Factors Affecting Energy Supply
Geography: AQA GCSE, topic 6.4.3
What Factors Affect Energy Supply?
The main factors affecting energy supply can be grouped into economic, technological, physical, and political factors.
Economic factors
- Some natural resources in some locations are more expensive to find and extract.
- Oil exploration companies specialise in scanning the ocean using seismic waves to find oil.
- It is usually more expensive to dig for oil miles under an ocean, than it is when oil is close to the surface and easy to extract.
- Lots of countries have to import oil or natural gas from countries like the USA, Russia, and Saudi Arabia. Oil prices change a lot. In 2011, they were $112 per barrel and in 2016, they were $29 per barrel. It is hard for countries that import oil to plan for these price changes.
Technological factors
- Fracking in the United States, offshore oil & gas extraction in Norway, and building nuclear power plants are all technologically difficult things to do.
- Some countries may have resources, but not have a population educated on how to extract them.
- The DRC and Niger have lots of mineral reserves and uranium. However, they do not have the infrastructure or political stability to turn their resources into nuclear power. The DRC mined the uranium that was used for the first nuclear bomb.
Physical factors
- Fossil fuels are limited in supply. Some people believe that the world will run out of oil between 2030 and 2050.
- Some countries have 'natural resource endowments' that have lots of metals and fossil fuels and some have none.
- The UK's industrial revolution was driven by coal and the UK happened to have huge coal mines in the north of England. In 1913, the UK mined 290 million tonnes of coal. In 1960, this had fallen to 200 million tonnes. Today it is 3 million tonnes.
Political factors
- A lack of good governance or institutions, as well as war can stop countries developing their energy infrastructure.
- For example, the DRC mined the uranium that was used for the first nuclear bomb, but it has been unable to build nuclear power plants to power its country.
- International agreements are trying to limit the burning of fossil fuels to create energy. However, sometimes these are the easiest ways to generate energy for a poor country.
Economic problems with renewable energy
- Although solar and wind power are more environmentally friendly, they are impractical. The UK is not very sunny and wind turbines do nothing if it isn't very windy and have to be switched off if it is too windy!
Test yourself on Factors Affecting Energy Supply
How would you describe the prices of fossil fuels?
What energy source has been hit with strict regulations because of safety concerns?