The Rosetta Mission

Comets preserve the earliest material of the solar nebula and potentially carry the complex organic molecules necessary for life.

Comets

Halley’s comet

Comet Churyumov-Gerasimenko

The comet ~ 4 km in diameter and is travelling at 135,000- km/hr

Philae Lander

Comets are composed of rock, dust, ice and frozen gases such as CO2, CO, CH44 and NH3. plus complex organic molecules.

Philae Lander Landing Sites

Agilkia

Philae Lander

Images of the comet taken about 3 Km from the surface

Images of the Philae Landing Site Agilkia

Philae landing site 40 m above surface

First image from Agilkia

The first image from the surface. View of a clff or side of a very deep hole

Energy Consumption and Consequences

The Politics of Oil

World oil reserves in 2003

Global Distribution of Oil

The Oil Age

1900 1920 1940 1960 1980 2000 2200

Oil discovery and consumption

Peak Oil Production

World Natural Gas Production

World Natural Gas Producers

Natural Gas Production and Fracking

Fracking and the US

Impact of Fracking on US Natural Gas Production

Fracking Risks

The Fracking Backlash

Peak Natural Gas Production

What are Oil and Gas?

OctaneNatural Gas

Liquid hydrocarbons

Benzene

The formation of Oil

The Oil Window

Oil migration and entrapment

Oil traps

The origin of coal

The formation of coal

Phanerozoic Ice Ages and CO2

Four ice ages in the last 540 million years. Neoproterozoic (850-630 Ma) Snowball Earth

Current CO2 levelsrelatively low in the context of Earth history

Temperature on Planet Earth

Milankovitch Cycles and the Quaternary Ice Age

Current Ice Age started at 2.6 Ma

Earth has been in an interglacial for 11,000 years

Global Warming - Current Models

Causes of Current Global WarmingCO2, Solar Activity or Both?

Other Sources of Energy

Estimated world energy reserves

A world dominated by Nuclear Energy?

1 Quad = 1 quadrillion BTU

1 BTU = 252 calories

Nuclear Energy

Chain reaction

Neutron collides with U235 forming krypton and barium and releasing more neutrons + vast amounts of energy

Formation of Unconformity-type Uranium Deposits

2U6+ + + 2H2O + C = 2U4+ + 2H+ + CO2

U4+ + O2 = UO2 (Uraninite)

Tidal and hydroelectrical energy

Geothermal Energy

Geothermal Home Heating

Heat Pump

Energy Sources