Renewable Energy Resources

Renewable Energy Resources

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Guiding Questions & Standard

• What are renewable energy resources?

• How do renewable energy resources reduce human reliance on other natural resources?

Standards

• MS-ESS3-1: Construct a scientific explanation based on evidence for how uneven distributions of Earth's mineral, energy, and groundwater resources are the result of past and current geoscience processes.

• MS-ESS3-3: Apply scientific principles to design a method for monitoring and minimizing a human impact on the environment.

Renewable Resources

Alternative energy resources that will never run out because they are replaced by nature with little help from humans.

Solar, Wind, Hydro, Geothermal

Open Ended

Reading Check: Why are some energy resources referred to as "renewable"?

Solar Energy

• Passive Solar Power

• Active Solar Power

• Benefits: Sunlight is free,

• Costs: can be expensive, battery technology not advanced enough, cloudy days

Poll

Active or Passive? A green house.

• Active

• Passive

Poll

Active or Passive? Directly generates electricity.

• Active

• Passive

Hydroelectric Power

• Gravity pulls water down hill and can be used to generate electricity.

• Water spins a turbine, which generates electricity.

• Benefits: generates electricity and is controllable.

• Costs: disrupts natural flow of river and impacts natural processes, alters natural habitats, expensive to build

Wind Energy

• A land-based turbine that spins in the wind.

• Benefits: wind is free.

• Costs: $$, can threaten birds and spoil scenery, requires great amounts of land, parts of turbine are nonrenewable.

Geothermal Energy & Bioenergy Resources

• Dig deep into Earth and use the heat to warm water - creates steam which spins a turbine and generates electricity.

• Biomass (wood, grass, plant-based materials) can be burned to produce heat and light.

• Ethanol and other biodiesel technology is being explored.

Open Ended

What costs and benefits can you find for geothermal and bioenergy? List at least 1 for each!