Allow about 10 mins

News stories on climate change and the world’s reliance on fossil fuels are never far from the front pages of newspapers. The UN Climate Change Conference (COP 26) in 2021 brought this to the fore and your students will be familiar with the urgent need to transition towards net zero carbon emissions and diverge away from our reliance on fossil fuels. Exam boards are keen to explore these ideas and the following exam question appeared in a 2019 paper (question 5):

So how would you prepare your students for questions like this? There is a good deal of information that is readily available for students to access online on the different energy resources and how they are used to generate electricity. These are solar, wind, geothermal, hydroelectric, wave, tidal, biomass, nuclear and fossil fuels. If non-renewable energy resources (fossil fuels & nuclear) are ones which get “used up”, students naturally assume that renewable resources can be re-used again and again which leads to confusion when considering burning biomass or wood. A more suitable description for a renewable energy resources is one that is a sustainable source of energy so it can be made at the same rate as it is being used.

One particular website with good explanations and a wide coverage of information is http://www.darvill.clara.net/altenerg/fossil.htm. It would be a good starting point for students (or teachers) wishing to read more about the different energy resources used in electricity generation. However, some of it may be out of date – for example, it mentions Didcot power station as a coal burning power station, but it converted to wood pellets a few years ago! This informative site covers all the different ways of generating electricity and highlights the advantages and disadvantages of each method. In addition, there is a worksheet that you can download for students to complete.

Another good website that describes the pros and cons of renewable energy in an accessible format is https://www.conserve-energy-future.com/advantages-and-disadvantages-of-renewable-energy.php Many exam questions seem very keen to test students on the benefits and drawbacks of generating electricity using renewable resources. Any discussion you have with your class needs to be carefully tempered as both sides of this argument do not carry equal weight. Without question, there needs to be a global move away from burning fossil fuels. The advantages of using renewal energy resources far outweigh the disadvantages. The advantages of using renewable energy in the future should only increase as technologies are developed that help to resolve some of the difficulties.

Another option could be to get students to work in groups and produce a presentation on each method of generating electricity, but do consider carefully how the information can be disseminated down to all students. Take a little care with websites that are a little dated and haven’t updated the current language we use with energy in terms of stores and pathways rather than energy types. The BBC Bitesize revision pages have adopted the stores/pathways nomenclature and have provided a clear description of energy resources https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/guides/zchgdxs/revision/1

Exam questions related to energy resources are plentiful and it makes sense for students to apply their knowledge and become familiar with the exam-type questions. If we look at the question above, exam-technique plays an important role here. The question starts with the word “explain” so students need to provide a suitable explanation for why burning coal can lead to lead to environmental problems. Spend a few minutes having a go at this question and compare your answers to the mark scheme (question 5) which you can access here.