Energy and Sustainability Flashcards
Sustainability
Continued survival – using energy and material resources to maintain survival for the present and the future.
Traditional Energy Sources:
- Wood
- Peat
- Coal
- Petroleum
- Natural Gas
- Uranium
Wood:
- Renewable?
- Origin?
- Use?
- Obtained?
- Renewable
- From trees
- Used for heating and cooking
- Harvested
Peat:
- Renewable?
- Origin?
- Use?
- Obtained?
- Renewable
- From decaying plant matter in bogs
- Used for heating
- Harvested
Coal:
- Renewable?
- Origin?
- Use?
- Obtained?
- Nonrenewable
- From fossilized swampy plants
- Used for electricity production
- Mined
Petroleum:
- Renewable?
- Origin?
- Use?
- Obtained?
- Nonrenewable
- From fossilized plankton
- Used for gasoline
- Drilled (sometimes offshore, in porous sedimentary rocks)
Natural Gas:
- Renewable?
- Origin?
- Use?
- Obtained?
- Nonrenewable
- From sandstone
- Used for heating and cooking (cleanest burning of fossil fuels)
- Drilled (along with petroleum)
Uranium:
- Renewable?
- Origin?
- Use?
- Obtained?
- Nonrenewable
- From sandstone
- Used for electricity production (nuclear fission uses uranium)
- Mined
Coal Formation:
- Coal is formed from dead, fossilized, vegetation that accumulated millions of years ago.
- These dead plants were buried under pressure, compressed and heated, to become fossilized for coal production.
Harvesting effects:
Has lead to deforestation and resulted in erosion and topsoil loss.
Mining effects:
Has lead to the removal of mountaintops and pollution from mounds of rock.
Drilling effects:
Has lead to oil spills and damage to the environment.
Alternate Energy Sources:
- Solar power
- Wave/Hydro power
- Geothermal power
- Wind power
- Nuclear fission / fusion
- Biomass and biofuels
- Fuel cells / Hydrogen power
Solar and Thermo-solar power:
- A photovoltaic cell produces energy when exposed to light.
- Thermo-energy heats a substance like water into steam, to turn a turbine and generate electricity.
- Clean and quiet, but expensive.
Hydropower:
- Turbines are situated to catch the power of rising or falling water.
- Hard to get waves, but free power (except for setting up the facility)
Geothermal power:
- Uses “Earth heat” to turn water into steam to spin turbines or heat water.
- Geographically restricted, free but expensive drilling. Disturbs habitat, and can cause salty water.
Wind power:
- Wind mills act as giant turbines that spin with the energy of wind to generate electricity.
- Hard to get wind, and wind farms can be noisy
Nuclear fission:
- Produces heat to boil and water to spin the turbines - separates
- Splitting of a heavy, unstable nucleus into two lighter nuclei
- High cost, and there’s the threat of a meltdown
Biomass and biofuels:
- Includes municipal waste, crop residues, manure, lumber, and paper by-products
- Food is being used as fuel, and disrupts the cycling of nutrients back into the ecosystem.
- Pollution can be generated in the process of converting biomass to energy.
Fuel cells:
- Hydrogen and oxygen chemically combine to form water which can generate electricity using fuel cell technology.
- Pretty expensive, is flammable, and hydrogen must be in the proper form.
Limiting Factors:
A factor which causes a population to stop increasing.
- Limited natural resources
- Population fluctuates (goes up and down)
- Density-independent and dependent factors
Carrying Capacity
The number of organisms that any given environment can support.
Density-independent factor
Environmental factors which affect population growth regardless of population size.
- Storms
- Climate changes
- Droughts
- Floods
- Pollution
Density-dependent factor
Environmental factors that affect population growth as the population’s size increases.
- Disease
- Parasites
- Lack of food / resources
