Core Case Study: Is the United States
Entering a New Oil and Natural Gas Era?
• Oil and natural gas
– Two most widely used natural resources in
Chapter
the U.S.
15:
• Oil consumption is increasing
Nonrenewable Energy
– New extractions from oil shale cause
environmental harm
– Burning oil and natural gas will continue
adding greenhouse gases to the atmosphere
Key Questions that must be asked about
each Energy Alternative
• Supplies: availability during the short,
intermediate, and long term?
• Cost ($): to develop, phase in, and use?
• Net useful energy yield?
• Environmental Impacts?
• Implications for future generations?
What is Net Energy and Why Is It
Important?
• Energy resources vary greatly in their net
energy yields
Net Energy Is the Only Energy That Really
Counts
• Net energy yield
– Total amount of useful energy available from a
resource minus the energy needed to make
the energy available to consumers
• Energy return on investment
– Energy obtained per unit energy used to
obtain it
Net Energy Ratios for Various Energy
Systems over Their Estimated Lifetimes
What Are the Advantages and
Disadvantages of Oil?
• Conventional crude oil is abundant and
has a medium net energy yield, but using
it causes air and water pollution and
releases greenhouse gases to the
atmosphere
– Unconventional heavy oil from oil shale rock
and tar sands exists in potentially large
supplies but has a low net energy yield and a
higher environmental impact than
conventional oil
We Depend Heavily on Oil
• Crude oil (petroleum)
• Peak production – time after which
production from a well declines
– Global peak production for all world oil
• Crude oil cannot be used as it comes out
of the ground
– Must be refined
– Petrochemicals – byproducts
Science: Refining Crude Oil
Are We Running Out of Conventional Oil?
• Availability determined by:
– Demand
– Technology
– Rate at which we remove the oil
– Cost of making oil available
– Market price
• Proven oil reserves – available deposits
– Profitable
© Cengage Learning 2015
Are We Running Out of Conventional Oil?
(cont’d.)
• Unconventional heavy oil
– Higher environmental cost; production cost
• Three major options:
– Live with much higher oil prices
– Extend oil supplies
– Use other energy sources
Case Study: Oil and the U.S. Arctic
National Wildlife Refuge
• The Arctic National Wildlife Refuge
(ANWR)
– Not open to oil and gas development
– Fragile tundra biome
• Oil companies lobbying since 1980 to
begin exploratory drilling
– Pros
– Cons
© Cengage Learning 2015
Projected U. S.
Barrels of oil per year (billions)
oil consumption
Arctic refuge oil output
over 50 years
Year
Use of Conventional Oil Has
Environmental Costs
• Land disruption, greenhouse gas
emission, air pollution, water pollution, and
loss of biodiversity
• Burning oil accounts for 43% of global CO2
emissions
Trade-Offs
Conventional Oil
Advantages Disadvantages
Ample supply for Water pollution from
several decades oil spills and leaks
Net energy yield Environmental costs
is medium but not included in
decreasing market price
Releases CO2 and
Low land other air pollutants
disruption when burned
Efficient Vulnerable to
distribution international supply
system interruptions
Case Study: Oil Production and
Consumption in the United States
• The U.S.:
– Produces 9% of the world’s oil and uses 23%
of world’s oil
– Has about 2% of world’s proven oil reserves
– Imports 52% of its oil
• Should we look for more oil reserves?
– Extremely difficult
– Expensive and financially risky
Heavy Oil From Oil Shale Rock
• Oil shales contain kerogen
– After distillation – shale oil
• 72% of the world’s reserve is in arid areas
of western United States
– Locked up in rock
– Lack of water needed for extraction and
processing
– Low net energy yield
Heavy Oil from Tar Sands
• Tar sand contains bitumen
• Extensive deposits in Canada and
Venezuela
– Oil sands have more oil than in Saudi Arabia
• Extraction
– Serious environmental impact before strip-
mining
– Low net energy yield
Trade-Offs
Heavy Oils from Oil Shale and Tar Sand
Advantages Disadvantages
Large potential Low net energy yield
supplies
Easily
transported Releases CO2 and
within and other air pollutants
between when produced and
countries burned
Efficient
distribution Severe land disruption
system in place and high water use
What Are the Advantages and
Disadvantages of Using Natural Gas?
• Conventional natural gas:
– Is more plentiful than oil
– Has a medium net energy yield and a fairly
low production cost
– Is a clean-burning fuel
• However, producing it has created
environmental problems
Natural Gas Is a Useful, Clean-Burning,
but Not Problem-Free Fossil Fuel
• Natural gas – 50-90% methane CH4
• Conventional natural gas
– Liquefied petroleum gas (LPG)
• Stored in tanks
– Liquefied natural gas (LNG)
• Low net energy yield
• Makes U.S. dependent upon unstable countries
like Russia and Iran
Natural Gas Is a Useful, Clean-Burning,
but Not Problem-Free Fossil Fuel (cont’d.)
