3.4.1 and 3.4.2 CLASSIFICATION AND DISTRIBUTION OF RESOURCES / PHYSICAL FACTORS DETERMINING SUPPLY OF
ENERGY
Renewable:
Type Definition Classification * Statistics
Renewable energy Energy derived from natural processes Primary - biomass, solar, geothermal, Counts for 15%-20% of world energy
that don’t involve the consumption of wind, tidal, wave production.
exhaustible resources like fossil fuel Secondary - hydroelectric Distribution scattered globally.
and uranium. It consists of solar, ocean, Generally found in places where a
wind, biomass, hydrological and Critical - solar, geothermal, wind, tidal, country lacks natural resources,
geothermal energy. wave suitable conditions, technology and
Non-critical - biomass, hydroelectric money needed to invest in finite energy
production.
Relief factors - HEP China is the largest producer,
Geological factors - geothermal, fossil containing 25% of the world’s
fuels renewable power capacity with the
Location factors - tidal, biofuel majority being hydropower.
Climatic factors - biofuel, solar Largest producer of non-hydropower is
Iceland.
Bioenergy is the largest renewable
source, supplying 120% that is
generally fuelwood in LICs.
* Primary - resources are a raw material and used in their natural form to produce power.
Secondary - resources convert a primary energy source into a new form, such as crude oil into petroleum or coal into electricity.
Critical - sustainable energy resources from forests, plants and other biomass; however, they can be overused and depleted at a faster rate than they can replenish.
Non-critical - everlasting resources such as tides, waves, running water, wind and solar power.
Energy source and its Statistics Physical factors needed for development with Advantages Disadvantages
definition examples
Hydroelectricity - Leading renewable Relief factors refer to the height and shape of the land. Dam construction is expensive so carries economic
generation of electricity source of energy globally, This includes the influence on relief on creating disadvantages. This may create conflict with local
using flowing water, supplying 71%. It reached suitable locations for dam construction. people and environmentalists wanting to build dams
typically from a reservoir 1064 GW in 2016 and For example the deep, narrow valley of Shasta in the but governments not having the funds to do so,
held behind a dam or generated 16.% of the Upper Sacramento River Basin in California provides causing them to revert to cheaper, less sustainable
barrage, to drive a turbine world’s electricity from all sites for dams and reservoirs. methods.
which powers a sources. To counter the economic costs, long, steep-sided
generator. Significant development is Relief also provides a head of water, which is stored valley basins with narrow exits maximise the volume of
concentrated in China, and released to drive turbines and generate reservoirs, which makes dam construction more
, with it having the highest hydropower. When generating HEP, water is collected manageable and less costly.
production at 1126 TWh or stored at a higher elevation and led downwards
and accounting for 26% of through large pipes or tunnels to a lower elevation. HEP is non-critical so it can be produced continuously.
global installed capacity in The difference in these two elevations is known as the This means its production is reliable, which is
2015. This greatly head. At the end of its passage down the pipes, the beneficial in the long term and is able to be used as a
compared to the USA and falling water causes turbines to rotate, which drive major source of energy without having to rely on other
Brazil at 8%. generators and convert the turbine’s mechanical forms.
Lowest production is in energy into electricity. However, this continuous supply only occurs in places
India at 120 TWh but that have the correct conditions specifically required
Russia had lowest added Geology is also important because stable, for HEP generation. Large reservoirs are required to
capacity in 2015 of 0.2 impermeable rocks are best suited to dam building. provide a steady stream of water and building them
GW. However, Asia has This is because it secures the dam and prevents water artificially can cause plants and organic matter to be
the largest utilised seepage. flooded, releasing co2 and methane. Further problems
potential with 7195 include degrading water quality, between 40 and 80
TWh/y, making it the likely million being directly displaced and reduced food
leading market for future security. This shows the extent to which HEP dams
development. can only be in places where dams naturally occur,
meaning it remains a relatively small-scale source.
Biomass - organic 87% produced from Biomass can be converted to biofuel, which is then turned to energy. This is done through numerous processes
material that comes from forestry sector, 10% from depending on the desired outcome.
plants and animals so is agriculture, 3% from Mechanical processes are secondary as they prepare biomass for conversion. This includes drying and
renewable. Plants absorb municipal solid waste and crushing. This is beneficial on a small scale such as turning manure into a fuel source on a farm and is also
energy from the sun in landfill gas. sustainable in the long-term as it is a simple, cheap process. However, its small nature means it’s unable to
photosynthesis. When Biofuel production provide energy on an international level so we cannot solely depend on it. However, mechanical processes like
biomass is burnt, the increases the risk of pelletizing can be used on a larger scale as it is easy to store, transport and can be used to heat homes.
chemical energy is deforestation, extreme in
released as heat, which Brazil, Indonesia and A direct way of turning biomass to biofuel in combustion. This is burning material like corn stalks, wood chips
generates electricity. It Nigeria. and switchgrass. This is positive as it is simple yet large scale so is used in large-scale commercial operations
can be burned directly or 67% of biomass is like power plants. It also generates a variety of products like heat, energy and steam. This makes this process
converted to liquid biofuel fuelwood, 1% is forest common, making it very dependable. However, it releases pollutants into the air like co2, smoke and alkaline
or biogas to be burnt as a residues. ash. Additionally, this method is restricted to only burning dry biomass and material above 55% in moisture level
fuel. cannot be burnt. Other methods like hydrothermal liquefaction, which turns wet biomass like algae and sewage
into bio-oil may be suitable here.
