CHAPTER 13
ENERGY RESOURCES
Outline
13-1 What is net energy and why is it important?
A. Basic science: Net energy is the only energy that really counts.
1. The usable amount of high-quality energy available from a given quantity of an energy
2. We can express net energy as the ratio of energy produced to the energy used to produce it.
As the ratio increases, the net energy also rises. When the ratio is less than 1, there is a net
energy loss.
B. Energy resources with low or negative net energy need help to compete in the marketplace.
1. Any energy resource with a low or negative net energy ratio cannot compete in the open
2. For example, the low net energy yield for the nuclear power fuel cycle is one reason why
13-2 What are the advantages and disadvantages of using fossil fuels?
A. Fossil fuels supply most of our commercial energy.
2. Most commercial energy—energy sold in the marketplace—comes from extracting and
burning nonrenewable energy resources obtained from the earth’s crust.
B. We depend heavily on oil.
1. Crude oil, or petroleum (s oil as it comes out of the ground), is a black, gooey liquid
consisting of hundreds of different combustible hydrocarbons along with small amounts of
2. When the rate of crude oil production starts declining it is referred to as peak production for
the well.
4. After extraction, crude oil is transported to a refinery by pipeline, truck, or ship (oil tanker).
5. Crude oil is heated to different boiling points in a complex process called refining to separate
it into different layers, such as petrochemicals.
C. How long might supplies of conventional crude oil last?
2. Proven oil reserves are identified deposits from which conventional crude oil can be extracted
profitably at current prices with current technology.
3. Geologists project that known and projected global reserves of conventional crude oil will be
4. Options include:
a. look for more oil.
Instructor’s Manual for Environmental Science, 15th edition
D. OPEC controls most of the world’s crude oil supplies.
1. 13 countries make up the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC).
2. The United States has only about 2% of the world’s proven oil reserves. China has only 1.1%,
India has 0.4%, and Japan has no oil reserves.
3. Currently, the world’s largest producers of oil are, in order, Russia, Saudi Arabia, and the
4. Since 1984, production of conventional crude oil from proven reserves has exceeded new oil
5. According to some analysts, in order to keep using conventional oil at the projected increasing
rate of consumption, we must discover proven reserves of conventional oil equivalent to the
current Saudi Arabian supply every 5 years. Most oil geologists say this is highly unlikely.
E. CASE STUDY: The United States Uses Much More Oil Than It Produces
F. The United States uses much more oil than it produces.
1. The United States gets about 85% of its commercial energy from fossil fuels, with 40%
coming from crude oil.
3. The United States cannot even come close to meeting its huge and growing demand for crude
oil and gasoline by increasing domestic supplies.
G. Using crude oil has advantages and disadvantages.
1. Extraction, processing, and burning of nonrenewable oil and other fossil fuels have severe
environmental impacts.
2. Oil spills cause catastrophic damage.
a. In 2010, the BP Company’s Deepwater Horizon oil-drilling rig exploded, spilling an
estimated 679 million liters (180million gallons) of crude oil into U.S. Gulf Coast
waters.
b. In 1989, the oil tanker Exxon Valdez ran aground and spilled 42 million liters (11
million gallons) of oil into Alaskan waters.
c. More than 2.5 times the estimated amount of crude oil spilled in the 2010 Gulf Coast
disaster has been spilled from off the coast of Nigeria with little media attention.
H. Will heavy oil be a useful resource?
1. Oil shale is rock that contains a solid combustible mixture of hydrocarbons called kerogen
which can be processed to produce shale oil.
3. Estimated potential global supplies of unconventional shale oil are about 240 times larger than
estimated global supplies of conventional crude oil.
4. Shale has a low net energy yield so would require subsidies to compete on the open market,
and shale extraction would have a high environmental impact, causing severe land disruption,
high water use, and high CO2 emissions when produced and burned.
