Geography notes: Energy Resources

Geography - Energy Resources

Non-renewable resources = finite, non-sustainable e.g. fossil fuels

Renewable resources = flow of energy: can be used over and over again e.g. solar and geothermal energy

Sustainable: renewable and self-generating however their existence can be threatened when over used, and their value may be reduced

Increasing demand for energy resources:

Population growth leads to an increasing demand of energy resources

Economic development , countries try to raise the quality of life

Increasing wealth

How can we protect the energy resources?

Conservation

Recycling

Glass and waste paper

Greater efficiency

Home insulation, efficient cars

Developing renewable energy resources

Wind, tide, sun

Controlling pollution

Reducing emission

Using appropriate technology

Low cost energy

Non-renewable energy resources

Coal

Advantages

Likely to last for over 300 years

Increase in technology has allowed a larger output per worker

And conversion to energy more efficient

Disadvantages

Most easily accessible deposits used up

With increased competition, its used a lot less

Burning of coal produces air pollution – contributes to global warming

Deep mining is dangerous

Its heavy and bulky to transport

Oil and Natural gas

Advantages

More efficient than coal

Easier to transport than coal

Less harmful to the environment than coal

Gas is cheaper and cleaner than oil

Safer than nuclear

It’s the basis of a huge petrochemical industry

Disadvantages

Reserves will only last another 50-70 years

New fields are difficult to discover and produce

Danger of oil leaks and fires

Releases nitrogen oxide and sulphur dioxide

Vulnerable to political, economic and military pressures

Nuclear energy

Advantages

Only a very small amount of fuel needed

Wont be exhausted for a long time

Risk of accident is minimal

Waste is limited and can be stored underground

Contributes less to greenhouse effect than others

Disadvantages

Not clear how safe it actually is

When a disaster happens, it’s on a huge scale

It is non-renewable

Cannot be used for heating and transport

Potential health risks

Waste can remain radioactive for many years

Cost of decommissioning is very high

Fuelwood

Advantages

Provides basic needs – shelter, food, fuel, shade

No cost

Disadvantages

Wood is running out very quickly

Collecting is a very time consuming job

Desertification

Renewable energy resources

Hydro-electric power

Advantages

Relatively cheap

Reduce the risk of flooding

Only limited pollution

Disadvantages

Dams are very expensive to build

Large areas of wildlife and farmland have been flooded

Visual pollution

Geothermal energy

Advantages

Provides a constant supply of energy

Pollution free

                  Disadvantages

High construction cost

High maintenance cost

Limited to volcanic areas

Threat of eruption and sulphuric gases

Wind

Advantages

It is safe

It is clean

Does not contribute to global warming or acid rain

Minimal effect on ecosystems

Winds are stronger in winter – when demands are highest

Relatively cheap after building the initial turbine

Source of income for farmers

Likely to be built offshore

Disadvantages

Wind does not blow all the time

Electricity cannot be stored

Visually un-appealing

Not very efficient

100000 turbines needed for 20% of Britain’s energy

Noisy

Solar energy

Advantages

Safe

Pollution free

Efficient

Limitless

Disadvantages

Expensive to build solar stations

Hindered by the weather

Potential is great in MEDC’s

Hydrogen

Advantages

Only biproduct is vapour

Has great potential for the future

Disadvantages

Needs electricity to produce

Research costs a lot

Tidal

Advantages

Renewable

Produce sustained, constant electricity

                 Disadvantages

Visually unattractive

Destroys wildlife habitats

Expensive to build

Waves

Advantages

Very high energy levels

Disadvantages

Difficult to design materials to withstand the force of waves

Difficult to convert the energy into electricity

Biomass

Advantages

Very cheap to produce

Can be used to power many things

Disadvantages

Methane is a greenhouse gas

Dung cannot be used as a fertilizer

Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen - A hugely useful collection of quotations/quotes

For any student who is studying Jane Austen's 'Pride and Prejudice', this list of quotations (quotes), sorted by character, is extremely useful.

