Lesson video

Hello, my name is Mr. Marsh and I'm here today to teach you all about the environmental impacts of energy extraction.

So grab everything that you need for today's lesson and let's get going.

So by the end of today's lesson, you will be able to explain environmental impacts associated with non-renewable, renewable, and recyclable energy extraction and use.

There are two key terms for today's lesson.

Those are landscape scarring and second one is carbon emissions.

Landscape scarring refers to visible damage to a landscape caused by human activities such as mining or construction.

Carbon emissions refers to the release of carbon into the atmosphere contributing to the greenhouse effect and global warming.

There are two learning cycles for today's lesson.

We're gonna start with the first learning cycle, which is all about the impacts of non-renewable energy extraction.

This oblique view shows landscape scarring linked to energy extraction near the tarn of Merthyr Tydfil in South Wales.

Now my question to you is, where in the image can you see landscape scarring actually occurring? You may like to pause the video here whilst you really study that image in front of you to try to identify landscape scarring.

So did you find it? Well, we can see landscape scarring here and here as I'm sure you two were able to identify.

Now my next question to you is, what energy source do you think has been extracted here? Once again, you may like to pause the video here whilst you consider your own answer to that question.

So what did you think? Well, the answer is coal extraction.

South Wales is a really famous area for coal mining and therefore this landscape scarring was caused by the extraction of coal.

This vertical view of the town of Merthyr Tydfil shows that the landscape scarring is rather extensive.

Not all coal mining has the same landscape impact.

This is called opencast coal mining.

Underground coal mining has a much lower landscape impact, but the type of coal mining that you can see on the image in front of you has a much more detrimental effect to the environment.

So a quick learning check, it says, which GIS tool do you think would be used to measure the area affected by landscape scarring in this location? You can see you've got four different options on the screen there.

What I need you to do then is pause the video here whilst you consider and then select your answer.

And the correct answer was D.

Really, really well done if you are able to select D as the correct answer.

Oil extraction can lead to oil spills and the GIS layer that you can see in front of you is showing the location and severity of oil spills in the USA from 2002 to 2017.

So we can see that there are generally found more in the eastern half of the USA, and once again those proportional circles are representing the severity.

The bigger the circle, the bigger the severity of the oil spill.

Oil spills on land makes the soil toxic and kills plants and thereby reduces biodiversity.

And the same is true of oil spills at sea since they kill seabirds, sea mammals and harm coral reefs and once again, reduce the biodiversity in that area.

Now burning fossil fuels such as coal oil releases carbon compounds into the atmosphere.

And if we divert our attention to that graph in front of you, we can see that using non-renewable energy sources such as coal, oil and gas is by far the biggest contributor to CO2 emissions globally.

Land use change does have an impact and does have a role to play in the release of CO2 and other greenhouse gases and carbon emissions.

And this is from mostly from deforestation, but without a doubt it is burning fossil fuels and the fossil fuel industry, which is the biggest contributor to carbon emissions into our atmosphere.

Why do fossil fuels release so much carbon, though this is a genuinely good question.

Well, fossil fuels are the remains of ancient plants and animals and they're buried and compressed and heated over millions and millions of years.

Fossil fuels are an excellent source of energy and a small amount actually contains a huge amount of energy.

Digging these up and burning the store of carbon from the past is responsible for the enormous rise in carbon emissions that we've seen since the industrial revolution in the 1800s.

Mining and drilling for non-renewable energy can also lead to deforestation, but how? This image is showing an open cast coal mining in Kalimantan in Indonesia, you can see the devastating impact that it's had on the landscape and the environment there.

It can see that it's stretching over 27 kilometres in terms of its diameter.

Tropical rainforest has been cleared to develop this enormous mine and as a result, by cutting it down and clearing it and burning it, that is also releasing carbon emissions into the atmosphere.

Also, by clearing this vegetation, it also is removing a carbon sink.

It is removing vegetation which is capable of actually absorbing carbon from our atmosphere.

Time now for a learner check, it says, between 1900 and 2022, carbon emissions from fossil fuels and industry have increased by.

So what you need to do at this point then is pause the video here, read through the four options, but also look at that graph that you can see in front of you.

You need to study that and calculate what you think is the percentage increase from 1900 to 2022.

So pause the video here and best of luck.

