"Take an energy excursion examining the demand and supply side of oil and gas through the decades and what the future may hold for the petroleum industry."
Summary
This lesson provides an in-depth overview of the business case for oil and gas. Students will be introduced to the significance and daily uses of oil and gas and how the demand and supply side for these natural resources have changed over time. Providing a broad fundamental overview, topic pages address historical impacts to the demand and supply side of oil and gas economics such as global political tensions, concern over climate change, government mandates, etc. Students will also be given an introduction to where we are projected to go into the future, comparing our current lives to how they might look in an electrified future, such as a sweeping transition to electric vehicles from gasoline vehicles. Students will also become familiar with what fossil fuel sources are used for electricity generation, and how these sources might change in the future. Additionally, students are directed to analyze and gather information from several charts and graphs throughout the lesson, with corresponding questions to encourage students to analyze and interpret the data. It is important to complete this lesson before completing the Power Gap lesson, as this lesson will provide students with fundamental knowledge to think critically when addressing scenarios in Filling the Power Gap.
Learning Outcomes
- Students will be introduced to the business case for oil and gas
- What are recent short-term effects that impacted the demand and supply of oil and gas?
- Introduction to global political tensions and their impacts to oil and gas economics
- What was the 1970’s OPEC Oil Embargo?
- What sanctions are used by the United States in response to political situations?
- Introduction to climate change concerns and their impacts on oil and gas economics
- What are the effects of oil and gas on the climate?
- How are global emissions related to fossil fuel consumption?
- How are we addressing climate change going forward?
- Students will be introduced to a thorough analysis of electric vehicles versus gasoline cars
- How much electricity will be required with an electric vehicle transition?
- Introduction to the electrical power demand
- What energy sources do we rely on for power generation and how reliable are they?
- How are our electricity generation sources projected to transition going forward?