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Non-renewable Resources slides by Kiersten Lippmann
- 1. Non-Renewable Resources Prepared byKiersten Lippmann2017
- 2. Energy Sources we Use •Most of our energy comes from non-renewable sources • We use Earth’s energy sources to power our machinery, fuel vehicles, produce plastics, and provide the comforts of modern life.
- 3. Fossil Fuel Consumption •Coal (solid) • Oil (liquid) • Natural Gas (gas) • Fossil fuels are highly combustible substances formed underground over millions of years from buried remains of ancient organisms. • 80% of our energy and 2/3 electricity come from the three main fossil fuels. • A gallon of oil contains as much energy as 600 hours of human labor!
- 4. Coal, Oil, andGas are Non-renewable • Once depleted, they cannot be replenished. • It takes thousands of years to generate the organic matter to produce a single days’ worth of fossil fuels • Millions of years to replenish fossil fuels used so far • At current rate of consumption, conventional, accessible fossil fuels will be gone in just decades • Thus, companies are going for less accessible fuels… fracking
- 5. Where is Energy? •Not evenly distributed • Some regions have many reserves, some none • Half of the crude oil reserves are in the Middle East • Russia has vast natural gas reserves • US has the most coal
- 6. Consumption Rates ofEnergy Differ • Industrialized nations use up to 100 times more energy per person • US has 4.4% world’s population, and uses 18% world’s energy
- 7. Takes Energy toMake Energy • Takes substantial energy to harness, extract, process and deliver energy. • Fracturing shale layers deep underground uses powerful machinery, lots of water, specialized chemicals, vehicles, storage tanks, waste ponds, pipelines, processing facilities, equipment for workers, and more- all require ENERGY • Net Energy= Energy Returned- Energy invested • EROI – energy returned on investment= Energy returned/Energy invested.
- 9. EROI – energyreturned on investment= Energy returned/Energy invested. • Higher EROI ratios mean we receive more energy than we invest. • Fossil fuels have historically high EROI ratios • Ratios rise as technologies become more efficient • Ratios fall as resources are depleted and harder to extract • Conventional oil and natural gas EROIs have declined from 30:1 in the 1950s to 11:1 today. • We have extracted the easiest deposits.
- 10. Formation of fossil fuels •From organic matter in an inorganic environment broken down over millions of years. • Seabeds, lakes, swamps • The fossil fuels we burn today were formed from organisms that live 100 to 500 million years ago. • Because fossil fuels are formed under specific conditions, they occur in isolated deposits. • Marcellus shale, rich in natural gas, is one example.
- 11. Fossil Fuels: Coal •Most abundant fossil fuel in the world • Hard blackish substance formed from organic matter • Much coal formed 300-400 million years ago with the proliferation of swamps. • Deposits near surface extracted by strip mining- where heavy machinery scrapes away the earth. • Deep underground deposits extracted via subsurface mining, digging horizontal shafts and following seams. • Mountaintop mining
- 12. Fossil Fuels: Oiland Natural Gas • Natural Gas- methane and other hydrocarbons • Oil, or petroleum, liquid containing various hydrocarbons • Formed from marine organic matter millions of years ago • Biogenic Natural gas formed at shallow depths by anaerobic decomposition such as in a swamp or landfill • Thermogenic gas from compression and heat deep underground- most commercial natural gas. • Oil and gas are under pressure, so exploratory drilling helps find deposits.
- 13. Unconventional Fuels: not YETwidely used • Oil or Tar sands- consist of moist sand and clay containing 1- 20% bitumen, a thick form of petroleum • Extracted by strip mining with sand mixture mixed with hot water and solvents then chemically refined • Oil Shale- sedimentary rock filled with organic matter to form liquid petroleum called shale oil. • Extracted using strip or subsurface mines • Costly to extract- EROI is low from 4:1 to just 1:1 • Methane hydrate- ice like methane in arctic- enormous deposits but potent greenhouse gas.
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- 15. Economics determine how much willbe extracted • Technology determines how much CAN be extracted • Extraction becomes increasingly expensive as a resource is removed • Proven Recoverable Reserve= the amount of fossil fuel economically and technologically feasible to remove under current conditions
- 16. Many uses for FossilFuels • Coal- cook food, heat homes, drove the industrial revolution • Today generates 40% of electricity in US • Natural gas- generate electricity, heat and cook in homes. Clean burning and emits just half as much CO2 per unit of energy as coal. • Oil- globally each person consumes 200 gallons a year. • Most used to fuel vehicles • Wide range of uses in plastics and lubricants
- 17. Fossil Fuel Reservesare Depleting • Because they are non-renewable, the total amount available to Earth declines as we use them. • We have extracted nearly half of the world’s conventional oil reserves. • 1.1 trillion barrels of oil used, 1 trillion proven reserves remain plus oil sands brings total to nearly 1.7 trillion barrels remaing. • Reserves to production ratio- divide amount of remaining reserves by annual rate of production. At current rate- we have 53 more years. • Coal has 113 more years. • May be more as technology improves and more reserves are discovered. Less if our demand continues to increase.
