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Readings and Articles

For this module, please:

  • Go to this website:  U.S. Energy Information Administration, Independent Statistics and Analysis.
    • Use the drop down menus to see how the site breaks up the oil products. Make sure the drop down menus are set to the following: Products – “Total Crude Oil and Products;” Period/Unity – “Monthly-Thousand Barrels;” and Import Area: “U.S.” For the current timeframe, compare the differences between OPEC and non-OPEC countries. Where does most of the crude oil come from? OPEC or Non OPEC countries? From which two countries do we import the most amount of oil? Hint: Look to our North American neighbors.
    • Click on the years in the “View History” column for the OPEC and Non-OPEC countries.  How has our imports changed over the 1993-2011 timeframe? (You can simplify these graphs by changing View History to “Annual.”)
    • In the chat room answer the following question: Currently, where does the majority of our Crude Oil imports come from? Has this always been this way? How does this information relate to what you heard about in the news regarding U.S. dependency on foreign oil, specifically, oil from the Middle East? (This is not a graded assignment but should help you to make connections between what you may have heard and what you are learning in the class.)
  • Read Chapter 16 (Chapter 15 in 4th edition), with a focus on the following items:
    • Read the Case History section on “Peak Oil: When Will It Occur and What is Its Importance?” Understand how to read and interpret a Peak Oil graph (Figure 16.4 or 15.2, 4th edition)
    • Pay attention to the sections that explain how oil forms and how coal forms.
    • Explain the case history of ANWR (pp 555-557 or pp 488-491, 4th edition).
  • Figures 16.5, 16.8, and 16.5 (or 15.3, 15.7, and 15.13, 4th edition) contain key information you should know on energy reserves and usage.
A bus has 'creeps and weirdos' on its route sign. An ad for a Chevy Cavalier appears under the bus General Motors ran this ad in British Columbia, but pulled the ad after public ridicule. The underlying message was your friends will perceive you more highly if you drive a Chevy Cavalier instead of taking publictransportation. While it may be ridiculed, it reflects the majority opinion of how people view public transportation.

Additional resources you may check out:

  • Visit the HowStuffWorks tour of the power grid. This tutorial explains how power is moved from a generating plant to your house or apartment.
  • Visit the HowStuffWorks tour of a nuclear power plant. This tutorial explains how power is created from radioactive material and visits a nuclear reactor in North Carolina.

  • These are considered “okay” sources of information.  These are provided because they offer many visualizations that may help you to better understand how the power grid and a nuclear power plant work. Both are authored (or co-authored) by Marshal Brain, the founder of How Stuff Works.  You can read about him here.  These are considered secondary sources of information, much the way your textbook is considered a secondary source of information, which means that they are relatively “weak” sources.  It is not recommended that you use these as sources of information for your essays in this course.

In case you are bored this weekend:

  • Visit the Raccoon Mountain Pumped Storage Facility in Chattanooga, TN. This engineering marvel uses power to make power. During the night, when energy demand is low, electricity is used to pump water to a mountaintop reservoir. During the day, when energy demand is high, the reservoir is drained and used like a hydroelectric dam, producing electricity when it is most needed. A visitor’s center is open daily except during times of high security alert. It is located near I-24 and a few miles west of I-75.
  • Visit the abandoned Marble Hill nuclear power plant in Hanover, Indiana (click for the map). It is gated off but easily visible on a bluff over the Ohio river south of Hanover, IN. A lumber company recently bought the property, and has demolished some of the buildings. On the opposite bank of the river you can see the coal-fired Trimble County power plant managed by Louisville Gas and Electric.
VW Jetta

Graph showing the U.S.’s monthly crude oil imports from January 1981 - December 2010.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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