Factors Affecting Energy Supply Flashcards

All 7 cards in this deck

Name four factors that affect a country's energy supply.

Physical factors, cost of exploitation and production, technology and political factors.

Give one way political factors can affect energy supply.

War can prevent exports of oil, limiting supply and pushing prices up.

How can physical factors explain differences in energy use between countries?

Countries with large reserves of a fuel use more of it; e.g. China has large coal supplies so coal is cheaper to use than oil.

How does technology affect energy supply?

New technology allows resources to be exploited that were previously too difficult or costly to reach, e.g. deep-sea oil.

True or false? Local objections can stop new energy schemes being built.

True. Local politics, e.g. objections to wind turbines, can prevent schemes so supply must come from elsewhere.

How does the cost of exploitation and production affect a country's energy supply?

Much of the remaining oil and gas lies deep, offshore or in remote areas, so it costs more to extract, and new power stations are expensive to build. Poorer countries may be unable to afford to develop their own resources.

How do climate and geography affect which renewable energy sources a country can use?

Solar needs plenty of sunshine, wind needs exposed windy sites, hydro needs high rainfall and steep valleys, and tidal power needs a coast with a large tidal range.