Lesson video

Hello, my name's Mr. March, and I'm here today to teach you all about factors affecting access to energy resources.

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

By the end of today's lesson, you will be able to explain how access to energy resources is affected by physical resources and access to technology.

There are four key terms for today's lesson, and those are access, geology, reserve, and fracking.

Access refers to the ability to use a resource in a way that benefits people.

Geology refers to the type, structure, and layers of rock found beneath the Earth's surface.

Reserve refers to the amount of a fossil fuel that has been discovered and can be extracted and sold.

Fracking refers to hydraulic fracturing, or fracking.

It's a method used to extract gas or oil from shale rock formations deep underground.

There are two learning cycles for today's lesson, and we're gonna start with learning cycle one, which is all about physical factors and access to energy resources.

So a genuinely good question is, why don't countries with the highest potential for solar power generate the most solar power? Now, on the screen in front of you then, you can see on the left-hand side we've got a map showing us the photovoltaic power potential.

And on the right-hand side then, we've actually got the solar power generation as of 2023.

And you can see that there's a disparity between those two.

There's a difference.

So again, let's return to that question, why don't countries with the highest potential for solar power generate the most solar power? Now, we are gonna answer that question in the second half of this lesson, but for now, you may like to pause the video here whilst you once again look at those maps and perhaps consider your own answer to that question.

Now, access to energy resources really does depend on many, many different factors.

Let's start with the example of coal.

Well, to extract coal from the ground, you first of all need those coal deposits to be in the region or your country.

And then on top of that then, you then need the technology to be able to go and access and mine that coal.

Finally, you then need a market.

You need to be able to sell that coal to someone.

Likewise, when it comes to wind, to generate electricity from wind, you once again need windy conditions.

Just like you need coal deposits, you need windy conditions.

And once again, you need that technology to be able to turn wind into power.

And finally, once again, you need to be able to find someone to actually buy that electricity.

Now, in terms of those coal deposits and those windy conditions then, these are your physical factors.

These are the natural factors, which means that you either have coal or don't and either have windy conditions or don't.

And then following that then, you need technology, and then finally, a consumer base, a market.

Time now for a learning check, and it says to complete these examples using the same approach that we looked at on the previous slide.

So, as you can see, instead of coal, we've now got oil, and instead of wind, we've now got sun.

So what I'd like you to do then is pause the video here whilst you try your best to complete these examples using that same approach from the previous slide.

So what did you get? Well, let's have a look at the answers.

So, first of all, you need oil deposits.

Just like coal deposits, you actually need oil deposits.

You then need technology to access the oil there.

In terms of the sun then, you need sunny conditions in order to generate solar power.

You need to be able to have that technology to turn that solar power into electricity.

So really, really well done if you were able to complete those gaps there during that learning check.

So another learning check says, "True or false? If a country has fossil fuels underground, it can easily use them." So what I'd like you to do 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 here whilst you consider as to why this statement then is false.

And the reason it's false is because, well, some countries actually lack the infrastructure or funding to actually develop their resources, even if they are accessible, while in other cases, a country might have resources that require advanced and expensive technology to actually access them.

For example, because of a very complicated geology.

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

So what sort of physical factors, by which I mean natural factors, can actually affect access to energy resources? Well, for non-renewables, the main physical condition affecting accessibility is without doubt geology.

Oil, gas, and coal only form under quite specific geological conditions, and that means in a lot of locations, there's no accessibility to them because they haven't formed at those locations.

Geological conditions also can affect how easy or how difficult fossil fuels are to extract.

Sometimes coal may outcrop at the surface, for example, making it very easy to access, while sometimes it is deep underground and underlying complex rock formations, making it hard to get at.

Geological conditions also affect the quantity and quality of the fossil fuel, which can influence how worthwhile it is to actually extract.

Climate is really important for renewables.

To be worth constructing a wind farm, you obviously need a location that gets winds strong enough to turn the turbines and, crucially, a lot of days per year on which it's windy enough to do that.

Solar farms ideally need a high number of clear skies and strong insolation, which is why deserts make a great choice of location.

HEP, by which I mean hydroelectric power, needs a lot of water.

