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Energy Sources

 

 

 

 

Energy Sources:

There are two types of energy sources, renewable and non-renewable. Renewable resources are sources of energy that are inexhaustible, (will never run out). They are also described as any resource that can naturally replenish over time, this could include:

  • Wind farms

  • HEP dams

  • Solar panels

  • Tidal barriers

 

Although they are sustainable and eco-friendly, they have advantages and disadvantages. One example is that they create little direct pollution. The other opposite option was non-renewable resources. A non-renewable resource is a source of energy that is not sustainable and can only be used once. The most important non-renewable resources are fossil fuels such as coal, oil and gas. The fossil fuels are the compressed remaining of the plants and animals that lived millions of years ago that cannot be replaced. Presently, the UK creates electrical energy through thermal stations powered by burning fossil fuels. Currently, gas and coal count for 70% of Britain’s electricity supplies.

 

In addition, non-renewable sources of energy have certain good factors such as:

  • Britain having large resources for oil, gas and coal ever though the North Sea oil and gas reserves are beginning to lessen, Britain have enough resources to last power them for another 300 years

  • On a daily basis oil as a resource is offered good value for money

  • The process of originating the resource is simple and involves established/cheap technology

  • The modern manufacturing of thermal power stations are sufficiently more cleaner than the past

  • Britain’s energy infrastructure has been designed with coal at it’s core, modernizing the network to merge renewables is going to prove expensive

  • Fossil fuels are reliable and cannot be effected by the weather

 

Oil in Ecuador:

 

Shell; otherwise know as Chevron-Texaco starting drilling for oil in Oriente, Ecuador (13 million hectares of tropical rainforest in 1937); in 1993 people of Oriente filed a case against oil companies for the damage done to their environment. By 1995 Texaco signed a deal for a  $40 million clean-up operation which was an insufficient fund for the repairing and revamping of the operation, up until now in 2011 that Chevron was told by court that they had to pay $48 billion for environmental damage.

 

Advantages of oil as an energy source are:

  • Economy of Ecuador grew 7% annually; oil created 40% national export earnings

  • Income per capital shot up from $290 in 1972 to $8500 in 2011

  • New roads had opened up remote regions

  • Oil was seen as a solution to the country’s debt of $256 million in 1970

 

Disadvantages of oil as an energy source:

  • A large-scale deforestation

  • Indigenous tribes such as Huaoroni and Sacoya were displaced

  • Little revenue was fed back to the local community

  • Pipelines leaked 38,00 tons liters of oil every week; 30 major spills were recorded

  • Aquatic life was harmed by the reduction in dissolved oxygen

  • Contaminated water led to skin rashes and cancer

  • Burning waste had created toxic particles that generated ‘black rain’, which led to an increase in greenhouse gases

 

Although the UK is well placed to benefit from a future revolution in renewables, our island geography makes it ideal for wind, wave and tidal energy. Even with technological developments increasing the chances of solar energy becoming the future way to go, wind turbines are more likely to be prioritized.

Besides that, renewable resources may be a cheaper, sustainable and a productive way to create energy, but it does have its pros and cons:

  • Firstly, wind turbines are and unreliable source of energy because it requires certain wind speeds

  • Hundred of wind turbines would be necessary to power up a traditional power station

  • It is relatively expensive to set up

  • Can be visually unpleasant, destroys landscape and detracts the visual view

  • Wind turbines cause noise pollution

 

On the other hand renewable resources have its rewards:

  • Once up and running the costs are low

  • The “wind” will never run out

  • Doesn’t lead to acid rain or global warming

  • Can have multiple land uses – e.g. can have a sheep farm

  • No atmospheric pollutants released

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