Natural+Resources+and+Sustaining+Our+Society


 * Sustaining Our Society**

__Important Concepts__

**Supply and Demand** is the amount of an object (supply) and the desire to have the object (demand). Supply and demand most directly relates to resources in the environment. Resources range from fossil fuels to clean water to food supply. Everything is tied into supply and demand. The price of gasoline is an example of supply and demand. There is a huge want, or desire, for gasoline but we have a limited number of barrels shipped into our country for us to consume. Supply and Demand is the main idea behind economics, showing that their is a connection between economics and the environment.

Environmentally, we have a limited supply for our natural resources to produce the necessary amount of energy needed to power the countries' respective economies. The demand for these energy sources is very high especially for countries that are outputting many services that require energy such as the United States, China, Japan, etc.

__Bottom Line:__ The Idea of Supply and Demand: Sellers want to unload there goods at high prices and Buyers want to buy at low prices  Explain the role of natural resources in sustaining society.  Natural resources are very important to our society. Natural resources include solar energy, nuclear energy, oil, coal, wind, and water to name a few. Our society needs some fossil fuels more than others, however all of these are not mixing well with our environment. The next few paragraphs will give you an in depth look into how natural resources help sustain our society.

__Solar Energy__ Solar energy is one of the most abundant natural resources we have, and also one of the cleanest. It is easy to capture the energy of the sun by using solar panels. The energy captured in the panels can be used to heat your house, or water, and even make electricity(EERE Kids 2008). "In the 1830s, the British astronomer John Herschel used a solar thermal collector box (a device that absorbs sunlight to collect heat) to cook food during an expedition to Africa. Today, people use the sun's energy for lots of things.     Solar energy can be converted to **thermal (or heat) energy** and used to: Solar energy can be converted to electricity in two ways: The major disadvantages of solar energy are: Photovoltaic cells, like batteries, generate direct current (DC) which is generally used for small loads (electronic equipment). When DC from photovoltaic cells is used for commercial applications or sold to electric utilities using the electric grid, it must be converted to alternating current (AC) using inverters, solid state devices that convert DC power to AC(Energy Kids 2007)." As you can easily see solar energy is a good source of clean, renewable energy, but it cannot sustain a large surface area. However it does sustain many ecosystems from which we draw our food.
 * Heat water – for use in homes, buildings, or swimming pools.
 * Heat spaces – inside greenhouses, homes, and other buildings.
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif">**Photovoltaic** (PV devices) or “solar cells” – change sunlight directly to electricity. PV systems are usually used in remote locations that are not connected to the electric grid. They are also used to power watches, calculators, and lighted road signs.
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif">**Solar Power Plants** - indirectly generate electricity when the heat from solar thermal collectors is used to heat a fluid which produces steam that is used to power generator. Out of the 15 known solar electric generating units operating in the United States at the end of 2006, 10 of these are in California, and 5 in Arizona. No statistics are being collected on solar plants that produce less than 1 megawatt of electricity, so there may be smaller solar plants in a number of other states.
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif">The amount of sunlight that arrives at the earth's surface is not constant. It depends on location, time of day, time of year, and weather conditions.
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif">Because the sun doesn't deliver that much energy to any one place at any one time, a large surface area is required to collect the energy at a useful rate(Energy Kids 2007).
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif">**Some advantages of photovoltaic systems are:**
 * 1) <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif">Conversion from sunlight to electricity is direct, so that bulky mechanical generator systems are unnecessary.
 * 2) <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif">PV arrays can be installed quickly and in any size required or allowed.
 * 3) <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif">The environmental impact is minimal, requiring no water for system cooling and generating no by-products.

__Nuclear Energy__ <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif">Nuclear energy is produced naturally and in man-made operations under human control. <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif">Nuclear energy is produced in two different ways, in one, large nuclei are split to release energy. In the other method, small nuclei are combined to release energy.
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif">"Changes can occur in the structure of the nuclei of atoms. These changes are called nuclear reactions. Energy created in a nuclear reaction is called nuclear energy, or atomic energy.
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif">Naturally: Some nuclear energy is produced naturally. For example, the Sun and other stars make heat and light by nuclear reactions.
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif">Man-Made: Nuclear energy can be man-made too. Machines called nuclear reactors, parts of nuclear power plants, provide electricity for many cities. Man-made nuclear reactions also occur in the explosion of atomic and hydrogen bombs.

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica">Advantages of Nuclear Energy

 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif">The Earth has limited supplies of coal and oil. Nuclear power plants could still produce electricity after coal and oil become scarce.
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif">Nuclear power plants need less fuel than ones which burn fossil fuels. One ton of uranium produces more energy than is produced by several million tons of coal or several million barrels of oil.
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif">Coal and oil burning plants pollute the air. Well-operated nuclear power plants do not release contaminants into the environment.

