Transcript Who am I…

What is the relationship
between energy use and
economic development?
As an economy develops greater amounts of
energy are required for many reasons including:
1.
Mechanisation of agriculture.
2.
Expansion of manufacturing industry.
3.
Demands of a growing service sector.
4.
Increased freight and general business
transportation.
5.
Increasing car ownership.
6.
Higher level of domestic use.
7.
Expansion of power networks to isolated areas.
The relationship between energy and poverty
Describe the main trends that can be seen in the above
graph.
Give suggestions for some of the anomalies.
Why is energy consumption so low in LEDCs?
The main answer is poverty. People depend on goods and
services produced locally.
They cannot afford to buy expensive manufactured
goods that require lots of energy to make; nor can
they afford to own their own cars, and in rural areas
often rely on animals for transport.
Cooking and heating depend on bio fuels like wood and
crops are produced using human and animal labour
rather than petrol machines.
Most LEDCs have little if any income left after
satisfying their basic needs, Thus, international
travel, which is extremely energy intensive, is not an
option for the bulk of the worlds population.
Case Study:
The energy situation in the UK – An
energy rich country.
Describe and explain the changes from 1990
to 2004.
Background info
The UK is running out of significant reserves of oil
and gas that made it the leading over the last
three decades.
In 2005 Britain became a net importer of natural
gas and is expected to lose its self sufficiency by
2009!
The UK coal industry has also continued to decline.
This means that by 2020 Britain will be importing
about ¾ of its primary energy needs! There are
growing fears that energy could become a
political weapon, therefore leaving the UK in a
vulnerable position.
Future Issues
Many of the country's coal and nuclear
power stations need to be closed in the
next decade.
New development will be very costly and
the government must decide on a new
strategy to reduce carbon emissions.
The government has set the optimistic
target of reducing greenhouse emissions
by 60% by 2050.
UK – Oil and Gas
The UK has already taken between ½ and ¾ of the oil
and gas in its territorial waters.
UK oil production peaked at the end of 1990s and has
now declined by about 30% - this reduction in
production is expected to continue.
It is also predicted that natural gas production will fall
considerably by 2010.
More than 90% GB’s gas comes from the North Sea –
other 10% imported from Europe.
Gas imports will rise greatly in the future as this is
projected to account for an increasing share of
electricity generation.
The government is trying to
encourage development of the
remaining oil reserves in the North
Sea.
New technologies are being
developed to extract more oil than
was previously possible from the
North Sea.
Example: Miller oil field 240km NE
of Peterhead, Scotland. Production
peaked in 1995 and was due to close
down in 2007.
However, by injecting carbon dioxide from a mainland power station
into the oil field it has been estimated a further 40 million barrels of
oil could be extracted – increasing the oil field life expectancy by 20
years.
Nuclear Power
As a result of the falling North Sea energy production and
concerns about the UK energy mix, nuclear energy is
back on the agenda.
It takes at least 10 year to plan and build a nuclear reactor
and environmental action groups such as Greenpeace are
absolutely opposed to nuclear power.
Supporters believe nuclear is the only way to meet UK
energy needs and the climate change obligations at
reasonable cost.
However, without the construction of new power plants, the
share of nuclear generated electricity will decline from
23% in 2005 to 7% by 2020. Of the country’s 12 nuclear
plants, 9 are due to be closed in the next ten years.
What would you do?
Coal
At the beginning of the 20th century coalmining was the
country's biggest employer. However, at the end of
2005 there was only 42 open coast mines, employing
9,300 people.
Why has coal declined?
It is the dirtiest and most inflexible of the fossil fuels
– all of the easily accessible coal has been mined.
The country has 19 coal-fired power stations, very little
UK coal is exported, however imports are very
significant.
Coal could have a come back – How?
Clean coal technologies…
This has developed forms of coal that burn with
greater efficiency and capture coal’s
pollutants before they are emitted into the
atmosphere.
The latest ‘supercritical’ coal-fired power
stations, operating at higher pressure and
temperatures can operate at 20% higher
efficiency levels than previous power stations.
Existing coal power stations could also be
updated to include this technology.
Hydroelectric Power (HEP)
The UK generates only about 0.8% of electricity from
HEP. Most of the large scale plants are located in the
Scottish highlands. – Why?
There are few opportunities to increase large-scale
production of HEP as the most attractive and
environmentally acceptable sites have already been
taken.
In July 2005, Scottish ministers approved plans for a
new HEP generating station at Glendoe in Invernessshire. Will be built underground at the site of Loch
Ness. Could generate 100 megawatts of electricity to
meet the power requirements of 37 000 homes.
Other renewable options
The government has set a target of 10% of electricity
from renewable sources by 2010.
In 2003, biomass used for both heat and electricity
generation accounted for 87% of renewable energy in
the UK. The majority of this came from land fill gas
and waste combustion. Electricity produced form
biomass, accounted for 1.55% of total electricity
supply in 2003.
There is a small geothermal plant in Southampton – use
hot water from deep below the city.
In 2003 total capacity for solar in the UK was sonly 6
megawatts.
There are 2 wave power devices operating in the UK –
both in Scotland. Total capacity is 1.25 megawatts.
Wind energy
Scroby Sands,
Britain's newest
(2005) and largest
wind farm is located
on a sand back 3km
off the coast of Great
Yarmouth. 30 turbines
can produce enough
electricity for 41,000
homes.
The government promotes wind power at least
partly to help meet its commitment to reduce
carbon emissions.
Under the ‘renewables obligation certificate’,
energy companies are obliged to generate
part of their electricity through renewable
sources. At present the requirement is 4.3%
byt will rise to 15% by 2015.
Power companies can meet their obligations by
buying credits from other companies that
operate renewable energy facilities. The
credit system has resulted in significant
payments from conventional power companies
to ‘green’ operators.
In 2005 the total amount of financial
assistance to renewable energy
companies (mainly wind farms) was
£700 million a year – expected to rise
to £1 billion by 2010.
A recent estimate was that renewable
energy capacity would rise 21-fold
between 2005 and 2010 – if this
materialises 7% of UK’s electricity will
come from wind.
Microgeneration
There has been a developing interest in new small scale
energy generators . In the UK, microgenerators are
generators with a very small output of energy. For
example photovoltaic tiles and wind turbines on roofs
are no longer a rarity.
If these were installed in large enough numbers they
could take a considerable strain off overloaded
distribution grids.
The government-sponsored Energy Saving Trust (EST)
estimates that home-powered generators of various
types could provide between 30-40% of the UK’s
energy needs by 2050.