Guided Notes on Traditional Energy Resources

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Guided Notes on Traditional Energy Resources

• Chapter 26, Section 1

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1. The Sun is the ultimate source of the energy that
   humans use.

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• 2. Whatever solar energy that is not used right
  away by green plants is stored. When consumers
  eat producers, they use this stored energy for
  their own life processes.

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• 3. Traditional sources of energy, such as wood
  and peat, are derived from producers such as
  plants. When organic materials are burned, the
  energy stored in them is released in the form of
  heat.

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• 4. The energy to make heat, provide light, and
  to cook food is provided by fuels, which are
  materials that are burned to produce heat or
  power.

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• 5. Examples of traditional fuels include wood,
  field crops, and dried fecal material. Fuels
  derived from living things are called biomass
  fuels. The most important of these is wood.

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• 6. The need to use wood as a fuel has led to
  deforestation in many areas of the world. This
  demand for wood has led to the complete removal
  of forests and the erosion and loss of topsoil.

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• 7. Fecal material from cows often meets the
  energy needs of people in developing countries
  with limited forest resources.

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Use the space below to describe how peat forms in
a bog

• When plants in a bog die, they fall into the
  water, which has low levels of oxygen. Instead of
  decomposing, the plant material builds up on the
  bottom of the bog, where it is compressed by the
  weight of overlying material into a light, spongy
  material called peat.

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• 9. Fossil fuels, such as peat, are energy
  sources that formed over geologic time as a
  result of the compression and partial
  decomposition of plants and other organic matter.

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• 10. Fossil fuels are considered nonrenewable
  because their formation occurred over thousands
  or millions of years.

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• 11. Fossil fuels include coal, natural gas, and
  petroleum. The high concentration of carbon and
  hydrogen in fossil fuels makes them very
  efficient energy sources. Most industrialized
  countries, including the U.S, use them to fuel
  power plants that supply electricity and to fuel
  vehicles.

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The three classes of coal are

1. Lignite a soft, brown, low-grade coal
2. Bituminous coal, which forms when lignite is
   compressed
3. Anthracite the hardest and highest grade of coal

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• 13. When bituminous coal burns, it releases
  carbon and sulfur and nitrogen oxides into the
  atmosphere, which causes air pollution.

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• 14. The term petroleum refers to natural crude
  oil found underground and on Earths surface.
  Crude oil is refined into a variety of products,
  such as gasoline and kerosene.

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• 15. Crude oil and natural gas migrate sideways
  and upward from their place of formation, moving
  through the pores of permeable sedimentary rocks
  such as limestone and sandstone. These pores are
  the reservoirs in which crude oil and gas
  accumulate.