Energy sources
Energy powers everything you do — cooking your food, lighting your home, running Namibia's mines and factories. In this lesson we split all energy into two great families: renewable sources that never run out, and non-renewable or fossil sources that we are slowly using up. We meet coal, oil, natural gas and wood; we watch solar, wind, waves, tides, geothermal, biogas and hydro-electric power grow in importance; we build and run a hydro-electric station step by step at Ruacana on the Kunene; we weigh up HEP, coal, nuclear and solar side by side; and we finish with Namibia's own energy policy — its care for the environment and health, its need to import power, and its links to the SADC region and the world oil trade.
By the end you should be able to (NSSCO Geography 2.4):
- Distinguish between renewable and non-renewable/fossil sources of energy
- Describe the significance of non-renewable energy in terms of availability and the contribution of coal, oil, natural gas and wood
- Describe the growing significance of renewable energy: geothermal, waves, tides, running water (HEP), solar and biogas
- Describe the factors influencing the location/siting of hydro-electric power and the process of generating HEP
- Explain the advantages and disadvantages of generating power from HEP, coal, nuclear power and solar energy
- Describe the factors influencing the location of wind and solar energy
- Describe and explain Namibia's energy policy in terms of the environment, health and safety, and the economic and development context, and how it links to the SADC region and global oil trade
Mr Thomas and Mike talk through the whole topic — with the figure and working drawn live.