AST APES Energy Review 1. Questions used to evaluate energy resources: 1.

How much of the energy source will be available in the near future (the next 15-25 years)? 2. How much of the energy source will be available in the long term (the next 25-50 years)? 3. What is the sources net energy yield? 4. How much will it cost to develop, phase in, and use the energy resource? 5. How will extracting, transporting, and using the energy resource affect the environment, human health, and the earths climate? 2. Net energy is the usable amount of high-quality energy available from a given quantity of an energy resource (the total amount of energy available from an energy resource minus the energy needed to find, extract, process, and get that energy to consumers). Shows the efficiency of investing in recovering and using an energy source. 3. Petroleum, or crude oil (oil as it comes out of the ground), is a thick liquid consisting of hundreds of combustible hydrocarbons along with small amounts of sulfur, oxygen, and nitrogen impurities. This fossil fuel was produced by the decomposition of dead organic matter from plants and animals. 4. Petrochemicals are some of the products of oil distillation and are used as raw materials in industrial organic chemicals, pesticides, plastics, synthetic fibers, paints, medicines, and many other products. 5. Primary oil recovery pumps out the lighter crude oil that flows out of rock pores by gravity, then, secondary extraction involves pumping water under high pressure into the well to force the remaining crude oil out of rock, and tertiary processes use detergents and/or superheated steam to do the same. 6. Extracted crude oil that was transported by pipeline, truck, or ship (oil tanker) is heated and distilled in gigantic columns to separate it into components with various differing boiling points; one byproduct is petrochemicals. 7. Advantages include ample supply for 42-93 years, low cost (with huge subsidies), high net energy yield, easily transported within and between counties, and low land use; disadvantages include need to find substitute within 50 years, artificially low price encourages waste and discourages search for alternatives, air pollution when burned, released carbon dioxide when burned, and causes moderate water pollution.

AST APES 8. The oil shale is crushed, then heated in the absence of oxygen until its kerogen (solid combustable mixture of hydrocarbons) decomposes into condensable shale oil vapors. These are then cooled until the shale oil condenses. 9. Oil is extracted from oil sands by removing the water, sand, and physical waste. This then undergoes catalytic purification by hydrodemetallisation (HDM), hydrodesulfurization (HDS) and hydrodenitrogenation (HDN), and hydrogenation through carbon rejection or catalytic hydrocracking (HCR). 10. Advantages include plentiful, easily accessible, possibly reduces dependence on Middle Eastern oil; disadvantages include high sulfur content, produces toxic sludge, contaminates large volumes of water, requires large inputs of natural gas. 11. Transportation via fuel. 12. The Middle East 13. The 12 countries that make up the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC); Saudi Arabia, Iran, Iraq, Kuwait, UAE, Venezuela, Nigeria, Libya, Angola, Algeria, Qatar, and Ecuador. 14. natural gas = a gaseous mixture of methane, ethane, propane, butane, and hydrogen sulfide; liquefied natural gas = natural gas at a very low temperature (-184 degrees Celsius); synthetic natural gas = syngas, a mixture containing carbon monoxide and hydrogen, production includes steam reforming of natural gas, gasification of coal, or biomass 15. Advantages include ample supply, high net energy yield, low cost, less air pollution, easily transported, low land use, good fuel for fuel cells; disadvantages include nonrenewable, releases CO2, methane can leak from pipelines, difficult to transfer, shipped as highly explosive LNG, sometimes burned off and wasted at wells. 16. Largest reservoirs of natural gas: Russia and Kazakhstan (42%) 17. Abundant convention fossil fuel: Coal 18. three types of coal: Lignite (brown coal) : low heat content, low sulfur, limited supplies; Bituminous coal (soft coal): used as fuel because of its high heat content and large supplies, normally has high sulfur content; Anthracite (hard coal): highly desirable for fuel because of its night heat content and low sulfur contents, supplies really limited 19. coal for burning? = Anthracite Available? = peat 20. three methods for extracting coal: Area strip mining (lies close to surface) and flat terrain, contour strip mining (hilly), also extracted by miners in tunnels or shafts 21. advantages and disadvantages of coal energy source: Advantages: large power supply, vehicle fuel, disadvantages: low to moderate net energy yield, higher cost than coal, high environmental impact, increased surface mining, high water use, higher CO2 emissions

