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Introduction
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Activities
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Quiz
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Conclusion
Activity 2. Energy from the Sun
- Familiarise yourself with the information from the text and diagram.
Non-renewable (traditional) energy sources are the fossil fuels – natural gas, coal, and oil – from which most electricity is produced. They are formed over millions of years and cannot be renewed in the foreseeable human lifetime once they are exhausted. The alternative to traditional non-renewable sources is nuclear power. Peat, for example, is now also becoming an alternative source, although it was burned in the past, but not on a large scale.
Although non-renewable energy sources have a significant share in industry and energy, their use has significant negative impacts on the environment and human health.
Renewable energy sources are natural resources that renew themselves naturally – sunlight, wind, water streams, sea and ocean waves, geothermal heat, and biomass. Renewable energy technologies enable these resources to be converted into electricity, heat and biofuels. The threat of a shortage of traditional fuels in the future, as well as humanity’s growing concern for environmental protection, make their use increasingly desirable and realistic.
One of the most important renewable energy sources is solar energy. It is the future in electricity generation, in the development of new technologies for heating and cooling, for water purification for drinking and offers many opportunities for sustainable development.
- Based on the information from the text and the data from the diagram, answer the questions and tasks.
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- Which energy source has been used the most?
- Explain the term “renewable energy source”.
- Which types of energy shown in the diagram are among the renewable energy sources?
- Arrange the energy sources on the chart in descending order, starting with the most used. Record them in the table below.
| Source of energy | Consumption in % | |
| 1. | ||
| 2. | ||
| 3. | ||
| 4. | ||
| 5. | ||
| 6. | ||
| 7. |
- The electricity distribution company in Slovakia publishes on its website the share of individual sources from which it generates electricity. The performance of each source in 2022 is shown in the chart below.
- Using the data from the diagram, answer the following questions:
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- Which energy source has the largest share in electricity production?
- Which energy source has the smallest share in electricity production?
- Which traditional energy sources are represented on the diagram?
- Which renewable energy source is most represented?
- One of the newer ways to obtain energy is by burning biomass. The graph in the figure shows the amount of energy produced as a function of the weight of biomass burned. Examine the graph and solve the problems.
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- Determine the heating value of biomass in MJ/kg by calculation.
- An average household heated by electricity consumes about 700 MJ of energy per month. How much biomass needs to be burned to produce this amount of energy?
