Reading...
Play button
Play button
Use LEFT and RIGHT arrow keys to navigate between flashcards;
Use UP and DOWN arrow keys to flip the card;
H to show hint;
A reads text to speech;
54 Cards in this Set
- Front
- Back
|
Energy Resources why do we care
|
Quality of life
Personal Expense Budget deficits National Security |
|
|
Energy Resources
|
Renewable: Solar, wind, hydro, forests
Nonrenewable: coal, oil uranium |
|
|
Fossil Fuels (FFs)
|
Coal, Oil, Natural gas
Formed from organic remains 86% of energy consumption in the US |
|
|
Reserve
|
subgroup of resource that have been discovered, has a known size, and can be extracted for profit
limited by technology and expense |
|
|
Resource
|
Total amount of geological commodity on Earth whether or not its been discovered or can be obtained.
|
|
|
Fossil Fuels General Advantages
|
Historically cheap & abundant
Technology well developed infrastructure built to run on them |
|
|
Fossil Fuel Disadvantages
|
Non renewable
Deposits not uniformly distributed costs going up Environmental damage |
|
|
Hydrocarbons
|
Fossil Fuel - Oil and Gas
Requires: area of high biological productivity relatively low oxygen in waters/sediments |
|
|
Methane: Advantages & DIsadvantages
|
Fossil Fuel- Natural Gas
Advantages: Resources growing in recent years burns much cleaner than other Fossil fuels 30% less CO2 emitted/unit energy compared to oil price often cheaper than oil. Disadvantages: Safety issues NG heat system malfunctions can create CO Gas is toxic still contributes to atmospheric CO2 buildup |
|
|
Oil Window
|
the narrow range of temperatures under which oil can form in a source rock
2-5 km, < 150 °C |
|
|
Oil Trap
|
Oil is trapped without being able to seep farther down or move to the surface.
|
|
|
World Oil Supply
|
Global reserves at 1.2 Trillion barrels
62% in middle east, 22% in saudi arabia alone 2.5% in the US |
|
|
US Oil Production & Consumption
|
2004: Used 7.6 billion barrels (1/4 of global consumption)
produced 2.6 billion barrels 5billion barrels imported cost $175 billion |
|
|
How much oil is less
|
It depends,
if we find new deposits and improve technology there is a lot. but with the existing fields producing less and new oil fields being found less often we dont have as much. |
|
|
Case Study: ANWR
|
Arctic National Wildlife Reserve
estimated resource: 20-30 bbls (barrels) Estimated Reserve 4-12 barrels |
|
|
Drilling Pro/against
|
Pro:
30 bbls is enough to last US about 60 years lower gas prices tiny area affected Against: only 12 bbls, not enough to fuel US for even 2 years spills devaste the environment |
|
|
Problems with Pro-Drilling side
|
Production rate:
30bbls / 60years = 500million barrels per year realistic rate given drilling technology but assumes entire resource is usable 2004 US imported 5 Billion barrels, leaving 4.5 billion barrels still needing to be imported. cuts imports only by 10% Importing is often cheaper then drilling US exports oil as well, 2008 US exported > 500mbls "Tiny area drilled" does not include infrastructure, roads, pipelines that will need to be removed |
|
|
Problems with No Drilling side
|
"12 bbls only lasts 2 years"
suggested production rate is at 6 bbls/ year which is not possible. 2004 US only produced 2.6 bbls although US would use up 12 bbls in 2 years |
|
|
Coal
|
Need low-oxygen conditions to form
swamps - plant accumulation |
|
|
Stages of Coal Formation
|
Peat (50% C)
Lignite (70% C) Bituminous coal (70-90% C) Anthractie coal (90+% C) |
|
|
Coal advantages
|
US coal reserve big enough to last 100+ years at current rate of use (1billion tons/year
Energy as National Security Coal usage increased 3% in 2007-2008 |
|
|
Coal Disadvantages
|
1) Infrastructure incompatibility
2) Creates more pollution than other fossil fuels -produces 25% more CO2 than oil -Mercury arsenic produced during mining & buring -ash disposal: 130 million tons/year in US -Acid Rain |
|
|
Forming Acid Rain & Effects
|
Coal Burning releases sulfur from pyrite that creates sulfur oxides
Effects: -Speeds up weathering = damage buildings -pH changes are harmful to many organisms (kills fish) -fewer nutrients retained in soil |
|
|
Clean Coal
|
named as 'green' energy strategy "Anthracite/higher grade coal"
Approaches: 1) Burn higher grade coal 2) revamp power plants to pollute less Problems: -Tech upgrades would likely double the cost of coal generated electricity -where to store the CO2 captured in powerplants -Anthracite is rare and expensive |
|
|
Oil Shales
|
refers to any sedimentary rock that contains solid kerogen that are released as petroleum-like liquids when the rock is heated
|
|
|
tar sands
|
also referred to as oil sands are a combination of clay, sand, water, and bitumen, a heavy black viscous oil
|
|
|
Other Fossil Fuels: Oil Shales and Tar sands
|
Fossil Fuels
Shales/sands with high organic content Problem: Kerogen/bitumen is not oil has to be mined and cooked/heated |
|
|
Oil Shales and Tar sands Advantages
|
Advantages:
Oil Shales resource has 4x more oil than saudi arabia Tar sands resource is 2x the global oil resource |
|
|
Oil Shales and Tar sands Disadvantages
|
Disadvantages:
-Big Resource but reserve size debated -Produce more greenhouse gases than other fossil fuels -25-50% more CO2 produced than normal oil -not profitable at low oil prices - Cooking = use of energy to make energy -Extensive Mining operations 13 million tons of OS to fuel the US for 1 day -Uses lots of water 2 billion gallons of water to produce enough oil to power the us for 1 day |
|
|
Fission
|
is a splitting of an atom into two parts
releases a lot of energy (radiation) have to harness the energy safetly |
|
|
Nuclear Fuel
|
start with Uranium Ore
chemically treat it to get yellowcake U isotopes separated (U235 & U238) Want the fuel enriched in U235 relative to U238 power plants 3-5% enriched Weapons 90% enriched |
|
|
Why is U235 needed?