I. CASE STUDY: Heavy Oil from Tar Sand
1. Tar sand, or oil sand, is a mixture of clay, sand, water, and a combustible organic material
3. Extraction of oil from tar sand results in major harmful impacts on the land, air, water,
wildlife, and climate.
a. Boreal forest is clear-cut, wetlands drained, and rivers and streams diverted.
J. Natural gas is a useful and clean-burning fossil fuel.
1. Natural gas is a mixture of gases of which 50–90% is methane (CH4).
a. Has high net energy.
b. Versatile fuel that can be burned to heat indoor space and water, propel vehicles and
K. Use of fracking to extract natural gas is controversial
1. Hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, pumps water mixed with sand and some toxic chemicals
underground to fracture deep rock and free up natural gas stored there.
a. The gas flows out, along with a toxic slurry of water, salts, toxic heavy metals, and
naturally occurring radioactive materials that is stored in tanks and holding ponds.
2. CONNECTIONS: Oil Companies and Natural Gas
a. Major oil companies are shifting a portion of their efforts to natural gas production. Two
3. Natural gas can be transported as liquefied natural gas (LNG)—gas converted to liquid at a
4. The long-term global outlook for conventional natural gas supplies is better than that for
crude oil.
5. Potential sources of unconventional natural gas include coal bed methane gas and methane
hydrate, but environmental impacts and cost may limit their use.
L. Coal Is a Plentiful but Dirty Fuel
2. Coal is burned in power plants to generate about 42% of the world’s electricity, and burned in
industrial plants to make steel, cement, and other products.
4. Coal is plentiful and cheap.
Instructor’s Manual for Environmental Science, 15th edition
5. Mining and burning coal have severe impacts on the earth’s air, water, land, climate, and
human health.
6. Coal is a relatively cheap way to produce electricity because most of its harmful
7. CASE STUDY: The Growing Problem of Coal Ash.
a. Burning coal and removing pollutants from the resulting emissions together produce an
ash that contains highly toxic and indestructible chemical elements such as arsenic, lead,
8. The clean coal campaign.
a. Powerful U.S. coal companies and coal-burning utilities oppose measures such as
13-3 What are the advantages and disadvantages of using nuclear energy?
A. How does a nuclear fission reactor work?
1. Nuclear power plant is a highly complex and costly system designed to perform a relatively simple
task: to boil water to produce steam that spins a turbine and generates electricity.
2. A controlled nuclear fission reaction is used to provide the heat.
a. The fission reaction takes place in a reactor.
b. Light-water reactors (LWRs) produce 85% of the world’s nuclear-generated electricity (100%
in the United States).
c. The fuel for a reactor is made from uranium ore mined from the earth’s crust, then enriched and
processed into pellets of uranium dioxide.
d. Pellets are packed into fuel rods which are then grouped into fuel assemblies and placed in the
core of a reactor.
B. What is the nuclear fuel cycle?
1. A nuclear power plant is only one part of the nuclear fuel cycle, which also includes the mining of
uranium, processing and enriching the uranium to make fuel, using it in the reactor, safely storing
2. In addition to a nuclear power plant, the nuclear fuel cycle includes:
a. mining uranium.
b. processing and enriching the uranium to make fuel.
c. using it in the reactor.
C. Storing spent radioactive fuel rods presents risks
1. High-level radioactive wastes consist mainly of spent fuel rods and assemblies.
3. After about 5 years of cooling, the fuel rods can be stored upright on concrete pads in sealed dry-
storage casks made of heat-resistant metal alloys and concrete.
5. Storage pools and dry casks at 68 nuclear power plants in 31 U.S. states are especially vulnerable
to sabotage or terrorist attack.
6. Critics call for construction of much more secure structures to protect spent-fuel storage pools and
dry casks.
D. Dealing with high-level radioactive wastes produced by nuclear power is a difficult problem.
1. High-level radioactive wastes consist mainly of spent fuel rods and assemblies from commercial
2. Spent fuel rods can be processed to remove radioactive plutonium, as is done with some of the
other radioactive wastes we produce.
