Lesson video

Hello, My name's Mrs. Harkin.

The title of today's lesson, is Energy Use Around the World.

Taken from the Unit, Natural Resources: Can Earth Meet our Needs? In today's lesson, we're going to be exploring where energy resources come from, but also what happens when you don't have access to modern energy resources like electricity.

I hope you enjoy today's lesson, let's get started.

Today's outcome is to categorise different types of energy and describe how energy use varies globally.

Here are some key words are useful to know before today's lesson.

Firstly, we have electricity.

This is a form of energy that powers electronics by moving tiny charged particles.

As we know, electricity is not the only form of energy.

Renewable energy resources are sources of energy that can be reused or will not be used up or run out.

For example, solar energy.

Non-renewable energy resources are sources of energy that cannot be replaced that will eventually run out.

For example, coal.

Fossil fuels were natural substances that were formed over millions of years from buried remains of ancient organisms. They include coal, oil and gas.

We'll go into renewable and non-renewable energy resources and fossil fuels in a bit more detail during the lesson today.

Our lesson is in two parts.

What different energy resources are available and how does energy use vary? First of all, we're going to look at what different energy resources are available.

Energy resources can be divided into two main groups, renewable energy resources.

These can be reused and will not be used up or run out, for example, solar energy.

Then we also have non-renewable energy resources, which cannot be replaced and will eventually run out.

For example, coal.

Time for a check for understanding now.

What type of energy resource takes millions of years to form and cannot be quickly replaced? For example, coal? Well done, yes, non-renewable.

We're going to look at lots of different types of energy resource now starting with renewable energy resources.

So the examples we are going to cover today are solar, wind, and hydroelectric power.

There are obviously many more to choose from, but we're going to have a look in depth at these three today.

Solar energy uses photovoltaic cells to convert light energy from sunlight into electricity.

There are two different types of solar panel.

The one we're looking at today are photovoltaic panels, and these turn light energy into electricity.

The other kinds is actually quite different and it's almost like a radiator on the roof.

They're pipes full of water and the sun heats that water in the pipes directly.

It doesn't produce electricity, but we're going to focus on the photovoltaic cells that you'll be more familiar with seeing around today.

Some renewable energy is formed by using natural resources to turn turbines.

So for example, wind energy turns wind turbines, and water can actually turn turbines within hydroelectric power dams. And these turbines being turned can drive a generator, which then provides electricity for the electric grid for the UK.

So the electric grid for the UK or I suppose other countries have similar systems, just means all of the wires or the cables around the country and all of the transformers which are used to deliver electricity to homes and buildings around the country.

Time for a check for understanding now.

True or false? Photovoltaic solar panels convert heat from the sun into electricity.

This is false.

Why is that? If you thought it was true, take another look at the question because there's something in there that's wrong.

Well done.

It is light energy, not heat energy that is used.

Remember, photo in photovoltaic needs to do the lights.

We're moving on to having a look at non-renewable energy resources now.

Fossil fuels are all non-renewable and fossil fuels are natural substances that were formed over millions of years from the buried remains of ancient organisms. So ancient organisms are dead plants and animals, and you can see them in the first diagram with that dark brown colour.

Over millions of years, these dead organisms can turn into coal, oil and natural gas.

You can see this on the final diagram.

The most common way of generating electricity used to be by burning fossil fuels to convert water to steam, which turned a turbine to drive a generator.

So on the diagram here, we can see a coal-fired power station and coal on the left hand side is entering the power station being burnt, and as it is burnt, that heats water and the water turns into steam and the steam rising can drive a turbine and that turbine then powers the generator, which means that we can form electricity is past the grid.

The problem is that carbon dioxide is released into the atmosphere when fossil fuels are burnt.

This is a greenhouse gas and it worsens global warming.

Check for understanding now.

Which gas is released by burning of fossil fuels? Is it A, oxygen? B, carbon dioxide? C, nitrogen? or D hydrogen? Well done, yes, it's carbon dioxide.

The fossil fuel coal is mined and can be burned in power stations to produce electricity, just like we saw in that diagram.

Here is a mine where coal is being extracted.

This is what coal looks like.

And we have here a real life example of a coal fire power station.

Coal fired power stations are no longer in operation in the UK.

But coal still accounts for over a third of global electricity generation.

Oil is another fossil fuel and we can see here an oil rig where the oil is drilled from deep underground, actually under the ocean, this one here.

So the oil is being drilled from seabeds.

It is normally burned in vehicles to power them.

So oils refined, turned into petrol or diesel and then used in cars, buses, lorries, et cetera.

Our third fossil fuel that we're gonna talk about today is natural gas.

And this is often still piped to homes to be burned, to heat food and to heat the homes themselves.

So have you ever seen a hob or top of the cooker that has actual flames? So you might have one at home.

This will mean that you've got gas sent to your home, three pipes, and that is being burned in your kitchen in order to heat the food in the source pan.

On the right hand side here we have a boiler, so have you seen something like this in your home? I wonder.

This particular boiler runs on natural gas.

So again, you can see some pipes coming outta the bottom there.

One of those pipes will be bringing the gas to the boiler to be burnt.

That flame then heats water in further pipes that are attached and the water will then run around the radiators around the home or around the building and will heat the rooms. Nuclear energy is a non-renewable energy resource as well, but it is not a fossil fuel.

It comes from splitting atoms, usually uranium in a process called nuclear fission.

After construction, nuclear energy produces few carbon dioxide emissions.

Obviously the construction of the power plants, everything that goes alongside that, does produce emissions.

After that has happened, there are very few compared to, for example, a coal-fire power station.

Time for a check for understanding.

Which non-renewable energy is not a fossil fuel? Is it A, coal? B, oil? C, gas? or D, nuclear? Well done, it's nuclear.

