1. Nonrenewable
Energy

2. Fossil Fuels
The remains of ancient organisms that changed into coal, oil, or natural gas
Provide most of the energy used today
2 main problems
Supply is limited
Obtaining and using them causes environmental problems

3. Fuels for Different Uses
Used for 5 main purposes:
Cooking
Transportation
Manufacturing
Heating & cooling buildings
Generating electricity to run machines & appliances
Suitability of a fuel for each application depends on the fuel’s energy content, cost, availability & safety, and the byproducts of the fuel’s use

4. Electricity – Power on Demand
Energy in fuels is often converted into electrical energy in order to power machines because electricity is more convenient to use
Can be transported quickly across long or short distances
Disadvantages of electricity:
Difficult to store
Other energy sources have to be used to generate it

5. How is Electricity Generated?
Electric generator: converts mechanical energy (motion) into electrical energy
Uses a turbine (wheel that changes the force of a moving gas or liquid into energy that can do work)
Water is boiled to produce the steam that turns the turbine
The water is heated by burning a fuel (coal, gas) or by fission of uranium in nuclear plants
The turbine spins a generator to produce electricity

7. Energy Use in the U.S.
People in developed societies use much more energy than people in developing countries do
The U.S. uses more energy per person than any other country in the world except Canada & the United Arab Emirates
Uses more than 25% of its energy resources to transport goods & people (trucks & personal vehicles)
Residents of U.S. & Canada have some of the lowest gasoline taxes

8. Energy Use in the U.S.

9. World Energy Use

10. How Fossil-Fuel Deposits Form
Coal
Forms from the remains of plants that lived in swamps hundreds of millions of years ago
Much of the coal in the eastern U.S. formed about 320 million to 300 million years ago
Formation of coal:
As ocean levels rose & fell, swamps were covered with sediment
Layers of sediment compressed the plant remains
Heat & pressure within the Earth’s crust caused coal to form
Oil & Natural Gas
Result from the decay of tiny marine organisms that accumulated on the bottom of the ocean millions of years ago

11. Coal Two major advantages of coal Relatively inexpensive
Needs little refining after it has been mined

12. How Electricity is Generated in the U.S.
Coal: %
Nuclear: 20%
Natural Gas: 18%
Hydroelectricity 7%
Oil: 3%

13. Coal Mining & the Environment
Surface mining has a bigger effect on the environment
Toxic chemicals can leach into nearby streams
A lot of research focuses on 2 things:
Developing better methods of locating
Developing less damaging methods

14. Air Pollution
Higher-grade coals produce more heat and less pollution than lower-grade coal
Sulfur is a major source of pollution when coal is burned
Clean-burning coal technology has dramatically reduced air pollution in the U.S.

15. Petroleum Oil that is pumped from the ground (also called crude oil)
Petroleum product: anything that is made from crude oil
Accounts for 45% of the world’s commercial energy use
Most of the world’s oil reserves are in the Middle East

16. Steps in the Oil-Drilling Process
Exploration wells are drilled
If oil can be extracted at a profitable rate, wells are drilled
Oil is transported to a refinery to be converted into fuels & other petroleum products

17. Environmental Effects of Using Oil
When petroleum fuels are burned, they release pollutants
Contribute to the formation of smog and cause health problems
Sulfur: a pollutant that contributes to acid rain
The carbon dioxide released may contribute to global warming
2 things that have reduced air pollution from cars in many areas:
Emission regulations
Technology (catalytic converters)

18. Natural Gas Provides 20% of the world’s nonrenewable energy
Methane (CH4)
Has become more common to use because it produces fewer pollutants than burning other fossil fuels

19. Fossil Fuels & the Future
Supply about 90% of the energy used in developed countries
Cost will likely increase as the demand for energy resources increases
Oil reserves: oil deposits that can be extracted profitably at current prices using current technology
The relative cost of obtaining fossil fuels influences the amount of fossil fuels that we extract from the Earth