- 18. Peak Oil- whennon- renewable resources come to a peak and then decline • Decline occurs when a resource is half depleted. • Many experts think Peak Oil will begin soon • Predicting an exact date is difficult • The “long emergency” where local economies form around urban farms, but would feed only a fraction of the 7 billion (and counting) people. • American suburbs hit especially hard. • Optimists hope we will develop renewable energy in time to avert crisis. • What do you think?
- 19. Digging Deeper forFossil Fuels • Mountaintop coal mining • Secondary extraction from existing wells • Directional drilling • Hydraulic fracturing for oil and gas • Offshore drilling in deeper waters • Moving into ice-free waters of the Arctic • Exploiting new “unconventional” fuel sorces All off these drive up fuel prices, reduce EROI ratios, and worsen climate change. Growing risk to human health and environment. Most scientists suggest we’d be better off leaving most coal, oil and gas in the ground!
- 20. Mountaintop Mining • Massivein scale and thus economically efficient • Degrades and destroys hillsides, pollutes and buries streams, disrupts lives of people and animals • Coal dust in air • Impossible to recreate communities that preceded mining.
- 21. Hydraulic Fracturing “fracking” • Extracts oiland gas trapped in shale or other rock • Chemically treated water under high pressure is pumped into layers of rock to crack them • Next sand or small glass beads hold the cracks open as water is withdrawn. • Gas and oil travels upward through the fractures • Huge boom in fracking in US, enabled power plants to switch from coal to natural gas. • Whether emissions are reduced depends on whether natural gas can be a “bridge fuel” to renewable resources. • https://www.youtube.co m/watch?v=LAxsTJd7VCA
- 22. Fracking • Consumes immensequantities of fresh water • Pollution risk from fracking fluids • Chemicals in fracking fluids not disclosed • Methane air pollution • Very unhealthy air around fracking sites
- 23. Off shore Drilling •35% of oil and 10% of natural gas in US comes from offshore sites • Primarily Gulf of Mexico and off S. California • Deepwater Horizon disaster of 2010 killed 11 workers and gushed 30 million gallons of oil per second for three months! • Wide array of impacts to sea life and fishermen • Public reaction varied- banned offshore rigs in eastern states, expanded in Alaska and Gulf of Mexico.
- 24. Deepwater Horizon Spill’sImpact on Marine Ecosystems and Animals Continue… https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gE0dJnXiHTo
- 25. The Arctic: Fightover offshore drilling • Climate change is melting sea ice • Many companies hope to get into the Arctic for profits • Severe pollutions risks, extreme environment, no coastguard support • Kulluk ran aground in 2012-2013- Comedy of Errors…. https://www.youtube.com/edit?video_id=28q xAGbW4VE&video_referrer=watch • Many environmental groups have fought offshore drilling, but economics (reduced price of oil and gas due to fracking in lower 48) clinched it, and Shell backed out of the Arctic… for now… Pres. Trump vows to reverse this trend.
- 26. Unconventional Fuels- oil sands andclimate change • Oil sands are becoming a major fuel source • Low EROI rations (the lower the first number, the worse the total energy output) • 3:1 to 5:1 EROI
- 27. Oil Sands- economics vs. environmentalcosts • Each truckload of oil sands leaving a mine is worth $20,000! • Vast amount of boreal forest cleared for mines • Fort McMurray- wildfire exacerbated by oil sands mining… and still burning. • And Pipelines- Keystone XL
- 28. Oil Sands Pipelines- KeystoneXL, Dakota Access Pipelines • https://www.youtube.com/watch?v =qJZ1-LAFOTo • Misuse and poorly trained/bred dogs and handlers set on Native Protestors- freezing cold water, other abuses. • Vs. the demographics of protestors at Keystone XL • Different strategies… why?
- 29. Climate Change costof Oil Sands • Forest destruction- Boreal Forests are HUGE reserves of Carbon • Oil Sands burns 14- 20% less cleanly than conventional oil • Prolong US fossil fuel dependence • Worsen climate change • Is it better than dependence on fossil fuels from countries with poor human right record? Costs/benefits? • Lawsuits, street and site protests, conflicts between President Obama and Congress (what else is new) • Pipeline leak in Kalamazoo, MI • Pipeline leak in Mayflower, AR • Derailments of oil trains in ND
- 31. Before and afterOil Sand Extraction
- 32. Emissions and GlobalWarming • Burning fossil fuels alters Earth’s carbon cycle • Remove carbon from long-term reservoirs, release into air • CO2 • Methane • Affects our health- mercury (loons in NH) • Cancer, etc. • Smog • Acid rain • Air pollution lower in developed countries, higher in developing countries
- 33. How burning fossilfuels affects earth’s carbon cycle
- 34. Loons and Mercury Levels •Loons in New England have been declining • High levels of lead in some lakes due to coal burning plants
- 35. Carbon Capture andStorage • Removal of contaminants at “clean coal” plants, but still pump huge amount of CO2 into the air • Carbon Capture- capturing CO2 emission, converting gas to liquid • Carbon Storage or Sequestration- Store liquid in ocean or underground • Zero emissions plant opened in Germany 2008 • US Dept. of Energy has an almost zero emission (90%) plant in the works for 1.5 billion. Model for future?