Time for our task now.

First of all, I'd like you to define renewable and non-renewable energy.

Secondly, I would like you to categorise the following energy resources into renewable and non-renewable using a table.

I've put a table here for you to copy.

Solar, coal, wind, hydroelectric, nuclear, oil, and natural gas are the different energy resources I would like you to categorise.

Pause the video now to give yourself time to do this.

Well done everyone.

Let's have a look at the answers.

For question one, define renewable and non-renewable energy.

Your answer may look like this.

Renewable energy resources are sources of energy that can be reused and will not be used up or run out.

For example, solar energy.

Non-renewable energy resources are sources of energy that cannot be replaced but will eventually run out, for example, coal.

Yours may be worded slightly differently that's fine, as long as they are correct.

You might have used different examples or not had examples.

You might want to add examples on now if you've forgotten them.

For our second question, it was, categorise the following energy resources into renewable and non-renewable using a table.

Your answers should look like this.

Renewable includes solar, winds and hydroelectric.

And non-renewable includes, coal, oil, natural gas, and nuclear.

Now we're onto the second parts of our lesson today.

How does energy use vary? So energy use is not evenly distributed globally.

We can see on the map here, energy use per person in 2023.

The lighter colours show less energy use in a country.

For example, this pale orange colour on the scale shows not to kWh to 1000 kWh and that's per person remember.

Whereas the darkest colour is over a 100,000 kWh per person.

So as we look at the map, we can see that not all the countries are the same shade of orange here.

And that shows is actually, there's quite a dramatic variation in energy use across the world.

Development is a good match to energy use as more developed countries use more energy for transportation.

Technology, factories, lighting, and temperature control.

So energy use per person is on the left here as we were looking at before.

And on the right we have the human development index from 2022.

The human development index is a number from no to one that tells us how developed a country is.

It uses a number of different factors to calculate how developed that country is not just the wealth of the country.

Generally countries that are more developed have more energy use.

For example, Australia is very highly developed according to our blue human development index map on the right hand side.

And also uses between 30,000 and a 100,000 kWh per person, as we can see on the left hand side.

So there are a lot of similarities between these two maps.

They don't match up exactly though.

The United States has just 4% of the world's population.

So there's not actually that many people living there, but it does use about 17% of global energy.

So it should be if it was evenly distributed, if everybody around the world used the same amount of energy, then we would expect the United States to use 4% of global energy because they have 4% of the global population.

But this is significantly more.

How much more is it? Let's have a think.

It's actually over four times as much as you would expect.

Andeep tells us, "Did you know the average electricity use "of people in Chad, "is less than we use to power our fridge?" That's quite an interesting statistic, isn't it? So, most people will have a fridge at home and therefore will be using just by having their fridge turned on more than the average person in Chad.

Time for a check for understanding now.

True or false? Energy use per person varies very little globally.

Well done.

That's false.

Can you tell me why? Yes.

So energy use per person varies dramatically globally, doesn't it? You may have used evidence to back up your answer there as well, which is brilliant.

Why is the lack of access to electricity a problem for development? Can you think of anything? Let's hear from some other students.

So Alex says, "You won't be able to do homework "in the evenings without light to see by.

"And no internet for social media or gaming." So it can have an impact on education and socialising.

Aisha says, "It would be really hard to run a business "without electricity.

"And no fridges to keep food and drinks or medicine cool." So actually, it could have real impact on income as well as having an impact on health.

So a lot of problems could come out from the fact that people don't have access to electricity.

Not everyone has reliable access to modern energy, for lighting, heating, cooking, et cetera.

So in this case, modern energy would generally refer to electricity coming to the home.

In many developing countries, people rely on fuel wood for energy.

And you can see in the photograph here, this lady is sitting on a pile of fuel wood.

So this means there's open fires in the homes, increasing the risk of fire hazards, and that can also harm the health of those who are regularly breathing in the fumes.

Time for a check for understanding now.

Where modern energy resources are not available, people often burn, Is it A, solar power? B, turbines? C, fuelwood? or D, renewable energy? Well done, it's fuelwood.

Time for task B now.

For our first task, I'd like you to use the map that I've put here on the slide and an atlas.

If you don't have an atlas, all you really need is a world map with the countries labelled on that's all to identify three countries, which use less than 1000 kWh of energy per person in 2023.

Secondly, I'd like you to explain why the lack of access to electricity is a problem for development.

Please pause the video now to give yourself time to do this.

Well done everyone.

Let's take a look at some answers.

For our first question, use the map to identify three countries which use less than 1000 kWh of energy per person in 2023.

You may have identified any of the following, Chad, Nigeria, Ethiopia, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Niger, Malawi, Burundi, South Sudan, Afghanistan, or Haiti.

For task two, explain why the lack of access to electricity is a problem for development.

You may have written, "There will be no electric lights "to see by at night.

"No internet connection or fridges to keep food "and medicine cold." So you might connect this to education.

You might connect this to health and socialising that would be appropriate.

In many developing countries, people rely on fuel wood for energy, this means there are open fires in homes, increasing the risk of fire hazards and can harm the health of those who are regularly breathing in fumes.

Well done everyone.

We've reached the summary.

Today we learned that renewable energy resources can replenish naturally, over short periods of time.

For example, solar energy, non-renewable energy resources take millions of years to form and cannot be quickly replaced.

For example, coal.

Economic development is a good match to energy use as wealthier countries use more energy for transportation, technology, factories, lighting and temperature control.

Many people do not have reliable access to modern energy for lighting, heating, cooking, et cetera, and instead rely on fuel wood.

Thank you for learning with me today.

I hope you enjoyed it.

I hope to see you next time.

Bye.