So HEP power plants are typically located in regions that receive a lot of rain.

Relief and altitude are important for HEP too.

The ideal place to site a dam is in a relatively narrow part of a steep-sided river valley or in a natural basin.

This will make it easier and cheaper to dam the valley.

And HEP needs water to run downhill through pipes with enough force to spin turbines, so the reservoir needs ideally to be a lot higher up than the power plant where the turbines are actually located.

Very mountainous relief can be difficult terrain for communications and construction, though.

And higher altitudes are also more challenging to access.

This can affect where wind turbines are located.

Winds are often very strong at higher altitudes, but wind turbines will automatically shut down if the wind is too powerful, as otherwise they would be damaged.

So wind farms on very high mountains are quite rare despite the high winds regularly found there.

It would also be very expensive and difficult to transport everything up the mountain.

It is also expensive in terms of location to develop energy resources at remote locations.

One factor here is that the energy then needs to be transported back from the remote location to where it's actually needed.

Ideal locations for oil and gas are often coastal locations because the oil and gas can then be transported quickly and easily to refineries by ship.

Remote locations, such as the Arctic, have challenging conditions as well as the need for energy resource developers to bring everything they need with them, including food.

The other four physical conditions on the right-hand side are less often a factor, but they can be significant too.

For water availability, this is very important for nuclear power, which uses a lot of water.

Often, nuclear power stations are located at the coast or beside rivers for this reason.

Biofuels also require a lot of water to grow, and of course, HEP is all about water availability.

The risk of natural hazards can definitely be a factor.

Areas at high risk of earthquakes or tropical cyclones, for example, would need to spend a lot more on making structures like dams and sea walls earthquake-resistant or tsunami-resistant, for example.

Permafrost is found in cold environments and can make extracting and transporting oil and gas more difficult because the top layer of the soil unfreezes in summer and moves in ways that can disrupt pipelines.

And soil type can affect biofuel cultivation, for example, and may also make sitting wind turbines and any other heavy infrastructure more expensive and difficult if soil conditions are waterlocked or swampy, for example.

So to support what I just said, this map is showing natural gas reserves by country.

And what we can see is that not all countries have natural gas reserves, while others have very large reserves.

Natural gas is formed under specific geological conditions and therefore can only be found in some countries and regions.

So naturally the question is, what conditions are needed for natural gas to form? Well, when ocean conditions are really good for microorganisms, so many build up on the ocean floor when they die that their remains do not decay completely.

Other sediments build up slowly over time over this layer of dead organic material, which buries it deeper and deeper underground.

Around two kilometres underground, temperatures of around 60 degrees Celsius start to turn the organic material into oil.

And over 120 degrees, natural gas is formed.

The gas rises up through gaps in rock formations until it reaches a layer of non-porous rock, which stops it from rising further.

So a quick learning check.

It says, "True or false? Particular physical factors are needed for natural gas reserves to form." So what I need you to do then right now is pause the video here whilst you consider and then select your answer.

And the correct answer was true.

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

And the reason it's true is because, well, ocean conditions need to be so good for microorganisms that their remains build up on the ocean floor so quickly that not all of them are able to decay.

Then this layer needs to be buried deep enough for temperatures to reach 120 degrees Celsius.

Then the gas needs to be trapped under non-porous rock.

So we can see then that there are some very specific physical factors required in order for gas reserves, natural gas reserves, to form.

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

So let's now consider what physical factors are excellent for hydroelectric power, or HEP.

The OS map in front of you is showing the Cruachan Power Station in Argyll and Bute in Scotland.

Now, what we can see then is that the average rainfall is 1,600 millimetres per year.

The difference in elevation between the reservoir and the power station is 400 metres.

And the geology of the underlying reservoir is an impermeable granite.

And finally, the natural basin is formed by glaciation for the reservoir.

So this has been an ideal location for situating this hydroelectric power dam.

A quick learning check, and it says, "Which of these physical factors would be an advantage for generating energy from HEP?" So what you need to do then right now is pause the video here whilst you consider and read through those four options and select all answers that you think are correct.

And the correct answers are B, impermeable rock type, and D, natural basin.