3. Reduces the storage time from up to 240,000 to about 10,000 years.
4. Deep burial in a geologically acceptable underground repository is the safest and cheapest way to
5. All worn-out nuclear plant plants will have to be dismantled and their high-level radioactive
materials will have to be stored safely for thousands of years.
6. CASE STUDY: High-Level Radioactive Wastes in the United States
a. In 1987, the DOE announced plans to build a repository for underground storage of high-level
radioactive wastes from commercial nuclear reactors.
b. On federal land in the Yucca Mountain desert region, about 160 kilometers (100 miles)
northwest of Las Vegas, Nevada.
Instructor’s Manual for Environmental Science, 15th edition
f. Meanwhile, large amounts of U.S. nuclear waste sit in pools and dry casks and these volumes
of waste continue to grow.
E. Can nuclear power lessen dependence on imported oil and help reduce projected global warming?
1. Nuclear power advocates contend it will:
2. Dissenters claim that
a. While nuclear power plants do not produce greenhouse gasses, the nuclear fuel cycle does.
F. Nuclear Power Is Not Expanding Very Rapidly
1. 1950s prediction was that by the year 2000 at least 1,800 nuclear power plants would supply most
of the world’s electricity.
3. Nuclear power is now the world’s slowest-growing form of commercial energy
G. Experts Disagree about the Future of Nuclear Power
1. Opposition to Nuclear Power.
a. Nuclear power industry could not exist without support from governments and taxpayers.
2. CONNECTIONS: Nuclear Power Plants and the Spread of Nuclear Weapons
a. The United States and 14 other countries have been selling commercial and experimental
nuclear reactors and uranium fuel-enrichment and purification technology in the international
3. Support for Nuclear Power.
a. Governments should continue funding research, development, and pilot-plant testing of
potentially safer and less expensive second-generation reactors.
b. New advanced light-water reactors (ALWRs) have built-in safety features designed to make
explosions and releases of radioactive emissions almost impossible.
4. CASE STUDY: The Three Worst Nuclear Power Plant Accidents
a. Three Mile Island nuclear power plant near Harrisburg, Pennsylvania (USA) had a serious
accident in 1979 that almost caused a meltdown of the plant’s reactor. The accident caused no
13-4 Why is energy efficiency an important energy resource?
A. We waste huge amounts of energy.
1. Energy efficiency is the measure of how much work we can get from each unit of energy we use.
2. Roughly 84% of all commercial energy used in the United States is wasted.
a. About 41% of this energy is unavoidably lost because of the degradation of energy quality
3. Reducing energy waste is the quickest, cleanest, and usually the cheapest way to provide more
energy, reduce pollution and environmental degradation, and slow projected climate change.
a. Widely used devices that waste large amounts of energy unnecessarily:
i. The incandescent light bulb uses only about 5% of the electricity it draws to produce
light. The other 95% is wasted as heat.
B. We can save energy and money in industry.
1. Industry accounts for about 30% of the world’s energy consumption and 33% of U.S. energy
consumption, mostly for the production of metals, chemicals, petrochemicals, cement, and paper.
2. There are many ways for industries to cut energy waste.
a. Cogeneration, or combined heat and power (CHP), combines two useful forms of energy (such
3. CONNECTIONS: Saving Energy with a Smarter Electrical Grid.
a. A digitally controlled, ultra-high-voltage smart grid with super efficient transmission lines
C. We can save energy and money in transportation.
2. Between 1973 and 1985, average fuel efficiency for new vehicles sold in the United States rose
sharply because of the corporate average fuel economy (CAFE) standards.
4. Fuel economy standards for new vehicles in Europe, Japan, China, and Canada are much higher
than are those in the United States.
