Day 1

Welcome to Intersession!!

Why is it important to know where our power comes from?

Kilowatt Ours

• What if you could see a direct impact on Earth with your actions?

• For example, flip a switch= blow up a mountain top

• Would it impact your actions?

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Access to energy

http://content.sierraclub.org/coal/los-angeles/resourcesVideo about grid operation

Complete worksheet

How are we generating usable

energy?

• Why are some resources considered renewable?

• How do you think these percentages, from 2010, are changing?

How does CA compare to USA?

Where are the power plants located?

http://science.howstuffworks.com/environmental/energy/power1.htm

Who’s using the energy?

• The dawn of the age of industrialization, ushered in by the invention of the steam engine, caused a 3-fold increase in energy consumption by 1875.

• Coal replaced wood in 1885, fueled by westward expansion and the railroads.

• Coal reigned supreme until post WW2, when petroleum became popular.

• The use of petroleum began to increase in the 1920s, held steady during the Depression and then increased dramatically until 1973, the time of oil embargos. No other energy source has ever shown such a meteoric rise in consumption as petroleum and natural gas.

Mining practices

• China is the top coal producer, producing about half of the world’s coal, and it’s estimated 5 million people work for the coal industry in China.

Coal mine disasters in US

http://www.usmra.com/saxsewell/historical.htm

• 1907 was the worst year in the United States, when 3,242 lives were lost as a result of coal mining.

• The worst coal mine related disaster in the world occured on April 26, 1942 at the Benxihu Colliery in China. A gas and coal dust explosion killed 1,549 people.

• We've come a long way in the last century, many people are still losing their lives each year, with 33 fatalities occurring in 2007.

• Disaster slide show

• Coal is the largest source of energy for generating electricity, worldwide!

• Coal produces the largest amount of human generated carbon dioxide. Coal-fired electric power generation emits around 2,000 pounds of carbon dioxide for every megawatt-hour generated, which is almost double the carbon dioxide released by a natural gas-fired electric plant per megawatt-hour generated.

Environmental concerns

• Pollution (air quality and carbon dioxide) from coal fired power plants shorten nearly 24,000 lives in US a year and is a major factor in climate change.

• Impact on land and water during mining • Acid rain • Waste products and sludge include mercury,

uranium, arsenic and other heavy metals• Contamination of drinking water and rivers,

impacting homes, farms and animals

• Sierra club beyond coal• http://content.sierraclub.org/coal/dirty-coal

• Youtube sierra club replaced• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v

=H1pwWjIHPYw