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Week 18 - Different Sources and Energy Consumption

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Course: Science 7 LearnNet
Book: Week 18 - Different Sources and Energy Consumption
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Date: Thursday, 18 September 2025, 3:24 PM

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Week 18 - Different Sources and Energy Consumption

Table of contents

Tab: Exercise 4.1


Lesson 4.1: Looking at Different Sources of Heat


ACTIVITY A: What if your heat was turned off tomorrow?



Required Readings

Science in Action 7
pages 238 to 244
or
Science Focus 7
pages 238 to 245


What if you woke up one day in the middle of winter to find your house cold and dark. When you go to adjust the thermostat you find that nothing happens. When you hit the light switch, it stays dark. You are now living in a modern house without the modern conveniences of electricity and natural gas heating that are so common to Alberta. What do you do?

Naturally, we would assume that the power and gas company must just have a short term problem. But what if you decided to go out to your car to warm up by the heat of the engine and listen the radio, only to find out that Alberta no longer has an adequate supply of fossil fuels to heat all the homes in Alberta and power all the thermoelectric plants.

What would you do now?

In Alberta, 90% of our home, industry, and transportation needs for thermal and electrical energy are largely met through the use of non-renewable fossil fuels such as coal, oil, and natural gas. When non-renewable resources are depleted they are gone forever. What makes it even worse, is the negative effects that burning fossil fuels has on the environment.

It does not matter what type of energy technology is used all have advantages and disadvantages which must be considered. Some consequences may be environmental, societal, or economic in form.

Consider, for examples the creation of a new hydroelectric dam on the Bow River near Canmore. In the short term, the economy will do well, many jobs will be created while the dam and transmission lines are being constructed. The dam will not create an air pollutants and will be fairly inexpensive to operate over the long run. It will provide enough energy to provide a large city with continuous power year round. However, the dam will flood out many ecosystems and prime building sites upstream from the dam.

Exercise 4.1: Alternate Thermal Energy Sources

Copyright © 2001, the Crown in Right of Alberta, as represented by the Minister of Learning, Alberta Learning, 11160 Jasper Avenue, Edmonton, Alberta T5K 0L2

Picture and Photos:( For specific picture reference view page source.)
Copyright © 2000-2001 www.arttoday.com, Copyright © 2001 Jeannie Charrois

Tab: Exercise 4.2


Lesson 4.2: Energy Consumption


ACTIVITY A: What Energy Do You Use in a Day?



Required Readings

Science in Action 7
pages 245 to 252
or
Science Focus 7
pages 248 to 254

Fossil fuels are still of primary use as a source energy for our homes, vehicles, and places of work. We have been harvesting fossil fuels for little more than 100 years and already, we have depleted 50% of the known available supplies.

When we began using fossil fuels, scientists did not know the potential impacts it would have. It was thought that the gases would be absorbed by the atmosphere with no implications. However, as scientists studied the environment and the atmosphere, the overwhelming amount of gases created by the burning of fossil fuels was noticed to be building up in the atmosphere. Strong scientific indicators now show that the buildup of greenhouse gases are causing the Earth's climate to heat up. The change has only been by a few degrees, but it is significant enough to cause melting in the polar ice caps.

The cost of fossil fuels continues to rise, while the negative implications of their use increases at a high rate. We must be aware of the energy that we are consuming and how we can minimize our impact on the global environment. In order to minimize our impact, we have to be consciously aware of how much energy we are consuming.

For the next 24 hours, you are going to record all of the times you are doing something that causes fossil fuels to be burned. This would include any time that you are running an electrical appliance, the furnace, a vehicle, or even water in your home. You will also record ways that you could decrease your fossil fuel consumption by making small changes to the way you perform certain tasks, chores, and recreational activities.

Exercise 4.2: My Daily Energy Consumption



ACTIVITY B: How can we decrease what we consume?
 

Now that you have had a chance to complete your 24 hour survey of the ways you consume fossil fuels, lets look at ways to decrease your energy consumption.

This will help you bring your own energy bills down and you will be doing your part in the global environment.

We have all learned about the three R's: reduce, reuse, and recycle. We think about these terms when it comes to decreasing the physical products that we use and throw into the trash. Did you consider how the three R's could be applied to energy consumption?

Exercise 4.2B: Heat and Temperature Pre-Test

Copyright © 2001, the Crown in Right of Alberta, as represented by the Minister of Learning, Alberta Learning, 11160 Jasper Avenue, Edmonton, Alberta T5K 0L2

Picture and Photos:( For specific picture reference view page source.)
Copyright © 2000-2001 www.arttoday.com, Copyright © 2001 Jeannie Charrois

Section 4 Notes

You will have two opportunities to write this section quiz. This quiz consists of 10 questions. Use the results from your 1st attempt to help you prepare for your second attempt. Your best score will be taken as your assessment mark. You have 10 minutes to complete this multiple choice quiz. Remember to do this quiz under testing conditions without texts, aids, or help.

Click the icon to go to the quiz.