NATURAL ENERGY SOURCES

GOAL:

To learn the different energy sources and to distinguish between renewable and nonrenewable resources.

OBJECTIVE:

The student will:

(1) Recognize different energy sources.

(2) Be able to associate everyday energy use with the original sources.

(3) Know the energy sources and explain why some sources are renewable and some are nonrenewable.

LESSON / INFORMATION:

Energy

Energy is the capacity to do work. The unit of energy most often used in this country is the Btu (British Thermal Unit). The unit measure of electricity is the kilowatt hour (kWh), which is about equivalent to 3,412 Btu's. The unit measure of natural gas is the cubic foot (CF) which is about equivalent to 1000 Btu's.

Energy can be in the form of thermal, radiant, electrical, mechanical, chemical, and atomic energy. The first two come directly from the sun, the second two come indirectly from the sun, and the last two are independent from the sun.

Historically, man first had himself and the sun to provide energy. He used himself to do any work and relied on the sun for a source of light and heat. Fire was the first usable energy discovery, and animals began to share some of the work. The use of coal to produce steam was a major breakthrough in man's development along with the industrial revolution - the age of the machine to do the work. Oil and gas were an improvement over coal to run the machine man used to do work.

Then nuclear energy was developed. It was supposed to be "too cheap to meter," and the hazardous waste problem would be solved in a "few short years."

Nuclear energy is heat created by fission which is the splitting of atoms or by fusion where two atoms are fused together. The heat in the sun is from fusion. This form of energy is still experimental on Earth, but nuclear fission has been around since World War II. Nuclear fission has a by-product of radioactive waste that will last for 500,000 years. In other words, if Neanderthal Man had used fission, we would be burdened with his radioactive waste even today.

NATURAL ENERGY RESOURCES

Energy is all around us and manifests itself in many different forms -- heat, light, sound, magnetism, gravity, movement, and all life functions. It is everywhere in great abundance. Since the beginning of time, nature has been producing and reproducing energy in quantities so astronomical that we could never begin to use it all, not even with the most advanced technology.