GCSE Geography: UK Resource Management

• This is a GCSE geography revision session.
• The session focuses on resource management, specifically in the UK.
• The session will focus on energy options in the UK
• This is relevant to paper 2, specifically the challenge of resource management.

Food Management

• Food Miles: Distance food travels from production to consumer impacting CO2 emissions.
• Organic Produce: Food grown without synthetic fertilizers or pesticides, gaining popularity in recent decades.

Water Management

• Water Stress: Demand exceeds supply or poor quality limits use.
• Water Transfer Scheme: Relocates water from surplus to deficit areas, exemplified by UK's Northwest to Southeast transfers.

Energy Management

• Energy Mix: Diverse sources (renewable & non-renewable) used by a region/country, changing daily and long-term decreasing the use of fossil fuels.
• Energy Security: Uninterrupted, affordable energy availability, currently challenged in the UK due to import reliance.

Food Miles in Practice

• Lamb from New Zealand travels the farthest (18,800 km).
• Beef from Argentina follows at 11,600 km.
• Prawns from Thailand: 9,500 km.
• Mangoes from Brazil: 9,200 km.
• Beans from Kenya: 6,800 km.
• Bananas from Dominica: 5,500 km.

Red Herring Quiz: Odd One Out Edition

• Manufacturing is not a domestic use of water, unlike washing clothes, showering, and flushing toilets.
• Water conservation contrasts with increasing water-intensive appliances, rising population, and new home construction which all have an increased water demand.
• Imposing fines differs from industrial discharge, fertilizer runoff, and chemicals, which are sources of water pollution.

Connection Wall: Water Conservation Themes

• Recycled/Reclaimed Water
  • Used in cooling for steel making and energy production.
  • Reuses treated domestic/industrial waste water.
  • Beneficial for fish farming and agriculture.
  • Sewage in lagoons aids algae growth and water oxygenation.
• Grey Water
  • Used for irrigation and plant watering.
  • Sourced from sinks, baths, showers, washing machines.
  • May contain dirt, food, grease, hair, cleaning products.
  • Provides fertilizer for plants; use within 24 hours.
• Water Saving at Home
  • Turn off tap while brushing teeth.
  • Only run full washing machine/dishwasher loads.
  • Install low-flow shower heads.
  • Install twin flush toilet systems.

Bubble Quiz: UK Energy Demand & Sources

• UK energy demand decreased due to the decline of heavy industries and better home insulation methods..
• Non-renewable energy sources: oil, coal, gas.
• Wind farm issues: bird deaths and visual impact.
• UK imports coal from Colombia, Australia, USA.
• Fracking issues: fewer initial emissions, earthquake risk, groundwater pollution, expensive extraction process.

Categorize Activity: Nuclear Energy

• Economic Impacts
  • High building costs
  • High electricity production costs
  • Expensive decommissioning
  • Job creation/local economic boost
• Environmental Impacts
  • Fewer emissions than non-renewables
  • Difficult processing/storage
  • Potential spills/radioactive leaks
  • River habitat impact from warm water byproduct

MCQ Round: UK Energy Statistics

• 2016: 17% of UK's primary energy from renewables.
• Largest UK oil/gas reserves: North Sea.
• Main renewable for UK electricity: wind.
• Fracking extracts: shale gas.
• Uranium powers: nuclear energy.

Energy Option: Key Terms

• Blackouts: Power cuts resulting from energy production shortfall.
• Energy Conflict: Political conflict from energy shortages/control.
• Energy Deficit: Demand exceeds available energy.
• Energy Insecurity: Unreliable supplies/fluctuating prices/blackout potential.
• Fossil Fuels: Natural fuels burned for energy (coal, gas).
• Non-Renewable Energy: Finite energy sources that will run out.

Factors Affecting Energy Supply

• Climate: Influences renewable energy (sun/wind/rain).
• Geology: Availability of fossil fuels/geothermal potential.
• Infrastructure Cost: Affects pipelines, rigs, dams.
• Political Stability: Affects energy source access.

Factors Affecting Increase in Energy Consumption

• Population Growth
  • More people, more demand for energy in vehicles, tech, and homes.
  • Construction of homes, buildings, services drives energy needs.
• Economic Development
  • Requires more industrial energy and manufacturing.
  • Increased income leads to higher standard of living for people, so increased amount of power-hungry appliances for homes

Impacts of Energy Insecurity

• Food Production
  • Impacts the food production due to high energy usage in farming, storage, transportation, etc.
  • High priced alterntaives make food costly
  • Firewood collection in LICs reduces farming time.
• Industrial Output
  • High demand for industry.
  • Blackouts in LICs/anycs halt production
  • Outages lead to closed small business
• Conflict
  • Conflict on who controls energy resources and who has more.
  • Russia using natural gas, which they have the highest share for, they have tried to raise the price and stop other countries in accessing natural gas.

Altered Vowels: Alternative Energy Sources

• Wind: Turbines generating electricity, low operational costs, offshore potential, but landscape impact/bird risk.
• Solar: Photovoltaic cells converting sunlight, easy to maintain, potential in sunny climates, but seasonal production.
• Biomass: Organic matter energy (dung, plants, biofuels), widespread availability, waste reduction, but deforestation/pollution.
• Geothermal: Underground water heated by rocks driving turbines, high efficiency, very limited area, good for tectonic activity.
• Hydroelectric Power: High mass of water with big rivers turns a turbine inside, generating electricity and its flow can be controlled generating more when demand peak is high. However very costly and less amount of water downstream disrupt fish immigration and Mass flooding Upstream

On Balance: Natural Gas Extraction

• Benefits

  • Cleaner than alternate fossil fuels - fewer pollution.
  • Easy extraction.
  • Easy Transportation.

• Drawbacks

  • Contamination.
  • Potentially costly.
  • Greenhouse gas still an emission even with reduced power.

GCSE Geography revision session focusing on resource management in the UK, specifically energy options. It addresses food miles, organic produce, water stress, and energy security challenges. Relevant to paper 2.