• The U.S. produces gas conventionally and
from shale rock
– Increasing environmental problems with shale
rock extraction
New technologies allowed access:
- Horizontal drilling
- Hydraulic fracturing (hydrofracking)
Pump water, sand, and
chemicals into cracks
Produces hazardous waste slurry
Trade-Offs
Conventional Natural Gas
Advantages Disadvantages
Ample supplies Low net energy yield
for LNG
Versatile fuel Production and
delivery may emit
more CO2 and CH4 per
Medium net
energy yield unit of energy
produced than coal
Emits less CO2 Fracking uses and
and other air pollutes large
pollutants than volumes of water
other fossil fuels
when burned Potential groundwater
pollution from fracking
Case Study: Natural Gas Production and
Fracking in the U.S.
• Fracking
– Drilling wells; using huge amounts of water,
sand, and chemicals; dealing with toxic
wastewater; transporting the natural gas
• Drinking water contaminated with natural
gas can catch fire
• Fracking has several harmful
environmental effects
What Are the Advantages and
Disadvantages of Coal?
• Conventional coal is plentiful and has a
high net energy yield at low costs, but
using it results in a very high
environmental impact
– We can produce gaseous and liquid fuels
from coal, but they have lower net energy
yields and using them would result in higher
environmental impacts than those of
conventional coal
Coal Is a Plentiful but Dirty Fuel
• Coal
– Solid fossil fuel
• Burned in power plants
– Generates 42% of the world’s electricity
• Abundant – world’s largest coal reserves
– United States
– Russia
– China
Coal Is a Plentiful but Dirty Fuel (cont’d.)
• Environmental costs of burning coal
– Severe air pollution
• Sulfur released as SO2
• Large amount of soot
• CO2
• Trace amounts of mercury and radioactive
materials
Increasing moisture content Increasing heat and carbon content
Peat Lignite Bituminous Anthracite
(not a coal) (brown coal) (soft coal) (hard coal)
Heat Heat Heat
Pressure Pressure Pressure
Partially decayed plant Low heat content; low Extensively used as a Highly desirable fuel
matter in swamps and sulfur content; limited fuel because of its high because of its high heat
bogs; low heat content supplies in most areas heat content and large content and low sulfur
supplies; normally has content; supplies are
a high sulfur content limited in most areas
Waste heat
Coal bunker Turbine Cooling tower
transfers waste
heat to
atmosphere
Generator
Cooling
loop
Stack
Pulverizing Condenser Filter
mill Boiler
Ash disposal
The Clean Coal Campaign
• Coal companies and energy companies
has fought:
– Classifying carbon dioxide as a pollutant
– Classifying coal ash as hazardous waste
– Air pollution standards for emissions
• The 2008 clean coal campaign
– Note: there is no such thing as clean coal
CO2 Emissions Per Unit of Electrical
Energy Produced for Energy Sources
Trade-Offs
Coal
Advantages Disadvantages
Ample supplies in Severe land
many countries disturbance and
water pollution
Fine particle and
Medium to high toxic mercury
net energy yield emissions threaten
human health
Low cost when Emits large amounts
environmental of CO2 and other air
costs are not pollutants when
included produced and burned
We Can Convert Coal into Gaseous and
Liquid Fuels
• Conversion of solid coal to:
– Synthetic natural gas (SNG) by coal
gasification
– Methanol or synthetic gasoline by coal
liquefaction
– Synfuels
• Are there benefits to using these synthetic
fuels?
Trade-Offs
Synthetic Fuels
Advantages Disadvantages
Large potential Low to medium
supply in many net energy yield
countries
Requires mining
50% more coal
with increased
Vehicle fuel land disturbance,
water pollution
and water use
Lower air Higher CO2
pollution than emissions than
coal coal
What Are the Advantages and
Disadvantages of Using Nuclear Power?
• Nuclear power has a low environmental
impact and a very low accident risk, but its
use has been limited by:
– A low net energy yield, high costs, fear of
accidents, and long-lived radioactive wastes
– Its role in spreading nuclear weapons
technology
How Does a Nuclear Fission Reactor
Work?
• Controlled nuclear fission reaction in a
reactor
– Light-water reactors
– Very inefficient
• Fueled by uranium ore and packed as
pellets in fuel rods and fuel assemblies
• Control rods absorb neutrons
How Does a Nuclear Fission Reactor
Work? (cont’d.)