6. One way to include more of the real cost of gasoline in its market price is through gasoline taxes.
7. Government could encourage consumers them to buy more fuel-efficient vehicles with a fee-bate
program in which buyers of inefficient vehicles would pay a high fee, and the resulting revenues
Instructor’s Manual for Environmental Science, 15th edition
D. More energy efficient vehicles are on the way.
1. Energy-efficient, gasoline-electric hybrid car.
a. A small gasoline-powered motor and an electric motor used to provide the energy needed for
2. The next superefficient car may be an electric vehicle that uses a fuel cell—a device that uses
4. Other ways to save energy in transportation include
a. shifting from diesel-powered to electrified rail systems
b. building accessible mass transit systems within cities
c. constructing high-speed rail lines between cities
d. encourage bicycle use by designating bike lanes on highways and city streets
e. using video conferencing as an alternative to flying employees to meetings.
E. We can design buildings that save energy and money.
1. Changes in the design and construction of buildings could save 30–40% of the energy used
globally.
3. Green architecture, based on energy-efficient and money-saving designs, makes use of natural
4. Super insulated houses in Sweden use 90% less energy for heating and cooling than typical
American homes of the same size.
6. The U.S. Green Building Council’s Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED)
program awards certificates to buildings that meet certain efficiency standards.
7. CASE STUDY: The Rocky Mountain Institute
a. Energy analyst Amory B. Lovins, head of Rocky Mountain Institute (RMI), designed a large,
F. We can save energy and money in existing buildings.
1. Have an expert make an energy audit of a house or other building to suggest ways to improve
energy efficiency.
a. Insulate the building and plug leaks.
b. Use energy-efficient windows.
2. CONNECTIONS: Using Compact Fluorescent Bulbs Reduces Mercury Pollution
a. The typical compact fluorescent light bulb (CFL) contains a small amount of toxic mercury.
b. Newer bulbs will have only half this amount.
G. Why are we still wasting so much energy and money?
1. Fossil fuels, nuclear power, and other widely used energy resources are artificially cheap,
2. There are few large and long-lasting government tax breaks, rebates, low-interest and long-term
3. The U.S. government has done a poor job of encouraging fuel efficiency in motor vehicles and
educating the public about the environmental and economic advantages of cutting energy waste.
4. Inadequate energy-efficiency building codes and appliance standards.
13-5 What are the advantages and disadvantages of using renewable energy resources?
A. We can use renewable energy for many purposes.
2. Renewable energy can come from geothermal energy from the earth’s interior.
4. Several reasons why renewable energy provides only 13% of the world’s energy and 8% of the
energy used in the United States:
a. Since 1950, government tax breaks, subsidies, and funding for research and development of
renewable energy resources have been much lower than those for fossil fuels and nuclear
power.
B. We can heat buildings and water with solar energy.
1. Passive solar heating system absorbs and stores heat from the sun directly.
2. Active solar heating system uses energy from the sun by pumping a heat-absorbing fluid through
special collectors usually mounted on a roof or on special racks to face the sun.
C. We can cool buildings naturally.
2. A living roof can make a huge difference in keeping a building cool.
4. Block the high summer sun with window overhangs or awnings.
6. Use geothermal heat pumps for cooling (and heating in winter).
D. We can concentrate sunlight to produce high-temperature heat and electricity.
2. The net energy yield for solar thermal systems is only about 3%, which means that they need large
3. Inexpensive solar cookers focus and concentrate sunlight for cooking food and sterilizing water.
E. We can use sunlight directly to produce electricity.
2. Solar cells have no moving parts, are safe and quiet, and produce no pollution or greenhouse gases
during operation.
3. The material used in solar cells can be made into paper-thin rigid or flexible sheets that can be
4. Generating electricity with solar cells could become nearly as efficient as using coal-burning
power plants without producing the air pollutants and climate-changing CO2 emitted by those
plants.
F. We can produce electricity from falling and flowing water.
2. Indirect form of solar energy because it is based on the evaporation of water, which is part of the
earth’s solar-powered water cycle.
4. Hydropower is the world’s leading renewable energy source for the production of electricity. In
5. Some analysts expect that use of large-scale hydropower plants will fall slowly over the next
6. Microhydropower generators are small floating turbines that use the power of flowing water to
7. Ocean tides and waves contain energy. Dams have been built across the mouths of some bays and
estuaries to capture the energy in ocean water movement.
