Chapter 12 - Nonrenewable Energy Resources Flashcards
Nonrenewable Fuels
An energy source with a finite supply, primarily fossil fuels and nuclear fuels.
Fossil Fuels
A fuel derived from biological material that became fossilized millions of years ago.
Commercial Energy Sources
An energy source that is bought and sold.
Subsistence Energy Sources
An energy source gathered by individuals for their own immediate needs.
Energy Efficiency
The ratio of the amount of energy expended in the form you want to the total amount of energy that is introduced into the system.
EROEI
how much energy we get out of an energy source for every unit of energy expended on its production, calculated as energy obtained from the fuel
Electricity
An energy carrier that converts energy from primary sources (oil, coal, and natural gas) to secondary sources (itself) to do work
Turbine
A device with blades that can be turned by water, wind, steam, or exhaust gas from combustion that turns a generator in an electricity-producing plant.
Electrical Grid
A network of interconnected transmission lines that joins power plants together and links them with end users of electricity.
Combined Cycle Gas Plant
A power plant that uses both exhaust gases and steam turbines to generate electricity.
Power Plant Capacity
The maximum electrical output of a power plant
Capacity
In reference to an electricity-generating plant, the maximum electrical output.
Capacity Factor
The fraction of time a power plant operates in a year.
Cogeneration
The use of a fuel to generate electricity and produce heat.
Coal
A solid fuel formed primarily from the remains of trees, ferns, and other plant materials preserved 280 million to 360 million years ago.
Peat
A precursor to coal that is made up of partly decomposed organic material, including mosses
Lignite
A soft, brown coal; the second stage of coal formation, moderate energy; youngest coal
Anthracite
Hard coal, limited and deep in the ground; highly desirable because it burns slowly and releases intense heat with low sulfer content; cleanest burning coal
Bituminous Coal
The most common form of coal; produces a high amount of heat and is used extensively by electric power plants; burns cleanly; mostly carbon
Sub-Bituminous Coal
The second most common type of coal; softer & more crumbly than bituminous coal & widely used for generating electricity
Petroleum
A fossil fuel that occurs in underground deposits, composed of a liquid mixture of hydrocarbons, water, and sulfur.
OPEC
An organization of countries formed in 1961 to agree on a common policy for the production and sale of petroleum. Organization of Petroleum Exporting Companies
Crude Oil
Liquid petroleum removed from the ground.
Exxon Valdez
The oil tanker that crashed in March 1989, considered largest U. S. oil spill, emptied 35,000 tons of oil into Prince William Sound
Alaska National Wildlife Refuge
Tract of land in northeastern Alaska that contains a lot of oil; debates about whether the benefits fo the pristine condition of the habitat outweighs the potential income and benefit of extracting the oil
Natural Gas
A gas with high methane content, found along with various fossil fuels and is used as a fuel
Liquefied Petroleum Gas
A mixture of liquefied propane and butane gas removed from natural gas and stored as fuel in pressurized tanks
Oil Sands
Slow-flowing, viscous deposits of bitumen mixed with sand, water, and clay.
Bitumen
A degraded petroleum that forms when petroleum migrates to the surface of Earth and is modified by bacteria.
Coal-Liquefied-Fuel
The process of converting solid coal into liquid fuel.
Energy Intensity
The energy use per unit of gross domestic product.
Hubbert Curve
A bell-shaped curve representing oil use and projecting both when world oil production will reach a maximum and when the world will run out of oil.
Peak Oil
The point at which half the total known oil supply is used up.
Nuclear Fission
A nuclear reaction in which a neutron strikes a relatively large atomic nucleus, which then splits into two or more parts, releasing additional neutrons and energy in the form of heat
Uranium-235
An unstable, fissionable isotope of uranium used in nuclear energy
Fuel Rods
A cylindrical tube that encloses nuclear fuel within a nuclear reactor.
Containment Structure
Large, concrete structure that contains the most radioactive parts of a nuclear plant; designed to contain radioactivity
Core
The innermost zone of Earth’s interior, composed mostly of iron and nickel. It includes a liquid outer layer and a solid inner layer.
Generator
Turns the mechanical energy from the rotating turbine into electrical energy
Cooling Tower
A cooling system used in industry to cool hot water (by partial evaporation) before reusing it as a coolant
Control Rods
A cylindrical device inserted between the fuel rods in a nuclear reactor to absorb excess neutrons and slow or stop the fission reaction
Three Mile Island
A mechanical failure and a human error at this power plant in Pennsylvania combined to permit an escape of radiation over a 16 mile radius
Chernobyl
A city in Ukraine that was the site of a 1986 meltdown at a Soviet nuclear power plant; worst nuclear accident in history
Uranium Enrichment
Process in which the ratio of the abundance of the isotope uranium 235 (fissionable) to that of isotope uranium 238 is increased above that found in natural uranium
Reactor-Meltdown
A severe nuclear reactor accident that results in core damage from overheating
High-Level Radioactive Waste
Nuclear fuel that can no longer produce enough heat to be useful in a power plant but continues to emit radioactivity - in the form of fuel rods
Low-Level Radioactive Waste
Nuclear fuel that can no longer produce enough heat to be useful in a power plant but continues to emit radioactivity - in the form of uranium mine tailings and contaminated clothes and tools
Uranium Mine Tailings
The residue left after uranium ore is mined and enriched
Nuclear Fusion
A reaction that occurs when lighter nuclei are forced together to produce heavier nuclei
Yucca Mountain
Only candidate for permanent underground storage site for 70,000 tons of high-level radioactive wastes from commercially operated power plants
Phantom Load
The electricity that is consumed by an appliance or device when it is turned off