Please note: The quotations are sorted by which character they describe rather than which character said them.

Mrs Bennet:

She is: middle class, crass, shallow, a gossip.

“You must know that I am thinking of his marrying one of them.”

“When a woman has five grown up daughters, she ought to give over thinking of her own beauty.”

“Mean understanding…little information…(her) solace was visiting and news,”

Mr Lucas (Sir William):

“Formerly in trade…Risen to the honour of knighthood.”

“I am fond of superior society,”

“Dancing…I consider it as one of the first refinements of polished society.”

Mr Bingley:

“Pleasant countenance…gentlemanlike…unaffected manner.”

Mary Bennet:

“Vanity and pride are different things…pride relates to our opinion of ourselves, vanity to what we would have others think of us.”

“Vanity had given her application…likewise a pedantic air and conceited manner,”

Charlotte Lucas:

“A woman had better show more affection that she feels.”

“A most humiliating picture,”

“disgracing herself…sunk in her esteem.”

Mr Collins:

“He must be an oddity.”

Mr Bennet: “A mixture of servility, pride, obsequiousness, self-importance and humility.”

“In the first place, he must make such an agreement for tithes as may be beneficial to himself and not offensive to his patron.”

Wickham:

“Best part of beauty…a good figure…happy readiness of conversation.”

“(He was) a happy man, towards whom the eyes of every female were turned.”

“But he paid her not the smallest attention till her grandfather’s death made her mistress of this fortune.”

Elizabeth:

“Elizabeth was restored to the enjoyment of her original dislike.”

Mr Darcy: “Your defect is wilfully to misunderstand them.”

“Whose very countenance may vouch for you being amiable.”

“Elizabeth went away with her head full of him.”

“There was truth in his looks.”

“To find a man agreeable who one is determined to hate.”

“Oh that abominable Mr Darcy,”

To Mr Darcy: “I have every reason to think ill of you.” “Your arrogance…your selfish disdain...your conceit.”

“A strong prejudice against everything he might say.”

“Ashamed…she had been blind, partial, prejudiced and absurd.”

“But vanity, not love, has been my folly.”

“Unjustly, she had condemned and upbraided him.”

“Compassion…gratitude…respect”

“Unjustly, she had condemned and upbraided him.”

“Mr Darcy improves on acquaintance.”

“Ashamed of ever feeling a dislike against him…goodwill.”

“Gradually, all her forms of prejudice had been removed.”

Mr Darcy:

“Tall, handsome features…noble mien… (earns) ten thousand a year.”

“He was discovered to be proud, to be above his company, and above being pleased.”

“He was the proudest, most disagreeable man in the world, and everybody hoped that he would never come there again.”

“There is not another woman in the room who it would not be a punishment for me to stand up with.”

Mrs Bennet: “Most disagreeable, horrid man.”

“So high and so conceited”

“I quite detest the man.”

“It must materially lessen their chance of marrying men of any consideration in the world.”

“Haughty, reserved and fastidious…his manners, though well bred, were not inviting.”

Jane: “He never speaks much.”

“One cannot wonder that so fine a young man, with family, fortune, everything in his favour, should think so highly of himself.”

“Nothing is more deceitful than the appearance of humility.”

“I have faults enough…I cannot forget the follies and vices of others..There is, I believe, in  every disposition…a natural defect.”

“Mr Darcy looked a little ashamed of his aunt’s ill-breeding and made no answer.”

“I certainly have not the talent…of conversing easily with those I have never seen before.”

Servant: “Sweetest tempered…affable to the poor…best master that ever lived.”

“By you, I was properly humbled.”

Twelfth Night by William Shakespeare assistance - How is love expressed in Twelfth Night through the character of Viola?

A great piece on William Shakespeare's play 'Twelfth Night'. Takes an in-depth look into the theme of love in 'Twelfth Night' and the role of the character Viola.  

