Chapter 2:

Energy and the environment

This chapter covers the following topics:

fossil fuels
energy resources
the demand for energy
conservation and management of energy resources
impact of oil pollution
management of oil pollution.
Exercise 2.1 Fossil fuels

Understanding the processes that allow fossil fuels to form is fundamental knowledge. This exercise will
help to embed the basic concepts in your mind.

1 Use words from this list to complete the passage about fossil fuels and their formation.

organic plants pressure

sediment ground coal

Fossil fuels are not actually made from fossils, but it is a useful term to describe the amount of time it takes to
produce them. Fossils fuels are produced from the decay of ..................................... and animals. These remains
formed matter that became covered in layers of ..................................... .

Over millions of years, and buried deep in the ..................................... by the addition of further layers of sediment,
the organic material is subjected to high ..................................... and heat.

The precise conditions, and the type of animal and plant material available, will determine whether
..................................... , oil or natural gas is produced.

2 Explain why it is not possible to produce more coal or oil simply by collecting and composting organic waste matter,
which is easily available.

3 Why are fossil fuels normally found buried under deep layers of rock?
Exercise 2.2 Energy resources

This exercise will help to develop your skills in identifying the type of energy source that is being used.
It is important to be able to classify renewable and non-renewable sources correctly.

1 Organise the following energy sources into the columns of the table.

oil geothermal hydroelectric wave

coal nuclear tidal natural gas
wind solar biofuels

Non-renewable energy sources Renewable energy sources

2 Describe how a wind turbine may be used to produce electricity.

3 Solar power is often used as an energy generation source. It is also used in the home to provide light. How else might
solar energy be used in the home?

4 Renewable energy schemes are not always popular. Complete the table by giving a reason; economic, social or
environmental, why people might not be in favour of a new renewable energy scheme in their area.

Issue Reason given

Economic
Social

Environmental
Exercise 2.3 The demand for energy

This exercise will help you to explore the factors affecting the demand for energy and how factors such
as the world economy have an impact on overall demand. These are complex subjects and will need
some careful thought.

1 How will the following changes affect the demand for energy? Tick the correct box for each.

Remain the
Increase Decrease
same
A change in employment types in a country from farming to
industrial

A downturn in the world economy

Increased average household wages

A warmer than expected winter temperature in a temperate

country

The building of a more affordable car in an LEDC

A law meaning power companies must use more renewable

sources of energy

An increase in population

2 The table below shows an estimate of the annual amount of power used by twelve countries. To make a fair
comparison, the total power used in a country has been divided by the population size. This gives the average power
consumption for a citizen of that country. The highest usage would be ranked 1 and the lowest ranked 12.

Country Power use (average per person)/GJ

Afghanistan 3.78

Angola 30.09

Australia 234.92

Bangladesh 8.77

Belgium 234.59

Cambodia 14.93

India 23.76

Japan 163.73

Qatar 537.58

United Arab Emirates 347.40

United States of America 300.91

Zambia 26.37

a Complete the two tables.

Greatest users of power (per head of population)

Rank Country
1

Smallest users of power (per head of population)

Rank Country
 10

11

12

b Describe the similarity between the countries using the least amount of power per person.

c Suggest reasons why the countries at the top of the ranking use so much energy per person.

d Using this data, calculate how many people from Afghanistan could be supplied with the power consumed by one
person in Australia.
Exercise 2.4 Conservation and management of energy resources

As global energy demand increases, methods to use it more eficiently and reduce the level of waste
become more important. The skills you will learn in this exercise can be applied to a lot of different
situations.

1 The global demand for energy is increasing and many potential sources are limited in their supply. A household could
become more energy eficient by reducing consumption and reducing energy waste. Give two examples of how
energy consumption can be reduced, two examples of how energy waste can be reduced, and two examples of how
energy can be re-used.

Reduce energy consumption

Reduce energy waste

Re-use energy

2 An analysis of the use of energy in a public building is shown in the diagram.

a Calculate the percentage of the energy which is used in lighting the building.

....................................................................................

b The building uses $120 000 of energy per year. What is the cost of the energy used to power the equipment?
 ....................................................................................

c It has been calculated that the ofices in the building are wasting 9% of the energy supplied to equipment because
it is left in ‘standby’ mode when not in use.

How much money would be saved if staff were made to switch items off?

....................................................................................

d Suggest two ways in which the building could be modified in order to reduce the amount of energy used on
heating and cooling.

3 Energy companies are being encouraged to generate an increasing proportion of their electricity from renewable
sources. Why might the use of non-renewable resources still have a significant part to play for many years to come?

4 A plan has been submitted to allow the extraction of oil by fracking (hydraulic fracturing). The local community group
is against the plan.

Produce an explanation of the benefits of fracking that could be used to highlight the benefits of this plan.

5 A student plans to investigate the energy use of three different types of light bulb that are commonly used in
buildings.

a Outline the equipment and method they will need to use to complete this investigation.
b The information from this investigation can be used to calculate the cost of energy used by each type of light
bulb.

Explain which other factors need to be included in this calculation to be able to evaluate the true costs of each
type of light bulb.
Exercise 2.5 Impact of oil pollution

This exercise will help you to develop the appropriate vocabulary relating to the subject of oil pollution.

1 Answer the clues to complete the puzzle. Each question relates to an aspect of oil pollution.

When complete, the name of a famous oil spill accident will appear.

1. An unintended or unexpected incident. (8)

2. The sea environment. (6)
3. Location of many oil rigs. (8)
4. Name to describe unrefined oil. (5)
5. Liquid fossil fuel. (3)
6. The reason for many oil tanker spills. (9)
7. Excluded from the sea when the sea is covered in oil. (3)
8. The impact of an oil spill on many organisms. (5)
9. An oil spill will severely effect a local tourism ................... (8)
10. The ideal number of oil spills. (4)

Name of oil spill accident ..........................................................................

2 Explain why onshore oil spills have a far smaller impact when compared to those that occur in the sea.
Exercise 2.6 Management of oil pollution

The world is very reliant on oil. There are huge challenges in transporting it from the areas where it is
located to other countries that use large amounts. This exercise will help explore these issues.

The graph below shows the number of oil transport movements between 1970 and 2014, and the number of major oil
spills during the same period.

1 Complete the graph by plotting the data for the seaborne oil trade for 2003 : 7800 billion tonne-miles.

2 In what year was there the greatest number of major oil spills?

3 Describe the trends in the amount of oil transport movement taking place.

4 What changes to tanker design might be responsible for the trend in major oil spills?

5 In 1983, the MARPOL treaty was introduced. This has helped in reducing the number of major oil spills. Why was the
drop in incidents gradual and not immediate?
6 Accidents will still mean that spillages occur. Give three ways in which a spill may be cleared up, and give the
advantages and disadvantages for each method.

Method Advantage Disadvantage