Impermeable rock type would be an advantage as it would mean water would stay in the reservoir, and a natural basin is much easier to dam and fill with water to create the reservoir.

The smaller the dam needs to be to create the reservoir, the cheaper a site will be to develop for hydroelectric power, which is why a steep-sided narrow river valley is also an ideal point for constructing a reservoir behind.

Low rainfall would not be ideal because the reservoir needs to be kept full of water.

And flat relief would also not be an advantage because there needs to be a difference in elevation between the reservoir and the turbines in order for the water to flow under gravity with enough force to spin the turbines quickly, which then generate the electricity.

So really well done if you were able to get those two answers correct.

So what about wind power? Let's consider the physical factors which are good for wind power.

Now, once again, we're gonna look at a OS map extract which is showing now part of the Whitelee wind farm, which is near Glasgow in Scotland.

Now, Eastern Scotland, located in Eastern Scotland, which is actually one of the windiest parts of the UK.

It has an exposed location, which means that there is an uninterrupted wind flow, nothing to get in its way.

The elevated location is about 280 metres above sea level.

High, but not too high.

And finally, the land use.

Well, forestry and farmland are located here, and there is no conflict with energy.

So time now for a learning check, and it says to complete the two missing factors.

So please then pause the video here whilst you try to recall these two pieces of information.

And the two correct answers were geology and climate.

Really, really well done if you were able to recall those two facts.

Time now for our two practise tasks for our first learning cycle.

And the first one says, "Explain why some countries have large natural gas reserves and others do not." The second practise task says, "Explain three physical conditions that make this a good location for generating electricity from HEP." So what I'd like you to do then right now is pause the video here whilst you attempt these two practise tasks.

Best of luck.

And now for some feedback.

So your answer for the first question may have included these points: A modern-day location would need to have been an ocean in Earth's history at a time when conditions for microorganisms were so good that their remains built up on the ocean floor faster than they could actually decay.

Then this layer would have to have been buried deep enough for temperatures to reach 120 degrees Celsius.

Then the gas needs to be trapped under non-porous rock.

If nowhere in a country today had those conditions in the past, then that would explain why that country has no gas reserves.

For the second question, once again, your answer may have included the following: Altitude and elevation.

The contour lines here on the map show the reservoir is located much higher than the power station, which is at grid reference 07 26.

HEP needs water to run downhill through pipes with enough force to spin turbines.

So the reservoir needs to be a lot higher up than the power plant where the turbines are actually located.

It continues: Relief.

The ideal place to site a dam is in a relatively narrow part of a steep-sided river valley or in a natural basin.

This will make it easier and cheaper to dam the valley.

In this location, there is a natural basin which has only needed a relatively narrow dam to create the reservoir behind it.

Climate then: Well, the map shows a mountainous region, and UK mountains typically receive high levels of rainfall each and every year.

This would make this a good location for generating HEP because high rainfall helps to ensure that there is enough water in the reservoir all year to use in generating electricity.

Really, really well done if you were able to include any of those points in your own answer.

We're on now to our second and final learning cycle, and this is all about technology and access to energy resources.

So let's start by looking at high insolation, or strong sunlight, and a high number of sunny days, for example, clear skies per year.

And since we can measure these around the globe, we can work out what the potential or opportunity is for generating solar power globally.

And if you've studied world climates, you'll recall that belts of high pressure north and south of the equator mean that skies are generally free of clouds.

And you'll also recall that insolation is highest near the equator and lowest at the poles due to the curvature of the Earth.

This all adds up to the potential for solar power being highest in the subtropics, around 30 degrees north and 30 degrees south of the equator.

And you can really see that on that left-hand map there where the darker shades are clearly showing us where the highest amounts of PV power potential are actually located.

How does this, though, measure up to the amount of electricity generated by solar power by country, as shown by the choropleth map on the right-hand side? Well, we can see some really good matchups, starting with Australia.

Australia has high PV power potential, and it generates between 30 and 100 terawatts of electricity from solar power, which is a huge amount.

But solar power generation in Northern Africa is pretty low, less than 0.

1 terawatt for a lot of different countries there, despite the fact that it has very high PV power potential.

