7)ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT

EFFECTS ON THE ENVIRONMENT
Extracting natural resources
Fossil fuels and radioactive elements, such as uranium, must be extracted from underground deposits. When those deposits are exhausted, we must find new ones to remplace them.
The extraction of mineral resources can also damage the environment. Large areas of forest have been destroyed to provide wood for fuel.
Transporting fuel
Most oils is transported over land through pipelines and by sea in large ships called oil tankers.
Natural gas is trasported over land through gas pipelines or by sea in tankers as liquid natural gas. These tankers are called LNG carries. Natural disasters and accidents can also affect gas pipelines and LNG carries.
Generating electricity
Hydroelectric power station require large amounts of water which must be stored behind dams in reservois. These reservois flood large areas of land and change the natural flow of the river. These changes have enormous effects in the ecosystem. In addition, if there is an accident and the dam breaks, the effects can be devastating for the environment and for the local people.


CLIMATE CHANGE
Most of our electricity come from power stations that use non-renewable energy sources. This situation is negative effects on the environment, and the most serious is climate change.

• When we burn fossil fuels, gases such as carbon oxide and methane are released into the air. These gases contribute to the greenhouse effect, which encreases the Earth's averages temperature.
• Already we can observe some of the effects of global warming, such as the melting of our polar ice caps and glaciers which leed to rising sea levels, and more extreme weather conditions in many places around the world.
• Power station that burns fossil fuels also release other polution into the air, such as sulphur oxide and nitrous oxide. These pollutants combine with water vapour in the air to produce acid rain, which damages our forest, lakes and rivers.
• These power station affect plants and animals life because they use refrigeration system that pump hot water into our rivers and oceans.

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ENERGY CONSUMPTION
The fossil fuels thah consumers use in their cars or home heating system also have an effect on the environment.
When we use electricity at home, we must also remember that most of that energy comes from non-renewable sources that cause a serious problems along the way. Electricity may seem like clean energy, but is generation and transportation can have serious effects on the environment.