AST APES 22. Components of conventional nuclear reactor - core: long fuel rods packed with fuel pallets; uranium oxide fuel: 97% nonfissionale uranium; Control rods: moved in and out of reactor to absorb neutrons and regulate fission/power; Moderator: slows down neutrons emitted by fission; Coolant: water that circulates to remove heat 23. Advantages: clean energy (no air pollution), independence from imported oil, large fuel supply, and small amounts of fuel produce large amounts of energy; disadvantages: high start up costs, chance of catastrophic environmental damage is accident occurs, removal and storage of waste presents large technological problems, decommissioning can be adapted to produce nuclear weapons (proliferation) 24. Three Mile Island: March 28, 1979 secondary cooling loop stopped functioning which caused reactor core to melt (nuclear meltdown) and radioactive steam was released into the atmosphere; area was evacuated; Chernobyl: April 26, 1986 Ukraine power plant accident was the result of flawed Soviet reactor design and operator mistakes and resulted in serious medical problems varying from death to acute radiation syndrome to thyroid cancer. Winds blew radiation across to Europe where crops were contaminated with radiation 25. Advantages: prolongs fuel supplies, less wasted energy; Disadvantages: are there really any? Couldnt find any 26. At home you can weatherize by insulating and sealing gaps and replace incandescent bulbs with compact fluorescents or LEDs. For transportation new fuels need to be used or gas milage (MPG) has to be improved. Energy Star devices save energy by consuming less. See notes for more detail . . . 27. Passive solar heating systems expose a collection device to the sun during daytime and radiates heat at night while active solar heating systems convert solar energy into other usable forms. 28. Advantages include moderate net energy, moderate environmental impact, no CO2 emissions, fast construction (1-2 years), and costs reduced with natural gas turbine backup; disadvantages include low efficiency, high costs, needs backup or storage system, needs access to sun most of the time, high land use, and may disturb desert areas. 29. A photovoltaic (solar) cell is a transparent wafer that contains a semiconductor material with a thickness ranging from less than that of a human hair to a sheet of paper. Sunlight energizes and causes electrons in the semiconductor to flow, creating an electrical current. 30. Advantages: moderate to high net energy, high efficiency (80%), large untapped potential, low-cost electricity, long life span, no CO2 emissions during operation in temperate areas, may provide flood control below dam, provides water for year-round irrigation

AST APES of cropland, and reservoir is useful for fishing and recreation; Disadvantages: high construction costs, high environmental impact from flooding land to form reservoir, high CO2 emissions from biomass decay in tropical reservoirs, floods natural areas behind dam, converts land habitat to lake habitat, danger of collapse, uproots people, decreases fish harvest below dam, and decreases flood of natural fertilizer (silt) to land below dam 31. Wind power 32. Advantages: moderate to high net energy, high efficiency, moderate capital cost, low electricity cost (and falling), very low environmental impact, no CO2 emissions, quick construction, easily expanded, can be located at sea, and land below turbines can be used to grow crops or graze livestock; Disadvantages: steady winds needed, backup systems needed when winds are low, high land use for wind farm, visual pollution, noise when located near populated areas, and may interfere in flights of migratory birds and kill birds of prey 33. Advantages: large potential supply in some areas, moderate costs, no net CO2 increase if harvested and burned sustainably, plantation can be located on semiarid land not needed for crops, plantation can help restore degraded lands, and can make use of agricultural, timber, and urban wastes; Disadvantages: nonrenewable if harvested unsustainably, moderate to high environmental impact, CO2 emissions if harvested and burned unsustainably, low photosynthetic efficiency, soil erosion, water pollution, and loss of wildlife habitat, plantations could compete with cropland, and often burned in inefficient and pollution open fires and stoves 34. Gasoline mixed with 10-23% pure ethanol which can be run in conventional motors 35. Advantages: can be produced from plentiful water, low environmental impact, renewable from renewable resources, no CO2 emissions if produced from water, good substitute for oil, competitive price if environmental and social costs are included in cost comparisons, easier to store than electricity, safer than gasoline and natural gas, nontoxic, and high efficiency (45-65%) in fuel cells; Disadvantages: not found in nature, energy is needed to produce fuel, negative energy, CO2 emissions if produced from carbon-containing compounds, nonrenewable if generated by fossil fuels or nuclear power, high costs (but may eventually come down), will take 25 to 50 years to phase in, short driving range for current fuel-cell cars, no fuel distribution system in place, and excessive H2 leaks may deplete ozone in the atmosphere 36. Advantages: very high efficiency, moderate net energy at accessible sites, lower CO2 emissions than fossil fuels, low costs at favorable sites, low land use, low land disturbance, and moderate environmental impact; Disadvantages: scarcity of suitable sites,

AST APES depleted too rapidly if used too rapidly, CO2 emissions, moderate to high local air pollution, noise and odor (H2S), and cost too high except at the most concentrated and accessible sources 37. Macropower systems: large, centralized power systems that are becoming a thing of the past; Micropower systems: dispersed, small-scale power systems that are believed to be the chief feature of electricity production over the next few decades