Académique Documents
Professionnel Documents
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Energy Resources
05/09/18
Energy Resources
• Renewable
• Future availability
• Net energy yield
• It takes energy to get energy
• Habitat degradation
• Cost (initial and ongoing)
• Community disruption
• Political or international issues
• Suitability in different locations
• Polluting (air, water, noise, visual)
Each type of power project needs to be evaluated
for the benefits and costs
The environmental costs of hydroelectricity are much
different than windpower, for example
Important Nonrenewable Energy
Sources
North American Energy Resources
US has only
2.4% of world’s
oil reserves
Advantages Disadvantages
• Relatively low • Running out
cost • 42-93 years
• Low prices
• High net energy
encourage waste
yield
• Air pollution and
• Efficient greenhouse gases
distribution • Water pollution
system
Oil Shale and Tar Sands
Tar Sand: Oil Shale:
Mixture of clay, sand Oily rocks that
water and bitumen - contain a solid
a thick and sticky mix of hydro-
heavy oil. carbons.
Bitumen heated to
convert to synthetic
crude oil.
Natural Gas
• 50-90% methane
• Cleanest of fossil fuels
• Approximate 200 year
supply
• Advantages and
disadvantages
Coal – What is it?
Cost over-runs
High operating costs
Three Mile Island
Chernobyl
Three Mile Island - Pennsylvania
• March 28, 1979 - Partial Core Melt-Down.
• No Deaths.
• Very Little Radiation Vented.
• Public Relations Disaster.
Chernobyl – Ukraine (Former USSR)
• April 26, 1986
• One of four reactors explodes.
• 31 immediate deaths.
• 116,000 people evacuated.
• 24,000 evacuees received high doses of radiation.
• Thyroid cancer in children.
• Damaged reactor entombed in concrete, other
reactors returned to service within months.
• Eventually, remaining reactors out of service.
Dealing with Nuclear Waste
Fuel rod
Primary canister
Ground Level
Personnel Overpack
Unloaded from train container
elevator
sealed
Air shaft
Nuclear waste
shaft Underground
Buried and capped
Lowered down shaft
Low - Level Waste – (materials other
than the radioactive isotopes)
• Includes cooling water from nuclear reactors,
material from decommissioned reactors,
protective clothing, and like materials.
– Prior to 1970, US alone placed 50,000 barrels
of low-level radioactive waste on the ocean
floor.
– Moratorium in 1970, Ban in 1983.
Energy Efficiency and Renewable
Energy
• Solar
• Flowing water
• Wind
• Biomass
• Geothermal
• Hydrogen
Using Solar Energy to Provide Heat
• Environmentally friendly
• Extracting hydrogen efficiently
• Storing hydrogen
• Fuel cells
Hydrogen
Trade-offs
Entering the Age of Decentralized
Micropower
• Decentralized power systems
• Micropower systems
Solutions: A Sustainable Energy
Strategy
What Can You Do?
• Drive a car that gets at least 15 kilometers per liter (35 miles per
gallon) and join a carpool.
• Use mass transit, walking, and bicycling.
• Super-insulate your house and plug all air leaks.
• Turn off lights, TV sets, computers, and other electronic equipment
when they are not in use.
• Wash laundry in warm or cold water.
• Use passive solar heating.
• For cooling, open windows and use ceiling fans or whole-house attic or
window fans.
• Turn thermostats down in winter and up in summer.
• Buy the most energy-efficient homes, lights, cars, and appliances
available.
• Turn down the thermostat on water heaters to 43-49ºC (110-120ºF)
and insulate hot water heaters and pipes.