Question

2. Many products that we use in our daily lives are derived from geologic materials from the Earth, otherwise known as natural resources and can be renewable or non-renewable. One of the more prominent of these materials is fossil fuels (oil and coal), a non-renewable resource which provides energy to do work. (5 marks total) Provide your own pie chart of a variety of energy sources that we use globally. You can make a pie chart on Excel or Numbers if you have a Mac. Please put the percentages in each slice of the pie chart and use a legend. I am expecting to see at least the following: nuclear power, coal, oil, natural gas and renewable energy. Try to find the most recent data and cite accordingly. (1 mark) a. b. What are fossil fuels? Based on current reserves and consumption rates, approximately how long will oil supplies last? (1 mark) What is the chemical formula for burning gasoline? What are the major environmental consequences of producing and burning fossil fuels? (1 mark) Describe how an electric vehicle works. Is the electricity used to power the vehicle 100% free of emissions? (2 marks) c. d.

Answer 1

a.

Solar , Wind, Other Sources of Global Energy 11% Hydro 2% Nuclear 6% Oil 33% Gas 21% Coal 27%

b. Fossil fuels are those sources of energy which occur naturally and are formed when biogenic components like plants and animals are buried under the surface of earth and are transformed into hydrocarbons by various chemical reactions that occurs in the absence of oxygen. As per the British Petroleum’s (one of the leading exploration and production company) 2013 data the oil will last approximately 54 more years if we’ll extract the remaining oilwith the current rate.

c. The major environmental issue with carbon dioxide is that it causes global warming which refers to the conditions when the earth’s atmosphere gets warmed up by the sun’s radiation becaue of the gases which radiates energy very affective (these gases are known as green house gases example: water vapours, carbon dioxide, methane etc.). The greenhouse effect is important for supporting the life and various life processes as in the absence of greenhouse effect the temperature on earth would become far less than the sustainable temperature. But enhanced greenhouse effect is responsible for the global warming of earth and this phenomenon of global warming is having many negative effects. This phenomenon of global warming Is taking place the rate with which the carbon dioxide emissions is increasing (exponentially) which is a green house gas and thus will increase the temperature of earth cannot be nullified by any natural feedback system. This can be illustrated by using the “Hockey stick curve” which shows that during the last 2,000 years, the last century shown an exponential increase in the global temperature and this trend will follow in the coming years if we don’t look about our carbon dioxide emissions which is causing an increase in global temperature by the phenomenon of global warming. This curve is attached below:

0.6r 0.4 ︵ 0.2 0 -0.2 E -0.4 -0.6 -0.8 1400 1600 1800 2000 1000 1200 Year

d. Electric cars use the energy stored in the chemical batteries that are installed in the cars to run basically they are advanced version of battery operated toy cars with gears and other automatics. Battery powered cars on their own don’t produce any pollution but they use electricity which might have been produced from those sources which have produced some gases.