3.3 Energy

• Types and sources of energy for domestic and industrial use
• Renewable and non-renewable energy
• Development of renewable energy in Kenya and selected countries
• Significance of renewable energy for socio-economic development
• Energy management and conservation

• examine the types and sources of energy for domestic and industrial use
• analyse the development of renewable energy in Kenya and the selected countries
• explore the significance of renewable energy on socio-economic development
• manage and conserve energy in the community
• appreciate the sustainable use of energy for socio-economic development

“Why renewable energy?”

“Why does Kenya rely so heavily on geothermal power when most countries do not?”

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1. Sources of energy, and Kenya's renewable path
   40 min · 2 practice tasks · quiz
   What energy comes from, why renewable matters, and why Kenya is unusual.
2. What energy does for development, and how to use less of it
   40 min · 2 practice tasks · quiz
   Why energy access changes lives, and the practical ways households and communities can conserve it.
3. Classifying energy by source and by use
   40 min · 1 practice tasks · quiz
   Renewable versus non-renewable is one question; cooking, factories and transport are another.
4. How hydroelectric power works
   40 min · 1 practice tasks · quiz
   A dam stores rain as height; falling water turns a turbine. KenGen sells the electricity.
5. Seven Forks, Masinga and Turkwel
   40 min · 1 practice tasks · quiz
   Kenya's hydro map: a Tana cascade led by Masinga, plus Turkwel Gorge in the west.
6. Hydro in drought years
   40 min · 1 practice tasks · quiz
   When the Tana runs low, Kenya burns more oil and feels every megawatt of Olkaria.
7. Geothermal power at Olkaria
   40 min · 1 practice tasks · quiz
   How steam from underground becomes electricity, why Olkaria matters so much, and what geothermal costs.
8. Why the Rift Valley makes geothermal possible
   40 min · 1 practice tasks · quiz
   The geology behind Kenya's geothermal power, and why most countries cannot copy it.
9. Baseload and intermittent supply
   40 min · 1 practice tasks · quiz
   Why electricity must be generated the instant it is used, and why that makes some sources more valuable than others.
10. Solar power
    40 min · 1 practice tasks · quiz
    How photovoltaic panels work, the difference between a solar farm and a home system, and why solar has spread so fast.
11. Wind power at Lake Turkana
    40 min · 1 practice tasks · quiz
    Why one corner of northern Kenya has Africa's largest wind farm, and what it took to connect it.
12. Biomass: renewable only if replanted
    40 min · 1 practice tasks · quiz
    Kenya's largest energy source by quantity, why it is renewable in principle and often not in practice, and what it costs.
13. Oil, thermal generation and Turkana
    40 min · 1 practice tasks · quiz
    Why Kenya imports oil, why diesel generators are kept despite their cost, and what the Turkana discovery does and does not change.
14. Kenya's electricity mix
    40 min · 1 practice tasks · quiz
    How the sources fit together, why the mix looks as it does, and how to read an energy mix critically.
15. Comparing Kenya with another country
    40 min · 1 practice tasks · quiz
    Kenya against South Africa, what explains the difference, and how to make a fair comparison.
16. What energy does for development
    40 min · 1 practice tasks · quiz
    How access to electricity changes study, health, business, water and industry - and why the biggest gain is time.
17. Energy conservation
    40 min · 1 practice tasks · quiz
    Why the cheapest unit is the one not used, where energy is actually wasted, and what conservation is worth.
18. Surveying household energy use
    40 min · 1 practice tasks · quiz
    How to run a real survey of local energy use, and what the results usually show.
19. Designing a school conservation campaign
    40 min · 1 practice tasks · quiz
    Five steps for a campaign that can actually be judged, and why the final measurement is the one people skip.
20. What still has to change
    40 min · 1 practice tasks · quiz
    Why clean generation is the easy half, and what remains to be done in the grid, storage, cooking and transport.