Unit 10

Primary Source Ranking  

List #1:

1. Hydroelectric; threat to river ecosystems, releases methane
2. Geothermal; emits hazardous gases
3. Natural Gas; methane, hydrocarbon, and hydrogen sulfide are released by it 
4. Nuclear; Chernobyl 2.0 could happen, ie radioactive waste
5. Solar; land use and habitat loss, water use, and the use of hazardous materials in manufacturing
6. WInd; kill birds and bats and aesthetically displeasing
7. Oil; oil spills can kill an entire aquatic system and emit hydrogen sulfide
8. Biomass; carbon monoxide, nitrogen oxides, danger of indoor pollution.
9. Coal; highest emitter of Co2 among energy sources

List #2:

1.  Oil
2. Natural Gas
3. Coal
4. Nuclear
5. Biomass
6. Hydroelectric
7. Wind
8. Geothermal
9. Solar

List #3:.

1. Oil
2. Coal
3. Natural Gas
4. Biomass
5. Nuclear
6. Hydroelectric
7. Wind
8. Solar
9. Geothermal

List #4: Assuming you mean EROI

1. Wind
2. Coal
3. Hydroelectricity
4. Natural gas
5. Nuclear Energy
6. Solar
7. Geothermal
8. Oil
9. Biomass

Biofuels VS Fossil Fuels 

Availability

• Biofuels include ethanol and biodiesel. Ethanol is an alcohol that is made from starches and sugars thus it can be found wherever plants grow.  Biodiesel is usually produced by taking oil from algae and plants thus it can also be found wherever plants grow making it more easily accessible than fossil fuels and it is a potentially renewable source as well.
• Fossil Fuels are found deep underground such as oil and natural gas; coal has to be mined but in the end mostly all fossil fuels are spread out across earth but as stated above they are difficult to access and will not be available forever since they are unrenewable. 

Environmental impact

• Biofuels- Emits CO2 and methane. Causes loss of agricultural land and a possible net increase in greenhouse emissions. 
• Fossil fuels- fossil fuels release CO2 and hydrogen sulfide, they also release trace amounts of toxic metals that include mercury and it also contributes to acid rain. The dust from drilling is harmful and oil spills are horrid. 

Difference in their impact on the carbon cycle

• Biofuels- since biofuels come from plants they already generate Co2 so the CO2 that it emits is the carbon that was taken in by them before so it is null
• Fossil fuels overload the carbon cycle with extra carbon dioxide and thus hurts the carbon cycle since it is not ready for the new carbon. 

Nuclear Disasters

Environmental- Damaged the plant beyond use. More than 200,000 square km of europe were damaged and a lot of animals were damaged as well. Also basically destroyed the Red Pine forest and it damaged the water systems in the area in and around chernobyl

Economic- Destroyed the area around and inside Chernobyl and made the city of Chernobyl an impossible place to have a good economy since nobody could inhabit it. 

Human Health- At the time of the accident 31 people died and many more died later. There have also been an estimated amount of 4,000 cancer deaths caused by Chernobyl and has also been the cause of over 5,000 cases of thyroid cancer for humans under 18 years of age caused by the absorption of radioactive iodine.

ANWR

The Alaska National Wildlife Refuge is a tundra biome. It is easily damaged because since it is a tundra it has very few species and it has a very slow recovery rate. Furthermore, since it is a tundra it takes a while for the pollutants to flush and minor alterations can hugely alter the ecosystem. 

Environmental impacts- Oil spill could prove to be disastrous and the slow flushing of the pollutants would only further harm the ecosystem. There is also a reduction of breeding sites for caribou and the sleeping dens for polar bears. Drilling could also displace populations and move migrating routes. But drilling could also be good because it provides more oil for us humans. 

Economic- Oil spills are massively expensive to recover and repair from. Drilling for oil is also expensive, especially setting up the oil rig and such, but the payback from successfully getting oil is huge, economically speaking, as Kevin and Mitchell pointed out in their Pecha Kucha. 

Reducing Consumption

We can reduce the overall consumption of oil by using more biofuels to more cleanly transport ourselves and we can also start using the suns energy more efficiently. The sun is always there to be used but we never use it to its maximum efficiency. There could even be solar powered cars that run on both sun and ethanol on rainy days.

BIG Picture Discussion

Economic impact- The impact of energy on our economy is huge. We rely on energy, but at what price is too high? We pay for light bills, water bill, AC bills, etc. These are all forms of energy that come from the sources that we have been taught of in this unit. The wars in the Middle East are mainly caused by oil and that is a huge price that the USA has payed by having to finance wars and other deals that involve extracting oil from the ME. Transportation also affects the economy because subconsciously people travel more frequently when gas is less. 

Environmental impact- The impact that fossil fuels and renewable resources has had on the environment is extremely massive and even that is an understatement. All the way from the extraction of the energy source, such as oil, peat, coal, etc, can harm the environment and cause a huge problem for many ecosystems and then at the end of the specter we have the actual use of the fossil fuel or source which contributes, most of the time, to the greenhouse gases that harm the ozone layer and kill of ecosystems. The use of dams harms whole schools of fish and the oil spills in the Gulf have destroyed generations of certain species. 

Human Impact- Our greed and inefficiency as humans in the past is the reason for why we have to now search for cleaner and renewable sources of energy that are sustainable. But humans also impact energy by being able to harness it, which if we actually think about it it's a tremendous feat from the human race. We have used a simple fossil fuel to power our homes, our cars, our lives!

Government legislation- 
Rural Electrification Act (1935)- provided loans to set up a network of power lines to serve rural communities with energy so that rural communities could finally have energy. 
Nuclear Waste Policy Act (1982)- provided for a system for nuclear waste disposal for high level radioactive waste and set up people to research the nuclear waste and its effects. Helped create Yucca Mountain.
Emergency Petroleum Allocation Act (1973)- Required president to allocate and control the prices of oil/petroleum after the massive petroleum shortages of 1973
Energy Policy Act (2005)- provided laws and mandates to use cleaner energy and be more efficient with the use of energy overall in the USA.