Subject: Earth Science

Nonrenewable and Renewable Resources

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· Lesson Objectives

· The student will investigate and understand the differences between renewable and nonrenewable resources.

· key concepts include fossil fuels, minerals, rocks, water, and vegetation

· advantages and disadvantages of various energy sources

· resources found in Virginia

· making informed judgments related to resource use and its effects on Earth systems

· environmental costs and benefits.

·  

To support the way human beings live, it is necessary to use certain resources in the environment. When these resources cannot be replenished in a short amount of time, they are referred to as nonrenewable resources. Resources which can be replenished in a short amount of time are called renewable resources.

 

Nonrenewable Resources

The resources most commonly considered "nonrenewable" are oil, natural gas, coal, and uranium. Fossil fuels (oil/petroleum, natural gas/propane, coal) can take millions of years to form, and at current rates will be depleted long before any more will form. Uranium is not a fossil fuel, but the special kind used in nuclear plants is very rare.

 

See the difference between Nonrenewable and Renewable Resources

 

Power plants which run off of nonrenewable resources use the nonrenewable resource to generate heat. The heat is used to boil water, which turns a turbine, and the turbine generates electricity.

 

Fossil fuels were formed from organic material which was deposited on the bottom of the ocean floor a long time ago, millions of years before the dinosaurs. This organic material became part of the sedimentary rock, and as more layers were added and the pressure on top built high enough to create intense heat these organic materials went through chemical changes, becoming different sorts of carbon based solids, liquids, and gases.

 

Oil

 

In most places, the organic materials that were trapped under the sediment layers were heated for millions of years until they formed into a thick, black liquid called oil. This oil seeped toward the surface, but was sometimes stopped by layers of impermeable stone. These layers of stone are called "capstones", and it is under these capstones that we find pockets of oil today.

 

The top five oil producing states are Texas, Alaska, California, Louisiana and Oklahoma. However the U.S. has only been producing about 40% of the oil it needs, so the majority of oil is imported. In 2000, the U.S. spent 109 billion dollars on importing oil.

 

Oil is used to make heating oil, as well as gasoline, diesel, and jet fuel. Oil is also used in the making of some plastics and other products (such as crayons and bubble gum).

 

This video shows how oil and natural gas are formed:

 

Natural Gas

 

In some places when oil formed the heat and pressure continued to build until that liquid was transformed into a gas. This natural gas did much as the oil did, and found ways to seep to the surface. However, again like the oil, this gas was stopped by capstones, which is where we find natural gas today.

 

Natural gas is an odorless flammable gas, most often used for heating homes.

 

Coal

 

Coal is a combustable solid which is mined from the ground. Coal formed much the same way as the oil and gas did, though it is thought that sulfurous seas covered the vegetation and mixed into the base organic materials, adding some extra elements to the process. As pressure is applied over time by the layers of rock above it, coal goes through many stages of development first forming peat, then lignite (brown coal), then sub-bituminous, bituminous and anthracite coal. The pinnacle of coal evolution is graphite, but it is not used as a fuel since it is hard to ignite.

 

 

 

Coal may be the biggest fossil fuel in the United States. It is relatively inexpensive: 23 of the 25 U.S. power plants with the lowest operating costs are using coal. Coal based plants are responsible for over half of the U.S. electrical power. Also, the U.S. has plenty of coal; it is estimated that the U.S. could produce energy for itself for at least another 200 years using the coal reserves in the U.S. However coal has tremendous negative environmental impacts, from dangerous and damaging mining methods to the smoke (containing sulfur and carbon dioxide) which is released when it is burned.

 

Coal has been mined in 26 of the 50 states in the U.S., but the four states with the largest coal reserves are: Wyoming, West Virginia, Illinois, and Montana.

 

Coal in the United States

According to the Energy Information Administration, a division of the U.S. Dept. of Energy, there are three main coal producing regions of the U.S.:

 

Appalachian Coal Region:

 

Interior Coal Region:

 

Western Coal Region:

* Over half of the coal produced in the U.S. is produced in the Western Coal Region.

* Wyoming is the largest regional coal producer, as well as the largest coal-producing state in the nation.

* Large surface mines.

* Some of the largest coal mines in the world.

· * More than one-third of the coal produced in the U.S. is produced in the Appalachian Coal Region.

* West Virginia is the largest coal-producing state in the region, and the second largest coal-producing state in the U.S.

* Large underground mines and small surface mines.

* Coal mined in the Appalachian coal region is primarily used for steam generation for electricity, metal production, and for export.

* Texas is the largest coal producer in the Interior Coal Region, accounting for almost one-third of the region’s coal production.

* Mid-sized surface mines.

* Mid- to large-sized companies.

 

Uranium

 

Uranium is a relatively abundant element, but only a particular kind of uranium (U-235) is used in nuclear power plants. This type of uranium has atoms which are more easily split apart, and it is in splitting these atoms that energy is released. The majority of uranium in the U.S. in mined in the western states. It provides about 19% of the power in the U.S.

 

According to EIA, after processing "[t]he uranium fuel is formed into ceramic pellets. The pellets are about the size of your fingertip, but each one produces the same amount of energy as 150 gallons of oil."

 

Compared to fossil fuels, uranium is a clean fuel. It still produces waste, however, some of which is mildly radioactive.

 

 

Renewable Resources

When speaking of renewable resources, mostly people are referring to wind, solar, biomass, geothermal, and hydro power. You will be asked to research and discuss several of these in the assignment below.

