CLIMATE AND ENERGY

Energy sources

• 2.5 billion people have no access to modern energy services

• Without it, they cannot:• Pump well water• Refrigerate food or medicine• Turn on an electric light to do homework

How much energy do we use?• Big numbers.

• The world: 320 billion kilowatt hours of energy everyday.

• That’s equivalent to 22 bulbs burning non-stop for every person on the planet.

Where is most of that energy being used?

The Future?

• One estimate: within the next century, Usage will 3X today

• 66 bulbs burning for every person on the planet…NON STOP.

Energy Demands met by burning fossil fuels

• Fossil fuels • Coal• oil • natural gas

• They are not sustainable, nor are they renewable

Results of global warming caused by burning fossil fuels:

• Could lead to rising seas• Fiercer storms or changed weather patterns• Milder or more intense winters• Altered growing conditions which affect food supply• Severe droughts in some places• Severe flooding in others• Rise in skin cancer

THEN WHY BURN FOSSIL FUELS?

• Cheaper: It’s the system that we already have

• Governments (especially the United States) provide incentives and subsidies for fossil fuel power output

Government Subsidies

• An amount of money that a government can pay a person, a company or an organization for many reasons:

1.) Assist them in a project, similar to a donation2.) Encourage a behavior such as farmers not using

all their land to grow a crop that already has low prices (Avoid swamping the market)

3.) Regulate the economy, stabilize or lower prices of something

Alternative Sources

•Wind•Solar Power

• Average house: 600-1000 kWh a month

• Wind Source: 2007: $3.53/100 kWh block

• Fuel Cost credit to compensate for fossil fuels not being used

• Average cost: $0.86 per 100 kWh

• You can sign up for 10%-100% of your energy use

• 1.800.895.4999

Alternative Sources

• Geothermal• Biomass

Alternative Sources

• Hydropower• Nuclear

Energy

WHY NOT ALTERNATIVE SOURCES?

• It is said that is it too expensive to change from the system we have at present

• Subsidies for fossil fuels and some nuclear; alternative energy left out of the picture

• Many companies are established that could do the change over, just waiting for the incentive….usually profits.

WHAT CAN BE DONE?• Eliminate taxation and pricing systems that encourage oil

use• Replace them with policies that encourage alternative

energy use (SIMILAR SUBSIDIES that fossil fuels receive)

• Governments are ALSO pressuring utilities to meet targets for renewable sources goals

In Europe

• Financial incentives for both wind and solar energy have broad support of the population even though they have raised electric bills

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INDIA• A boom in wind power was

created because the government:

• Made it easy to get the initial technology

• Made it a requirement that the national power grid purchase its energy from that source

• They are now the 5th largest generator of wind and solar power in the world

• Granted $1.1 billion to alternative energy programs

In Developing Countries:• In the developing world, affordable energy is a necessity,

not a choice. • Solar power is increasing in African communities lacking

power lines and generators • Both solar and wind energy can be used by a single

household, privately. • You can have solar panels on your house or a wind turbine

or windmill for your own use…..You can’t have your own private power plant

• Solar power can provide energy to places that otherwise would not have it

Alternative Energy Investigation

• Using the template provided, investigate the following alternative energy sources with a partner:– Hydropower– Solar power– Wind power– Geothermal power– Biomass power– Nuclear power