BIOL103 Radford University Ch 13 Enegery Source Comparison Paper Use your textbook, class notes, and web sites – to answer the questions. Also use a set of

BIOL103 Radford University Ch 13 Enegery Source Comparison Paper Use your textbook, class notes, and web sites – to answer the questions. Also use a set of graphs & info given in a separate document (Attached). Be sure to look at all the information before answering the questions. No energy source is perfect except the natural one that plants & animals use – the sun. If we lived as simply as animals we would not need other fuels. But humans are creative and like to invent all kinds of new ways to live. The big question of our time is – How can we be happy and creative, using energy while preserving the natural system that keeps us alive? (To be answered in the last question)

Fossil fuels are an intense energy source that has made the world what it is today – for good and for bad.

1. DEFINE FOSSIL FUEL and List 5 different types of fossil fuels:

2. List 6 problems of fossil fuels:

3. A single uranium fuel pellet the size of a fingertip contains as much energy as 17,000 cubic feet of natural gas, 1,780 pounds of coal or 149 gallons of oil. Which fuel would damage less habitat & why?

4. Find online -About how many acres of windmills would it take to the same amount of power as one nuclear power plant? ______________________ About how many acres of solar panels? _________________________

5. Compare the waste pollution of nuclear power versus coal power. Include types and amounts.

6. Dangerous? Compare the number of people who die each year from ever terawatt-hour of energy of nuclear power ______________, coal, __________________, wind______________, gas________________,oil __________________.

7. Wildlife habitat & forest destruction is a major global concern. Which energy sources might be worst and best for preserving nature? Explain your answer – don’t forget mining the materials, land taken and transport. (see graphs)

8. Describe and compare the following nuclear power types and their present use.

A. Fission reactor,

B.breeder reactor,

C. thorium reactor,

D. fusion reactor.

9. Reducing the NEED for energy MUST be the TOP priority. This should be focused primarily on transportation and industry as they use the most power. List 5 ways to reduce energy in these sectors. Be sure to include reducing human population.

10. Explain how stopping fuel subsidies and raising the cost of fossil fuels could help preserve the environment.

11. To keep 7-9 billion people alive and not destroy our system, we will need to greatly reduce the environmental destruction caused by the use of fossil fuels and other energy sources. Every alternative has problems too but need to be used where possible.

A. Solar needs LOTS of sun and surface area. In which environments would solar power be the best choice – give 3 examples?

B. Wind needs LOTS of wind and surface area. Where would wind power be the best choice? give 3 examples.

C. Nuclear is very concentrated power. Where might nuclear be best? give 3 examples.

D. Where is hydroelectric best? give 3 examples. What are some problems with this power?

12. No energy source is perfect except the natural one that animals use too – the sun. If we lived as simply as animals we would not need other fuels. But humans are creative and like to invent all kinds of new ways to live. The big question of our time is:

“How can we be happy and creative while preserving the natural system that keeps us alive?”

Describe what the world could look like if we used far less energy, but still enough to keep us healthy – include topics below:

-Human population – environmentalists say that about 2 billion people would be a good healthy number for long-term sustainability. How could this be accomplished and maintained – in a “humane” way?

-Nature must be protected for our own survival. How can this happen?-

-What kind of housing would be best? –

-How would Agriculture methods change?

-Transport changes?

-City designs? (energy sources, building structures, etc.)

