1. Differentiated Materials
ENERGY RESOURCES – KS3
Differentiated Materials

2. Key Words
Energy – being able to do work. e.g. food gives us energy, so that we can move
Fuel - Fuel is anything that is
burned or altered to obtain energy
Fuel gauge

3. Solar power Most of the Earth's energy comes from the sun
Solar power is energy from the sun
There are two main ways that we use the Sun's energy
1. Solar Cells
2. Solar water heating

4. Why Use Solar power?
Advantages
Solar energy is free - no fuel, no waste or pollution.
In sunny countries, easy to use in remote places
Good for low-power uses such as solar powered garden lights and battery chargers
Disadvantages
Doesn't work at night.
Very expensive to build solar power stations.
Can be unreliable unless you're in a very sunny place
Solar energy is renewable because the sun is always there

5. Energy from fossil fuels
Fossil fuels are coal, oil and gas
Coal oil and gas
Fossil fuels were formed from
dead plants and animals over
millions of years.
fossils

6. Energy from fossil fuels
Fossil fuels have formed over millions of years. Plants and animals died and were immediately covered by sediment in seas or swamps.
After millions of years of pressure and heat (900C to 1200C), these remains turned into COAL, OIL and NATURAL GAS.
Coal comes mainly from dead plants, like trees, falling into swamps.
Oil and gas occur together and were formed from both plants and animals being buried.
When we burn fossil fuels we’re using the sun’s energy that has been stored as chemical energy underground for millions of years.

7. How ‘fossil fuel’ power stations work:
Coal is crushed to a fine dust and burnt. Oil and gas can be burnt directly.

8. Why use fossil fuels to make electricity?
Advantages
Electricity can be generated fairly cheaply.
Transporting oil and gas to the power stations is easy.
Gas-fired power stations are very efficient.
A fossil-fuelled power station can be built almost anywhere.
Disadvantages
Pollution. Burning any fossil fuel produces carbon dioxide, which contributes to the "greenhouse effect", warming the Earth.
Burning coal produces more carbon dioxide than burning oil or gas.
Mining coal can be difficult, dangerous and ugly.
Coal-fired power stations need huge amounts of fuel.
Fossil fuels are a non- renewable energy resource. Once we've burned them all, there isn't any more and our use of fossil fuels has nearly doubled every 20 years since This is a particular problem for oil, because we also use it to make plastics and many other products.

9. Wind power
Wind power also comes from the sun; winds blow because the Sun warms our atmosphere. Warm air tends to rise, and winds are due to other air moving in to replace it.
The wind blows the propeller round, which
turns a generator to produce electricity
We tend to build many of these towers together, to make a "wind farm" and produce more electricity.
The more towers, the more wind, and the larger the propellers, the more electricity we can make

10. Why use wind power? Advantages Wind is free.
Produces no waste or greenhouse gases.
The land beneath can usually still be used for farming.
Wind farms can be tourist attractions.
A good method of supplying energy to remote areas
Disadvantages
The wind is not always predictable - some days have no wind.
Suitable areas for wind farms are often near the coast, where land is expensive.
Some people feel that covering the landscape with these towers is ugly
Can kill birds.
Can affect television reception if you live nearby.
Can be noisy.
Wind power is renewable. Winds will keep on blowing.

11. Hydro-electric power
Hydro-electric power is generated from falling water. Nowadays there are many hydro-electric power stations, providing around 20% of the world's electricity.
How it works:
A dam is built to trap water, usually in a river valley.
Water is allowed to flow through tunnels in the dam, to turn turbines
and thus drive generators to produce electricity. (

12. Why use Hydro-electric power?
Advantages
Once the dam is built, the energy is almost free.
No waste or pollution produced.
Much more reliable than wind, solar or wave power.
Water can be stored above the dam ready for when it is needed.
Hydro-electric power stations can increase to full power very quickly, unlike other power stations.
Electricity can be generated constantly (all the time)

13. The dams are very expensive to build.
Hydro-electric power is renewable. The Sun provides the water by evaporation from the sea, and will continue to do it.
Disadvantages
The dams are very expensive to build.
Building a large dam will flood a very large area upstream, causing problems for animals that used to live there.
Finding a suitable site can be difficult – what about the people, plants and animals living there already?
Water quality and quantity downstream can be affected, which can have an impact on plant life.

14. Nuclear Power - energy from splitting Uranium atoms
Nuclear power is generated using Uranium, which is a metal mined in various parts of the world.
Nuclear power produces around 11% of the world's energy needs, and produces huge amounts of energy from small amounts of fuel, without pollution.
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15. Advantages of using nuclear power
Nuclear power costs about the same as coal, so it's not expensive.
Does not produce smoke or carbon dioxide, so it does not cause pollution.
Produces huge amounts of energy from small amounts of fuel.
Produces small amounts of waste.
Nuclear power is reliable.

16. disadvantages
Although not much waste is produced, it is very, very dangerous. It must be sealed up and buried for many years to allow the radioactivity to die away.
Nuclear power is reliable, but a lot of money has to be spent on safety - if it does go wrong, a nuclear accident can be a major disaster.
People are increasingly concerned about possible accidents and terrorism.
Nuclear energy from Uranium is non-renewable. Once we've dug up all the Earth's uranium and used it, there isn't any more. However, because only small quantities are needed, we have enough for hundreds of years.

17. Tidal power - energy from the sea
How it works: Tidal Barrages
These work rather like a hydro-electric scheme
A huge dam (called a "barrage") is built across a river estuary. When the tide goes in and out, the water flows through tunnels in the dam.
The ebb and flow of the tides can be used to turn a turbine.

18. Advantages of tidal power
Once you've built it, tidal power is free.
It produces no greenhouse gases or other waste.
It needs no fuel.
It is reliable.
Not expensive to maintain.
Tides are totally predictable.
Offshore turbines are not too expensive

19. Disadvantages of tidal power
A barrage across an estuary is very expensive to build, and affects a very wide area. - the environment and birds. There are few suitable sites for tidal barrages.
Only provides power for around 10 hours each day, when the tide is actually moving in or out.
Tidal energy is renewable. The tides will continue to ebb and flow, and the energy is there for free.

20. Geothermal Energy is energy from heat inside the Earth.
How it works
Hot rocks underground heat water to produce steam. We drill holes down to the hot region; steam comes up, is purified and used to drive turbines, which drive generators to make electricity.
Geothermal energy is an important resource in volcanically active places such as Iceland and New Zealand.

21. Advantages Geothermal energy does not produce any pollution.
The power stations do not take up much space.
No fuel is needed.
Once you've built a geothermal power station, the energy is almost free.

22. Dangerous gases and minerals may come up from underground.
disadvantages
There are not many places where you can build a geothermal power station.
Sometimes a geothermal site may "run out of steam", perhaps for several years.
Dangerous gases and minerals may come up from underground.
Geothermal energy is renewable. The energy keeps on coming, so long as we don't pump too much cold water down and cool the rocks too much.

23. Biomass - energy from organic materials
Sugar cane can be used to make alcohol, which can be burned to generate power
Other solid wastes, can be burned to provide heat, or used to make steam for a power station
We can use rubbish, animal manure, woodchips, seaweed, corn stalks and other waste
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24. Advantages
It makes sense to use waste materials where we can.
The fuel tends to be cheap.
Less demand on the Earth's resources.
Disadvantages
Collecting the waste in sufficient quantities can be difficult.
We burn the fuel, so it makes pollution.
Some waste materials are not available all year round.
Biomass is renewable, as we're going to carry on making waste products. We can always plant and grow more sugar cane and more trees, so those are renewable too.