7.

1 Energy Choices & Security

Energy security:​ ability to secure affordable, reliable, efficient energy for needs of a country.
Depends on: ​availability of supply, technological developments, politics, economics,
sustainability, environmental considerations
Coal = 230 yrs Gas= 170 yrs Oil= 100 yrs
Nuclear Fusion: ​extracting heavy water from water and fusing 2 hydrogen atoms to make
helium.
There is low investment in renewables:
- TNCs are committed to carbon economy
- Fossils are cheaper (ignore environmental cost)
- Countries are locked into trade agreements
- Renewables are location dependent
Bridge fuel: ​promoting natural gas consumption through oil/gas companies convincing govts to
get the country off coal until renewables are developed.
Co2 emissions: China, USA, EU (industrial) Per capita: USA, Singapore

Coal +Cheap to burn -co2 (non-renewable)

+ plentiful supply -smog + lung disease

Oil +high heat of combustion -oil spill danger

+ once found = cheap -co2 emitted when burned

Natural Gas +cheap -Leaks are dangerous

+cleaner than oil/coal -30% cleaner than oil/coal

Nuclear fission +no co2 -high extraction costs

Small mass of radioactive material -reactors are expensive
produced a lot

Hydroelectric +good safety record -dams (ecological impacts)

+creates water reserves - costly to build + run

Biomass +cheap/readily available -not replanted: unsustainable

+if crops replanted: sustainable burned= GHG

Wood +cheap/readily available -low heat of combustion

+trees replaced = sustainable -high transportation costs

Solar photovoltaic +can be distributed (green jobs) -costly maintenance

Safe to use + infinite -needs sunshine

Concentrated solar +renewable -new so still improving

+cost same as fossil stations -tropics (high insolation area)

Solar passive +Minimal cost if properly designed -Needs good architects

Wind +Green jobs -Noise pollution

 +Clean energy -Needs wind to blow

Tidal +Ideal for island countries -Construction is costly

+Prevent flooding -Impact on wildlife

Wave +Island countries -Storms damage them

+Small operations -Construction is costly

Geothermal +Infinite supply -expensive to set up

+Used successfully in NZ -only volcanic activity areas

7.2: Climate Change: causes and impacts

Weather:​ daily result of changes in temperature, pressure, and precipitation in the atmosphere.
Climate: ​average weather patterns over many years for a location on Earth.
Difference: ​timescale
Similarities: ​both are affected by clouds, forest fires, volcanic eruptions, human activities
Climate Change: long term change and has always happened
Factors that affect it:
- Fluctuations in solar insolation affecting temperature
- Changing proportions of gases in atmosphere released by organisms
Anthropogenic activities: human activities (that increase GHGs)
Gases include: water vapor, Co2, methane, CFCs, HFCs, nitrous oxide, ozone
3 points that are confusing when reading about climate change:
- Role of ozone and CFCs
- Role of water vapor
- Whether figures refer to total GHG effects of enhanced greenhouse gas effect
GWP:​ relative measure of how much heat a known mass of GHG traps over a number of years
compared to the same mass of Co2
GWP of different gases:
- Co2 is 1
- Methane is 21
- Nitrous oxide is 206
- CFC-11 is 3500
- Ozone is 2000
Ozone in troposphere: GHG
Ozone in stratosphere: acts as a coolant
CFCs: chemicals made by humans
Sources of methane:
- Cattle:​ they are ruminants with bacteria in their stomachs that break down cellulose in
the grass they eat, release methane as a waste product. Solution =high sugar diets
- Rice paddy fields: ​releases methane due to anaerobic respiration by bacteria in soil
(release only when flooded)
- Swamps and bogs
 - Termites
- Tundra: ​permafrost melting releases methane (positive feedback loop)
Impacts of Climate Change:
- Oceans and sea levels:​ water expands and ice melting on land slips off into the sea
increasing the volume of seawater (thermal expansion) + ocean buffering: MALDIVES
- Polar ice caps:​ Melting of land ice (glaciers), could open trade routes, make travel
easier, allow exploitation of undersea resources but con is undersea ice (methane):
GREENLAND AND ANTARCTICA
- On glaciers:​ glacial summer melt provides a fresh water supply to people but also
causes flooding and landslides (GANGES)
- Weather patterns: ​more heat means more energy in climate so weather will be more
violent (global weirding)
- Food production: ​warmer temperatures increase photosynthesis but there may be no
increase in NPP, small increase in temperature kills plankton
- Biodiversity and ecosystems: ​plants cannot move (can become extinct), wildfires &
droughts affect animals. Increase in temperature of water can kill sensitive animals
- Water supplies: increased evaporation rates can cause lakes/rivers to dry up
- Human health: algal blooms/red tides (asthma/chest infections)
- Human migration: ​if people can’t grow food, they will migrate (environmental refugees)
- National Economies: ​gains and losses
Positive Feedback Negative feedback

- More evaporation leads to more - More evaporation leads to more

clouds which traps more heat clouds which reflects more heat
- Ice has high albedo which means that - Warmer air carries more water vapor
when it melts, it has low albedo and it so more rainfall, some of which will be
absorbs more heat and more ice snow so more snow, more reflection,
melts lower temperatures, more ice.
- As temperature rises, permafrost - Forests absorb Co2 and act as a
melts and methane is released carbon sink to decrease temperature

7.3: Climate Change - mitigation and adaptation

Mitigation: ​reduction/stabilization of GHG emissions and their removal from the atmosphere.
Adaptation:​ adjustment in natural or human systems in response to actual or expected climatic
stimuli or their effects which moderates harm or exploits beneficial opportunities
PRECAUTIONARY STRATEGY: ACT NOW IN CASE
Mitigation strategies:
A: Stabilize or reduce GHG Emissions
- Reduce energy waste by using it more efficiently (hybrid/electric vehicles)
- Changing lifestyles and business practices (public transport)
- Adopt carbon taxes and remove fossil fuel subsidy
- Improve efficiency of energy production
- Reduce methane production (change cow diets)
 - Sustainable agriculture
B: Remove Co2 from atmosphere
- Increase photosynthesis
- Carbon capture and storage
- Use more biomass as a source of fuel (if same crop is planted in the following year, an =
amount of Co2 to that is released by burning the fuel is then captured by photosynthesis)
C: Geoengineering
- Release sulphur dioxide from airplanes to increase global dimming
- Send mirrors to space between the Earth and Sun to deflect solar radiations
- Build with light colored roofs to increase albedo and reflect more sunlight
Adaptation strategies:
- Change land use through planning legislation
- Build to resist flooding
- Change agricultural production (rainwater harvesting, growing diff crops, drought tolerant
crops)
- Managing the weather (planting trees)
- Migrating to other areas
- Managing water supplies (desalination, increasing reservoirs)
- Vaccination against water borne diseases