• Water is the usual coolant
• Containment shell around the core for
protection
• Water-filled pools or dry casks for storage
of radioactive spent fuel rod assemblies
Small amounts of
radioactive gases
Uranium fuel Control rods
input (reactor
Containment shell
core) Waste heat
Heat exchanger
Steam Turbine Generator
Hot
coolant Useful electrical
energy
Hot about 25%
water
output
Coolant
Waste heat
Cool
Moderator water
input
Shielding Pressure Coolant
vessel passage Water Condenser
Periodic removal and Periodic Water source
storage of removal and
radioactive wastes storage (river, lake, ocean)
and spent of radioactive
fuel assemblies liquid wastes
What Is the Nuclear Fuel Cycle?
• Mine the uranium
• Process the uranium to make the fuel
• Use it in the reactor
• Safely store the radioactive waste
• Decommission the reactor
Fuel assemblies Decommissioning
of reactor
Enrichment Reactor
of UF6 Fuel fabrication
Fuel fabrication
(conversion of
(conversion of enriched
enriched UFUF66
to UO
to UO22 and
and fabrication
fabrication of
of Temporary storage
Temporary storage
fuel assemblies)
fuel assemblies) of spent
of spent fuel
fuel
Conversion Uranium-235 as
Uranium-235 as UF
UF66 assemblies underwater
assemblies underwater
of U3O8 Plutonium-239 as
Plutonium-239 as or in
or in dry
dry casks
casks
to UF6 PuO22
PuO Spent fuel
Spent fuel
reprocessing
reprocessing
Low-level radiation
with long half-life
Geologic
Geologic
Mining uranium
Mining uranium disposal of
disposal of
ore (U
ore (U33O
O88)) moderate
moderate
and high-level
and high-level
radioactive
radioactive
Open fuel cycle today wastes
wastes
Recycling of nuclear fuel
Trade-Offs
Conventional Nuclear Fuel Cycle
Advantages Disadvantages
Low environmental Low net energy yield
impact (without
accidents) High overall cost
Emits 1/6 as Produces long-lived,
much CO2 as coal harmful radioactive
wastes
Low risk of
accidents in Promotes spread of
modern plants nuclear weapons
Fig. 15-24, p. 392
Storing Radioactive Spent-Fuel Rods
Presents Risks
• Rods must be replaced every three or four
years
• Cooled in water-filled pools
• Placed in dry casks
• Must be stored for thousands of years
• Vulnerable to terrorist attack
Dealing with Radioactive Nuclear Wastes
Is a Difficult Problem
• High-level radioactive wastes
– Must be stored safely for 10,000–240,000
years
• Where can it be stored?
– Deep burial: safest and cheapest option
– Would any method of burial last long enough?
– There is still no facility
– Shooting it into space is too dangerous
Dealing with Radioactive Nuclear Wastes
Is a Difficult Problem (cont’d.)
• Plans in the U.S. to build a repository for
high-level radioactive wastes in the Yucca
Mountain desert region (Nevada)
• Many problems including:
– Cost of $96 billion
– Rock fractures
– Earthquake zone
– Decrease national security
Dealing with Radioactive Nuclear Wastes
Is a Difficult Problem (cont’d.)
• Dealing with old nuclear power plants:
– Decommission or retire the power plant
– Dismantle the plant and safely store the
radioactive materials
– Enclose the plant behind a physical barrier
with full-time security until a storage facility
has been built
– Enclose the plant in a tomb
• Monitor this for thousands of years
Can Nuclear Power Help Reduce Climate
Change?
• Nuclear power plants – no CO2 emission
• Nuclear fuel cycle – emits CO2
• Opposing views on nuclear power
– Nuclear power advocates
– Oxford Research Group
• Need high rate of building new plants, and
a storage facility for radioactive wastes
Experts Disagree about the Future of
Nuclear Power
• Proponents of nuclear power:
– Fund more research and development
– Pilot-plant testing of potentially cheaper and
safer reactors
– Test breeder fission and nuclear fusion
• Opponents of nuclear power:
– Fund rapid development of energy efficient
and renewable energy resources
Experts Disagree about the Future of
Nuclear Power (cont’d.)
• New technologies
– Advanced Light Water Reactors
• Safer
– Thorium based reactors
• Less costly and safer
Case Study: The 2011 Nuclear Power
Plant Accident in Japan
• Triggered by a major offshore earthquake
and resulting tsunami
• Four key human-related factors:
– No worst-case scenarios
– Seawalls too short
– Design flaws
– Relationship between plant owners and
government
Is Nuclear Fusion the Answer?
• Fusion
– Two isotopes fused together to form a heavier
nucleus
– Releases energy
• Technology is very difficult to develop
A New U.S. Oil and Natural Gas Era?
Sustainable?
• Conventional fossil fuels have high net
energy yields
• We cannot recycle energy
– Recycling materials can help reduce energy
needs
• Relying on a diversity of energy resources
– Will reduce environmental impacts