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica">Disadvantages of Nuclear Energy
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif">The nations of the world now have more than enough nuclear bombs to kill every person on Earth. The two most powerful nations -- Russia and the United States -- have about 50,000 nuclear weapons between them. What if there were to be a nuclear war? What if terrorists got their hands on nuclear weapons? Or what if nuclear weapons were launched by accident? <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif">__Oil__ Almost all oils burn in air generating heat, which can be used directly, or converted into other forms of energy by various means, for example, heating water into steam which is funneled into a turbine which turns a huge magnet. This spins and generates electricity. Oils are used as fuels for heating, lighting (e.g. kerosene lamp), powering combustion engines, and other purposes. Oils used for this purpose nowadays are usually derived from petroleum, such as fuel and diesel oil to name a few. Although biological oils such as biodiesel are gaining shares in the stock market(Wikipedia 2008). (AP Photo/Gustavo Ferrari)
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif">Nuclear explosions produce radiation. The nuclear radiation harms cells in the body, which can make people sick, or even kill them. Illness can strike people years after their exposure to nuclear radiation.
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif">One possible type of reactor disaster is known as a meltdown. In such an accident, the fission reaction goes out of control, leading to a nuclear explosion and the emission of great amounts of radiation.
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif">In 1979, the cooling system failed at the Three Mile Island nuclear reactor near Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. Radiation leaked, forcing tens of thousands of people to flee. The problem was solved minutes before a total meltdown would have occurred. Fortunately, there were no deaths.
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif">In 1986, a much worse disaster struck Russia's Chernobyl nuclear power plant. In this incident, a large amount of radiation escaped from the reactor. Hundreds of thousands of people were exposed to the radiation. Several dozen died within a few days. In the years to come, thousands more may die of cancers induced by the radiation.
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif">Nuclear reactors also have waste disposal problems. Reactors produce nuclear waste products which emit dangerous radiation. Because they could kill people who touch them, they cannot be thrown away like ordinary garbage. Currently, many nuclear wastes are stored in special cooling pools at the nuclear reactors.
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif">The United States plans to move its nuclear waste to a remote underground dump by the year 2010.
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif">In 1957, at a dump site in Russia's Ural Mountains, several hundred miles from Moscow, buried nuclear wastes mysteriously exploded, killing dozens of people.
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif">Nuclear reactors only last for about forty to fifty years(Nuclear Energy 2008)."
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__Coal__ Coal is the largest single source of fuel for the generation of electricity world-wide, as well as the largest source of CO2 emissions, which, are responsible for causing climate change and global warming(Wikipedia 2008). Coal is primarily used as a solid fuel to produce electricity and heat through combustion. World coal consumption is about 6.2 billion tons per year, of which about 75% is used for the production of electricity (Wikipedia 2008). However, coal is the leading cause of greenhouse gases and has many more effects such as:

> <span style="font-size: 110%; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif">Coal is also used to make steam to turn turbines, and as mentioned above it is used for energy to run many things. <span style="font-size: 110%; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif">These four resources are just the tip of the iceberg, but they supply much of the world with energy. <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif"><span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif"><span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif"> <span style="font-size: 110%; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif">Natural resources don't just power transportation and the production of energy, but they also provide America's industries with a large amount of energy. Without natural resources factories would not be able to function at all. All societies, even farming societies need factories around. These factories provide more jobs, which means more money the area has. There are maany more types of energy that sustain our society, these four were just more widely used. **Analyze the effects of a natural resource's availability on a community or region.** If a community or region has a large demand for a natural resource such as oil, but a small supply the prices will rise. This is exactly what happened in the 70's during the energy crisis. There was a very small supply of oil, but a very large demand, the prices therefore were very high. This can also lead to a high levell of stress within the community. Also, if there is no resources, there will be no industry around. This will cause less jobs, and less people. That also means less tax money to keep up the school and town. This is kind of what is happening in coal country in Pennsylvania. The coal is running out, and the jobs are going elsewhere, causing the towns to be ghost towns almost (i.e. Girardville).
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif">release of carbon dioxide and methane, both of which are greenhouse gases, which are causing climate change and global warming according to the IPCC
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif">waste products including uranium, thorium, and other heavy metals
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif">acid rain
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif">interference with groundwater and water table levels
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif">impact of water use on flows of rivers and consequential impact on other land-uses
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif">dust nuisance
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif">subsidence above tunnels, sometimes damaging infrastructure
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif">rendering land unfit for other uses.
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif">coal-fired power plants without effective fly ash capture are one of the largest sources of human-caused background radiation exposure(Wikipedia 2008).