Largest tidal turbine in the world unveiled

The AK-1000 is 22.5m tall and is believed to be the largest tidal turbine in the world. (BBC Report)

Natural Hazards continue to cause havoc in Asia

There has been continued flooding in Pakistan and more than 700 people have now been confirmed dead as a result from the massive landslide in China.

The Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari returned home to anger as 1500 people have been confirmed dead and 13.8 million people badly affected.

Meanwhile, in China a further 1000 people are still missing along with 700 confirmed dead as a landslide destroyed buildings and buried people. Rescuers are searching by hand in very remote areas. BBC Report and Video.

China landslide kills dozens

A huge landslide in China has killed at least 127 people in the Gansu province. (BBC Report)

Oil Spill Latest: BP underestimated effects

It's all going on....

Well the exam season is well and truly upon us in what is the busiest part of the year for the department (hence the lack of new posts recently!) The year 12 students have completed their exams with the physical re-sit last Friday and the Human paper on Tuesday. I am quite pleased with the two exams, especially F762 which was straight forward and hopefully pupils should do well overall. The physical paper threw a few surprises, particularly the essays which were 'very physical' in contrast to the previous exams.

However, for Years 10 and 11 the big exams are still ahead of us:

Monday 14th June Year 11 Paper 1, Year 10 Physical Paper.

Thursday 17th June Year 11 Paper 2

We say goodbye to year 11 on Thursday, but year 10 are reminded that revision sessions continue after school on a Wednesday. This week Mr Barber will take the session on Rivers in U35 from 3.10pm. Bring your revision books.

To cheer you up I have posted a video about FC United...happy days!! It's not geographical but it is History in the making (wink)

BP tries to clean-up oil slick

more to follow...

Revision this week

This week will see the start of Year 10 revision, and an end to the Year 11 sessions. PAN will take a year 10 revision session on Plate Tectonics in U34, and MKT will be finishing off the Year 11 Map Skills topics in U35.
Next week the Year 12 sessions will start on a Tuesday and a Thursday from 3.05 until 4.00. looking at Energy, Tourism and Rural Change. Can't wait!

US Oil Slick threat to the Environment

An explosion on an Oil rig of the coast of the South East USA has caused a 'state of emergency' due to the potential threat to the environment from the resulting oil slick. This is an example of how the socio-economic gains from the exploitation of fossil fuels can have a potentially devastating effect on the wildlife and environment. It is estimated that 5,000 barrels per day of oil are leaking from the rig, and even though efforts have been made to try and mitigate the effects, US politicians and environmentalists fear the worst.

Parts of the slick have been set on fire, and British Petroleum (BP) who owns the rig have used boats and inflatable booms to try and collect the 3 mile long slick.

F762 Energy: UK Nuclear Power

Here is the BBC link for the article that you were given on the UK's move to increase its use of Nuclear Energy. This can be used on two types of questions:
1. On a question asking how demand for energy is being met
2. On a question about sustainability between demand and the environment

Y12 Energy and Development: The UK

This video describes the current 'energy mix' of the UK (click on it to play):

Exclusive: KHS is throwing energy away!!

Grace and Rachel report on the shame of KHS...specialist school?...specialist in wasting energy!

Global Oil Reserves

Short video (from the lesson) on Global Oil Reserves.

Proved Oil Reserves- Definition: quantities of oil that geological and engineering information indicates with reasonable certainty can be recovered in the future from known reservoirs under existing economic and operating conditions

Energy: UK 'could face power shortages'

The BBC reports (click here) that the UK could face shortages in power in the years ahead and that consumers may find the prices too expensive.

Ofgem says the the industry need £200bn of investment but believe that energy companies would need incentives to invest that kind of money.

Ofgem reports that energy companies should be required to deliver more generation capacity and gas storage. They also suggest the formation of centralised market control.

Brazil gets planning permission for 3rd biggest dam in the world!

The Brazilian government has given an environmental license for the one of the worlds biggest hydro-electric dams in the Amazon rainforest (click here for link).

