Learning Objectives
After reading and studying this chapter, students should:
• Understand the concept of peak oil and how it might impact our economic and social
environment.
• Know the general patterns of energy consumption in the United States.
• Know the types of major fossil fuels and the environmental impact associated with their
development.
• Understand nuclear energy and its associated important environmental issues.
• Understand geothermal energy, how it is produced, and its future as an energy source.
• Know the main types of alternative and renewable energy and their environmental
significance.
• Know the important issues related to energy policy, particularly the difference between
hard path and the soft path, and the concept of sustainable energy development.
Chapter Summary
This extensive chapter on energy resources addresses the challenges of energy supply and demand, the
occurrence, economics, sustainability, and impacts of procurement and use of various energy sources,
as well as approaches to energy sustainability. The chapter opens with a discussion of energy
consumption in the United States and the world. The bulk of the chapter consists of sections addressing
details of a variety of energy resources, including fossil fuels, nuclear energy, geothermal energy, and
various renewable energy sources. The chapter closes with discussions of conservation, efficiency, and
the two types of energy policy.
Chapter Outline
I. Worry over energy sources is nothing new: energy shocks past and present
A. Exhaustion of wood supplies in Roman society caused price shocks and shift to solar energy
B. In summer 2008, gasoline price increases shocked United States citizens (see A Closer Look:
Peak Oil)
C. In 2001, California experienced rolling electricity blackouts
D. In 2003, the northeastern United States experienced a massive blackout
E. See Case History: Energy transitions from approximately 1800 to present
II. Energy supply and energy demand
A. Ninety percent of United States energy consumption is from fossil fuels
B. United States energy consumption has changed
1. sharp increase from 1950–1974
3. rate of increase rose again during the 1990s
C. U.S. energy policy will be an important topic in the coming decades
D. Projections of energy supply and demand are difficult
III. Fossil fuels
A. Origin of fossil fuels is intimately related to the geologic cycle
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1. fossil fuels are solar energy stored in the form of organic material transformed after burial
B. Coal
2. geology of coal
3. classification and distribution of coal
4. impact of coal mining
C. Hydrocarbons: oil and gas
1. oil and natural gas are made up of carbon, hydrogen, and oxygen
3. geology of oil and gas deposits
4. oil production
5. distribution and quantity of oil and gas
7. black shale (tight natural gas)
8. methane hydrate
9. impact of exploration and development
11. oil shales and tar sands
IV. Future of oil
A. Recent estimates of proven oil reserves suggest that oil and natural gas will last a few decades
1. important question pertains to when oil production will peak
2. when production peaks, less oil will be available and price shocks will occur
B. Evidence of a potential crude oil crisis
1. time is approaching when 50 percent of total crude oil will have been consumed
3. world consumption is 31 billion barrels per year; for every three barrels used, only one is
discovered
5. significant production in the United States is projected not to extend beyond 2090; world
production will be nearly exhausted by 2100
C. Possible responses to projections
1. education as antidote to ignorance and denial
2. new energy sources need to be developed before oil production peak
V. Fossil fuel and acid rain
A. Acid rain
2. wet vs. dry deposition
3. generated by reaction of sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxide with water
B. Environmental effects of acid rain
1. effects depend upon geology, climate patterns, type of vegetation, and composition of soil
3. damage to lake ecosystems
4. damage to human structures
C. A solution to the acid rain problem
1. add calcium carbonate to buffer lakes
3. reduction of acid-rain causing pollutants is national and international goal, but effects will
linger
VI. Nuclear energy
A. Energy from fission (see A Closer Look: Radioactivity)
1. nuclear fission produces nuclear energy
3. sustained or stable reactions required for electricity generation
5. U-238 not fissionable, but neutron bombardment converts it to fissionable plutonium 239
B. Geology and distribution of uranium
1. concentrated by igneous and sedimentary processes
C. Reactor design and operation
1. burner reactors
3. meltdown
4. pressurized water reactors are much safer
D. Risks associated with fission reactors
1. fission produces radioactive isotopes
3. Three Mile Island
4. Chernobyl
E. The future of energy from fission
1. Now produces 20% of United States electricity
2. nuclear fission may be a viable replacement for fossil fuels, but with its own set of drawbacks
F. Radioactive waste management
1. safe disposal of nuclear waste a significant environmental issue
3. transuranic waste
4. high-level radioactive wastes
a. the scope of the high-level disposal problem
b. disposal of high-level waste in the geologic environment
c. long-term safety
G. Energy from fusion
2. fusion research has had success, but fusion may not be economically viable
4. technology not yet available
VII. Geothermal energy
A. Definition
1. natural heat from Earth’s interior
2. used at numerous sites around the world
B. Geology of geothermal energy
1. concentrations largely associated with tectonic processes
3. geothermal gradient
5. groundwater systems
C. Environmental impact of geothermal energy development
2. impacts include noise, gas emissions, scars on land
Energy Resources
4. hazards include thermal or chemical pollution from hot wastewaters
D. Future of geothermal energy
2. presently supplies only a small fraction of United States energy
VIII. Renewable energy sources
A. Alternative energy includes all non-fossil fuel resources
1. renewable vs. nonrenewable
1. success of alternative energy requires matching of renewable energy facilities to highest
quality sources
2. “solar energy,” broadly defined, comprises many of the renewable energy sources
C. Solar energy
1. passive vs. active systems
3. photovoltaics
4. solar energy and the environment
D. Hydrogen
1. used in fuel cells
3. can be produced using a variety of other energy sources
E. Water power
2. hydroelectric power
4. water power and the environment
F. Wind power
2. wind prospecting
4. low environmental impact, but some adverse effects
5. growth of wind power has been rapid in last decade
G. Biofuels
1. organic matter such as plant material and animal waste
3. primary sources in the United States are forest products, agricultural products, and combustible
urban waste
IX. Conservation, efficiency, and cogeneration
A. Conservation
1. moderation of energy demand
B. Efficiency
1. processes that capture and use of waste heat from power-generation and industrial operations
X. Energy policy for the future
A. Energy policy is at a crossroads
1. first road involves finding and using greater amounts of fossil fuels and building larger power
2. second road involves energy alternatives that are renewable, flexible, decentralized, and
B. Sustainable energy policy
1. finding useful sources of energy that can be maintained and don’t pollute the atmosphere
Answers to Review Questions and Critical Thinking Questions
Review Questions
1. Peak oil refers to the time when one-half of Earth’s oil has been extracted and used. It is important
2. The type of coal is determined by its carbon percentage and its heat value on combustion. Coal type
3. Methane hydrates are ice-like compounds composed of methane molecules surrounded by “cages” of
6. The major environmental concerns related to nuclear energy include impacts of uranium mining,
nuclear waste disposal, and the threat of nuclear explosions.
9. The major renewable energy resources include solar, hydrogen, water, wind, and biomass.
10. Environmental concerns associated with hydroelectric power include the trapping of nitrogen gas in
12. Cogeneration is the utilization of waste energy at power-generation and industrial facilities to
Critical Thinking Questions
1. An answer to this question will need to consider the history of oil use and its impact on economic
and social development, as the issue of oil’s environmental impacts and the perception thereof is
2. An answer to this question will depend upon the magnitude of changes likely to occur when peak oil
3. An answer to this question must address the economics of various energy sources, including costs of
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4. This question depends upon the student’s perspective on the nature of energy reserves and associated