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!

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 While some of the water withdrawn provides water to drive the steam turbines and generate electricity, much of the water is used for cooling the power-producing equipment.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  Water withdrawal entails the removal of water from a local water source; the withdrawn water may or may not get returned to its source or made available for use elsewhere.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 While water withdrawal by conventional power plants can be high, consumption can be low if the withdrawn water is returned to lakes and streams.  In 2005, withdrawal of water by thermoelectric power plants for cooling represented 44% of water withdrawn nationally, and 6% of water consumed (Congressional Research Service, 2010).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.

New interactive tool for exploring future U.S. energy-use scenarios

Last week, the U.S. Department of Energy released an interactive online tool “to help researchers, educators, and students explore future U.S. energy-use scenarios.” The Buildings Industry Transportation Electricity Scenarios (BITES) Tool is a scenario-based tool for analyzing how changes in energy demand and supply by economic sector can impact carbon dioxide emissions.

This web-based tool can be used in the middle and high school classroom to enable students to manipulate inputs, such as energy sources used for electricity generation and transportation fuel use, and to compare outputs and impacts on carbon dioxide emissions and the U.S. energy mix to the year 2050. Output data are made available in graphic form giving your students exposure to interpreting graphs.

To get started, watch the 4 minute intro video on the BITES website and then view scenarios that have already been created or, after a quick registration process, you can start building your own scenario.  A good starting point would be to show your students either the 2010 or 2011 Annual Energy Outlook (U.S. Energy Information Administration) base case.  By not making any changes to the inputs for this base scenario, the outputs will reflect current projections for the “business as usual” scenario. From here students can create their own scenarios, making modifications to one or more economic sectors and then comparing outputs to those of the base case.

Educator resources, including a tutorial and an online learning module are going to be available soon.

The BITES team is very interested in feedback, suggestions and lesson plans developed using the BITES tool! Please consider providing feedback on ways to improve the website and interface as well as sharing the lessons you build around using the BITES Tool. Feedback can be sent to bites@nrel.gov.

 

Burn: An Energy Journal

BURN: An Energy Journal is the flagship program of The Public Radio Energy Project and winner of the 2012 American Association for Advancement of Science (AAAS) Kavli Science Journalism Award for their documentary special titled Particles: Nuclear Power After Fukushima (54 minutes in 3 segments) that examines the future of nuclear power one year after the disaster at the Fukushima Daiichi plant in Japan..

Two other documentaries are available, The Hunt for Oil: Risks  and Rewards and The Power of One a two hour special that includes segments on fracking in Pennsylvania, drilling for oil in the Arctic and the quest to build better batteries.

Portland’s Electric Avenue

I am excited that the creators of Earth The Operators’ Manual have just released two new PBS episodes, Powering the Planet and Energy Quest USA.  I just watched an excerpt from Energy Quest USA titled Portland: the “Trip Not Taken” and learned about many of the things happening in the city of Portland, Oregon to promote “green” transportation including something called Electric Avenue, a street of electric charging stations.  Furthermore, all Electric Avenue charging stations are powered with 100 percent renewable energy and the charging is free!  Check out this August 2011 New York Times article about Electric Avenue and its solar powered charging stations and perhaps encourage your students to plan and design what an electric avenue might look like in their town.  What additional city planning strategies can your students come up with that would enable residents to move about town and commute to and from work without relying on gasoline powered cars? Perhaps invite local government officials to hear your students’ ideas!

Additional resources about Electric Avenue including a map can be found here.  A March 2012 Forbes article summarizes 10 lessons learned from Portland’s Electric Avenue thus far.

An All-Electric Vehicle: Up Close and Personal (Video)

The Dean of Duke’s Nicholas School of the Environment, Bill Chameides, recently drove a Nissan Leaf with one of the Department of Energy’s car specialists and created a 6:44 minute video about it. This electric car gets 99 miles “per gallon equivalent” and zero emissions are generated by the vehicle during use but the video does a good job of reminding the viewer that there is a power plant behind the scene generating electricity (and thus emissions) to charge the battery.  Get an up close look at the two charge ports found at the front of the vehicle: a DC Fast Charge Port and a Standard Charge Port.  The video highlights other features the car has that are designed to increase its efficiency, including aerodynamic design and low-rolling resistance tires.

 

A Primer on Modern Shale Gas Development

This 2009 publication was prepared for the US Department of Energy (DOE) by the Groundwater Protection Council.  According to the DOE website, this primer “underscores technology advances and challenges of shale gas development” and cites that “addressing water issues [is] key to increasing U.S. shale gas production.” Forty-two graphics, figures and photos can be found throughout this report which describes the nation’s major gas shale basins (Barnett, Fayetteville, Haynesville, Marcellus, Woodford, Antrim, New Albany) including the stratigraphy of each. The primer also includes a discussion of the regulatory framework in place for shale gas development as well as environmental considerations needed to reduce impacts to human health and the environment.

FracFocus Website

I recently learned about the website FracFocus, a chemical disclosure registry, which has educational information about hydraulic fracturing as well as the chemicals used in hydraulic fracturing fluid.  According this website, the concentration of additives in most fracturing fluids “is a relatively consistent 0.5% to 2% with water making up 98% to 99.5%.”  A searchable map is available from which one can select a well of interest and then download a Hydraulic Fracturing Fluid Product Component Information Disclosure (pdf) for that specific well.  This document lists the chemicals present in the hydraulic fracturing fluid for that well and states the purpose for each chemical.  This list could be used to prompt students to consider why these chemicals are being used as well as why the chemical constituency between wells varies.  All information available on the FracFocus website is voluntarily provided by participating oil and natural gas operators.

While there are no wells in NC, invite your students to look at other states where hydraulic fracturing is occurring such as Pennsylvania, North Dakota and Texas.

I’d love to hear how you use this website with your students!

NCDENR Releases Draft Report on Hydraulic Fracturing

On Friday March 16th, the N.C. Department of Environment and Natural Resources (NCDENR) released a draft report concluding that “Hydraulic fracturing can be done safely in North Carolina as long as the right protections are in place prior to issuance of any permits for the practice.”  NCDENR cited that the “need for more information on groundwater resources in the area where drilling for shale gas may occur before making final decisions on environmental standards.”

According to the press release, the draft report contains a set of initial recommendations developed by NCDENR in consultation with the Department of Commerce should the General Assembly choose to allow horizontal drilling and hydraulic fracturing in North Carolina.  These recommendations are outlined in the executive summary (pdf)  and described further here and in the full report (pdf).

The final report to the General Assembly is due May 1.

 

In-depth review of North Carolina’s environmental regulatory programs

As part of the DENR Shale gas study, a multi-stakeholder review team released a report in February 2012 making a number of recommendations for regulations the state should consider if it moves forward with developing an oil and gas regulatory program.

After introducing your students to the process of hydraulic fracturing in the context of an aquifer, I think it would be interesting to ask them what regulations they think should be put in place by NCDENR if the state decides to move forward with this technology and then compare their answers to the recommendations outlined in the report.