Very good summary about natural resources about chapter 1 of the book Humboldt from 3vwo. I had a very high grade on this test, even though geography wasn't my strong suit!
Natural resources are substances that occur in nature and can be useful economically. Energy sources
come from the remains of plants and animals. This is why energy sources are also called fossil fuels.
Many fossil fuels were made during the Carboniferous period (300-360 million years ago).
Coal comes from mashes, dead trees and plants ended up underwater → a thick layer of plant
remains built up → layers of sediment cut the plant remains off oxygen → high pressures and
temperatures compressed the plant remains → coalification → lignite and later black coal. Coal
consists of carbon → much energy.
Oil was produced in shallow seas, algae, plankton & other organisms died → sank to the bottom
of the sea → layers became thicker → pressure and temperature increased → oil.
When oil and coal are formed → natural gas is forced out the organic material.
Fossil fuels aren’t equally distributed. The most oil reserves are in the Middle East. The most natural
gas can be found in Russia and Norway.
Disadvantages of fossil fuels are: pollution, more political & strategic in nature and they’re non-
renewable.
The ideal energy source needs to be: affordable, renewable, reliable, clean & safe.
Different ways to get energy are:
- Wind energy, wind turbines are expensive and CO2 is emitted during the production. A
disadvantage is that the wind isn’t predictable and that many people don’t want a windmill
close to their house
- Solar energy, panels of solar cells capture the energy of radiation. Solar energy is rather
expensive and inefficient to obtain, it’s also a disadvantage that it’s often cloudy in The
Netherlands
- Hydroelectric power, clean and reliable energy, building a hydroelectric power plant is quite
expensive, however, once it built, the energy is quite cheap. A disadvantage of it is that it has
a drastic effect on the nature & landscape.
- Geothermal energy, it uses the heat that’s inside the Earth
- Nuclear energy, when you split atoms and it produces almost no CO2. A big disadvantage is
that the nuclear waste remains are radioactive and that they can have a huge effect on humans
and the environment
Biomass (not a fossil fuel) are all kinds of biological materials, you can get energy out of it by
burning. It’s quite cheap. A big disadvantage is that a lot of CO2 is released when burning and that a
lot of rainforests are being cut down, so that biomass crops can be grown instead.
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