A Year 12 student from Hawkesdale P12 College produced this slideshow as school assessed coursework for Unit 3 VCE Environmental Science.

1. Area of Study 1
SAC1B:
A Comparison
of a Fossil Fuel
and a Non-
Fossil Energy
SourceBy Katie

2. Macarthur
Wind Farm Mortlake Gas
Power Station
vs

3. About
Macarthur Wind Farm
 The farm is located 16 km
east of Macarthur
 It is the largest of its kind in the
southern hemisphere
 The farm is made up of 140
3MW turbines
Mortlake Gas Power
Station
 The plant is located 12 km
west of Mortlake itself
 It is the largest power station
of its type in Victoria
 It is a 550 MW gas-fired power
station

4. Fossil Fuel vs Non-Fossil Energy Source
Natural Gas
Gas is often referred to as ‘natural
gas’ as it is a naturally occurring
hydrocarbon. It is colourless and
also consists mainly of methane.
Gas has been formed over hundreds
of millions of years from the organic
matter, such as different life forms.
This is why it is referred to as a fossil
fuel and also the reason that it will
eventually run out. The organic
matter was buried by
sand, sediment and rock and
eventually quantities of natural gas
were formed. The gas was trapped
underground. Through the
layers, wells are drilled to reach the
gas deposits. Natural gas is reliable
for the terms that it only takes 6
minutes for the station to fire up.
Wind Power
Wind is the result of differences of
pressure in the atmosphere. It can
blow anywhere anytime and in any
direction. The wind makes a rotor
spin and as it does so, the
movement of the blades spinning
gives power to a generator which
creates energy. A wind turbine
captures the wind to produce
energy. Wind is a clean energy
source. It creates cost-effective and
pollution free energy. A wind turbine
is an unreliable energy source, it
may be renewable but that doesn’t
mean that power is going to be
available at any time. It all depends
on the weather.

5. Extraction of Energy Sources
Natural Gas
Wells within the ground are used
to extract gas. It moves along
pipelines which are found
within the ground. Air and gas
are mixed together and are
then combusted within the
turbine. The force of this causes
the turbines rotor to turn. The
turbine is coupled to generator
and as it turns the generator
rotates and produces energy.
Wind Power
As the wind makes the rotor
spin; the movement of the
blades spinning gives power to
a generator to produce energy.

6. Transport
Natural Gas
The easiest and most efficient
form of transport for gas is
through pipelines. This system of
transportation is a very complex
network, designed to quickly
transport natural gas from its
place of origin to high areas of
gas demand.
Wind Power
Wind cannot be transported as
the energy is made on site.
However, transportation of parts
(such as the blades from Denmark
and the towers from Portland)
needs to be conducted. Usually
transported by truck.
The electrical energy that is
produced by both gas and wind
turbines is transported in high
voltage electrical lines and also
contributes to power in the
national grid!

7. Energy UsesNatural Gas
Natural gas is mainly used for
Australia’s peak load electricity
demand. It used mainly as a
heating fuel. In homes, 60% is used
for space heating, more than 30%
for water heating and less than 10%
for cooking. Within the business
world, 90% is used for space
heating along with 10% for water
heating. Industries such as the
chemical, rubber, plastic, metal
and vehicle .
Wind Power
Wind energy is also used in
Australia’s electricity supply. A
single small win turbine can
generate enough electricity for a
single home and a line a many
larger turbines can generate
electricity for the grid.

9. How Gas is used to Generate Electricity

10. How Wind is used to Generate Electricity

11. Economic Impacts
Natural Gas
 At the Mortlake Gas Power
Station, Origin Energy are the
only ones who are making any
profit.
 During construction process of
Mortlake Gas Power Station
people were employed
meaning that they were earning
an income and also making
some profit
 There are only eight permanent
employees at the Mortlake Gas
Power Station
 The station cost $810 million to
construction
Wind Power
 Each individual that has turbines
on their farm, are paid $12,000
yearly per turbine
 A community fund has been
established to reinvest revenue
earned from the wind farm
back into the community
 The cost of the wind farm is
approximately $1 billion

12. Social Impacts
Natural Gas
 During the construction of the
plant the roads were hit by
heavy traffic
 Pollution and green house
gases that are emitted into the
atmosphere when the station is
in power
 Complaints from community
members about the amount of
waste that the power station
creates
Wind Power
 During the construction of the
turbines there were gases
emitted into the atmosphere
 Complaints are made by
community members regarding
the noise made by turbines
when spinning
 Amount of people wanting to
move into locations close to the
turbines have the possibility of
decreasing because they don’t
want to live close to them

