1. Near the town of Price, Utah

2. Energy sources come in a variety of forms (barrels of oil, tons of coal, etc.) Quad: a unit of energy used to compare different types of energy sources The quad is based on the BTU (British thermal unit). 1 BTU is the energy needed to increase the temperature of 1 pound of water by 1 o Fahrenheit. 1 quad = 10 15 BTUs (1,000,000,000,000,000 BTUs) The United States uses about 100 quads of energy per year. World consumption of energy is about 400 quads The United States uses a fourth of the world’s energy consumption

3. Estimate of the Earth’s non-renewable energy resources (not reserves) (360,000 quads total) Enough for 900 years? Most of our non-renewable energy resources are in the form of uranium!

4. Throughout industrial history, the types of fuel that we mainly use have changed Pre-industrial – wood and animals Early industrial – coal Present day – oil, natural gas, and coal

5. Fossil Fuels (coal, oil, gas) 85% of the world’s current energy usage comes from fossil fuels. Energy is conserved (its neither created or destroyed), so where does the energy released from coal, oil, and gas come from?

6. Fossil Fuels (coal, oil, gas) 1. Sunlight creates organic matter by photosynthesis. Essentially: Water + carbon dioxide + energy (sunlight) = sugar (organic matter) + oxygen The opposite is also true: When we burn organic matter by adding oxygen: water, carbon dioxide, and energy are released.

7. 1. Sunlight creates organic matter by photosynthesis. 2. Organic matter (e.g. vegetation) eventually dies, and some of this matter is preserved and buried in sedimentary rocks. After living things die, most of the organic matter combines with oxygen and decays. However, if conditions are right, some of this organic matter may be preserved:  Swamps and coastal regions where  There is lots of organic matter being created (lots of vegetation and life)  There is very little or no oxygen at the bottom where dead things settle.

8. 1. Sunlight creates organic matter by photosynthesis. 2. Organic matter (e.g. vegetation) eventually dies, and some of this matter is preserved and buried in sedimentary rocks. 3. As organic matter is buried, high temperatures, high pressures, and chemical reactions transform the organic matter to coal, oil, and gas. Whether organic matter turns into coal, oil, or gas depends on the type of organic matter and the environmental conditions. Gas and oil are buoyant liquids – they rise to the surface unless they are blocked by a “trap”  oil and gas can permeate through sandstones but not shales  almost all traps involve oil and gas being blocked by shale

9. Anticlinal trap – oil and gas are trapped beneath shale in an anticline

10. Fault trap – a fault moves a shale layer such that it blocks oil and gas from rising

11. Stratigraphic trap – formed by a sedimentary sequence in which a dipping sandstone layer thins out against a shale.

12. Salt dome trap – buoyant salt layers rise up to form an anticline in a shale layer

13. Oil 65% of oil reserves are in the Middle East (you don’t need to know the numbers in this figure except for 65% in Middle East)

14. Oil The United States uses about 18 million barrels of oil a day  We produce about 8 million barrels a day  We import about 10 million barrels a day The United States oil reserves are currently 23 billion barrels At this current rate, we have enough reserves for 8 years, meaning that we will have to 1.Rely more upon importation of oil 2. Expand reserves by  New technologies – making currently unprofitable deposits profitable  Open up oil fields that are currently protected 3. Replace oil with alternative fuels (coal, natural gas, hydrogen, solar, …)

15. Natural Gas Natural gas is mostly methane ( CH 4 ) Natural gas burns cleaner than oil or coal but still releases carbon dioxide United States reserves of natural gas should last about 10 years, but these reserves are expected to increase because of expectation of new gas field discoveries.

16. Coal Coal is mainly made of organic material from wetland vegetation (swamps). This vegetation gets buried and cut off from oxygen. Peat: organic matter composed of twigs, roots, and other plant parts. As peat is buried, it is heated and compressed, and chemical reactions increase the carbon content. Grade of coal Peat (lowest grade, lowest carbon content) Lignite Bituminous coal Anthracite (highest grade, highest carbon content)

18. peat

19. lignite

20. Bituminous Coal

21. anthracite

22. Coal Nations with the most coal reserves: Russia, China, and the United States United States reserves should last hundreds of years. Reasons why coal is not the ideal fossil fuel choice: Strip mining leads to unsightly landscape Underground mining is dangerous Coal produces ‘ash’ which contains abundant Sulfur. (Sulfur in the atmosphere leads to Acid Rain) Burning of coal increases CO 2 in the atmosphere We can reclaim landscapes, improve safety measures in mines, and reduce ash emissions, however, these measures are costly and increase the price of coal.

