Energy in the

Environment

By: Furqan Saeed

 Energy
• Energy is often defined as the ability to do
work
• Living organisms need energy for growth
and movement.
 Forms of Energy
• Kinetic energy • Elastic energy
• Potential energy • Electromagnetic
• Thermal energy energy
• Gravitational energy • Chemical energy
• Sound energy • Nuclear energy
• Geothermal energy
 Kinetic Energy

• The energy of motion.

• The faster the object moves – the more
kinetic energy.
• Kinetic energy depends on both mass
and velocity.
• KE = ½(mass x velocity2)
• The kinetic energy of an
object is the extra energy
which it possesses due to
its motion

The cars of a roller coaster reach their

• The work needed to maximum kinetic energy when at the bottom of
their path. When they start rising, the kinetic
accelerate a body of a energy begins to be converted to gravitational
potential energy, but the total amount of
given mass from rest to energy in the system remains constant;
assuming negligible friction and other energy
its current velocity conversion factors.
 Potential energy
• Energy stored within a physical system. It
is called potential energy because it has
the potential to be converted into other
forms of energy, such as kinetic energy

• Unit : joul
 Thermal energy
• Thermal energy is the
energy portion of a
system that increases
with its temperature.
• thermal energy" is a term
used to describe the
energy content of a
system related to heating
effects, e.g. temperature
increase or decrease
 Gravitational energy

• energy associated
with the gravitational
field
 Geothermal Energy
• Energy generated by
heat stored beneath
the Earth's surface or
the collection of
absorbed heat in the
atmosphere and
oceans
 Elastic Energy
• The elastic energy is
the energy which
causes or is released
by the elastic
distortion of a solid or
a fluid.

• Elastic energy is
internal energy that
can be converted into
mechanical energy
 Sound Energy
• Sound is vibration
transmitted through a
solid, liquid, or gas;
particularly, sound
means those
vibrations composed
of frequencies
 Chemical Energy
• Chemical energy is the
energy due to
associations of atoms in
molecules and various
other kinds of aggregates
of matter. It may be
defined as a work done
by electric forces during
re-arrangement of electric
charges, electrons and
protons, in the process of
aggregation
 Nuclear Energy
• Nuclear Energy is
energy due to the
splitting (fission) of
the nuclei of atoms.
 Nuclear Energy
• Fusion, two atomic
nuclei fuse together to
form a heavier
nucleus

• Fission, the breaking

of a heavy nucleus
into two (or more
rarely three) lighter
nuclei
 Electromagnetic Energy
Electromagnetic (EM) radiation is a self-propagating
wave in space or through transparent matter
 Non-Renewable Energy
Sources
• Conventional
– Fossil Fuel (Petroleum, Natural Gas, Coal)
– Nuclear
• Unconventional
– Oil Shale
– Natural gas hydrates in marine sediment
• Coal, oil and gas are called "fossil fuels"
• It covers around 66% of the world's
electrical power, and 95% of the world's
total energy demands (including heating,
transport, electricity generation and other
uses).
• Coal is crushed to a fine dust and burnt. Oil
and gas can be burnt directly.
• Coal provides around 28% of our energy
• oil provides 40%
 Advantages
• Very large amounts of electricity can be generated in one
place using coal, fairly cheaply.

• Transporting oil and gas to the power stations is easy.

• Gas-fired power stations are very efficient.

• A fossil-fuelled power station can be built almost

anywhere, so long as you can get large quantities of fuel
to it.
 Disadvantages
• Basically, the main drawback of fossil fuels is pollution.
Burning any fossil fuel produces carbon dioxide, which contributes
to the "greenhouse effect", warming the Earth.
Burning coal produces more carbon dioxide than burning oil or gas.
It also produces sulphur dioxide, a gas that contributes to acid rain.
We can reduce this before releasing the waste gases into the
atmosphere.

• Mining coal can be difficult and dangerous. Strip mining destroys

large areas of the landscape.

• Coal-fired power stations need huge amounts of fuel, which means

train-loads of coal almost constantly. In order to cope with changing
demands for power, the station needs reserves.
 Nuclear
• Nuclear power is generated using
Uranium
• Natural uranium is only 0.7%
• "uranium-235", which is the type of
uranium that undergoes fission in this type
of reactor.
 Advantages
• Nuclear power costs about the same as coal, so
it's not expensive to make.

• Does not produce smoke or carbon dioxide, so it

does not contribute to the greenhouse effect.

• Produces huge amounts of energy from small

amounts of fuel.

• Produces small amounts of waste.

• Nuclear power is reliable

 Disadvantages
• Although not much waste is produced, it is
very, very dangerous.
It must be sealed up and buried for many
years to allow the radioactivity to die away.

• Nuclear power is reliable, but a lot of

money has to be spent on safety - if it
does go wrong, a nuclear accident can be
a major disaster.
 Renewable Energy Sources

• Solar thermal power

• Wind
• Hydropower
• Biomass
• Ocean energy
• Geothermal
Solar thermal power
 Three main ways that we use the Sun's energy

• 1 Solar Cells (called "photovoltaic" or

"photoelectric" cells) that convert light
directly into electricity.
• In a sunny climate, you can get enough
power to run a 100W light bulb from just
one square metre of solar panel.
• 2 -Solar water
heating, where heat
from the Sun is used
to heat water in glass
panels on your roof.
• 3 -Solar Furnaces use a
huge array of mirrors to
concentrate the Sun's
energy into a small space
and produce very high
temperatures.
• There's one at Odellio, in
France, used for scientific
experiments.
It can achieve
temperatures up to
33,000 degrees Celsius.
 Advantages
• Solar energy is free - it needs no fuel and produces
no waste or pollution.

• In sunny countries, solar power can be used where

there is no easy way to get electricity to a remote
place.

• Handy for low-power uses such as solar powered

garden lights and battery chargers
 Disadvantages
• Doesn't work at night.

• Very expensive to build solar power stations.

Solar cells cost a great deal compared to the
amount of electricity they'll produce in their
lifetime.

• Can be unreliable unless you're in a very sunny

climate.
Wind power
 Advantages
• Wind is free, wind farms need no fuel.

• Produces no waste or greenhouse gases.

• The land beneath can usually still be used for farming.

• A good method of supplying energy to remote areas.

 Disadvantages
• The wind is not always predictable - some days have no
wind.

• Suitable areas for wind farms are often near the coast,
where land is expensive.

• Can kill birds - migrating flocks tend to like strong winds.

• Can affect television reception if you live nearby.

• Can be noisy.
Hydropower
1999 Regional Shares of Crude Oil
Production (3445 Mt)
World Energy Consumption
World Energy Consumption
 World Total Energy Consumption
1990 -2020 (Quadrillion Btu)

Region/Country 1990 1997 2020

United States 84.0 94.2 120.9
Western Europe 59.9 64.0 78.4
Japan 18.1 21.3 25.4
China 27.0 36.7 97.3
Former Soviet Union 61.0 40.8 57.3
Total World 346.7 379.9 607.7
U.S. Energy Flow, 1999
U.S. Energy Consumption by Source, 1998