Problem-Based Learning – Fracking and the Marcellus Shale

The Earth System Science (ESS) module Fracking – Marcellus Shale from the Earth System Science Education Alliance (ESSEA) is a Problem-Based Learning (PBL) activity designed to introduce your students to a current environmental issue and explore it using ESS’s Earth System Science Analysis (ESSA).  The ESSA approach asks students to examine how the lithosphere, hydrosphere, atmosphere, and biosphere 1) are impacted by the issue; 2) affect the issue; and 3) affect each other.

The module contains an extensive list of high quality resources pertaining to fracking along with a compilation of suggested activities appropriate for a range of learners, from beginners to advanced.

To learn more about using ESS modules in the K-12 classroom, click here.

If you have used this resource with your students, please leave a comment!

Hydraulic Fracturing Poster from Department of Energy

This educational poster (pdf) from the US Department of Energy’s Office of Fossil Energy diagrams the process of hydraulic fracturing to extract shale gas from deep beneath the earth. According to their website, hard copies of this poster are available for educators.

EIA’s New Interactive Maps: State Energy Portal

According to the the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA), its state energy portal is “the most comprehensive, dynamic, and interactive view of the U.S. government’s national and state energy data and information currently available to the public.”

The profile/map for NC can be found here. By clicking on the “Layers/Legend” tab and selecting one of five available base maps, educators can customize maps and charts for classroom use. Maps can be created to show availability of energy sources, transmission lines, major power plants as well as renewable energy potential for North Carolina.  Electricity, nuclear, natural gas and renewable energy profiles for the state are also available along with supporting data tables in Microsoft Excel. Also, by clicking on a specific power plant, the portal links users directly to that plant’s data in EIA’s electricity data browser (see corresponding blog post).

This tool also shows how NC ranks in comparison to the other 49 states in terms of energy production, consumption, prices for electricity and natural gas, and carbon dioxide emissions.

Methane Hydrate Resources from NETL and USGS

The National Energy Technology Laboratory (NETL)  has an information portal for the National Methane Hydrate R&D Program.  There is a link to 24 page primer titled, Energy Resource Potential for Methane Hydrate (pdf) and a description of all active and completed research projects.

The USGS’s Woods Hole Science Center also has an extensive page devoted to gas hydrates. Here you can learn about The U.S. Geological Survey Gas Hydrates Project, learn about climate-hydrate interactions, and find links to recent scientific publications and multi-media coverage.

(Image: USGS)

Methane Hydrate Resources

Methane hydrates have been in the news lately after Japan announced in March that it had extracted natural gas from deep in the ocean floor!  The source of the natural gas was methane hydrates, or methane molecules trapped in ice crystals.  In reading a recent National Geographic article, I learned that “methane hydrates buried beneath the seafloor on continental shelves and under the Arctic permafrost are likely the world’s largest store of carbon-based fuel. The figure often cited, 700,000 trillion cubic feet of methane trapped in hydrates, is a staggering sum that would exceed the energy content of all oil, coal, and other natural gas reserves known on Earth.”  Wow.

Below are links to resources about methane hydrates:

National Geographic: Pictures: Unlocking Icy Methane Hydrates, a Vast Energy Store, an excellent collection of photos with accompanying narrative

NASA: Methane: A Scientific Journey from Obscurity to Climate Super-Stardom

Department of Energy: Methane Hydrates

The Green Grok: Methane Hydrates: The Next Natural Gas Boom?

Hydropower Resources from the NEED Project

The following resources from the NEED Project can be used to introduce students to hydropower:

Wonders of Water Teacher Guide and Student Guide (elementary)

Energy of Moving Water Teacher Guide and Student Guide (middle)

Exploring Hydroelectricity Teacher Guide and Student Guide (high)

Energy and Our Rivers is a unit designed for middle and high school students to investigate the role rivers play in transporting energy sources across the country.  In Activity 2, Energy in Flowing Water, students learn that that the upper, middle, and lower courses of a river have different energy levels; this could lead into a discussion about how moving water provides energy and into the different types of hydropower plants.

Don’t forget that there is also a collection of graphics from NEED’s curriculum guides, including graphics that can be used to teach about hydropower.

Thermoelectric-power plants: water withdrawal versus consumption

Conventional Power Plants: Water withdrawal versus consumption

According the US Geological Survey (USGS), production of electrical power results in one of the largest uses of water in the United States and worldwide. In 2005, about 201,000 million gallons of water each day were used to produce electricity (excluding hydroelectric power) and surface water accounted for more than 99 percent of total thermoelectric-power withdrawals. While some of the water withdrawn provides water to drive the steam turbines and generate electricity, much of the water is used for cooling the power-producing equipment.

When evaluating water use by thermoelectric-power plants, a distinction needs to be made between that of water withdrawal and water consumption.  Water withdrawal entails the removal of water from a local water source; the withdrawn water may or may not get returned to its source or made available for use elsewhere. Water consumption refers to the use of water in such a way as to prohibit it being returned to its source, usually because it is lost to evaporation. While water withdrawal by conventional power plants can be high, consumption can be low if the withdrawn water is returned to lakes and streams.  In 2005, withdrawal of water by thermoelectric power plants for cooling represented 44% of water withdrawn nationally, and 6% of water consumed (Congressional Research Service, 2010).

Droughts and hot summers can influence water withdrawals by power plants as they adjust to low water supply levels and/or use warmer water for their cooling operations; a graphic from the Union of Concerned scientists (UCS) illustrating these scenarios is available.  And for power plants that return water to its source, the returned water, now warmer, can impact the aquatic ecosystem in which it is discharged, which is referred to as thermal pollution. Another graphic from the UCS indicates regions around the country that have encountered power production/water supply issues associated with hotter and drier summers.

To learn more about cooling water, cooling water systems at power plants and thermal pollution, the following resources may be helpful:

Thermoelectric Power Water Use, USGS.  This website includes graphics and a schematic of a coal-fired power plant that relies on a closed-loop cooling system.

Thermal pollution, Encyclopedia of Earth.  This website includes satellite image illustrating thermal pollution in association with a power plant.

Cooling water for energy generation and its impact on national-level water statistics, Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, 2011 (pdf). This document includes graphics depicting once-through and closed-loop cooling systems, comparison of withdrawal and consumption for each type of system.

Energy’s Water Demand: Trends, Vulnerabilities, and Management, Congressional Research Service, 2010 (pdf).

Energy-water collision, Union of Concerned Scientists. This website includes graphics and links to supporting scientific publications.