4.

Energy in Day-to-Day Life

What is a natural
resource?

What natural
resources do you
know?
 Natural resources – natural substances
required by humans for different needs.
Metals and Rainforests
minerals Crops

Water Coal, oil and Forests

gas
What is an energy
resource?

What energy
resources do you
know?
 Natural resources such as oil, gas, coal,
wood, wind, sunlight and waves can be
used to produce energy. These are energy
resources.
Waves/
Coal Water Oil &
Wind Sunlight gas
 What is a non-
renewable energy
resource?

What is a renewable
energy resource?
Non-renewable energy sources are things like oil, natural gas and
coal. They cannot be easily replaced, because they have taken
millions of years to form.

We are using them faster than they are being made. This means
that one day they will run out!

Renewable energy resources like wind power, wave

power, solar power and biofuel can be easily replaced and
will not run out.
 Oil
Natural gas
(petroleum)

Non- renewable

Coal

Nuclear power
Earth’s crude oil and natural gas is formed from marine plants and animals that died
millions of years ago

Phytoplankton & zooplankton 1. Dead microscopic

animals and plants sink
to the bottom of the
ocean and become
Organic rich buried with other
sediments sediments (sand and
Layers of sediment mud)
 2. Over millions of years these
sediments get buried deeper
and deeper. Temperature and
pressure rises and the
microorganisms in the
sediment are turned into gas
Organic rich sediments and oil
 Oil rig

Drill Sea

Impermeable rock 3. Oil and gas move upwards

through tiny pores in the rock.
Oil Oil and gas gets trapped under
impermeable layers of rock and
can be then be taken out using
Oil rich long powerful drills.
source rock
Oil & gas burned to steam propels Electricity
heat water turbine

• Crude oil is turned into jet engine oil, petrol and

diesel which are used as a fuel in planes and cars.

• When oil and gas are burnt they release carbon

dioxide gas into the atmosphere. CO2 is a
greenhouse gas and contributes to global
warming.
Carboniferous
Period 360-299
million years ago

Tropical swamp

Older rock layers

Jurassic Period
201- 145 million
years ago

Dead plants turn into peat

Older rock layers

Modern day

Pressure
Heat

Peat turns into Coal

Older rocks
 Coal burned to steam propels Electricity
heat water turbine

• Coal is cheap and there is lots of it!

• When coal is are burnt it releases carbon
dioxide, sulphur dioxide and nitrogen
burned for heat dioxide into the atmosphere contributing to
global warming and acid rain.
 steam propels
Nuclear reactions Heat turbine
Electricity

• Uranium and plutonium are nuclear fuels

• Nuclear fuels do not produce harmful greenhouse gases
• Nuclear power is very efficient
• Nuclear power produces radioactive waste which is dangerous
and has to be seal in containers and buried for thousands of years
 Solar

Biofuel
Geothermal
Renewable

Wind
Hydroelectric
• Large windmills are called wind
turbines
• When the wind blows, the blades
move and this spins a turbine
which is connected to a generator
which generates electricity.
• Wind farms are made up of lots of
wind turbines this allows lots of
electricity to be generated
• Wind farms are built in windy
areas
• No wind = no electricity
 Solar panel Heat
Sunlight

• Solar energy is from sunlight Electricity

• Solar energy can be used to generate heat or electricity
• Solar panels filled with water are used to produce heat
• Photovoltaic cells are used to turn sunlight into
electricity
• Solar panels can be put of building roofs
• Solar panels are expensive and you need a lot of them!
 Electricity
pylon
• Geothermal energy is Cooling Generator
tower
heat energy from the Turbine

Earth
• Water can be pumped
down into hot rock Steam
where it is heated.
Cold Hot
• Geothermal energy can water water
be used to produce
heat or electricity
• Iceland is very volcanic
so uses a lot of Water is heated
geothermal energy.
 • Hydroelectric power is a way of harnessing energy from running water.
• Hydroelectric dams trap water in reservoirs
• When electricity is needed, water
is released and flows downwards
Hydroelectric
with gravity to spin a turbine. dam
• More reliable that solar and wind
power. Reservoir
• Hydroelectric dams are very of water
expensive and can harm wildlife.

Generator
Turbine
• Biofuels are made from crops.
• Ideally biofuels should be carbon neutral –
absorb carbon dioxide as they grow and
then give off carbon dioxide when they are
burnt.
• However fossil fuels are used in the
production of biofuels, for example in
making fertilizers so they are not carbon
neutral.
• Crops for biofuels could be used to feed
people instead
 Have a look at some
electrical appliances
around the classroom
or school.

See if you can find

their energy ratings.
 50 w
Power (watts) =
Energy (joules) ÷ Time (seconds)

2400 w
150 w
4w
(charging)

100w
10 w
800w
700 w
• Everyday products like
food containers,
smartphones,
computers and cars
Energy saved
require a lot of energy
= 94% Recycled
to produce
aluminium can
• Recycling products
saves energy
• The amount of energy
you save depends on
the product but it is Energy saved
always worth
= 10-15%
recycling! Recycled
glass jar
 Renewable
1. ____________ are natural substances
Energy
required by humans for different needs.
resources

2. Heat energy from the Earth is known as Coal

_______________ energy. Non-renewable
Solar
3. __________ resources can be replaced and
will not run out Oil
Geothermal
4. Oil, coal, wind, sunlight and waves can be
Natural
used to produce energy they are examples of
_____________. resources
 Renewable
5. _______ is a non-renewable fuel formed from
ancient land plants Energy
resources
6. _____________ resources cannot be easily
replaced, because they have taken millions of years Coal
to form. Non-renewable

7. _____ and gas are formed from marine Solar

microscopic plankton Oil

8. The energy from sunlight is known as ________ Geothermal

energy and can be used to make electricity or heat.
Natural
resources
 Thanks
Dinesh Tharanga
MCG