Energy Resource - Lesson 1 : Energy Use in Michigan - Then and Now

Background lessons (“Energy Fact Sheet,” “Energy Diagram,” and “Magic Behind the Switch”) on basic energy topics can be found on the U.S. Department of Energy’s Get Smart About Energy, located on the CD that is included with this unit. Most science textbooks also contain a chapter on energy basics.

Basic Energy Concepts

Here is a quick refresher of basic energy concepts:

• Energy causes things to move or change.

• Potential energy is stored energy or energy of position.

• Kinetic energy is energy of motion.

• Energy comes in different forms: thermal (heat), radiant (light), mechanical, chemical, electrical, and nuclear.

• Energy cannot be created or destroyed. When energy is changed from one form to another, the total amount of energy stays the same.

• Each time energy changes form, some of the energy is converted into heat energy that dissipates into the environment and is eventually lost in space.

• Much of the usable energy on Earth comes from the sun in the form of heat and light.

• Solar energy is also stored in plants through photosynthesis and in fossil fuels, which formed from plants and animals millions of years ago.

• Solar energy moves the air and drives the hydrologic cycle.

• Basic energy units include the calorie, joule, and BTU (British thermal unit).

• Frequently used measures of energy include kilowatt-hours (electricity), tons (coal), barrels or gallons (oil), cords (wood), quads (quadrillion BTU),

• Energy resources can be classified as renewable or non-renewable. Renewable resources are those that replenish themselves through natural processes during a human lifespan. Non-renewable resources do not: they are finite (like uranium in rocks) or take millions of years to replenish (like coal or oil).

All people use energy and other resources to meet their basic needs and to improve their standard of living. We use energy directly and indirectly. We

use energy to save time and labor, to run machines and appliances and to produce goods and services.

We use energy to heat and cool our homes and for transportation. We also use energy to recycle

and dispose of wastes. Despite gains in energy efficiency over the past 30 years, our consumption of energy continues to increase. The increase of

electricity-consuming devices and our increased dependence on and use of them have resulted in great increases in the amount of energy we

consume each day. This increase is primarily due to the development and use of energy-consuming machines and appliances that decrease or replace

human labor.

In the past, most work was done by human or animal muscle power, whereas today machines and electrical appliances do most manual work. In fact,

the average home today contains dozens of electrical devices and appliances, such as color televisions, microwaves, computers, food processors, 

cordless telephones, and DVD players that were not even present in homes 50 years ago. Many homes contain more than one of each device! We also 

use a variety of technological gadgets such as cell phones, laptops, PDAs, and pagers that were not available to past generations.

Since 1900, energy use has increased greatly in Michigan, the United States, and the world as a whole. Today in the United States, for example,

people use nearly 10 times as much energy as they used in 1900. What has caused this increase in consumption? An increase in industrialization, a rise

in population, and the desire for more goods have driven the increase. The important thing to note, however, is that the increase is the result of literally

billions of individual decisions about what to buy, what to wear, and how to move from one place to another. People make those decisions by weighing

the costs and benefits of different ways of using energy in order to accomplish the things they want

to do. This entire unit, in fact, is about the kinds of information that people should have when they make those decisions.

What kinds of energy resources did the people of Michigan use in the past? The energy resources first used were renewable energy sources. Early

inhabitants of Michigan, the Native Americans, used the sun, wood, grasses, peat, and other biomass for heating and cooking. In the 1600s European

explorers used these same energy sources while exploring the region. When Europeans first settled Michigan in the late 1700s, wood, wind, and water

were their primary sources of energy. Wood was used to heat homes and water and to cook food; water wheels were used to grind grain and power

machines; and windmills were used to grind grain and pump water. The sun, fire, candles (made of tallow or animal fat), and whale oil lamps were used

for light. It was not until the industrial revolution in the 1800s that people first began tapping into nonrenewable fossil fuels in Michigan. In 1886 drilling

for oil and gas began in Michigan followed by a drilling “boom” in the 1920s. About 48,390 oil and gas wells were drilled in Michigan between 1925

and 1990.

The Grand Rapids Electric Light and Power Company built the first hydroelectric dam in Michigan for industrial purposes in Grand Rapids,

Michigan in 1880. During the 1930s hydro power gained in popularity, and several new plants were built in the state. Nuclear energy made its debut

in Michigan in the 1960s. In 1961 Michigan’s first nuclear power plant began generating electricity. Located in Charlevoix, the Big Rock Point Nuclear

Power Plant was the first commercial nuclear electric plant in the country.

What kinds of energy resources do we use today? Today we still use the sun, wind, water, and wood as energy sources, but the majority of our energy

comes from burning non-renewable fossil fuels and from nuclear power. Michigan residents primarily use natural gas, oil, wood, and electricity to heat

our homes, and fossil fuels and nuclear power to produce our electricity. Today the majority of cars run on gasoline, although many vehicles use diesel

fuel, and a few run on biofuels and/or utilize new technologies. Students will learn about different energy resources in Lessons 2-5.

A Brief History of Liquid Fossil Fuels

The idea of Peak Oil can be used as background for lessons. An internet search using those two keywords will yield a mass of articles about this

controversial notion. In a nutshell, Peak Oil has four ideas:

1. The world has a limited number of geologic structures are the right age and shape to contain petroleum.

2. Early discoveries of oil tend to be on land, in mild climates, close to the surface, and easy to pump. For a while, as drilling technology

improves, the cost of oil production may actually go down. Low prices encourage people to use more oil.

3. Later discoveries of oil are likely to be under water, in cold places, far below the surface, hard to pump, or even all of the above. In short, new

discoveries tend to be more and more expensive.

4. When these trends are combined, oil production over time will probably follow a bell-shaped curve. It starts slowly, rises to a peak, and then

goes down as prices rise and people start looking for ways to do things without using as much oil.

The controversy arises when people try to decide when the peak will occur. An internet search is likely to find articles that say it has already

occurred, is likely to occur sometime in the 2010s or 2020s, or may not occur for at least another hundred years. It is difficult even for an expert, to

decide what is “right.” An alternative is to look only at the known history of oil production. In an optional activity at the

end of this lesson, students examine a graph of world oil production and consumption between 1930s and 2010. Their task is to write two

generalizations based on the graph.

The activity continues with two specific questions [answers: oil discovery was low during World War II, and 1962 was the last really big year of

discovery – it’s been a long downward trend since then]. In reviewing consumers to question 5, teacher can note that in every year since 1982,

the world has used more oil than it discovered, regardless of gasoline prices, or which political party was in power, or whether the economy was

booming or in recession. That continuing global trend can be used as context for the discussion of Michigan energy use and alternatives in lesson 2

through 8.