 

 

Given that we know nonrenewable resources are limited, why don't we use more renewable energy? According to the U.S. DOE:

 

In the past, renewable energy has generally been more expensive to use than fossil fuels. Plus, renewable resources are often located [in] remote areas and it is expensive to build powerlines to the cities where they are needed. The use of renewable sources is also limited by the fact that they are not always available (for example, cloudy days reduce solar energy, calm days mean no wind blows to drive wind turbines, droughts reduce water availability to produce hydroelectricity).

 

The production and use of renewable fuels has grown more quickly in recent years due to higher prices for oil and natural gas, and a number of State and Federal Government incentives, including the Energy Policy Acts of 2002 and 2005. The use of renewable fuels is expected to continue to grow over the next 30 years, although we will still rely on non-renewable fuels to meet most of our energy needs.

 

One of the larger prices attached to renewable energy resources is the price of land. Wind farms take many acres of land in order to produce energy. Horse Hollow Wind Energy Center in Texas is the world's largest wind farm, it has 421 wind turbines which can power 220,000 homes per year; this wind farm takes up nearly 47,000 acres. Solar cells have a similar problem, since the sun's rays only deliver a small amount of energy to any single spot: It is the energy collected over a wide area which makes the technology useful. Despite large land or space needs, however, there are fewer environmental impacts from renewable energy resources than tend to exist from nonrenewable ones.

 

Other Resources and Sustainability

 

Generally renewable and nonrenewable resources are discussed in reference to energy production. However there are many other renewable and nonrenewable resources. For example, the fish in a bay would be an important, potentially renewable, food resource. Any mineral in an area might be an important nonrenewable resource: This could be tin, silver, gold, diamonds, salt, limestone...the list is almost endless. Any item in an area can be assessed as renewable or nonrenewable based on the method of its extraction, the rate of use, and the rate of replenishment. For example, if we timber land for lumber, but do so at a rate that leaves us with no more trees before we've met our need for lumber, this is not sustainable (hence, not a renewable resource, even though we can grow more trees).

 

 

 

Being aware of whether a resource is renewable or not is only a part of responsible resource management. A nonrenewable resource may be extracted and used responsibly, and a renewable resource can be extracted in ways that are a nuisance: New studies are often being conducted to give us information on how to best utilize these resources the Earth grants us.

 

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Bonus Content (This section is not required)

If you are interested in more information about some of the topics from the lesson OR if you need help with some of the questions, you can watch these  OPTIONAL  (you can watch if you want but they are not required) v ideos for help!

 

Watch this video to see how coal is formed and the different types of coal.

 

Check out these facts about Uranium

 

 

See how biomass energy works:

This video discusses how geothermal energy works:

 

See how a dam creates energy through hydropower:

· Grading Rubric

Rubric Earth Science Lesson 9

 

Note: For this class it is necessary to post each question, then the work/explanation, then the answer. Failure to do so will result in asking for a revision. No grade will be given for incomplete work.

Mastery of this lesson will be determined when your total points are 8 or higher. Revisions will be requested when your total points are below 8. Points are earned according to the chart below.

10:  A total score of 10 on your first submission, or within the first revision.

9.5: A total score of 9.5, or all questions are correct after the first revision.

9:    A total score of 9.

8.5: A total score of 8.5.

8:    A total score of 8.

 

Short Answer 4 points total	Answer is clearly written and accurate. Answer is based on the lesson content. 0.5 points	Answer is clearly written. May have 1 factual omission or error.   0.25  points	Answer is not clearly written. There are several factual omissions or errors.     0 points
Apply Your Knowledge Questions  6 points total	Questions are thoroughly answered in complete sentences and in student’s own words. URLs are included for outside research.    1 points	Questions are answered but may have incomplete responses or contain minor errors. Responses are in the student’s own words. URLs are included for outside research.   0.5 points	Questions contain inaccurate information and/or are not written in the student’s own words. URLs for outside research are not provided.       0 points

 

· Assignment

 

Do not submit text that you have copied from sources, including websites. All of your work should be in your own words. Using copied text would be considered plagiarism. For more information, review our page on  Plagiarism and Citation . Cite the complete web page source under each answer.  Always put the question on top of the answer, and answer in complete grammatically correct sentences.

 

 

Short Answer

 

Many of these answers will require Internet research to answer. Make sure you rewrite all answers into your own words and be mindful of our page on  Plagiarism and Citation .

 

1. If fossil fuels are formed from organic materials compacted on the ocean floor, what does that tell us about the Appalachian mountain region? What was in the Appalachian region at one point in time to form fossil fuels?

 

2. What are three of the top oil producing countries of the world?

 

3. From what you've learned about the formation of oil, where are there most likely to be pockets of undiscovered oil today? Add reasons why you think oil will be found in that place based on where/how oil is formed.

 

4. Which fossil fuel is the most abundant in the U.S.?

 

5. Find four products that are made from oil (petroleum) and list them here. Cite your sources.

 

6. What do the machines known as "digesters" do?

 

7. If natural gas is odorless, why is it possible to smell when a house has a gas leak?

 

8. What is propane? What are some of its uses?

 

Apply Your Knowledge

 

9. Why is coal's release of sulfur and carbon dioxide potentially dangerous?

 

10. The lesson mentioned that wind farms need a lot of land. What is another negative impact wind farms can have?

 

11. Can cattle or other livestock graze on the land where a windfarm is located?

 

12. Hydropower uses the flow of a river or the ebb and flow of the tides to create energy. Tell me about one specific way we capture hydropower. Cite your source.

 

13. What is geothermal energy?

 

14. Give me a specific way in which geothermal energy can be harnessed. Cite your source.

 

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