What is the future of energy supplies?

Future of energy supplies

Xingtai, a coal-mining hub home to 7.6 million people, has the worst air quality of any Chinese city. Last year, it only had 38 days when air quality met national standards.

Energy Supply Problems • Snowball a list of ideas why energy supply problems may exist?

• Which are the most / least important - why?

• Have any influenced how society has been shaped and how development occurs, how?

Energy Supply Problems • Type and amount of energy have shaped society and development as the type of availableresource controls how a country can develop a particular way of life:

• In other energy resource poor countries like Kenya, the way of life has been dominated by wood which is used in its primary form for heating and cooking.

• Huge reserves of oil in Texas and Saudi Arabia have ‘fuelled’ a lifestyle dependent on oil (secondary energy).

• In other developing nations who have rich reserves of fossil fuels, these have

been exploited to allow unprecedentedIndustrialisation / economic growthe.g. china and coal.

XINGTAI, China

• Energy supplies will change for the following reasons, causing potential problems:

• Existing resources are becoming depleted e.g. fossil fuels esp. oil and gas and wood(if used unsustainably) forcing us to look for other alternatives;

• Environmental damage is such as global climate change and environmental degradationdue pollution and deforestation are becoming unacceptable forcing a change in use;

• Increasing demand for energy has resulted from global population growth and increasingaffluence esp in LDC’s.

• As a result of these pressures new technologies are being developed and their existencewill cause a change in the way we use energy. ‘necessity is the mother of invention’ , Made famous by Esther Boserup may indeed be true here!

• Geopolitics of the energy supply market can also make a nation move away from an un-reliable energy source to ensure energy security e.g. In UK, oil in Middle East and Gas Russia.

New Technologies

Fossil Fuels Nuclear

Renewables

Hydrogen Economy

• Gasification of coal

• Secondary recovery of crude

• Tertiary Recovery

• Directional drilling

• Fracking

• Breeder reactions 0.7% U232 VS Non Fissile 238 – Converted to fissile plutonium239 Neutron Bombardment

• Oscillating water column / pelamis wave power

• In-stream tidal turbines

• More efficient PV cells – gallium arsenide VS Si

• Parabolic reflectors and heliostats

• Hydrogen storage could allow asociety to run abundant and convenientenergy generated by renewables whichwould otherwise be intermittent /unreliable. P. 160-1

New Technologies

Domestic Energy Conservation

• Space Heating

• Water Heating

• Low Energy Appliances

• Reduced wastage

Transport Energy Conservation

• Bulk transport• Passenger Transport

• Transport of goods

• Vehicle Design

Industrial Energy Conservation

• Heat recovery

• Insulation

• High Volume Storage

• Combined Heat and Power

• National Grid

• Integrated Manufacturing

• Re-cycling

Choices and Energy Use

• Comparison of MDC’s VS LDC’s

• E.g. Kenya, UK, France, SwedenNorway.