And the correct answer was C, 1,750% increase.

How did I get this answer? Well, here is the working gap for you to refer to.

So 37 billion tonnes minus 2 billion tonnes equals 35.

We then divide 35 by two to come out with 17 and a half.

We times it by 100 to give us our percentage and thereby it equates to 1750%.

Really well done if you're able to get that answer correct.

Time now for our two practise questions for our first learning cycle, and the first one says, identify three impacts of non-renewable energy extraction and use these thumbnails of images from the lesson should give you three clues.

The second question says, study this chart, explain two environmental impacts that may result from Indonesia extraction and use of non-renewable energy.

Use data from the chart in your answer.

So what you need to do then right now is pause the video here whilst you attempt these two practise questions.

Best of luck.

In terms of feedback then you are asked to identify three impacts of non-renewable energy extraction and use.

Your impacts are likely to include three from landscape scarring, oil spills, carbon emissions, but also deforestation.

Or perhaps you phrased it as the removal of forests.

For the second question, then your answer may have included something like this.

Coal is used to generate over two thirds of Indonesia's energy, 62.

1%.

If open cast mining is used to extract this coal, then large areas of landscape scarring are likely to resolve because open cast mining involves digging huge pits and clearing large areas of natural vegetation, for example, rainforest.

Together, fossil fuels are used to generate 81.

5% of Indonesia's electricity.

This dependence on non non-renewable will lead to high carbon emissions.

This is because when these carbon rich forms of energy are burnt, they release carbon dioxide, which is a greenhouse gas.

So really well done if you're able to include anything like that in your own answer.

One now to our second and actually final learning cycle, and this is all about the impacts of renewable and recyclable energy.

Now looking at that satellite image, how has energy extraction and production impact this landscape? You may like to pause the video here whilst you really study that image in front of you and try to think of ways about how energy extraction and production has impacted that landscape.

So what did you come come up with? Well, first of all, the photo in front of you shows an area in eastern Germany and if you look on the sort of eastern side of that image or on the right hand side of the image, you can see a 650 megawatts solar farm has actually been installed on the site of an old open cast coal mine.

Here it is right there.

There's the solar farm on the site of a former mine.

Now the construction of that solar farm undoubtedly causes environmental impacts.

Yes, it is less than the impacts caused by non-renewable energy extractions such as with coal or oil, but nevertheless it does still have a degree of environmental impact.

And on the west hand side then you can see that opencast coal mine, which is still operating.

So we can see the clear difference actually in terms of environmental impact from a coal mine on the western side of that image to the renewable energy solar farm there, on the eastern side, which clearly has a much less of a environmental impact.

So a quick learning check, it says true or false, only the extraction use of non-renewable energy has environmental consequences.

So what you need to do right now then is pause the video here whilst you consider and then select your answer.

And the correct answer is false.

Now once again, I'd like you to pause the video whilst you consider as to why this statement then is false.

And the reason it's false is well, because renewables and recyclables both have environmental consequences too, although they're generally cause less harm than fossil fuels, these consequences include landscape impacts, especially where large areas of land are required for energy production.

So really well done if you're able to identify those two correct answers.

Now, renewable and recyclable energy types can have landscape impacts and one of these is with regards to land use.

This graph is really interesting.

It's showing us the area in square metres, which is needed to generate just one megawatt of energy in an hour for different energy resources.

What I'd like you to do is perhaps study that graph in front of you and answer this question right here.

It says, which requires the most land and which requires the least.

You may like to pause the video here whilst you really study that graph and try to answer those two questions there.

So what we can see then is HEP or hydroelectric power uses the most land, but why is that? Laura says, why are there two types of solar, cadmium and silicon? Well, we'll come back to that in a second, Laura, but first of all, why is it that HEP uses the most land? Well, let's have a look at that now.

Hydroelectric power or HEP generally requires large areas of land to be flooded to create a reservoir, and this has really large scale impacts.

The image in front of you is a 3D visualisation of the Cirata dam and reservoir in Java, in Indonesia.

62 kilometres square of river valley were flooded to create the reservoir and as a result, 56,000 people had to leave their homes because of course their homes were flooded by building this reservoir.

So already we're beginning to see how HEP does indeed cause rather large environmental and social impacts.

So the reservoir storing 2 trillion cubic metres of water and as a result, this HEP power station is able to generate 1.