-Other In other words – wind power takes a LOT, LOT, LOT more land use than nuclear
power.
In other words – coal power requires FAR, FAR more fuel and produces FAR, FAR
more pollution than nuclear. AND Nuclear produces almost NO greenhouse gasses.
A U.S. News and World Report chart shows estimates of how many birds are killed each year by different
fuel sources.
Human Deaths per terawatt-hour
Solar, wind and nuclear – yes
nuclear power – produce almost no
greenhouse gas. We also must limit
biome destruction to install these
power sources.
The U.S. heavily subsidizes fossil fuels. The fossil fuel companies spend billions of
dollars to help elect politicians who will favor their industry.
The Case Against Biofuels:
Probing Ethanol’s Hidden Costs
Despite strong evidence that growing food crops to produce ethanol is harmful to the
environment and the world’s poor, the Obama administration is backing subsidies and
programs that will ensure that half of the U.S.’s corn crop will soon go to biofuel production.
It’s time to recognize that biofuels are anything but green.
by C. Ford Runge, the McKnight University Professor of Applied Economics and Law at the University of Minnesota,
In light of the strong evidence that growing corn, soybeans, and other food crops to produce ethanol takes a heavy toll on the
environment and is hurting the world’s poor through higher food prices, consider this astonishing fact: This year, more than a third of
the U.S.’s record corn harvest of 335 million metric tons will be used to produce corn ethanol. What’s more, within five years fully 50
percent of the U.S. corn crop is expected to wind up as biofuels.
Here’s another sobering fact. Despite the record deficits facing the U.S., and notwithstanding President Obama’s embrace of some
truly sustainable renewable energy policies, the president and his administration have wholeheartedly embraced corn ethanol and the
tangle of government subsidies, price supports, and tariffs that underpin the entire dubious enterprise of using corn to power our cars.
In early February, the president threw his weight behind new and existing initiatives to boost ethanol production from both food and
nonfood sources, including supporting Congressional mandates that would triple biofuel production to 36 billion gallons by 2022.
Congress and the Obama administration are paying billions of dollars to producers of biofuels, with expenditures scheduled to
increase steadily through 2022 and possibly 2030. The fuels are touted by these producers as a “green” solution to reliance on
imported petroleum, and a boost for farmers seeking higher prices.
Biofuels have made the slow fade from green to brown.
Yet a close look at their impact on food security and the environment — with profound effects on water, the eutrophication of our
coastal zones
Subsidy supports are a testament to the power of the farm lobby and its sway over Congress.
from fertilizers, land use, and greenhouse gas emissions — suggests that the biofuel bandwagon is anything but green. Congress
and the administration need to reconsider whether they are throwing good money after bad. If the biofuel saga illustrates anything, it is
that thinking ecologically will require thinking more logically, as well.
Investments in biofuels have grown rapidly in the last decade, accelerating especially in developed countries and Brazil after 2003,
when oil prices began to climb above $25 per barrel, reaching a peak of $120 per barrel in 2008. Between 2001 and 2008, world
production of ethanol tripled from 4.9 billion gallons to 17 billion gallons, while biodiesel output rose from 264 million gallons to 2.9
billion gallons. Together, the U.S. and Brazil account for most of the world’s ethanol production. Biodiesel, the other major biofuel, is
produced mainly in the European Union, which makes roughly five times more than the U.S. In the EU, ethanol and biodiesel are
projected to increase oilseed, wheat, and corn usage from negligible levels in 2004 to roughly 21, 17, and 5 million tons, respectively,
in 2016, according to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development.
In the U.S., once a reliable supplier of exported grain and oilseeds for food, biofuel production is soaring even as food crop export
demand remains strong, driving prices further upward. Government support undergirding the biofuels industry has also grown rapidly
and now forms a massive federal program that may be good for farm states, but is very bad for U.S. taxpayers.
These subsidy supports are a testament to the power of the farm lobby and its sway over the U.S. Congress. In addition to
longstanding crop price supports that encourage production of corn and soybeans as feedstocks,
The rapid increase in grain and oilseed prices has been a shock to consumers worldwide.
biofuels are propped up by several other forms of government largesse. The first of these are mandates, known as “renewable fuels
standards”: In the U.S. in 2007, energy legislation raised mandated production of biofuels to 36 billion gallons by 2022. These
mandates shelter biofuels investments by guaranteeing that the demand will be there, thus encouraging oversupply.
Then there are direct biofuel production subsidies, which raise feedstock prices for farmers by increasing the price of corn. In the U.S.,
blenders are paid a 45 cent-per-gallon “blender’s tax credit” for ethanol — the equivalent of more than $200 per acre to divert scarce