- 36. Carbon Capture- Storagestill Unproven • Carbon Capture and Storage still unproven technology • Do not know how long carbon will stay underground. • Injection may cause earthquakes … similar to Fracking • CCS is energy intensive causing its own release of fossil fuel emissions • May prolong switch to renewables
- 38. Costs of Fossil Fuels…we all pay • Cost of a gallon of gas does not pay for medical issues, cleanup, and quality of life impacts. • Price at pump are kept low with government subsidies • Fossil fuel industry is propped up by taxpayers much more than renewable industry
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- 41. Fossil Fuel ImpactsLocal People • Mixed consequences • High paying jobs and economic activity • Eg. Marcellus shale towns • Some people think economics are worth it • Others think health and environmental consequences are too great • Similar debates out West, Alaska, North Dakota • Eminent Domain- set aside private rights to make way for projects judged to be in the public good. Private companies usurp land rights of Americans, paid an amount, can not appeal in court
- 42. Shell had acontest with Alaska village children to name the Kulluk drill rig (walrus) • In Alaska oil industry pays AK gov’t a portion of revenues to get support for drilling • Sarah Palin “drill baby drill!” • AK got over 64 billion in revenues • Since 1982 each AK resident gets a portion, ranging from $331 to $2069. • One of the few cases where local residents benefit • AK in financial crisis now (due to poor oil revenues) and considering chopping the Permanent Fund. Losing 9,000 jobs a quarter (in a state of 600,000).
- 43. Ecuador, Nigeria, Venezuela •Local suffer environmental impacts with no pay out or benefit • Land and water destroyed, poisoned. • Environmental Justice issues • Local lose any chance to produce their own food, lose access to clean water, and could even be exploited in other more direct ways (sex trade, labor, slavery) by industry and industry workers.
- 44. Economics of Dependence on FossilFuels • Since 1970, US depends on foreign oil • OPEC is mostly Arab nations, seller can control the market • Very political- current president has huge personal financial interest in oil and gas industry • Most reserves located in volatile Middle East • US now imports just 1/3 of its oil, and has diversified… but at what cost environmentally?
- 45. Reducing reliance on foreignoil • Fracking • Offshore drilling • Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR), last true wilderness • Drilling in deep Arctic waters • Good- frees us from dependence of foreign energy (war) • Accelerates other concerns, including climate change • Complex decisions • What do you think? What are we getting from Canada?
- 46. Solutions: Energy Efficiency • How tobe more energy efficient? • Personal choice plays a large role • Insulation, more energy efficient standards • Cars are our second biggest CO2 polluters- after coal fired electric plants- very important place to conserve fuel • Hybrids and fuel efficient vehicles get 50 mpg, compared to just 25 mpg for the average vehicle
- 47. Transportation- the placeto cut personal CO2 emissions
- 48. How is yourgas mileage? • Is it that straightforward? • Cost and energy of making a new car vs. sticking with an older vehicle • It is difficult to get around this part of NH without access to a vehicle.
- 49. Nuclear Power- clean withcosts • Energy released through nuclear fission • If not controlled, leads to positive feedback and creates huge explosion (nuclear bomb)
- 50. How a nuclearreactor melts down
- 51. Delivers Clean Energy –Emission Free • Safe disposal of radioactive waste a challenge • Catastrophic accidents • Three Mile Island • Chernobyl • Fukushima Is it worth it? Nuclear power slowing in growth worldwide due to risks.
- 52. Conclusion-discussion • Nuclear poweris climate friendly and is an alternative to fossil fuels, but high cost and public fear over safety stalled growth • Debate over fracking and tar sands • Key question is whether these fuels will be a bridge to renewables, or anchor us in fossil fuel dependence. • Is it all about economics?
- 53. Politics, Hot Air,and Economics today… In one speech designated for energy policy, Trump lambasted solar energy as “very expensive” and accused wind turbines of “killing all the eagles.” Trump has pulled the U.S. out of the Paris accord and openly disavows the concept of human-caused climate change, once calling it a hoax perpetrated by the Chinese government. How Trump’s election affects other nations’ decarbonization plans remains to be seen, but his disavowal of climate policy creates deep uncertainty for the power sector. (Source: Vanadium.com)
- 54. Paul Ryan onoil and climate change
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