G. Using wind to produce electricity is an important step toward sustainability.
1. Wind turbines have been erected in large numbers at favorable sites to create wind farms
3. Wind turbines can be interconnected in arrays of tens to hundreds. These wind farms or wind
parks can be located on land or offshore.
5. Benefits:
a. Wind is widely distributed and inexhaustible
6. Areas with the greatest wind power potential are often far from cities so may require controversial
upgrading and expansion of electrical grid systems.
8. Some people in populated areas oppose wind farms as being unsightly and noisy.
10. Connections: Bird Deaths and Wind Turbines
a. Wind turbines are estimated to kill as many as 440,000 birds each year in the United States,
although other more recent estimates put the figure at 7,000 to 100,000.
H. We can produce energy by burning solid biomass.
1. Biomass consists of plant materials (such as wood and agricultural waste) and animal wastes that
can be burned directly as a solid fuel or converted into gaseous or liquid biofuels.
2. Solid biomass is burned mostly for heating and cooking, but also for industrial processes and for
generating electricity.
a. Wood, wood wastes, charcoal (made from wood), animal manure.
I. We can convert plants and plant wastes to liquid biofuels.
1. Liquid biofuels such as biodiesel (produced from vegetable oils) and ethanol (ethyl alcohol
2. Advantages of biofuels:
a. While oil resources are concentrated in a small number of countries, biofuel crops can be
grown almost anywhere, and thus they help countries to reduce their dependence on imported
3. CONNECTIONS: Biofuels and Climate Change.
a. In 2007, Nobel Prize-winning chemist Paul Crutzen warned that intensive farming of biofuel
crops could speed up projected climate change by producing more greenhouse gases than
5. Case Study: Is Ethanol the Answer?
6. CONNECTIONS: Corn, Ethanol, and Tortilla Riots in Mexico
a. Traditionally, the United States has supplied approximately 75% of the world’s corn.
7. An alternative to corn ethanol is cellulosic ethanol, which is produced from inedible cellulose that
makes up most of the biomass of plants.
a. In this process, enzymes are used to help convert the cellulose from widely available inedible
J. We can get energy by tapping the earth’s internal heat.
1. Geothermal energy is heat stored in soil, underground rocks, and fluids in the earth’s mantle.
of 3–6 meters (10–20 feet).
3. Drill wells into hydrothermal reservoirs of geothermal energy to extract steam or hot water, which
is used to heat homes and buildings, provide hot water, grow vegetables in greenhouses, raise fish
4. Deep geothermal energy stored in hot, dry rock found 5 or more kilometers (3 or more miles)
underground almost everywhere.
a. Tapping just 2% of this source of geothermal energy in the U.S. could produce more than 2,000
times the country’s current annual use of electricity.
b. Digging so deep into the earth’s crust is costly.
K. Will hydrogen save us?
1. Focus is on fuel cells that combine H2 and oxygen gas (O2) to produce electricity and water vapor
(2 H2 + O2→2 H2O).
3. Greatly reduce the threat of projected climate change as long as the H2 is not produced with the
use of fossil fuels or nuclear power.
4. Three challenges in turning the vision of widespread use of hydrogen as a fuel into reality.
a. Hydrogen gas must be produced from elemental hydrogen (H), which requires using other
5. Possible uses of hydrogen fuel:
a. Fuel-cell cars, running on affordable H2 produced from natural gas, could be in widespread use
13-6 How can we make the transition to a more sustainable energy future?
A. Choosing energy paths.
2. Creating energy policy involves trying to answer the following questions for each energy
alternative:
a. How much of the energy resource is likely to be available in the near future (the next 25 years)
and in the long term (the next 50 years)?
b. What is the estimated net energy yield (p. 000) for the resource?
c. What are the estimated costs for developing, phasing in, and using the resource?
d. What government research and development subsidies and tax breaks will be needed to help
3. Hard energy paths are based on increasing use of nonrenewable fossil fuels and nuclear energy.
5. Three general conclusions of experts who have evaluated energy alternatives:
a. There will likely be a gradual shift:
i. from large, centralized power systems such as coal and nuclear power plants
to smaller, decentralized power systems such as household and
Chapter 13: Energy
B. Economics, politics, and education can help us shift to more sustainable energy resources.
1. Governments can use three strategies to help stimulate or reduce the short-term and long-term use
of a particular energy resource.