The dam will be built at Belo Monte on the Xingu river, a tributary of the Amazon. Environmentalists fear that the dam will cause devestation to the rainforest, affecting 40,000 people through flooding, damage fish stocks and also threaten the survival of indigenous people (see photo).

The initial project has always faced stiff opposition, and was abandoned in the 1990's. The Brazilian government has said that the new plan has been modified in order to appease the environmental concerns. The winning bidder who gets permission to build the dam will have to pay millions of pounds in compensation to protect the environment.

The new dam will create enough electricity to power 23 million homes, and help meet the demand of the growing Brazilian economy. The dam will be the 3rd biggest in the world, behind the Three Gorges Dam in China and the Itaipu Dam jointly owned by Brazil and Paraguay.

The new dam will continue to cause conflicts between environmentalists and politicians, as well as provide us geographers with a nice case-study!! Naturally we hope that it doesn't go ahead...

Energy: BP profits hit by lower oil prices

The oil giant BP has reported reduced profits due to a decrease in world oil prices (click here for bbc news report).

Its replacement cost profit (see table for definitions) fell from $25.59bn in 2008 to $13.96bn in 2009.

However, the company reported that its oil and gas production increased by 4% and its reserves had grown for a 17th successive year

REPLACEMENT COST PROFIT Replacement cost profit is the reporting measure typically used by oil companies and reflects the current cost of supplies The measure strips out gains or losses related to any changes in the value of the firm's stock of fuel products

A-Level Work Monday 1st February: PAN

Year 12 (Period 1)

In the 6th form ICT room, produce a case-study report on the energy use of a country of your choice.

You MUST state which country you are researching on the VLE (click here) as only 1 person can choose each country.

In your report include:

-a summary of the types of energy used

-facts and figures

-examples of types of energy use (both renewable and non-renewable)

-future trends

This is due in on Thursday 4th February along with your other report.

Year 13 (period 2)

In the 6th from ICT room make case-study notes on the Volcanoes that we have been studying.

Include notes on the location, facts and figures, causes, type of volcano, impacts/ effects (both socio-economic and environmental) and responses. The volcanoes are:

Mt St Helens/ Pinatubo, Unzen, Montserrat,

F762 The Energy Issue Overview:

The OCR Syllabus has provided the following information to use as a guide for the topic:

-All Major energy company websites (Shell, Esso etc)

-Major Newspapers (Guardian Unlimited) (Times Online)

-BBC

-DTI (Department for Trade and Industry)

-The Carbon Trust

-The Energy Saving Trust

-www.developments.org.uk (DFID)

Boscastle Flood 2004

This amazing flash flood footage is from Boscastle, Cornwall in 2004. 1 months worth of rainfall fell in only 2 hours triggering a FLASH FLOOD. The impermeable soil around Boscastle, combined with steep slopes surrounding the village created a very rapid lag-time as the rainfall entered the river almost immediately once the soils were saturated. This footage shows the speed of the flood.

Coastal Erosion

Coastal erosion is similar to river erosion as there are 4 ways that the waves erode the coast: Hydraulic Action, Abrasion, Attrition and Solution (see above).

The rate of Coastal erosion depends upon a number of factors relating to the rock. Some rocks are more resistant and are not eroded as quickly, such as granite in Cornwall, whereas softer rocks such as boulder clay on the Holderness coast can be eroded rapidly. Also, the structure of the rock is important as rocks which have natural weaknesses along faults, joints or bedding planes will be eroded quicker than rocks which are just massive blocks.

UK 2007 floods cost the economy £3.2 Billion

The (BBC Reports) that the Environment Agency states that the 2007 UK floods cost the economy an astonishing £3.2 billion.

It also calculates that investment in flood defences will need to almost double, to £1bn a year, to protect properties in the future.

48, 000 homes were affected, each costing between £20,000 and £30,000 to repair. The cost for flooded businesses varied between £75,000 and £112,000. Farmers lost an average of £1,150 per hectare of land flooded, whilst the damage to infrastructure such as roads and power supplies was put at £660 million.

The high costs of flooding underline the importance for continued investment in reducing flood risk Robert Runcie, Environment Agency