Natural resources and energy resources
Non-renewable & renewable energy
Oil and gas
Coal
Nuclear power
Unconventional fossil fuels
‘Energy resources - renewables’ presentation follows on from
this on and covers renewable energy
What are natural resources?
What are some examples of natural resources and
what are they used for?
What can nations try to do if they don’t have all the
natural resources they need?
Natural resources – natural substances required by humans for different needs.
Metals
and Rainforests
Crops
minerals
Water Coal, oil Forests
and gas
What are energy
resources?
What are some of the
different types of
energy resource?
Coal
Solar
Biofuel
Wind
Natural
Biomass gas
Nuclear
Hydroelectric
Geothermal
Energy mix - the specific combination of different energy sources a
country uses to meet its energy consumption needs
What is a renewable
energy resource?
What is a non-
renewable energy
resource?
Depends
Renewable Non-renewable
Depends
Renewable Non-renewable
*renewables includes
wind, solar,
geothermal, biomass
and biofuels
Billion toe =
billion tonnes
of oil
equivalent BP 2017 Energy Outlook
© BP p.l.c. 2017
Oil
Natural gas
Coal
Nuclear
Unconventional non-
renewables: tar sands,
methane hydrates
• Crude oil and natural
gas are formed from
phytoplankton and
zooplankton
• Microorganisms sink
Phytoplankton & zooplankton to the bottom of the
ocean when they die
forming layers of
organic rich sediment
• High primary
Organic rich production, stagnant,
stratified water
sediments column, lack of sea
floor decomposers,
low oxygen (anoxic) =
Layers of good conditions for
forming oil and gas
sediment source rocks
• Organic rich
sediments are
buried by layers
and layers of
sediment
• Increased and
sustained heat and
pressure ‘cooks’
the organic matter
in the source rock
into petroleum
• Temperature and
Organic rich sediments burial depth
determine which
hydrocarbons are
produced
Temperature and
burial depth
determine
whether you get
oil or gas and
how much is
formed.
• Oil and gas
migrate upwards
Oil rig
form the source
rock into reservoir
rocks capped by
Drill Sea impermeable seals
• Can sometimes
Impermeable seal rock migrate all the way
Reservoir rock to the surface e.g.
Oil La Brae tarpits
• Trapped deposits
are drilled to
release oil and gas
Oil rich • Hydraulic
source rock fracking can also
be used to extract
gas
Oil & gas burned to heat steam propels Electricity
water turbine
• Crude oil is refined by fractional distillation into kerosene, petrol,
diesel etc. before it is used as a fuel.
• Relatively inexpensive to extract.
• Reliable and dependable source of energy and income for local
community e.g. in Aberdeen, Scotland.
• Natural gas can be converted into liquid form
• When oil and gas are burnt they release gas into the atmosphere.
carbon dioxide
• Oil spills are environmental disasters – e.g. BP Mexico oil spill 2010
• Most of the coal
we have on Earth
today was formed
in the
Carboniferous
Swamp period 360 – 299
million years ago
• Tropical, swampy
climate
• Plants die and over
time form layers
Older rock of squashed plant
layers material
• Squashed plant
material
accumulates over
thousands of
years.
• Plant material
turns into peat.
Peat • Peat is used for
fuel Ireland,
Scotland and
Finland
• Peat is buried by
layers of sediment
and subjected to
increased heat and
pressure
• ‘Cooked’ into coal
• The type of coal
Younger rock you get depends on
layers how long it was
buried, how deep
Coal seam and how hot it got.
Older rock layers
The hotter the
temperature, the
deeper the coal is
buried, and the longer
the amount of time
the coal is buried, the
more efficient coal
you get.
Coal burned to steam propels Electricit
heat water turbine
y
• Coal is cheap and there is lots of it!
• When coal is are burnt it releases carbon
dioxide, sulphur dioxide and nitrogen dioxide
into the atmosphere contributing to global
burned for heat warming and acid rain.
• Coal mining is harmful to the environment and
mine workers – toxic dust, cave-ins and
explosions.
Nuclear reactions
steam propels
Heat Electricity
turbine
• Uranium and plutonium are nuclear fuels – fission reactions
• Nuclear fuels do not produce harmful greenhouse gases
• Nuclear power is very efficient
• Produces radioactive waste which is dangerous and has to be sealed in containers and
buried for thousands of years.
• Nuclear cores can melt down releasing harmful radiation e.g. Fukushima Daiichi plant
in 2011
• Safety is expensive
• Tar sands - mixtures of clay, sand, water, and bitumen
• Bitumen can’t be pumped so tar sands are mined.
• Vast reserve of untapped oil.
• Provided a massive economic growth and thousands of jobs
in Alberta.
Uses large amounts of land, water, and energy, when compared to other oil
resources
Carbon dioxide emissions are ~15% higher compared with standard crude oil
extraction
Open-pit mining produces a lot of waste - leftover sand, clays, and contaminants
Methane hydrates are methane (natural gas)trapped
lattices of ice.
Arctic permafrost and sea floor sediments at 300-500m depth
Untapped reserve of fossil fuel
Warming or depressurising turns into water + natural gas
Global warming is likely to liberate methane hydrates
Past climate warming events in geological history are linked with methane
hydrate
CH4 is 20x more potent than CO2 – accelerate global warming
Energy resources are natural resources - non-renewable or renewable
Oil, gas and coal are fossil fuels formed from marine plankton (oil and gas) and land
plants in swampy conditions (coal).
Fossils fuels can be burned directly for heat or used to generate electricity through
heating water.
Nuclear power is generated from the radioactive elements uranium ad plutonium. No
greenhouse gases but issues with radioactive waste disposal.
Unconventional fossil fuels include methane hydrates and tar sands.
