Energy Flashcards
What is energy and what is power? What is the difference?
energy is the ability to do work (ex. move mass against a force through a distance). energy can come in different forms, such as kinetic, heat, chemical, and nuclear.
power is energy per unit time (the rate at which energy is transferred or used)
Does energy consumption in the US grow in lock-step with the economy? What happened in the US in the 1970’s that gave a different answer to this question from what had been accepted before?
carbon emissions, energy, and GNP were coupled until 1970s, then improvements in energy efficiency improved by 37% from the 70s-2000. The difference between energy usage and GNP is called ‘de-intensification’ and the difference between carbon emissions and energy usage is ‘de-carbonization’.
What, in terms of human health impacts (mortality), is the single largest air pollution problem in the world? Is it in developing or developed countries? Rural or urban? Indoor or outdoor?
it is indoors in developing countries caused by smoke from cooking stoves. 9000 children a day die from exposure to this smoke.
What is the approach to addressing the problem of anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions outlined in Pacala and Socolow? What is the distinction in their conception, between pre-2050 and post-2050 solution strategies? Name three wedges from the first strategy.
The approach outlines in Pacala and Socolow is that we have enough technology available today to help adress the climate problem for the next 50 years (until technology improves). What they mean by that is that it is possible to mitigate our emissions today so that we do not see a doubling of pre-industrial emissions /;
Why did global CO2 emissions increase so much faster in the decade from 2000-2010 than in the 1990’s? What was the relative role of developed vs developing country emissions in causing the change? Which single country was the biggest cause in change? What is the relative role of population growth, consumption per person (per capita GDP, or affluence), and energy intensity of the economy (technology) in driving the increase in these emissions?
CO2 emissions increased so much faster from 2000-2010 than in the 90’s because of increased human population and people increasing their emissions as countries become more developed.