corn from the food supply into fuel tanks. The federal government also pays a $1 credit for plant-based biodiesel and “cellulosic”
ethanol.
Finally, there is a 54 cent-per-gallon tariff on imported biofuel to protect domestic production from competition, especially to prevent
Brazilian sugarcane-based ethanol (which can be produced at less than half the cost of U.S. ethanol from corn) from entering U.S.
markets. These subsidies allow ethanol producers to pay higher and higher prices for feedstocks, illustrated by the record 2008 levels
of corn, soybean, and wheat prices. Projections suggest they will remain higher, assuming normal weather and yields.
The rapid increase in grain and oilseed prices due to biofuels expansion has been a shock to consumers worldwide, especially during
2008 and early 2009. From 2005 to January 2008, the global price of wheat increased 143 percent, corn by 105 percent, rice by 154
percent, sugar by 118 percent, and oilseeds by 197 percent. In 2006-2007, this rate of increase accelerated, according to the U.S.
Department of Agriculture, “due to continued demand for biofuels and drought in major producing countries.” The price increases
have since moderated, but many believe only temporarily, given tight stocks-to-use ratios.
It is in poor countries that these price increases pose direct threats to disposable income and food security. There, the run-up in food
prices has been ominous for the more than one billion of the world’s poor who are chronically food-insecure. Poor farmers in
countries such as Bangladesh can barely support a household on a subsistence basis, and have little if any surplus production to sell,
which means they do not benefit from higher prices for corn or wheat. And poor slum-dwellers in Lagos, Calcutta, Manila, or Mexico
City produce no food at all, and spend as much as 90 percent of their meager household incomes just to eat.
But the most worrisome of recent criticisms of biofuels relate to their impacts on the natural
environment. In the U.S., water shortages due to the huge volumes necessary to process grains or sugar
into ethanol are not uncommon, and are amplified if these crops are irrigated. Growing corn to produce
ethanol, according to a 2007 study by the U.S. National Academy of Sciences, consumes 200 times more
water than the water used to process corn into ethanol.
In the corn belt of the Upper Midwest, even more serious problem arise. Corn acreage, which expanded by over 15 percent in 2007 in
response to ethanol demands, requires extensive fertilization, adding to nitrogen and phosphorus that run
off into lakes and streams and eventually enter the Mississippi River watershed. This is aggravated by systems
of subterranean tiles and drains — 98 percent of Iowa’s arable fields are tiled — that accelerate field drainage into ditches and local
watersheds. As a result, loadings of nitrogen and phosphorus into the Mississippi and the Gulf of Mexico encourage algae growth,
starving water bodies of oxygen needed by aquatic life and enlarging the hypoxic “dead zone” in the gulf.
Next is simply the crop acreage needed to feed the biofuels beast. A 2007 study in Science noted that
to replace just 10
percent of the gasoline in the U.S. with ethanol and biodiesel would require 43 percent of current U.S.
cropland for biofuel feedstocks. The EU would need to commit 38 percent of its cropland base. Otherwise, new lands will
need to be brought into cultivation, drawn disproportionately from those more vulnerable to environmental damage, such as forests.
A pair of 2008 studies, again in Science, focused on the question of greenhouse gas emissions due to land-use shifts resulting from
biofuels. One study said that if land is converted from rainforests, peatlands, savannas, or grasslands to produce biofuels, it causes a
large net increase in greenhouse gas emissions for decades. A second study said that growing corn for ethanol in the U.S., for
example, can lead to the clearing of forests and other wild lands in the developing world for food corn, which also causes a surge in
greenhouse gas emissions.
A third study, by Nobel-Prize winning chemist Paul Crutzen in 2007, emphasized the impact from the heavy applications of nitrogen
needed to grow expanded feedstocks of corn and rapeseed. The nitrogen necessary to grow these crops releases
nitrous oxide into the atmosphere — a greenhouse gas 296 times more damaging than CO2 — and
contributes more to global warming than biofuels save through fossil fuel reductions.
MORE FROM YALE e360
Hailed as a Miracle Biofuel,
Jatropha Falls Short of Hype
The scrubby jatropha tree has been touted as a wonder biofuel with unlimited potential. But questions are now emerging as
to whether widespread jatropha cultivation is really feasible or whether it will simply displace badly-needed food crops in the
developing world. READ MORE
Thus have biofuels made the slow fade from green to brown. It is a sad irony of the biofuels experience that resource alternatives that
seemed farmer-friendly and green have turned out so badly.
What’s needed are a freeze on further mandates to slow overinvestment, reductions in the blenders’ tax credit — especially when corn
prices are high — and cuts in tariff protection to encourage cost-reduction strategies by U.S. producers. And the high environmental
and human costs of using corn, soybeans, and other food crops to produce biofuels should spur government initiatives to develop more