Viola, who spends much of Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night masquerading as the male character ‘Cesario’ is the main character of Twelfth Night. Viola follows a turbulent romantic path over the course of Twelfth Night, expressing and representing selfless, forbidden, sibling and romantic love. Selfless love is shown by Viola, as she puts the happiness of her beloved, Orsino above her own. Forbidden love is shown when a relationship builds between Cesario, who is supposedly a page boy, and Orsino, the lord of Illyria. Romantic love is shown when a conventional romantic relationship builds between Orsino and Cesario.

Viola is a selfless lover; her love for Orsino is so great that she values his happiness above her own. Viola telling Olivia that she would be ‘the cruellest she alive,’ if she did ‘leave the world no copy,’ is an example of this selfless love. When she says this, Viola is trying to persuade Olivia to love Orsino, an act which is selfless because Viola is in fact in love with Orsino herself, and persuading Olivia to love the person that she herself loves is very difficult. Viola says ‘myself would be his wife,’ a quotation showing that even though Viola ‘woos’ for Orsino she is in fact in love with him herself. Her love creates a difficult situation; Viola must try to persuade Olivia to love Orsino, whom she loves herself, which shows that she truly cares for his happiness. Viola acknowledges that Orsino would probably be happier with Olivia as a lover, and is prepared to sacrifice her own happiness for the happiness of Orsino. This is how Viola expresses selfless love in Twelfth Night.

Twelfth Night was written in the 16th century, a time when homosexuality was looked down upon, despised and even forbidden in many societies. Considering this aspect of historical context, the next type of love that is expressed by Viola, or rather Cesario, is forbidden love. As has already been explained, Viola is in love with Orsino, and this is apparent from very early in the play. Viola cannot express her love however, because she is disguised as the male page boy, Cesario. At the end of the play, when Viola has revealed her true identity, Orsino appears to love her in return. It seems apparent however, that the love that Orsino has for Viola in fact begins long before this, that Orsino actually begins to fall in love with Cesario, his page boy. Orsino more than once complements Cesario's 'feminine beauty', and it is soon apparent that Cesario is Orsino's favourite page boy, as he employs Cesario above his other servants to bring his messages to Olivia. The two become very close, and seem to spend much time talking about very philosophical subjects like the true nature of love, much in the way that lovers would. Orsino treats Cesario with much respect and admiration, hinting that he may have romantic feelings for Cesario. This relationship is very ambiguous, especially considering the anti-homosexual attitude of Elizabethan England. It is a love that would have been strictly forbidden, especially for Orsino, who is the Duke of Illyria, and thus a very public figure, who would probably have been deposed by furious noblemen if he had pursued any form of homosexual relationship. Because of this, both Orsino and Cesario, who understands the position of Orsino, basically refuse to acknowledge this relationship, both knowing very well that it would be a forbidden love.

The final way in which love is represented by Viola is through the most conventional and common way for love to be expressed, through romantic love. Viola is in love with Orsino throughout the play, but can only express her love at the end of the play, when she has revealed that she is a woman. Viola hints at the nature of her love for Orsino when she tells the story of 'her sister' who was so desperately in love with another man that she often 'Smil(ed) at grief'. Viola is in fact talking about herself, and how in love she herself is with Orsino. Viola can only express this love at the end of the play when she declares her love for Orsino, who replies with enthusiasm saying that when 'in other habits (she is) seen,' she will become 'Orsino’s mistress, and his fancy’s queen.' This quote shows very clearly the conventional romantic relationship that develops between Orsino and Viola, Orsino declaring basically that as long as she is a woman, he will love Viola with passion.

Twelfth Night is a romantic comedy. Love is the main theme and Viola is the main character. As has been demonstrated, Viola is used by Shakespeare to express romantic, forbidden and selfless love, three very different types of love. Through Viola, the main themes of the play are explored, giving the audience a fascinating insight into how Shakespeare himself may have viewed love.