13. Environmental Impacts
Natural Gas
 Origin owns 100 hectares, yet
the power station is only placed
on 20 of it. The rest of the land is
mowed regularly and sold into
the community
 The native vegetation and wild
loses habitat and environment
 Greenhouse gases are emitted
into the atmosphere which
contribute to the greenhouse
effect
Wind Power
 The wind farm is located over
three different farms coming to a
total land usage of 5,500
hectares
 Native vegetation still has the
opportunity to grow
 Farms are still able to be in use
whereas the gas plant does not
allow this
 Birds and bats have been known
to be killed by the spinning
turbines
 Emissions were let into the
atmosphere during construction

14. The Greenhouse Effect
The greenhouse effect is
indeed a natural process.
It warms the earths
surface. Some of it is
reflected back into
space and the rest is
absorbed and reradiated
by greenhouse gases. This
absorbed energy warms
the atmosphere as well
as the earths
surface, maintaining
earths temperature and
allowing life on earth to
actually exist.

15. Contribution to Greenhouse Effect
Natural Gas
Natural gas produces many
more greenhouse gases when
comparing to the wind farm.
The combustion of methane
releases energy, and forms
carbon dioxide and water.
CH4, CO2 and water vapours
are all types of the various
greenhouse gases.
Wind Power
Greenhouse gases were
emitted into the atmosphere
during construction however
it has been predicted that
these have been paid back
just within the first six months
of the turbines spinning.
Greenhouse
Gas Emissions
by Country

16. The Enhanced Greenhouse Effect
It is a problem we now
face thanks to our
human activity. Things
such as burning fossil
fuels, land clearing and
agriculture are all things
which are increasing the
concentration of
greenhouse gases. This is
called the enhanced
greenhouse effect, and
is leading to the
concern of global
warming.

17. International Agreements
On the international level of things,
meetings have been called for
decisions to be made regarding the
reduction of emissions by greenhouse
gases. In 1988, the first conference that
considered the reduction of
greenhouse gases to reduce global
warming was held. Yet the target was
never adopted.
There are conferences every few years
after the meeting in Kyoto, Japan in
1997 where the protocol was agreed
to. It aimed to establish legally binding
targets for developed countries o
collectively reduce their greenhouse
gas emissions by 5% below the 1990
levels by 2008/2012. These are now
review in a series of meetings.

18. National Strategies
Australia began addressing the enhanced greenhouse effect and
its consequences through the 1992 National Greenhouse
Response Strategy. This was replaced by the 1996 Nation
Greenhouse Strategy where a number of different programs were
launched, such as the Greenhouse Challenger Plus.
Australia’s National Greenhouse Gas Inventory, 2010

19. State Policies
It was in 2002 that the Victorian Greenhouse Strategy
was released. It outlined a number of ways to reduce
greenhouse gas emissions in this state. Such as;
increasing end-use energy efficiency, increasing the use
of renewable energy resources for the supply of
electricity and transport fuels, exploring opportunities for
carbon capture and storage, investigating further
opportunities for large-scale clean energy-efficient
street lighting.

20. Local Strategies
Many of the Australian local
governments (e.g. Moyne Shire) have
committed to reducing their generation
of green house gas emissions. They take
part in the Cities for Climate Protection
program. The CCP program helps
councils to achieve five milestones;
establish a detailed base year inventory
of greenhouse gas emission and forecast
emission growth, work with local
community to establish an emissions
reduction goal, develop and adopt a
comprehensive local action
plan, implement the action
plan, monitor and report on the
greenhouse gas emissions and the
implementation of actions and measures
to reduce emissions.
Simple agreements such
as investing in solar
panelling for street lights

21. References/Bibliography
 http://www.surfertoday.com/wind-forecast/13-wind-
forecast/8005-what-is-wind-how-wind-is-formed
 Issues of sustainability VCE Environmental Science Units 3 and
4, 3rd Edition
 http://www.originenergy.com.au/1376/Mortlake-Power-Station
 http://www.agl.com.au/about-agl/media-centre/all-videos-and-
images-
gallery?typeFilter=Image&categoryFilter=MW&sortOrder=DESC&p
g=3
 http://www.essentialenergy.com.au/content/education-natural-
gas