23. Coal In the Unites States, we have Eastern and Western coals. Western coals are cleaner (have less sulfur), however, transportation costs are higher because most industry and population is in the east.

24. Coal In the eastern United States, most coal was formed in swamps near the foothills of the Appalachians (~300 million years ago) during the formation of Pangea.

25. Carboniferous Period [ Paleozoic Era]

26. Nuclear Energy Nuclear power is produced by the fission of Uranium atoms. 1.A neutron impacts a uranium nucleus, causing it to split. 2.The splitting nucleus releases several neutrons 3.These new neutrons split more uranium nuclei (if uranium is concentrated enough, a sustainable chain reaction will occur)

28. Nuclear Energy Where does the energy come from? As the Uranium atom splits, some mass is converted to energy. E=mc 2

30. Nuclear Energy There are enough uranium reserves to supply the world’s energy needs for many hundreds of years, however, current issues with nuclear energy are: 1. What do we do with the radioactive waste? 2. Accidents (e.g. meltdowns) can cause severe damage to the ecosystem (including us). In the United States, about 20% of electricity we use is produced by nuclear power.

31. Mineral Resources A typical rock has many metals within its minerals, however, the rock needs to have a high concentration of these metals to be considered profitable. Ore: Rich deposit of minerals from which valuable metals can be recovered profitably. Economic concentration factor: the amount of a particular metal in an ore divided by the average crustal abundance of that metal.

32. (you don’t have to know these numbers)

33. Many metals are extracted from sulfide minerals (you don’t have to know these ores)

34. The Greenhouse Effect The average amount of heat that the Earth receives from the Sun is 342 Watts per square meter. (just remember a few hundred watts per square meter) Compared to sunlight, the heat coming out of the Earth’s interior is negligible, so the energy balance on the Earth’s surface is essentially: Solar input = Energy radiating from the Earth

35. Energy from the sun is short wavelength electromagnetic radiation Electromagnetic radiation includes (visible light, infrared, radiowaves, microwaves, etc.) Some of this energy is reflected off the surface Albedo: the fraction of energy reflected from the surface  Light-colored (like snow) objects have a high albedo, they reflect solar energy  Dark-colored objects have a low albedo, they absorb solar energy

36. Albedo

37. The rest of this energy is absorbed by the surface The heated surface radiates black body radiation away from the Earth Black body radiation: every object emits electromagnetic radiation. The type (or wavelength) depends upon its temperature. Hotter things emit shorter wavelength radiation than cooler things. Example: We emit infrared (infrared is longer wavelength than red) A molten piece of iron emits red On the Earth, blackbody radiation is infrared (longer than red)

39. If we had no greenhouse gases in the atmosphere, the Earth’s surface would be about -2 o C. But we have water vapor and carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. These are both Greenhouse gases. Greenhouse gases let the visible and ultraviolet light from the sun in, but reduce the amount of infrared energy radiated from the Earth’s surface that can get out. The infrared energy than cannot pass through the greenhouse gases is reflected back to the surface as back radiation. This causes the atmosphere to heat up.

41. Increasing the amount of carbon dioxide (such as by burning of fossil fuels or through volcanic eruptions) leads to more greenhouse that can trap more infrared energy. The result is that the Earth’s atmosphere can heat up.

42. In reality, the situation can be much more complicated to understand due to the many feedbacks. Here are only a few. Positive Feedbacks (things that can cause the system to go out of control): 1. water vapor – increased temperatures leads to more water vapor (a greenhouse gas) 2. albedo – increased temperatures melt ice and snow, which reduces Earth’s albedo and causes more sunlight to be absorbed and retransmitted as infrared radiation. Negative Feedbacks (things that can stabilize the system): 1. radiation feedback – more infrared radiation can pass through greenhouse gases as the temperature is increased. 2. plant feedback – higher temperatures lead to more plant growth. Plants take in carbon dioxide during photosynthesis, reducing the amount of greenhouse gas.

43. Venus? Carbon Dioxide 97% Temperature ~ 1000 F

45. Plate tectonics does not occur on Venus as it does on Earth.