Patterns of Resource consumption
Objective 1: To raise awareness of ecological footprint and assess it as a measure of the relationship between population and resource consumption.
Objective 2: Discuss Malthusian, Neo-Malthusian and anti-Malthusian views of population growth and resource consumption
The Changing Patterns of
Energy Consumption
Objective 1: Examine the global patterns and trends in the production and consumption of oil
What is the global energy situation? How do we know we will have enough energy in the future? What will happen if the population keeps growing? Can we continue to burn fossil fuels? These are some of the questions we will be analysing during this section. As ever, we can rely on Hans Rosling to give us an overview of the current global situation. Listen carefully for his comments on energy.
From this you should aim to think through the major trends that could have a positive or negative impact on possible global energy insecurity using the following slides as prompt.
|
|
Objective 2: Examine the geopolitical and environmental impacts
of these changes in patterns and trends.
In this section we will learn more about the global nature of oil supply by completing an information search on OPEC. We will then focus on the way that geopolitics affects the movement of energy around the world and can be used as a tool in political disputes. We will look at two cases studies that will help us with our knowledge in this area but also consolidate our understanding of some of the Geographical themes we have already studied so far in the course. |
Case Study: Oil in the Niger delta, Nigeria. The Niger delta is a large oil producing region of West Africa. Whilst oil discoveries have brought a huge amount of investment to Nigeria from trans national oil companies, it has also brought a number of other associated impacts. The huge amounts of money being made in the region set against the background of extreme poverty has led to conflict between the local people, the government and the trans national oil companies. Alongside this social impact, the oil exploitation in the region is causing massive environmental impacts. Illegal oil buffering contributes to a situation already made bad by poorly maintained oil infrastructure. The oil companies are unwilling to clear up the mess, blaming the people illegally tapping the oil pipelines. In the meantime the natural systems are becoming choked by oil spills and pollution. Land is becoming increasingly contaminated and river systems are dying, further compounding the social issues in this region where many rely on farming and fishing for a living. We will watch an unlikely documentary called "Ross Kemp on pirates" to gain a deeper understanding.
|
Case Study: Russia's Gas Geopolitics. Russia is a huge producer and supplier of natural gas. It's western supply lines flow through former Soviet Union countries in Eastern Europe on their way to western European countries, who are major buyers of Russian gas. Both the Eastern and Western European countries are heavily reliant on these supply lines, however Russia has a history of either threatening to disrupt supply or actually cutting the supply. The reason is political. If Russia has a political disagreement with the West or see's one of its former allies making closer ties with Europe, it starts to play its gas card again.
|
Objective 3: Examine the changing importance of other energy sources.
There are alternatives to producing energy through Fossil Fuels. The biggest capacity produce at the moment is nuclear, but there are issues with using nuclear power and over the years it has gone in and out of fashion as the clean and green replacement for fossil fuels. As a result, we have a group of other technologies including Wind, Solar, HEP, Geothermal amongst others. Will these provide us with enough power to replace our existing production through fossil fuels as well as cope with the expanding demand for energy created by economic development, technological enhancements and increasing population that the World will face in the 21st Century?
|