And then there's China, which has relatively low PV power potential, especially in the east of the country.

But it leads the world in solar power generation, over 300 terawatts annually.

And if you look at the UK and other European countries, really low PV potential but decent solar power generation.

So why isn't there a stronger correlation between PV power potential and actual solar power generation? Well, we're gonna spend a little bit of time now trying to understand that particularly difficult topic.

Time now for a learning check, and Izzy, Laura, and Andeep are also discussing that same question.

Why isn't there a stronger correlation between PV power potential and actual solar power generation? And they all had different possible reasons.

So what I'd like you to do then is pause the video here, read through their statements, and decide which one you think is the best.

So let's go through their possible reasons individually.

Let's start with Izzy.

Izzy says, "Is it because very few people live in the Sahara?" Well, this is true.

Very few people live in desert locations such as the Sahara.

But Australia also has very large deserts and yet is able to generate a huge amount of solar energy.

So perhaps this isn't the best answer.

What does Laura say? Laura says, "Is it because countries export their solar power?" The map shows energy generation, so exports wouldn't actually affect the data.

Let's see what Andeep says.

Well, Andeep first of all is absolutely correct.

He says, "Is it because solar power needs pricey technology?" Yes, this is the main reason.

Technology affects access to solar energy.

It is a very pricey piece of technology and thereby perhaps excludes some countries from being able to afford that to develop their solar power generation potential.

So, really, really well done if you were able to select Andeep as the correct answer.

So what affects access to solar energy where PV potential is actually high? And reasons could include the following: So, for large-scale solar power, for example, solar farms, a country would need to purchase and instal thousands of solar panels.

And this would ideally be in hot desert environments, which is very expensive to do.

Then there are the technological challenges in building the inverters to transform the power, batteries to store it, and connections to transfer it to the national electricity grid.

And speaking of national grids, in many LICs and some NEEs, there may only be a very limited area of the country that is connected to an electricity grid, and that supply of electricity may be weak and unreliable.

People may depend instead on bottled gas for cooking or fuel wood.

And that is connected to the last point too.

Countries may have existing sources of power, for example, coal, that is already developed and already linked into a system for meeting the country's energy needs and accessible at a much cheaper price than solar power.

Now, as we discussed previously, China is the world leader in solar power generation, and there are a variety of different economic, environmental, and strategic reasons for this.

First of which is that China does not have enough fossil fuel reserves, so therefore it needs to actually be able to develop its renewable energy sources, such as solar power.

It has to import oil and gas from other countries, and generating its own solar power saves it money and reduces its reliance on others.

So it brings both economic and strategic benefits.

China also has a problem with air pollution, and this comes from using fossil fuels in its cities, thereby generating its own solar power means clean power and cleaner air for cities and thereby brings an environmental advantage as well.

Now, we looked at this slide previously in learning cycle one, and we've seen how physical factors are really important in accessing energy resources.

But now we've got more evidence that technology is also very important.

Often, it is the technology that makes it cost-effective to extract or generate energy.

That means that you'll be able to extract or generate the energy at a price that people can actually afford to pay for it.

This graph in front of you shows the size of natural gas reserves in the UK and the USA.

The green line is showing the UK, whilst the purple line then is showing us the USA.

Gas is non-renewable, so you would expect reserves to decrease as they get used up.

Like in the UK, we can see that the green line showing us the UK is slowly decreasing, and yet the purple line, which is showing us the USA, is very much more sporadic but certainly increasing over the decades.

So what do you think has actually happened in the USA? You may like to pause the video here whilst you consider your own answer to that question, or perhaps even better, have a discussion with someone near you.

So time now for a learning check.

And three students, Lucas, Jacob, and Andeep, have also been discussing the same question that you looked at on the previous slide, which was why have natural gas reserves increased in the USA? So what I want you to do then is pause the video here, read through those three statements, and decide which one you think is the best.

And the correct answer was Jacob, and he said, "Is it because of new extraction technology?" And as I said, he's absolutely correct.

Yes, fracking technology has made more natural gas accessible.

Lucas said, "Is it because more gas has been created?" Well, no, natural gas does take millions of years to form, so that isn't the correct answer.

