MYP Individuals & Societies Renewable Resources Notes

Why Do Renewable Resources Matter for Sustainability and Security?

1. Human societies rely on resources (materials and energy sources) to meet needs such as transport, heating, manufacturing, and food production.
2. One resource modern economies heavily rely on is crude oil (a fossil fuel formed over millions of years from decomposed organisms such as plankton and algae).
3. Oil is refined into petrol (gasoline), diesel, and jet fuel, and also provides valuable by-products used to make plastics, chemicals, lubricants, waxes, pesticides, and fertilizers.
4. This reliance creates two major issues:
   1. Sustainability: Fossil fuels are finite and their extraction and use create environmental pressures.
   2. Security: Resources are unevenly distributed, so countries can become vulnerable to supply disruptions, political pressure, and price volatility.

How Do Fossil Fuels Differ To Renewable Resources?

1. Fossil fuels (oil, coal, and natural gas) are non-renewable because they take millions of years to form.
2. Once extracted and burned, they cannot be replaced within a human lifetime. In contrast, renewable resources are replenished continuously or cyclically.
3. This difference shapes real-world decisions in geography, economics, and politics:
   1. Energy policy (what a country invests in)
   2. Economic development (jobs, trade, export dependence)
   3. Environmental impact (pollution, land and water change)
   4. Geopolitics (alliances, conflict risks, and price shocks)

What Are the Major Renewable Energy Resources and How Do They Work?

1. Renewable energy technologies convert natural flows (sunlight, moving air, moving water) into electricity or heat.
2. Key technologies include solar, wind, tidal, hydroelectric, and (often discussed alongside renewables) nuclear.

Solar Power

1. Solar power uses energy from sunlight.
2. The most common technology is photovoltaic (PV) panels, which convert light into electricity.
3. Solar can also be used as solar thermal, capturing heat for hot water or to generate steam.
4. Solar output depends on factors such as:
   1. Latitude and seasonal day length
   2. Cloud cover and atmospheric conditions
   3. Space (rooftops, fields, desert sites)

Wind Power

1. Wind power uses turbines turned by wind to drive generators.
2. Wind farms can be built onshore (often cheaper) or offshore (often windier and more consistent, but more expensive to build and maintain).
3. Wind power depends on: