1. ENVIRONMENTAL EFFECTS OF USING MINERAL RESOURCES
The extraction, processing, and use of mineral resources has a large environmental impact.
Figure 15-9

2. Natural Capital Degradation
Extracting, Processing, and Using Nonrenewable Mineral and Energy Resources
Steps
Environmental effects
Mining
Disturbed land; mining accidents; health hazards, mine waste dumping, oil spills and blowouts; noise; ugliness; heat
Exploration, extraction
Processing
Transportation, purification, manufacturing
Solid wastes; radioactive material; air, water, and soil pollution; noise; safety and health hazards; ugliness; heat
Use
Figure 15.10
Natural capital degradation: some harmful environmental effects of extracting, processing, and using nonrenewable mineral and energy resources. The energy required to carry out each step causes additional pollution and environmental degradation.
Transportation or transmission to individual user, eventual use, and discarding
Noise; ugliness; thermal water pollution; pollution of air, water, and soil; solid and radioactive wastes; safety and health hazards; heat
Fig , p. 344

3. Harvesting Nonrenewable Resources Costs
Ownership costs – equipment, labor, safety (insurance), environmental costs (reclamation, pollution control, air monitors, water treatment, etc.), taxes
External costs – processing the resource, transporting the resource
Marginal costs – research: finding new sources of the resource and new ways to harvest it

4. Benefits Direct – money received for resources; provides many jobs
Indirect – land can be reclaimed (brought back to original condition) and sold for profit.

5. ENVIRONMENTAL EFFECTS OF USING MINERAL RESOURCES
Minerals are removed through a variety of methods that vary widely in their costs, safety factors, and levels of environmental harm.
A variety of methods are used based on mineral depth.
Surface mining: shallow deposits are removed.
Subsurface mining: deep deposits are removed.

6. Methods Surface Mining
Description – if resource is <200 ft. from the surface, the topsoil is removed (and saved), explosives are used to break up the rocks and to remove the resource, reclamation follows
Benefits – cheap, easy, efficient
Costs – tears up the land (temporarily), byproducts produce an acid that can accumulate in rivers and lakes

7. Methods (Continued) Underground Mining
Description – digging a shaft down to the resource, using machinery (and people) to tear off and remove the resource
Benefits – can get to resources far underground
Costs – more expensive, more time-consuming, more dangerous

8. Methods (Continued) Reclamation
Description – returning the rock layer (overburden) and the topsoil to a surface mine, fertilizing and planting it
Benefits – restores land to good condition
Costs – expensive, time-consuming

9. Specific Resources & Their Uses
Specific Nonrenewable Resources
Specific Resources & Their Uses
Coal – formed from ancient peat bogs (swamps) that were under pressure as they were covered.
Used for electricity, heat, steel, exports, and industry, may contribute to the “Greenhouse Effect”
Four types of coal exist: lignite (soft, used for electricity), bituminous and subbituminous (harder, also used for electricity) and anthracite (hardest, used for heating)
50% of all the coal is in the United States, the former Soviet Union and China

10. Open-pit Mining
Machines dig holes and remove ores, sand, gravel, and stone.
Toxic groundwater can accumulate at the bottom.
Figure 15-11

11. Area Strip Mining
Earth movers strips away overburden, and giant shovels removes mineral deposit.
Often leaves highly erodible hills of rubble called spoil banks.
Figure 15-12

12. Contour Strip Mining Used on hilly or mountainous terrain.
Unless the land is restored, a wall of dirt is left in front of a highly erodible bank called a highwall.
Figure 15-13

13. Mountaintop Removal
Machinery removes the tops of mountains to expose coal.
The resulting waste rock and dirt are dumped into the streams and valleys below.
Figure 15-14