And likewise, Andeep was incorrect by saying, "Is it because the USA is using less coal and oil?" Again, this wouldn't affect the size of gas reserves directly.

So Jacob is the correct answer because of the improvements or development of fracking technology, which has made natural gas reserves much more accessible.

And we're gonna look at that now in the next couple of slides.

Fracking, or hydraulic fracturing, has increased access to natural gas in the USA by allowing energy companies to extract gas trapped deep underground in shale rock, as the diagram does a great job in actually illustrating.

The process involves drilling into the rock and injecting a mixture of water, sand, and chemicals at really high pressure.

This cracks the rock and releases the gas, which can then be collected and used.

Fracking has made it possible to tap into large reserves that were previously too difficult or expensive to reach, leading to a major boom in US natural gas production since the early 2000s.

There can, though, be negative impacts from fracking.

Fracking can release methane, which is a powerful greenhouse gas.

The chemicals used in the fracking process can leak into aquifers in bedrock and contaminate groundwater.

Fracking itself uses a huge amount of water, which can put stress on local ecosystems, and the process has resulted in small earthquakes too.

Time once again for a learning check, and it says, "True or false? A reserve of a fossil fuel is a fixed amount and will always reduce in size over time as it's used up." So what I'd like you to do 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 here whilst you consider as to why the statement then is false.

And the reason why is because a reserve of a fossil fuel is how much of that fossil fuel has been discovered, so more can actually be discovered.

It is also how much can be extracted and sold, and new technology can mean that fossil fuels that were previously not accessible can be added to that reserve.

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

Countries may have energy resources that they can access but decide not to actually extract and use.

Can you think of any reasons why that might happen? You may like to pause the video here whilst you consider your own answer to that question or to perhaps even discuss it with someone near you.

So what did you come up with? Well, one reason is to reduce carbon emissions.

For example, a country might decide to increase wind power instead of opening a new coal mine.

So it's perhaps about making considered environmental choices about which one has less environmental impact.

Time once again for a learning check, and it says, "Which of the following is not an environmental impact of fracking?" So what I need you to do then is pause the video here, read through those four options, and select the one answer that you think is not an environmental impact of fracking.

And the correct answer was A, increasing the size of natural gas reserves.

Really well done if you were able to identify A is the correct answer.

We're on now to our two final practise tasks for our final learning cycle.

And the first one says to study these sources of information about coal and use them to suggest a reason why Australia's coal reserves have increased.

So you can see you've got two images on the left-hand side, coal mining in the past versus coal mining today.

And you can see on the right-hand side then, you've got a graph which is then showing the size of coal reserves in Australia in millions of tonnes.

The second question says, "'The UK no longer uses coal to generate electricity because its coal reserves have run out.

' Do you agree that this is the best explanation?" And I would like you to explain why or why not, and you also need to refer to that graph that you can see in front of you.

So what I need you to do then now is pause the video whilst you attempt these two practise tasks.

Best of luck.

In terms of feedback then, your answer may have included the following for the first question: Coal reserves are the amount of coal that has been discovered and can be extracted and sold.

One reason why Australia's coal reserves increased from around 75 billion tonnes in 2008 to around 150 billion tonnes in 2019 could be that new technologies made it possible to extract coal which wasn't previously accessible.

For example, using machines to extract coal from places where it would not have been safe previously to send people.

And for the second question then, again, your answer may have included something like this, now I've gone with a position that I'm saying that I do not agree: I do not agree that this is the best explanation because it was only 10 years ago or so that the UK was using coal to generate 40% of its electricity.

I don't think reserves would run out that quickly.

And anyway, the UK could buy coal from somewhere else.

I think it's more likely that the UK has decided to stop using coal because burning coal increases carbon emissions.

The graph shows that the amount of wind power has increased in a way that suggests it has been used to generate electricity in place of coal.

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

We're on now to our learning summary and what you need to know from today's lesson.

Well, access to energy resources is affected by many different physical factors, such as geology, accessibility, climate, and landscape.

Access to energy resources is also affected by access to technology.

And finally, even when a country does have access to an energy resource, other factors, including environmental ones, can influence whether that energy resource is used or not.

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.