sustainable forms of renewable energy, such as wind power, solar power, and — one day, perhaps — algal biofuels grown at waste
treatment plants.
Yet sadly, as in so many areas of policy, Congress and the administration prefer to reward inefficiency and political influence more
than pursuing cost-effective — and sustainable — energy strategies.
POSTED ON 11 MAR 2010 IN BIODIVERSITY ENERGY POLICY & POLITICS SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY ASIA
Energy
2
E=mc
Chapter 13
Energy
is required for EVERYthing.
For life and every move it makes.
The Sun sends it everyday.
Plants use it and energize themselves
and animals.
Fossilized plants (fossil fuels) energize
civilization
Energy in ? energy out +
pollution + land use
7+ billion people require a
LOT of energy
& produce a LOT of waste
while getting it and using
it.
Energy
EVERYTHING we use
requires energy to
extract, produce and
transport.
? ELECTRICITY PRODUCTION &
VEHICLEs use the most
Cheaper energy
= more use
? Europeans conserve energy and
are great environmentalists.
Mostly because gasoline &
electricity costs are very high.
Germany puts a 58% tax on gas
and the U.S. only has 13% tax.
? Americans use more energy per
person than most of the world
because energy costs are much
lower here.
How would you change your behavior if gasoline
was $9 a gallon and electricity prices tripled?
What Major Sources of Energy
Do We Use?
? Over 80% of the world’s energy comes
from fossil fuels, the rest from nuclear
fuel and renewable sources.
? Our present population exists due
to this huge energy source and
would collapse if it was withdrawn
without replacement.
Population has increased 7x, energy 25x
Obviously we could survive with less energy
Fossil fuel
provides 80%
Industry
(including food
processing) and
transport of
goods & food
require the most
energy
Wasted Energy
? Light pollution can cause
cancer (see file), disrupt
migration and sleep patterns
? Virginia light pollution map
Excessive lighting – disruptive to
natural patterns
Wasted Energy
? Factories & trucks producing and
transporting things that we don’t
really need.
? & INEFFICIENCY of vehicles
Bottled water = energy, materials, pollution
Bottled water should only be produced for short-term
emergencies. Filters & re-usable cups should be used.
Net Energy (1)
? Laws of thermodynamics =
energy cannot be destroyed
but is degraded in every
exchange
? Net energy = total amount available
after subtracting the energy required
to get it
Net Energy (2)
? Net energy ratio – the higher the better depends on the source
?
as well as the use
? The net energy is High for using hard
coal for industrial high temp heat but
low for coal used to make electricity
and then make heat in homes.
Space Heating
Passive solar
Natural gas
Oil
Active solar
1.9
Coal gasification
1.5
Electric heating (coal-fired plant) 0.4
Electric heating (natural-gas-fired plant) 0.4
Electric heating (nuclear plant) 0.3
5.8
4.9
4.5
Net Energy Ratios
High-Temperature Industrial Heat
Surface-mined coal
Underground-mined coal
Natural gas
Oil
Coal gasification
Direct solar (concentrated)
28.2
25.8
4.9
4.7
1.5
0.9
Higher ratio = greater
energy available
Transportation
Ethanol from sugarcane residue
Ethanol from switchgrass
Natural gas
Gasoline (refined crude oil)
Coal liquefaction
Oil shale
Ethanol from corn
8.0
5.4
4.9
4.1
1.4
1.2
1.1 (but can reach 1.5)
Using biofuel reduces food supply
& damages natural habitat
Ratio < 1 = net energy loss (or it takes more energy to make it Compare?? - Why is coal used for high temp industry? - What energy is most used for transport ? - Best energy to heat buildings? - What is the problem of using ethanol? (made from biofuel) Fossil Fuels All living organisms contain carbohydrates, fats and proteins - compounds made mostly of carbon, hydrogen and oxygen. As they are fossilized the remainder is mostly carbon and hydrogen after millions of years. All fossil fuels use oxygen from the air to produce energy and CO2 when burned What is the chemistry? ? hydrocarbon + oxygen = ? carbon dioxide + Energy + water Fossil fuels = from fossil organisms- all contain carbon and produce CO2 when burned • • • • • • • • • • Methane (natural gas) CH4 Propane C3H8 Butane cigarette lighters C4H10 Octane (gasoline) C8H18 Diesel fuel C14 + Car oils, lamp oils Heating oils, kerosene Crude oil products Wax (>20 carbons)
Coal MANY Carbons
Dependence on Oil
? Petroleum (crude oil) – contains MANY
different hydrocarbons – from methane CH4
to Octane C8H18 to asphalt with >25 carbons
? – it also contains sulfur, nitrates and tons of
other elements and compounds found in
ancient dead organisms
? Extraction from wells (damaging land or sea)
? Transportation to a refinery
? Refining usually through Distillation
Chemical Structures of some
Hydrocarbons in crude oil fossil fuel
Light
gasses
liquid
Lowest Boiling Point
Gases
Refining Crude Oil
Is a process of
distillation. Boiling
releases the small
hydrocarbons first
and leaves the
heavy ones at the
bottom
Gasoline
Aviation
fuel
Heating oil
Diesel
oil
All are
hydrocarbons
From oil
(Coal is a
solid carbon)
Naphtha
Grease
and wax
Heated
crude oil
Asphalt
Furnace
Highest Boiling Point
All
plastics
also come
from
crude oil
Oxygen levels are
slightly decreasing as
CO2 levels rise.
Problem??
Dependence on Oil
Petrochemicals = different hydrocarbons
used as raw materials for fuel, lubricants,
PLASTICS, etc.
PLASTICS ARE MADE FROM FOSSIL FUELS
?
?
?
?
Plastics 101 | National Geographic 6min