C. The three big ideas for this chapter:
1. We should evaluate energy resources on the basis of their potential supplies, how much net energy
they provide, and the environmental impacts of using them.
2. Using a mix of renewable energy sources—especially solar, wind, flowing water, sustainable
3. Making the transition to a more sustainable energy future will require sharply reducing energy
Objectives
13-1 What is net energy and why is it important?
CONCEPT 13-1 Energy resources vary greatly in their net energy yields – the amount of energy available from
a resource minus the amount of energy needed to make it available.
2. Explain why government subsidies are needed for a low or negative net energy source to compete on
the open market.
13-2 What are the advantages and disadvantages of using fossil fuels?
CONCEPT 13-2 Oil, natural gas, and coal are currently abundant and relatively inexpensive, but using them
causes air and water pollution, degrades large areas of land, and releases greenhouse gases to the atmosphere.
1. Describe crude oil formation, and list common petroleum products. Analyze the global distribution of
2. Define natural gas. Describe the uses and occurrences of natural gas. List the advantages and
13-3 What are the advantages and disadvantages of using nuclear energy?
CONCEPT 13-3 Nuclear power has a low environmental impact and a very low accident risk, but its use has
been limited by a low net energy yield, high costs, fear of accidents, long-lived radioactive wastes, and the
potential for spreading nuclear weapons technology.
1. Briefly describe the components of a nuclear fission reactor. List the advantages and disadvantages of
using light-water nuclear reactors to create electricity. Be sure to consider the entire nuclear fuel cycle,
2. Briefly outline why the mid-20th century vision of nuclear power has not lived up to expectations.
Describe the opposition to and support for nuclear power. Note research progress on nuclear fusion.
13-4 Why is energy efficiency an important energy source?
CONCEPT 13-4 Improvements in energy efficiency could save at least a third of the energy used in the world
and up to 43% of the energy used in the United States.
1. Define energy efficiency. Describe how much energy is wasted in the United States and the reasons for
13-5 What are the advantages and disadvantages of using renewable energy resources?
CONCEPT 13-5 By using a mix of renewable energy sources we can satisfy our energy needs while drastically
reducing pollution, greenhouse gas emissions, and biodiversity losses.
1. List all common forms of renewable energy resources. Distinguish active from passive solar energy.
Discuss emerging solar technology, its advantages and disadvantages.
3. Discuss the status of wind power, liquid biofuels, and biomass energy resources as a part of global
13-6 How can we make the transition to a more sustainable energy future?
CONCEPT 13-6 We can make the transition to a more sustainable energy future by greatly improving energy
efficiency, using a mix of renewable energy resources, and including the environmental costs of energy
resources in their market prices.
1. Explain the three general conclusions about making the transition to sustainable energy societies.
Key Terms
active solar heating
system
biomass
hydropower
liquefied natural gas
liquefied petroleum gas
petroleum crude oil
photovoltaic PV solar cells
principles of sustainability
Chapter 13: Energy
Teaching Tips
Instructors can begin by asking each student to make of list of things they know comes from petroleum or
crude oil.
• Ask them if they own or use anything plastic. Follow this up with a list of things that include
petroleum products that they might not have thought of.
• Remind them that the decades of the 1930s, 1940s, and 1950s are known as the plastic age. Ask
Discussion Topics
1. What are the current global oil and natural gas reserves? Are there any up and coming extraction
techniques? Will these supplies meet our future needs?
2. Where are the U.S. coal reserves? Will these supplies meet our future needs? What types of
environmental problems are associated with burning coal?
