ENERGY RESOURCES Learning Objectives We will be learning about: Fossil fuels. Renewable and non-renewable fuels. Energy from the sun. Making the resources last. Human energy needs.

ENERGY RESOURCES Most of the fuels we use are fossil fuels. Fossil fuels are fuels that have been made from plants and animals that lived millions of years ago. Their remains have been buried under the ground. The huge pressures pushing down on them, together with the heat from the inside of the Earth, have changed these remains into coal, gas or oil.

ENERGY RESOURCES Coal is made from the remains of plants. Oil and gas are made from the remains of tiny plants and animals which lived in the sea. This is why coal is usually mined on land but gas and oil are often found below the sea bed. Gas and oil are also found under land that used to be covered by water millions of years ago.

ENERGY RESOURCES What fuels can you name? Coal, gas, oil, petrol and wood. What do we use these fuels for? Coal – fires, central heating and generating electricity in power stations. Gas – fires, central heating and generating electricity in power stations. Oil – fires, central heating and generating electricity in power stations. Petrol – cars. Wood – fires. We get most of our energy from fuels. Fuels are sources of energy. We get energy from fuels by burning them. Burning fuels usually produces energy in the forms of heat, light and sometimes movement.

ENERGY RESOURCES Fossil fuels are non-renewable fuels. This means we cannot make more of them. Once we have used the stocks we have, we will not have any more. This is because they take millions of years to form. Renewable does NOT mean that something can be recycled. We can replace wood by growing Sustainable forests.

ENERGY RESOURCES The energy we get out of fossil fuels originally comes from the Sun. The Sun’s energy is taken in by plants so they can grow. These plants may then be eaten by animals. The remains of the uneaten plant and the dead animal eventually become fossil fuels. Burning these fuels releases the energy they contain. Plants Animals Oil Coal Gas ENERGY

ENERGY RESOURCES Nuclear energy is another non-renewable energy source. Nuclear power stations use radioactive fuels such as uranium. Uranium is a metal found in rocks. Though it is non-renewable, the nuclear energy sources we have will last for many thousands of years. Name one advantage of using nuclear energy. Nuclear fuels release huge amounts of energy. Name one disadvantage of using nuclear energy. Nuclear fuels give out dangerous radioactivity.

Wood is a form of biomass. ENERGY RESOURCES Some energy sources are renewable. This means that we will never run out of them. Some examples of renewable energy include: Wind. Solar. Moving water. Biomass. Geothermal. Wood is a form of biomass.

ENERGY RESOURCES How do we capture energy from the wind ? Wind power is harnessed by wind turbines. How is solar energy harnessed? There are two common ways of harnessing and using solar power: 1. Solar cells use light from the Sun to generate electricity. 2. Solar panels use heat from the Sun to warm water.

ENERGY RESOURCES A solar panel contains water. It needs to absorb heat radiation from the Sun and use this heat to warm the water. The warm water is then pumped around the house. To work well, the solar panel needs to be black. This is because black absorbs heat radiation better than any other colour. Should the solar panel have a large or small surface area ? Large. Why? The larger it is the more heat energy it will be able to absorb so the hotter the water will become.

ENERGY RESOURCES In what way is the energy in moving water harnessed? The movement of water is used in three main ways: Falling water in hydroelectric power stations. Waves. Tides.

BIOMASS AND GEOTHERMAL ENERGY What is biomass? A biomass fuel is a fuel that uses plants, animals or their waste. Give two examples of biomass Biomass has many forms, for example: Wood. Methane from rotting plants. Animal remains (plants or animals we use for food). What is the main problem with using geothermal energy? Geothermal energy is only available in some parts of the world.

ENERGY RESOURCES It is important to make our fossil fuels last as long as possible because: We make most of our electricity from fossil fuels. We use fossil fuels for many other things e.g. making plastics and fuel for vehicles. We will run out of fossil fuels quite soon. About 40 years for oil and 200 years for coal. It will take millions of years for more to form. Suggest how we could make our fossil fuels last longer. Use more renewable energy sources. Make less electricity using these fuels. Use fewer vehicles. Use fewer plastics.

ENERGY RESOURCES Sources of energy summary: Sources Renewable Non-renewable Wind Geo- Thermal Fossil Fuels Nuclear Biomass Coal Oil Solar Moving Water. Gas Waves Tides Light Heat H.E.P.

ENERGY RESOURCES SOME IMPORTANT FACTS ABOUT ENERGY: Everything needs energy to do anything. You cannot make or destroy energy. You can transfer it from one place to another. You can change energy from one form to another. Energy can exist in many forms: Electrical. Light. Sound. Kinetic – movement. Thermal – heat. Potential – stored (chemical, atomic, gravitational and elastic).

ENERGY RESOURCES How do we get the energy we need to stay alive? Use the diagrams on the right to explain.

ENERGY RESOURCES YOUR ANSWER COULD BE: We get the energy we need to live from food. If we did not get enough energy we would die. The food we eat gets the energy it contains from the Sun. Plants use light energy from the Sun to grow. This process is called photosynthesis. When animals eat plants, they take in and use the energy the plants contains. When we eat animals or plants we take in the energy they contain.

CHECK YOUR LEARNING What do our bodies use energy for? To keep our bodies working properly and to do work e.g. Movement. Keeping warm. Growth. What happens if we take in more joules of energy than we use? We will put on weight. What happens if we take in fewer joules of energy than we use? We will lose weight and eventually we would starve to death – our bodies would stop working