Chapter 14 Flashcards
Primary energy source
fossil fuels, water, wind, solar, and radioactive materials
Secondary energy source
is derived from a primary source like electricity.
Can primary energy sources be renewable and non renewable?
Yes
What is the most common way humans produce electricity?
By using a primary energy source like oil, coal, or nuclear to boil water until it produces steam which powers a turbine linked to a generator.
What primary resources do we most commonly use to produce electricity?
Crude oil, coal, and natural gas.
Describe fossil fuel formation
when organisms die and decompose in oxygen-poor conditions. It undergoes a slow anaerobic decomposition and forms kerogen. Coal is formed when plant matter is compacted so tightly that there is little composition. Geothermal heating on kerogen creates crude oil and natural gas.
Mountaintop mining
removing entire mountaintops to obtain coal underneath
strip mining
a strip of overburden next to the previously mined strip is usually drilled. The drill holes are then filled with explosives and blasted.
overburden
the earth above a coal seam
clean coal technology
chemically washes minerals and impurities from coal and treating the flue gases to remove sulfur dioxide. Also capturing co2 from flue gas.
estimated reserves
an educated guess about the location and size of oil or natural gas deposits
proven reserves
how much oil that is proven to be economically obtained from an oil field
production of oil
withdrawal of oil or gas from an oil field
How much of the world’s oil supply does the US use?
25%
What does it mean to refine oil?
Oil is boiled, the constituents that boil that the hottest temps condense at the lowest levels in the column, the rest will condense higher, at lower temps. This way, heavy oils are separated from lighter oils.
oil sands
a mixture of sand, water, and bitumen.
bitumen
a mixture of hydrocarbons (oil) that is too thick to flow on its own.
What is the Keystone XL pipeline? Why is extending it controversial?
The pipeline brings oil into the US from Canada. It has become controversial because of where it is being extended.
What are ways to assess damage from an oil spill?
shorelines, water column, sediments, human use, aquatic vegetation, birds, turtles, marine mammals, fish, shellfish, and corals.
natural gas
is found in wells like crude oil. often there is a layer of natural gas on top of a crude layer in a well.
hydraulic fracturing (fracking)
injecting liquid at high pressure into rocks, to force open existing fissures and extract oil or gas.
what environmental concerns do people have about fracking?
air pollution, water contamination, toxic chemicals, wastewater disposal, creating unstable ground
what is the easter egg hypothesis, and how does it related to oil supply?
“As your searching turns up fewer and fewer eggs, you draw the logical conclusion that nearly all the eggs have been found.” The oil supply is getting lower, and eventually there will not be any more pockets.
What is Hubbert’s peak?
A prediction based on rates of when a country’s or global oil production will be at a maximum and then start to fall.
Climate
long-term atmospheric conditions, like temperature, rain, wind, and humidity.
What 3 factors have the most influence on Earth’s climate?
Sun, atmosphere, and the oceans.
How many watts of energy does our planet receive?
340, and it naturally reflects and emits the same amount.
Global warming potential (GWP)
is the ability of a molecule of a certain greenhouse gas to contribute to global warming.
How do we release methane?
fossil fuel deposits, raising livestock that emit methane as a waste product, growing rice, disposing of organic matter in landfills.
How do we produce nitrous oxide?
Feedlots, chemical manufacturing plants, auto emissions, and synthetic nitrogen fertilizers.
Aerosols
very fine liquid droplets or solid particles floating in the atmosphere.
Radiative forcing
the effect a certain climatic factor has in altering the amount of incoming and outgoing energy (ice albedo, aerosols)
Cooling agents
negative forcing factors like low lying clouds, snow and ice, volcanoes, sulfate aerosols.
Warming agents
positive forcing factors like burning fossil fuels, and other greenhouse gases.
Glaciation
When global surface temperatures drop and ice sheets expand outward from the poles.
How does the ocean asborb co2?
Co2 either dissolves directly in water, or phytoplankton use it for photosynthesis.
Climate model
a computer program that is used to simulate climate processes.
Ocean acidification
When oceans absorb co2 and forms carbonic acid. This makes it harder for corals to build exoskeletons of calcium carbonate
Social cost of carbon
the economic cost of damages resulting from each ton of co2 we emit.
What are two ways we can respond to climate change?
Mitigation and adaption
Mitigation
to lessen something harmful or its effects.
Adaptation
adapting to change and cushioning ourselves from the impacts of climate change
carbon footprint
the amount of carbon a person or place emits
Carbon capture and storage
when co2 is removed from emissions and stored deep underground
carbon pricing
is intended to compensate the public for the effects we all suffer from fossil fuel emissions and climate change.
Which of the following are non renewable sources of energy?
Coal, hydroelectric power, crude oil, 1 and 3, or all of these.
1 and 3
One draw back of wind power is:
Wind currents/speed are inconsistent in many places
True or false: coal emits over 7 million tons of co2 into the atmosphere.
True
One major pollutant that results from burning coal to make electricity is:
Sulfur dioxide
carbon tax
is a type of green tax, meant to discourage the use of fossil fuels and co2 emissions
Fee-and-dividend approach
the government receives funds from fossil fuel suppliers. These funds are then redistributed to tax payers as a tax refund.
Revenue-neutral carbon tax
emitters pay a carbon tax to government, and then charge consumers higher prices for products, but consumers are reimbursed by tax cuts from the government.
Carbon trading
a system in which permits are traded for the emission of co2
Cap-and-trade
the government sets a cap on the amount of pollution it will allow, then sells permits to emitters that allow them to emit a fraction of the total amount
The U.N. Framework Convention on Climate Change
is an international environmental treaty addressing climate change, ratified by 197 countries.
Kyoto protocol
an international agreement that called for reducing emissions of 6 greenhouse gases by 2012 to levels lower than those in 1990.
carbon-neutrality
a condition in which no greenhouse gases are emitted. carbon-neutrality requires buying carbon offsets.
carbon offsets
payments intended to enable another entity to help reduce emissions that one is unable to reduce. An example might be planting enough trees to soak up as much co2 as a coal plant emits
Geoengineering
technology that removes co2 from the air or reflects sunlight away from earth.