Therefore, the plethora of methods for biomass conversion illustrate the need for a range of methods based on
the condition of the biomass, such as its moisture level, size and purpose.
Solar energy - the 29.6% increase since The lowest generation of solar power is in Russia, Little carbon and methane High construction costs,
radiation from the sun 2016. Scandinavia and North Canada. emissions, which is maintenance costs and
that’s capable of Overall share of global The highest generation is classified by having optimal beneficial in opposing takes up a lot of space,
producing heat, which generation is 1.3% but insolation rates. These are affected by a number of climate change in the long which brings economic
generates electricity. The this has doubled in the factors. Equatorial regions are ideal conditions term as it increases in issues so can deter
sun sends 1000 watts/ past 3 years. because if sunlight isn’t directly overhead the panels, popularity. governments away from
square metre to the Becoming more radiation is more spread out and less concentrated Powers 20,000 homes so using solar power. This
surface, PV cells capture noticeable in terms of onto the panels. High altitudes are ideal because it is will be looked at positively can create political
sunlight, energy is sources of power where air mass is lowest, so there is less atmosphere from many different tensions between
, converted to electricity generation growth, that solar radiation has to pass through. Other viewpoints. different people,
then either sent to generating 20% of global beneficial factors include short day lengths and a low The sources are infinite, particularly governments
batteries to power a power in 2016. cloud coverage, increasing radiation by over 20%. reducing the reliance of and businesses with local
building or be stored as Highest PV capacity was traditional fossil fuels, people and
excess for future use, China at 44 GW in 2014 An example of this is Madient Zayed in Abu Dhabi, benefiting the globe environmentalists.
then sold to power and lowest is Spain at 4.6 where Shams 1 is located. This is the world’s largest long-term due to Conditional on the
utilities. GW, also had the smallest solar power plant, located in Abu Dhabi. There are increasing need for weather and presents
addition in 2015 at 0.1GW limited fossil fuels here so they’re future proofing, alternatives to relatively low energy.
but closely followed by reducing reliance on fossil fuels and using money conventional fossil fuel Although effective in
Italy at 0.3GW. generated from solar power to be more sustainable. sources. some areas, it is not
This diversified energy supply with 7% being consistently effective in
renewable. This will provide 100 MW for 20,000 others meaning it lacks
homes, saving 175,000 tonnes of co2 but will cost the ability for people to
$600 million. solely depend on solar
power, especially in
colder climates.
Geothermal - this is the Its energy source is Below Earth's crust, magma continually produces This is positive because the amount of heat within
heat from the earth. It can continuous rather than heat, mostly from the decay of radioactive materials 10,000m of earth’s surface contains 50,000 times
derive from the shallow intermittent so produces like uranium and potassium. Earth’s temperature rises more energy than all of the oil and natural gas
ground in hot water and significantly more MW of by 1C for every 30m of depth within the crust. This resources in the world. This makes it non-critical as it
rock a few miles beneath capacity than wind or temperature gradient is steeper in geologically active is almost impossible it will be exploited faster than
the earth’s surface or all solar. areas like divergent plate margins. replenished. The continuous supply means it is
the way down to molten Grew by 3.4% in 2016 to sustainable as a driving source of renewable energy
rock, magma at high reach 13.4 GW, with the and allows us to cut down dependence on fossil fuels.
temperatures. largest additions being Geothermal heat also has many practical applications
Indonesia at 190 MW and from small scales like providing heat spas and water at
Turkey at 150 MW. fish farms to heating buildings and aiding in industrial
Largest geothermal industries.
capacity was the US with
27% of the world’s total, Geological conditions of divergent plate margins for
which is nearly double of geothermal power means it is concentrated in a small
the Philippines which has number of places. This is positive for places like
the second largest Iceland that offer optimal conditions for geothermal
capacity. entry and have a power plant in Pingvellir.
Share of global power is However, countries that don’t have the conditions to
small at 0.3% but is extract heat from the Earth rely on having to buy this
significant in Kenya at energy from producers or rely on other sources.
44% and Iceland at 27%. Plus, LICs may have the conditions but not the
economic advantage. Geothermal extraction costs $10
million, which is all lost if drilling occurs in the wrong
place. For example, Mexico can produce geothermal
power but has been held back by the cost, going from
the 4th to 6th biggest producer in 2014.
However, New Zealand has provided Mexico with
education and technologies to overcome economic
and environmental challenges to achieve their
potential, making geothermal energy a future-proof
base load rather than just an energy replacement