15. Sustainable Use of Nonrenewable Minerals
Solutions
Sustainable Use of Nonrenewable Minerals
• Do not waste mineral resources.
• Recycle and reuse 60–80% of mineral resources.
• Include the harmful environmental costs of mining and processing minerals in the prices of items (full-cost pricing).
• Reduce subsidies for mining mineral resources.
• Increase subsidies for recycling, reuse, and finding less environmentally harmful substitutes.
• Redesign manufacturing processes to use less mineral resources and to produce less pollution and waste.
Figure 15.18
Solutions: ways to achieve more sustainable use of nonrenewable mineral resources. QUESTION: Which two of the solutions do you think are the most important?
• Have the mineral-based wastes of one manufacturing process become the raw materials for other processes.
• Sell services instead of things.
• Slow population growth.
Fig , p. 351

16. Specific Resources & Their Uses
Limestone – abundant locally, formed from layers of seashells and organisms under pressure as they were covered; used in sidewalks, fertilizers, plastics, carpets, and more
Lead – used in batteries and cars
Clay – used to make books, magazines, bricks, and linoleum
Gold – besides being used as money and for jewelry, gold is used in medicine (lasers, cauterizing agents) and in electronics (circuits in computers, etc.)

17. Texas
Central – limestone, tin, clay, lead, garnets, freshwater pearls, amethysts, calcium carbonate
West – talc, mercury, silver, petroleum, sulfur
East – lignite coal, petroleum
South – lignite coal, petroleum, uranium, limestone
North – helium, uranium, petroleum, bituminous coal

18. United States Central – diamonds (Arkansas), bituminous coal
West – bituminous and subbituminous coal, gold, silver, copper
East – anthracite coal, bituminous coal
South – some gold (SC), bituminous coal
North – bituminous coal, some gold (SD, WI)

19. Energy Resources Primary Sources
Definition – the original sources that are used to make electricity or heat

20. Secondary Sources
Definition – the heat and electricity that we use for energy

21. Cogeneration
Production of two useful forms of energy, such as high-temperature heat or steam and electricity, from the same fuel source.
Ex. An industry using natural gas for manufacturing and using the waste heat to produce electricity.

22. Examples of Primary Sources Fossil Fuels
Energy conversion – chemical to electrical, heat or mechanical
Only about 30% efficient
Benefits – easy to use, currently abundant
Costs – a nonrenewable resource, produces pollutants that contribute to acid rain and the greenhouse effect
Oil- Supplies the most commercial energy in the world today. People in the U.S. use 23 barrels of petroleum per person or 6 billion barrels total each year!!!

23. Core Case Study: How Long Will the Oil Party Last?
Saudi Arabia could supply the world with oil for about 10 years.
The Alaska’s North Slope could meet the world oil demand for 6 months (U.S.: 3 years).
Alaska’s Arctic National Wildlife Refuge would meet the world demand for 1-5 months (U.S.: 7-25 months).

24. OIL
Crude oil (petroleum) is a thick liquid containing hydrocarbons that we extract from underground deposits and separate into products such as gasoline, heating oil and asphalt.
Only 35-50% can be economically recovered from a deposit.
As prices rise, about 10-25% more can be recovered from expensive secondary extraction techniques.
This lowers the net energy yield.

25. OIL Refining crude oil:
Based on boiling points, components are removed at various layers in a giant distillation column.
The most volatile components with the lowest boiling points are removed at the top.
Figure 16-5

26. Gases Gasoline Aviation fuel Heating oil Diesel oil Naptha
Figure 16.5
Science: refining crude oil. Based on their boiling points, components are removed at various levels in a giant distillation column. The most volatile components with the lowest boiling points are removed at the top of the column.
Heated crude oil
Grease and wax
Furnace
Asphalt
Fig. 16-5, p. 359

27. OIL
Eleven OPEC (Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries) have 78% of the world’s proven oil reserves and most of the world’s unproven reserves.
After global production peaks and begins a slow decline, oil prices will rise and could threaten the economies of countries that have not shifted to new energy alternatives.

28. Case Study: U.S. Oil Supplies
The U.S. – the world’s largest oil user – has only 2.9% of the world’s proven oil reserves.
U.S oil production peaked in 1974 (halfway production point).
About 60% of U.S oil imports goes through refineries in hurricane-prone regions of the Gulf Coast.