4 gigawatt hours of electricity per year.

It stands 125 metres tall is made out of concrete of course, and there are floating solar panels with 192 megawatt capacity.

So it really is a combination of two different types of renewable energy, solar and HEP.

So what are the environmental impacts of HEP? Let's have a look at them now.

So there is a loss of habitats due to the flooding.

There is biodiversity loss of course, changes to natural river flows.

The release of methane increase in erosion downstream, a loss of farmland and settlements and connected with that then is the forced displacement of people.

So Laura asked the question, why are there two different types of solar, cadmium and silicon? Let's return to her question.

Well, photovoltaic or PV solar creates electricity directly from sunlight.

Silicon panels are more expensive and heavy and they take a lot of energy to actually make.

Cadmium panels are cheaper to make and less energy is actually required and they work better in very hot temperatures.

For example, in deserts and in lower light conditions.

Cadmium is toxic and dangerous if panels actually get broken.

So this is why there are two different types of solar shown in that graph right there.

So with that knowledge then let's have a learning check.

It says true or false, cadmium panels would probably be the best choice for generating renewable solar energy in this desert location.

So what you need to do then right now is pause the video whilst you consider and then select your answer.

And the correct answer was false.

Now once again, I'd like you to pause the video whilst to consider as to why then this statement is false.

And the reason it's false is because cadmium panels perform better at high temperatures and therefore they are perfect for desert landscapes.

Really well done if you're able to identify those two correct answers.

Desert locations have advantages for solar farms and the most obvious of which I suppose is the fact that very high solar radiation could be found there.

Often there are over 300 sunny days per year there.

Also, there's lots of flat land there that isn't being used for any other land use.

So thousands of panels can be installed easily.

However, deserts are often a long way away from towns and cities where the electricity is actually needed.

So it's very inaccessible to actually instal these solar panels, but also the places where that energy is actually needed is a long, long way away.

So it needs somehow to be transported to those settlements.

Farmers in the UK sometimes use their land for solar farms and solar farms currently cover less than 0.

1% of the UK's land area.

It actually generates extra income for farmers and reduces their own energy costs.

So it's economically rather good, rather sustainable for those farmers.

Farmers can also use the land that is not great for farming.

They can use those areas which aren't very good for perhaps crop farming or pastoral farming, for example, sloping land and thereby creates some revenue from that.

Sheep can actually graze around the panels and farming and energy production can go hand in hand together.

However, the landscape impact of solar farms is sometimes unpopular with other residents and visitors to the countryside that believe that it's spoiling the natural beauty of the countryside.

Time now for a learning check in, it says which of the following could be a disadvantage of the location of the solar farm in the satellite image.

So what you need to do then is pause the video here, read through those four options and select what you think is the correct answer.

And the correct answer is C, landscape impact unpopular with some? Yes, local residents sometimes argue against the installation of solar farms or perhaps other renewable energy types on the fact that they can cause perhaps scenery problems or impacts with the local landscape essentially.

So really well done if you're able to select C as the correct answer.

Now once again, Laura asks a really excellent question.

She says, why isn't wind on this graph? There are wind farms in lots of countries, aren't there? She makes a really good point.

What do you think the answer to Laura's excellent question might actually be? You may like to pause the video here whilst you consider your own answer to that question or perhaps and even debate it with someone near you.

So what did you think? Well, let's start by introducing this image.

This satellite image shows a part of the UK's largest on onshore wind farm at Whitelee near Glasgow in Scotland.

Now the reason that it's not included in that graph that you saw on the previous slide is well because onshore wind farms do not actually replace other land uses, for example, farming and forestry can still occur here where those wind turbines are actually placed.

So land use per unit of of electricity is actually very small, and offshore wind farms don't take up any lands at all because they're out at sea.

However, wind farms do have a landscape impact and for some residents and visitors, their landscape impact is negative and they would argue perhaps that the spoiling of the landscape may put visitors off and thereby have a detrimental impact on perhaps the tourism industry there as a result.

Nevertheless, wind turbines and wind energy does have low carbon emissions.

It is very environmentally friendly.

It can supply the local area with energy and the land is still usable for farming and other land uses.

On the other hand though turbines are large and clearly very visible on the landscape, birds and bats can be harmed by those rotating rotors.