3. How does nuclear fission work and who uses it? What are some of the environmental challenges
associated with nuclear fission?
4. How can energy efficiency be improved?
9. How can hydrogen gas become a versatile fuel of the future?
10. What role does the Atomic Energy Commission (1946–1975), the Nuclear Regulatory Commission,
the Energy Research and Development Administration (ERDA), the Nuclear Safety Analysis Center,
and the Institute of Nuclear Power Operations: the Price-Anderson Act play?
11. What is the difference between the United States’ and China’s energy policy?
12. Where does the energy you use at home come from? How does it change depending on what part of
the country you live in
Instructor’s Manual for Environmental Science, 15th edition
Activities and Projects
1. Arrange a class excursion to a coal-burning power plant in your vicinity. Have a company
2. If there is a nuclear power plant operating in your vicinity, schedule a guided tour for your class.
3. If there is a nuclear power plant operating in your vicinity, invite a spokesperson from your local
4. Ask an architect or contractor with experience in decentralized use of perpetual and renewable
5. Find out if representatives from your local electrical utility offer customers energy audits of their
6. Have students find out if your institution’s electrical utility has a conservation program. Does it have
policies that encourage customers to purchase energy-efficient appliances and use energy-efficient
light bulbs?
7. Organize a class field trip featuring guided tours of homes and/or other buildings that have solar
heating systems. If possible, include examples of both passive and active systems and an earth-
sheltered house.
Attitudes and Values Assessment
1. Do you favor requiring all cars to get at least 21 kilometers per liter (50 miles per gallon), and vans and
light trucks to get at least 15 kilometers per liter (35 miles per gallon) of gasoline within the next 10
years?
2. Would you favor much stricter twice-a-year inspections of air pollution control equipment on motor
vehicles and tough fines for not keeping these systems in good working order?
3. Would you favor a two-dollar tax on a gallon of gasoline or heating oil to help reduce wasteful
consumption, extend oil supplies, reduce air pollution, delay projected global warming, and stimulate
improvements in energy efficiency and the use of less harmful energy sources?
Chapter 13: Energy
Laboratory Skills
Wells, Edward. Lab Manual for Environmental Science. 2009. Lab #15: Oil Spills.
Wells, Edward. Lab Manual for Environmental Science. 2009. Lab #18: Alternative Transportation Fuels.
News Videos
Does Clean Coal Exist, The Brooks/Cole Environmental Science Video Library 2009, ©2011, DVD ISBN-
13: 978-0-538-73355-7
End for Selling Traditional Light Bulbs, The Brooks/Cole Environmental Science Video Library 2009,
©2011, DVD ISBN-13: 978-0-538-73355-7
Finding Alternatives to Oil, The Brooks/Cole Environmental Science Video Library 2009, ©2011, DVD
ISBN-13: 978-0-538-73355-7
Harnessing the Power of the Sea, The Brooks/Cole Environmental Science Video Library 2010 with
Workbook, ©2012, DVD ISBN-13: 978-0-538-73495-0
Smart Energy Meters, The Brooks/Cole Environmental Science Video Library 2010 with Workbook,
©2012, DVD ISBN-13: 978-0-538-73495-0
Additional Videos
Frontline: World, Tortillanomics (Web-based slide shows with audio, 2008, Online)
Instructor’s Manual for Environmental Science, 15th edition
NOVA: Saved by the Sun (Online)
The End of Suburbia: Oil Depletion and the Collapse of The American Dream (Documentary, 2004)
http://www.endofsuburbia.com/
Who Killed Off The Electric Car (Documentary, 2006)
Documentary that investigates the birth and death of the electric car, as well as the role of renewable energy
and sustainable living in the future.
http://www.whokilledtheelectriccar.com/
American Experience: Meltdown at Three Mile Island (PBS documentary series)
America’s worst nuclear disaster, the causes and the aftermath.
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/three/sfeature/index.html
Web Resources
U.S. Department of Energy
World energy overview.
http://www.eia.doe.gov/iea/overview.html