29. Heavy Oils from Oil Sand and Oil Shale: Will Sticky Black Gold Save Us?
Heavy and tarlike oils from oil sand and oil shale could supplement conventional oil, but there are environmental problems.
High sulfur content.
Extracting and processing produces:
Toxic sludge
Uses and contaminates larges volumes of water
Requires large inputs of natural gas which reduces net energy yield.

30. Oil Shales
Oil shales contain a solid combustible mixture of hydrocarbons called kerogen.
Figure 16-9

31. Core Case Study: How Long Will the Oil Party Last?
We have three options:
Look for more oil.
Use or waste less oil.
Use something else.
Estimated that oil will last another years
Figure 16-1

32. NATURAL GAS
Natural gas, consisting mostly of methane, is often found above reservoirs of crude oil.
When a natural gas-field is tapped, gasses are liquefied and removed as liquefied petroleum gas (LPG).
Coal beds and bubbles of methane trapped in ice crystals deep under the arctic permafrost and beneath deep-ocean sediments are unconventional sources of natural gas.

33. NATURAL GAS
Russia and Iran have almost half of the world’s reserves of conventional gas, and global reserves should last years.
Natural gas is versatile and clean-burning fuel, but it releases the greenhouse gases carbon dioxide (when burned) and methane (from leaks) into the troposphere.

34. COAL
Coal is a solid fossil fuel that is formed in several stages as the buried remains of land plants that lived million years ago.
Figure 16-12

35. Bituminous (soft coal) Anthracite (hard coal)
Increasing heat and carbon content
Increasing moisture content
Peat (not a coal)
Lignite (brown coal)
Bituminous (soft coal)
Anthracite (hard coal)
Heat
Heat
Heat
Pressure
Pressure
Pressure
Partially decayed plant matter in swamps and bogs; low heat content
Low heat content; low sulfur content; limited supplies in most areas
Extensively used as a fuel because of its high heat content and large supplies; normally has a high sulfur content
Highly desirable fuel because of its high heat content and low sulfur content; supplies are limited in most areas
Figure 16.12
Natural capital: stages in coal formation over millions of years. Peat is a soil material made of moist, partially decomposed organic matter. Lignite and bituminous coal are sedimentary rocks, whereas anthracite is a metamorphic rock (Figure 15-8, p. 343). QUESTION: Are there coal deposits near where you live or go to school?
Fig , p. 368

36. Cooling tower transfers waste heat to atmosphere Coal bunker Turbine
Generator
Cooling loop
Stack
Pulverizing mill
Condenser
Filter
Figure 16.13
Science: Coal-burning power plant. Heat produced by burning pulverized coal in a furnace boils water to produce steam that spins a turbine to produce electricity. The steam is cooled, condensed, and returned to the furnace for reuse. A large cooling tower transfers waste heat to the troposphere. The largest coal-burning power plant in the United States in Indiana burns 23 metric tons (25 tons) of coal per minute or three 100-car trainloads of coal per day and produces 50% more electric power than the Hoover Dam. QUESTION: Is there a coal-burning power plant near where you live or go to school?
Boiler
Toxic ash disposal
Fig , p. 369

37. COAL
Coal reserves in the United States, Russia, and China could last hundreds to over a thousand years.
The U.S. has 27% of the world’s proven coal reserves, followed by Russia (17%), and China (13%).
In 2005, China and the U.S. accounted for 53% of the global coal consumption.

38. TYPES OF ENERGY RESOURCES
About 99% of the energy we use for heat comes from the sun and the other 1% comes mostly from burning fossil fuels.
Solar energy indirectly supports wind power, hydropower, and biomass.
About 76% of the commercial energy we use comes from nonrenewable fossil fuels (oil, natural gas, and coal) with the remainder coming from renewable sources.

