Energy: Powering Our Nation

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Energy Powering Our Nation

• Chapter 24

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Why do you think Canada would be the highest user
of energy in the world?

• Cold climate
• Spread out population high transportation costs
• Industrial Economy
• Energy is cheap so we tend to waste it!

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Energy Sources

• Conventional Energy Sources
• Natural Gas, Coal, Hydro and Nuclear Energy
• Alternative Energy Sources
• Solar, Wind, Biomass Energy

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Energy Terminology

• To compare different forms of energy we need a
  common unit of measure
• The basic unit to measure energy is the joule (J)
• One joule is a tiny amount of energy
• Usually energy is reported in gigajoules which
  equal one billion joules or pentajoules which
  equal one million gigajoules

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Oil and Gas

• Oil and gas are found together
• How they formed
• Millions of years ago parts of Canada was covered
  with shallow seas.
• Dead plants and animal fell to the sea floor
• Eventually the sea evaporated and sediments
  formed layer on top of the dear plants and
  animals
• The pressure from all the layers of sediment
  converted the plant and animal mater into oil and
  gas

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Finding Oil and Gas

• It is hard find oil and gas deposits because they
  are buried so deep
• Geologists use the following tricks to find the
  deposits
• Look for rocks on the surface that have traces of
  oil
• Search for fossils
• Conduct seismic surveys that use shock waves

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Drilling for oil and gas

• Determining if oil and gas are where you think it
  is can only be done by drilling
• Its costly and time consuming
• There are three results of drilling
• No oil or gas
• Oil and gas are found but
  there is not enough to
  justify the
  cost of extraction and
  transport
• The deposit is large enough to develop

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Collecting the Oil and Gas

• Removal of oil from the ground proceeds in one of
  two ways
• Flowing Wells there is enough natural pressure
  to force the oil or gas to the surface. The flow
  at the surface is controlled by a series of
  valves called a Christmas tree
• Non-flowing wells electric or gas powered pumps
  are used to get the oil or gas to the surface

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Canadas Oil and Gas

• Most production comes from the western part of
  the Boreal Plains and Prairie Ecozones
• Production comes from conventional crude oil that
  is pumped from the ground and from oil sands.

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Oil Sand

• Oil sand is an area that has bitumen covering
  individual particles of sand
• Bitumen is an oil-like substance
• The oil sand is easily dug up but then it is hard
  to get the oil separated from the sand
• Expensive process
• As conventional deposits get used up the
  extraction of the oil from the oil sands will
  increase

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Electricity

• Most electrical energy comes from a generator
• Generators convert mechanical energy into
  electrical energy
• In Canada there are three main ways that this
  mechanical energy is produced
• Moving water Hydro Electric Generating Stations
• Expanding steam Thermal Electric Generation
  Plants
• Expanding Steam Nuclear Electric Generating
  Stations

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Thermal Electricity

• The steam that is used to move the turbine is
  created by burning fuel like coal, oil, natural
  gas, wood, etc.
• Advantages
• Plants can be built where the energy is needed
  therefore there are short transmission lines
• Plants are relatively cheap to build
• Disadvantages
• Fuel costs are high
• Most of the fuels used are non-renewable
• Carbon dioxide is produced

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Nuclear Electricity

• The steam that is used to turn the turbines comes
  from the heat created by nuclear fission.
• Nuclear fission is the radioactive breakdown of
  uranium atoms

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Nuclear Electricity

• Advantages
• Plants can be built where energy is needed
• Low operating costs
• We have lots of uranium in Canada
• Normally they do not produce air pollution
• Disadvantages
• High construction costs
• Radioactive materials are very harmful to humans
• Waste products remain dangerous for 100 000 yrs
• Plants need to be rebuild relatively often

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Getting the Electricity to Market

• Often electricity is transmitted 100s of kms to
  where the people that need it are
• The generating systems direct their electricity
  to power grids
• The customers then take the electricity from the
  grid.
• Provinces and states in North America have grids
  that are all connected therefore electricity
  becomes a commodity that can be exported for
  profit