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Energy 2014. Goal : You will know more than our elected officials about energy. Why is knowing about energy important?. Energy supplies us with “the good life” High Energy Use = High Standard of Life Low Energy Use = Low Standard of Life 80 – 90% of our energy comes from fossil fuels
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Goal: You will know more than our elected officials about energy
Why is knowing about energy important? • Energy supplies us with “the good life” • High Energy Use = High Standard of Life • Low Energy Use = Low Standard of Life • 80 – 90% of our energy comes from fossil fuels • Fossil Fuels are “non-renewable” • It’s not a matter of “if” but “when” these resources will run out The way we use energy right now is not sustainable – you do the math.
Why is knowing about energy important? (continued) • There are choices and decisions that need to be made soon or we will have consequences that we will not be in control of. Right now there are three choices: • 1. find new source of energy • 2. get by with significantly less energy • 3. social chaos, massive death and destruction
So, you still say, “no big deal.” “I’ll just drive less when the gas prices go up.”
Why is knowing about energy important? (continued) • And, probably most importantly, right now . . . • Energy = Food
Energy does not just equal Food . . . Energy (especially cheap oil) allows us modern conveniences like . . .
Energy basics . . . • Energy is . . .
The ability to do Work • Work = a Force applied over a distance. • To sum up: Energy is the ability to do Work. W=FD
The First Law of Thermodynamics: • Energy can neither be created nor destroyed.
We rely on 3 fossil fuels for the majority (approx. 84%) of our energy here in Kansas (and in America in general): • Coal = big part of our electricity • Oil = almost all of our transportation • Natural Gas = home heating (some electricity generation in other parts of country)
Can you imagine losing 84% of the energy we depend on to live. • Energy = • Cheap, abundant Food at the Grocery store • Cheap stuff at Walmart • McDonalds • Shopping at the Mall • Climate Control (Air Conditioning/Heating) • Shopping on the internet (along with delivery) • Transportation • Communication
How does coal (or anything else) make electricity? • What is electricity? • Electricity is the movement of electrons in a wire • Technically you can’t waste electricity but you can waste the material that motivates those little electrons to move • To motivate electrons to move you need to get something spinning (except in one special case) • Most often how we get something spinning is to burn some material, create heat, which boils water, which in turn spins a steam turbine which in turn spins a generator
How is electricity distributed? It is costly and difficult to store electricity – therefore power companies monitor how much energy is being used and try to generate that much electricity to meet demand. The electricity is simply sent out into “the grid” and flows wherever there is a need. “The grid” is the network of power lines that the electricity moves through.
KCP&L • 75% Coal • 20% nuclear • 4 % oil • 1% wind
How Energy has changed: • 1996: outlook looked bleak (Peak Oil) - Hybrids were something that we had to learn about – depended tremendously on fossil fuels and it looked as though there was no way out • c. 2005 Fracking comes of age • c. 2007: oil/coal executives grudgingly admit that the future of our energy sources need to move away from fossil fuels • 2014: long way to go but there is hope that we can make a transition
So . . . How many years of fossil fuels do we have left?????? • The easy answer is we will never totally run out of coal, oil or natural gas • The real answer is a bit more complicated – • Resource, Reserve • Will use go up or down in the future? • How hard is it to get to? • How much does it cost to get to it? • What are the environmental impacts? • And the biggest . . .
Peak Oil has probably already happened. • If it has not already happened it will happen sometime in the next decade. • Basically Peak Oil is the point where the world pumps out the most oil it ever has or ever will pump out in a given year. • Geologists, Engineers, Conservatives, Liberals, Tree Huggers, Oil Company Executives are just some of the people who know about peak oil and believe that this event will happen. • Basically we will have to get by with less oil, if demand continues to go up and supply goes down we begin to feel the issues behind relying on oil.
Really??? . . . Peak Oil • Maybe not – For the first time over twenty years the USA is going to produce more oil than it did in the previous year. Thanks to the Bakken field and increased of shore drilling USA oil production is predicted to go up each year for next few years • We also are moving towards tar sands – easy oil is gone - now on to the next energy source. Takes more energy to get the needed products and the process is even dirtier than refining light sweet crude.
What is Fracking?????????????????????? • http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XtN98oAtfX8 - “the sky is pink” • “Hydrofracturing”
The issues with a lack of oil availability could be solved through: • The free market/government • Increased Prices • New technology, energy source It could also be solved by situations that we humans would not have much control over: • War over oil rich areas • Social Chaos, Destruction, Death
Right now we have a short supply of oil and natural gas – somewhere on the order of 50+/- years of usable material left. • Right now we have a (comparatively) tremendous amount of coal – probably 150+ years of usable material left. • Other resources (renewables) can’t adequately cover the loss of our fossil fuels or our other current option, nuclear, has some issues that make it challenging to use.