|
Firing n's takes time and energy
Splitting U235 atoms starts a chain reaction |
|
|
Nuclear Power - Generation
|
Chain reaction is controlled
cooling system removes the heat energy requires lots of water - 4million gallons /year in some power plants |
|
|
Nuclear Advantages
|
-Large US Reserve (130+yrs supply remaining)
-Reduce Carbon emmisions -Decrease fossil fuel dependence -Produces tremendous amounts of energy 1kg of U produces 3 million times more energy than 1kg of coal -Good Safety Record |
|
|
Current US use of Nuclear Energy
|
~ 100 plants 20% of US Electricity
-use declining since 1996 -Half the active plants will close by 2020 -no new reactors ordered between 1987-2010 48% of the ones ordered before 1978 were never built |
|
|
Nuclear Disadvantages
|
Nuclear electric price tripled between 1970-1990
Reactor safety Nuclear proliferation Nuclear waste disposal |
|
|
Radioactive Waste
|
Avg power plant creates 25-30 tons of waste per year
2007 US has 50,000 tons of stored radioactive waste radiation levels vary so safety protocols also varyL |
|
|
Low level waste
|
Tools, medical supplies etc
|
|
|
Intermediate level waste
|
Class A-C plus greater than class C waste
|
|
|
High level Waste
|
main type from power plants and weapon research
heavy shielding and deep burial globally we generate ~12,000 tons/year several sub categories: 1) Spent Nuclear Fuel 2) Trans-uranic (plutonium) |
|
|
Storing Nuclear Waste
|
only 3 low level nuclear waste sites in US
1 - Clive, Utah (accepts only CLass A) 2 - Richland, Washington ( accepts Class A-C) collects for 11 NW states 3 - Barnwell, South Carolina (accepts Class A-C) until 2008 now only collects for 3 states. used to collect for 39 states |
|
|
High level Waste sites (Yucca Mountain)
|
US's #1 site for spent nuclear fuel
Supposed to open in 1985, still hasn't opened - geologica concerns (faults, seismic activity) -legal challenges " not in my backyard effect" Cost may run $35-50 billion |
|
|
High level Waste sites (WIPP)
|
Waste Isolation Pilot Plant
- Carlsbad, Newmexico only US site for transuranic waste disposal 20yrs planning 1996-2006 over 5,000 shipments deposited 1/2 mi underground, carved into 3000 ft thick salt deposits Containers cannot be high temperature, cannot contain fluids, and must be ventilated to prevent explosion |
|
|
Longterm plan at WIPP
|
Site expected to be full by 2070
monitored for safety until 2170 marked as off limits for drilling, excavation, & development until 12,170 |
|
|
Other storage ideas
|
-Bury beneath the seafloor
-bury in subduction zones -launch into space |
|
|
Transmutation
|
conversion of one chemical element or isotope into another
|
|
|
Dealing with Nuclear waste by Storing it
|
Storing Low level waste, intermediate level waste, and high level waste
-Bury beneath the seafloor -bury in subduction zones -launch into space |
|
|
Dealing with Nuclear waste by Using it
|
Transmutation
Use waste for other things Cs-137 used for food irradiation am-241 used for smoke detectors Was big until banned in US in 1970's Europe is rethinking the ban |
|
|
Radiation Levels
|
Lots of Units: Curries, Bequerels, Grays, Rads, Sverdrups
Rem: Dose (amount) x quality factor (how likely it will cause biological factors) |
|
|
Rem:
|
Dose (amount) x quality factor (how likely it will cause biological factors) for a particular radioactive material
|
|
|
Annual exposure from natural sources
|
cosmic rays - 30
Radon - 95 Medical - 100 fallout - 4 terrestrial - 55 total = 284 millirem about 0.3 rem |
|
|
Rem Safety scale
|
< 5 rem/year : no problem
5-20 rem : possible long-term problem 20-100 rem : mild radiation sickness 200+ rem: Hair loss, 1/3 chance of death 600+ rem: 100% fatality rate within 14 days |
|
|
Contamination in US
|
108+ sites in US are considered usafe due to radioactive contaminants
Accidents, mismanagement, usecure storage ex: oak ridge Natl lab, TN over 167 sites where contaminants were released |
|
|
Reactor Failure
|
1) Three mile island
PA 1979 partial core meltdown no serious radiation release 2) chernobyl 1986 fallout 30x > than bombs dropped on Japan 336,000 people permanently evacuated 19 mile exclusion zone 3) fukushima plant shut down reactors after the quake Tsunami damaged back up generators for cooling system reactors overheated explosions resulted in damage that released radiation |