And finally, turbines make a noise.

So clearly there are advantages and disadvantages even with this renewable energy source.

Nuclear power is recyclable, it uses very little land compared to non-renewable energy and HEP and solar, as the graph once again illustrates.

Nuclear fission releases a huge amount of energy from a small amount of fuel.

This means nuclear power stations can be very compact as in located on a rather small area.

However, nuclear power undoubtedly has many environmental impacts too.

One being carbon emissions are almost zero.

This is a fantastic positive.

There is also no air pollution.

There's low impact on land habitats because it only uses a small area.

The other side of the equation is though that uranium for nuclear efficient is mined often in those open caste mines that we saw at the beginning of the lesson, uranium processing leaves a lot of waste and water behind if not recycled spent, nuclear fuel is highly radioactive and has to be stored safely for thousands of years.

So we can clearly see there are many pros and cons with nuclear power.

Although very rare accidents in nuclear plants have devastating impacts as we saw in the 1980s in Chernobyl, for example, most famously.

And finding nuclear plants use a lot of water for cooling.

Heated water goes back to rivers and the sea, which thereby harms fish.

So clearly there are environmental impacts as a result of nuclear power.

So a quick learning check and it says which of the following uses the smallest area of land to generate one megawatt per hour.

What you need to do then is pause the video here, read through the four options, and then select what you think is the correct answer.

And the correct answer was nuclear.

Really well done if you're able to select D as the correct answer.

The best conditions for generated renewable energy are often in those remote, inaccessible and rural areas.

So out in the countryside, electricity is stepped up to high voltage to transmit it to long distances.

And pylons are often used to carry the power cables, as you can see on the image in front of you.

Pylons though can have a significant landscape impact, especially in rural areas that previously have not had them.

So a quick learning check.

Once again, it says true or false, the environmental impacts of non-renewable energy are more significant than for renewable and recyclable energy.

Once again, you need to pause the video here whilst you consider and then select your answer.

And the correct answer is true.

Now, once again, I'd like you to pause the video whilst you consider why or how the statement then is true.

And the reason it's true is that while although renewable and recyclable energy production and use do have negative environmental impacts, their advantage is that the energy they produce does not involve high carbon emissions.

As a result, they help to reduce some of the potentially catastrophic environmental impacts of burning fossil fuels for energy such as climate change and global warming.

Really, really well done if you were able to identify those two correct answers.

We're on now to our one and early practise task for the second and final learning cycle and it says, HEP has the biggest environmental impact of all energy resources.

To what extent do you agree with this statement? Now I'm giving you three tips to really help you answer this question.

The first is to refer to data from the graph that you can see in front of you in your answer, I want you to think about different types of environmental impacts and also try to consider both sides agree and disagree.

So what I'd like you to do then is pause the video here whilst you attend this practise task.

Best of luck.

And now some feedback.

So your answer could have included points that agree such as, it requires the biggest area to generate a unit of power, which means it has the biggest impact on an environment.

Creating a reservoir involves flooding, a river valley causing deforestation, habitat loss, biodiversity loss, and these are all very significant environmental consequences.

Creating a reservoir also changes river flow downstream and reduces sediment, again with significant impacts on river ecosystems. Methane is released from the decay of forests and this is a greenhouse gas which can lead to global warming.

Furthermore, your answer could include points that disagree such as, the biggest environmental impact by far is climate change resulting from the burning of fossil fuels.

Whole oil and natural gas have very high carbon emissions, and so they have the highest or the biggest impact.

The landscape impact of a reservoir is much more positive than the landscape scarring of fossil fuel or uranium extraction.

Although nuclear power has very low carbon emissions, this the the spent fuel it produces is highly radioactive and has to be stored safely for thousands of years.

Any accident with this would have major impacts.

So really well done if you were able to include anything like that in your own answer.

Time now for our learning summary and what you need to know from today's lesson.

Well, non-renewable, renewable, and recyclable energy extraction, production and use can each have environmental consequences.

Oil spills, landscapes scarring, and carbon emissions are some of the consequences of extracting and using non-recyclable energy resources.

Renewable energy can also have landscape impacts, so including from HEP flooding and land use for wind turbines and solar panels.

So really, really well done during today's lesson.

It was a pleasure teaching you and I will see you again on the next lesson.

Goodbye.