39. TYPES OF ENERGY RESOURCES
Nonrenewable energy resources and geothermal energy in the earth’s crust.
Figure 16-2

40. Floating oil drilling platform Coal Oil storage Geothermal energy
Oil and natural gas
Floating oil drilling platform
Coal
Oil storage
Geothermal energy
Contour strip mining
Oil drilling platform on legs
Hot water storage
Oil well
Gas well
Pipeline
Geothermal power plant
Mined coal
Valves
Area strip mining
Pipeline
Pump
Drilling tower
Impervious rock
Underground coal mine
Oil
Natural gas
Water
Figure 16.2
Natural capital: important nonrenewable energy resources that can be removed from the earth’s crust are coal, oil, natural gas, and some forms of geothermal energy. Nonrenewable uranium ore is also extracted from the earth’s crust and processed to increase its concentration of uranium-235, which can serve as a fuel in nuclear reactors to produce electricity.
Water is heated and brought up as dry steam or wet steam
Water
Water penetrates down through the rock
Coal seam
Hot rock
Magma
Fig. 16-2, p. 357

41. TYPES OF ENERGY RESOURCES
Commercial energy use by source for the world (left) and the U.S. (right).
Figure 16-3

42. REDUCING ENERGY WASTE AND IMPROVING ENERGY EFFICIENCY
Four widely used devices waste large amounts of energy:
Incandescent light bulb: 95% is lost as heat.
Internal combustion engine: 94% of the energy in its fuel is wasted.
Nuclear power plant: 92% of energy is wasted through nuclear fuel and energy needed for waste management.
Coal-burning power plant: 66% of the energy released by burning coal is lost.

43. USING RENEWABLE SOLAR ENERGY TO PROVIDE HEAT AND ELECTRICITY
A variety of renewable-energy resources are available but their use has been hindered by a lack of government support compared to nonrenewable fossil fuels and nuclear power.
Direct solar
Moving water
Wind
Geothermal

44. USING RENEWABLE SOLAR ENERGY TO PROVIDE HEAT AND ELECTRICITY
The European Union aims to get 22% of its electricity from renewable energy by 2010.
Costa Rica gets 92% of its energy from renewable resources.
China aims to get 10% of its total energy from renewable resources by 2020.
In 2004, California got about 12% of its electricity from wind and plans to increase this to 50% by 2030.

45. USING RENEWABLE SOLAR ENERGY TO PROVIDE HEAT AND ELECTRICITY
Denmark now gets 20% of its electricity from wind and plans to increase this to 50% by 2030.
Brazil gets 20% of its gasoline from sugarcane residue.
In 2004, the world’s renewable-energy industries provided 1.7 million jobs.

46. Solar
Types – photovoltaic cells (convert sunlight directly to electricity with a 10% efficiency) and solar thermal systems (sun’s heat is used to heat bodies of water enough to produce steam that can be used to make electricity)
Energy conversion – radiant/heat to electrical, heat or mechanical
Benefits – pollution-free, unlimited source
Costs – not useful in cloudy areas or at night, we do not have the technology needed to use very efficiently

47. Producing Electricity with Solar Cells
Photovoltaic (PV) cells can provide electricity for a house of building using solar-cell roof shingles.
Figure 17-17

48. Panels of solar cells Solar shingles
Single solar cell
Solar-cell roof – +
Boron enriched silicon
Roof options
Junction
Figure 17.17
Solutions: photovoltaic (PV) or solar cells can provide electricity for a house or building using solar-cell roof shingles, as shown in this house in Richmond Surrey, England. Solar-cell roof systems that look like a metal roof are also available. In addition, new thin-film solar cells can be applied to windows and outside walls.
Phosphorus enriched silicon
Panels of solar cells
Solar shingles
Fig , p. 398

49. Producing Electricity with Solar Cells
Solar cells can be used in rural villages with ample sunlight who are not connected to an electrical grid.
Figure 17-18

50. Core Case Study: The Coming Energy-Efficiency and Renewable-Energy Revolution
It is possible to get electricity from solar cells that convert sunlight into electricity.
Can be attached like shingles on a roof.
Can be applied to window glass as a coating.
Can be mounted on racks almost anywhere.