Plastics can last forever = good and bad
Plastics are killing marine life. Imagine being
trapped inside a huge plastic bag or choking on one
or have a stomach full of plastic that stays there till
you die of starvation. Each year, more than a million
marine creatures and other birds and animals die
from plastic trash. 1min

? But replacing plastics with paper will just kill more
trees. Using less is the only answer.
Coal & oil are the basis of thousands
of modern chemicals made in laboratories
Oil Reserves are
pretty good– but
should we use
them??
Trade-offs:
Conventional
Oil Use
***
Natural gas (methane)
Released in air = 80x a potent
greenhouse gas. This figure
does NOT include gas leakage
(high at fracking & at delivery)
Trade-offs:
Oil Shale and
Oil Sand
are
Poor quality
sources of energy
that cause a lot of
pollution and
wastes a lot of energy to
e
3minhttps://www.youtube.com/watch
?v=eo302D9SqRo eze the oil out of
shale
***
Natural Gas = potent greenhouse gas
? Natural gas = methane = CH4
(cannot
be easily compressed and is usually delivered
by gas pipelines)
? **Combustion = CH4 + O2 -> CO2 + H2O
?
Methane burns more cleanly than coal but is a
potent greenhouse gas when it escapes
? Liquefied petroleum (propane C3H8) gas
? = easy to liquify = most gas tanks
Natural Gas (methane)
? Liquefied natural gas (LNG) – requires very
high pressures
Methane is often just burnt as waste in
oil refineries because it is costly to
contain it.
Methane is a powerful
greenhouse gas, 80x-100x
worse than CO2. It leaks
from fracking and when it
is used.
METHANE (Natural Gas)
= a Greenhouse Gas
? Methane CH4 breaks down in the atmosphere faster
than CO2. So it is 100 times more powerful as a
greenhouse gas when emitted and 25 times more
powerful after 25 years.
? As the earth warms more natural methane is
released from once frozen sources in oceans and in
the ground. This will make the earth warm even
faster (a positive feedback or snowball effect)
? Natural Gas = Methane: What YOU Need to Know
About Methane 2018. 15min FYI

Methane Cloud 2014
? Confirmed by NASA around a fracking site 3:30
? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8dQvUMVQA
1Y
Google Methane maps
Google tests
for methane in
the air as it
takes photos
for mapping.
Boston is rife with
methane leaks
Fracking for natural gas
? How Fracking Works 3:35
?

Fracking?
? SEE Gasland video – drilling spoiling water
supplies (fracking) 2:47
?

Diesel Fuel
? C10H26 to C16H34 – heavier than gasoline,
less explosive, harder to clean spills
? Diesel engines are much more efficient
than gas engines and more durable (& get
better gas mileage) but produce some nasty
pollution
? Diesel is easier to refine but must be filtered
to reduce pollutants (making the price about
5 cents more per gallon to produce)
? There is Higher global demand due to
increased production of diesel cars
Old diesel engines = bad polluters
2018 Best and Worst Fuel
Economy Vehicles
https://www.fueleconomy.gov/fe
g/best-worst.shtml
2018 Hyundai Ioniq Electr…
Purchase answer to see full
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