What Energy Future? ... 120 Minutes. Click to preview
For: Years 9-13
Format: DVD
Type: Chapters
Price: NZ - $96.75, Aus - $96.75, International - Not Available
Click to download teacher notes for this video.
The What Energy Future? DVD has been specially made for use in secondary schools to provide good background information to students so they are able to better appreciate the history and economy of world energy, as well as to understand the extent that energy has been essential to the quality of life in places like New Zealand and Australia. The DVD also portrays the damaging side of the fossil fuel industry. It explores controversial issues about peak oil and how much oil is left as well. But the main emphasis of the DVD is to address and explain the question: What Energy Future? Information and tabulations show how much energy the world uses today - and explains what the energy is used for. It also reports on the development patterns of countries like China and India. A number of voices are contained in the DVD. Some advocate for pure renewables - such as solar, wind, the use of biomass (eg burning wood and other plant fibre to make heat, or the use of certain plants to make ethanol for fuel), others argue that renewable energy resources will not be enough for the world to exist as it has, and that nuclear power is crucial now. Others criticise nuclear power. The 19 chapters, are grouped into 5 topics, and cover these areas:
Toward Renewable Energy: History of Energy; Solar panel technologies; Wind and hydro power; Biomass, batteries and hydrogen cells.
Fossil Fuelled Economy: Peak oil, reserve depletion, how much oil is left; Western society oil dependence; Oil industry damage to environment; Options for using energy more carefully and less wastefully.
Maybe nuclear is the only option: How we use energy round the world now - and how much - and how central energy supply has been to our way of life; Where has global energy come from - historically and now - and how much oil is left in reserves round the world; Critical assessment of renewable energy options - can they meet global energy needs; Some voices believe that modern nuclear power will be essential to protecting the western way of life.
Nuclear is too risky: All about history of nuclear power and nuclear energy; An economic analysis of the global nuclear industry; documentary about human health hazards posed by nuclear materials and waste; critical look at what might happen in Australia - with its uranium mineral resources.
Practical Case studies: Transport and Energy use in Auckland and Perth; Combined Heat and Power generation in Europe - toward more efficient electricity generation; Sweden and Denmark - walking the talk - showing some direction.
What Energy Future? notes can be downloaded from this site: Here.
Produced by Team Video Pacific in 2008.