1900.

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WIND POWER

Wind power also comes from the sun; winds blow because the Sun warms our atmosphere. Warm air tends to rise, and winds are due to other air moving in to replace it.

The wind blows the propeller round, which turns a generator to produce electricity

We tend to build many of these towers together, to make a "wind farm" and produce more electricity.

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WHY USE WIND POWER?

Advantages  Wind is free.

 Produces no waste or greenhouse gases.

 The land beneath can usually still be used for farming.

 Wind farms can be tourist attractions.

 A good method of supplying energy to remote areas

Disadvantages

 The wind is not always predictable - some days have no wind.

 Suitable areas for wind farms are often near the coast, where

land is expensive.

 Some people feel that covering the landscape with these towers is ugly

 Can kill birds.

 Can affect television reception if you live nearby.

 Can be noisy.

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HYDRO-ELECTRIC POWER

Hydro-electric power is generated from falling water. Nowadays there are many hydro-electric power stations, providing around 20% of the world's electricity.

How it works:

A dam is built to trap water, usually in a river valley.

Water is allowed to flow through tunnels in the dam, to turn turbines and thus drive generators to produce electricity.

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DISADVANTAGES

Hydro-electric power is renewable.

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NUCLEAR POWER - ENERGY FROM

SPLITTING URANIUM ATOMS

Nuclear power is generated using Uranium, which is a metal mined in various parts of the world.

Nuclear power produces around 11% of the world's energy needs, and produces huge amounts of

energy from small amounts of fuel, without pollution.

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TIDAL POWER - ENERGY FROM THE

SEA

How it works: Tidal Barrages

These work rather like a hydro-electric scheme

A huge dam (called a "barrage") is built across a river estuary. When the tide goes in and out, the water flows through tunnels in the dam.

The ebb and flow of the tides can be used to turn a turbine.

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DISADVANTAGES OF TIDAL POWER

A barrage across an estuary is very expensive to build, and affects a very wide area. - the

environment and birds. There are few suitable sites for tidal barrages.

Only provides power for around 10 hours each day, when the tide is actually moving in or out.

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GEOTHERMAL ENERGY IS ENERGY FROM

HEAT INSIDE THE EARTH.

How it works

Hot rocks underground heat water to produce steam.

We drill holes down to the hot region; steam comes up, is purified and used to drive turbines, which drive generators to make electricity.

Geothermal energy is an important resource in volcanically active places such as Iceland and New Zealand.

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BIOMASS - ENERGY FROM ORGANIC

MATERIALS

Sugar cane can be used to make alcohol, which can be burned to generate power

Other solid wastes, can be burned to provide heat, or used to make steam for a power station

We can use rubbish, animal manure, woodchips, seaweed, corn stalks and other waste

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Advantages

It makes sense to use waste materials where we can.

The fuel tends to be cheap.

Less demand on the Earth's resources.

Disadvantages

Collecting the waste in sufficient quantities can be difficult.

We burn the fuel, so it makes pollution.

Some waste materials are not available all year round.

Biomass is renewable, as we're going to carry on making waste products.