Topic of Science Project: Energy Resources

Topic of Science Project: Energy Resources
With the increasing world population and rising new industrial power, such as South Korea, India, China or Brazil with their insatiable energy demand, we are more than ever dependable to energy resources. The energy companies try to tap new energy resources in remotest region of the Earth, such as Arctic or Antarctica. The energy prices are rising and hurting our pockets every day. This is why we are looking for new energy resources.
Your science project is mostly about non-renewable alternative energy resources (less conventional sources), but also renewable energy such as geothermal energy as well . This project does not consider environmental friendly or renewable energies such as Solar or Wind energy. We want to learn more about some new kind of non-renewable energies which are controversial and make headlines, even in the political debate for the presidency. In our state, the oil companies are searching for gas in Marcellus Shale (oil shale), and because of that there is an ongoing discussion about its feasibility.
How you proceed
You agree in your group upon doing this topic
� Geothermal energy
Then you start your research in a library or in internet. First, you should study the geologic origin of these energy resources. For example if your topic would be Clean Coal, you should first study the geology of coal and explain it, or if your topic would be Nuclear Energy, you should do your research around the mineral petch blend (uranium mineral), which produces the nuclear energy (The technology of nuclear power plants are not the focal point). For all topics, you ask yourself how they were formed, and where could we find them? Environmental impact (from the extraction all the way to consumption) is a crucial part of your paper. Then analyze pros and cons (don�t be judgmental, be fair and objective, at the end of the day we all need and use energy) and finally suggest how we could do better towards a sustainable environment!
Each group should
� write a 1 FULL page essay. (DO NOT SUBMIT A 3/4 PAGE AND EXPECT TO GET FULL CREDIT FOR YOUR WORK.) It should be in your own words. Cut and Paste will be graded as zero. Your essay should preliminary be focused on Geology. It means the origin and occurrence of resources (see rubric). Your essay should be structured and grammatically correct (See the rubric). Your essay should have the following topics:
– Geology
>> How the energy resources were formed geologically in the past?
>> Type of environment where they were formed, for example in the deserts, lakes, oceans, etc.
– Present occurrances
– Environmental imapt from the extraction all the way to consumption.
– Pros and contras
– Sustainablity
� find at least 5 images. The images should be related to your essay and should be explained. The sources of your images should be mentioned. The images should be inserted in your essay. The images should be related to geology. The unrelated and unexplained images will be graded as zero.
� find 2 videos from �youtube.com� or any other websites, which is related to your topic (about 10 minutes).
The videos should be related to geology.
� list the source(s) of literature, websites, videos and images at the end of the paper (CSE-format).
Resources
For this research use legitimate science sources, it could be an article, a book or a science responsible website.
Cut and paste is not tolerated. It will be graded as zero (the program Turnitin checks against copying from internet, textbooks or other groups).
If you find something interesting, use citation (name of the author and date of publication).
Rubric
� Content and Relevance to Geology (occurrence, deposition, etc.) 40
� Images 20
� Videos 20
� Grammar, punctuation and structured content 10
� Citation of sources at the end of your paper 10