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Environmental Final Flashcards

1
Q

What are the two main types of energy? Give two examples of each.

A 
Renewable Energy (sunlight, geothermal, tidal)
Nonrenewable Energy (oil, coal, natural gas, nuclear)
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2
Q

How does Canada compare to the rest of the world in terms of commercial energy use by source? (Nonrenewable vs Renewable)

A

Canada: 27% Renewable, 73% Nonrenewable
World: 15% Renewable, 85% Nonrenewable

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3
Q

Describe the global primary supply chart (pie chart percentages).

A 
Oil: 34.4%
Coal: 26%
Natural Gas: 20.5%
Combustible Renewables and Waste: 10.1%
Nuclear: 6.2%
Hydro: 2.2%
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4
Q

Who consumes more energy, developed or developing nations?

A

Developed nations (U.S. with 4.4% of world’s population uses 18% of world’s energy; Canada with 0.5% of the world’s population uses 2.6% of world’s energy)

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5
Q

What happened in 2015? (Hint: oil)

A

Oil priced dropped from $140USD to $30USD per barrel; fracking and newer extraction techniques propelled US into oil and gas exporter; Canadian oil production faltered due to blocking of Canadian exports and CDN falls from $1.06 to $0.68

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6
Q

What is net energy? What ratio is often used to denote this?

A

Net energy is the difference between energy returned (or acquired) and energy invested to acquire it. Ratio: EROI (Energy return on investment) EROI = usable energy returned/energy invested = ER/EI

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7
Q

What does a high EROI mean? What causes this to decline?

A

High EROI ratio means we receive more energy than we invest to acquire it. Ratios decline when we extract the easiest deposits first and now must work harder to extract the remaining reserves.

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8
Q

Was U.S. oil production higher or lower than Hubbert’s Peak (Hubbert’s prediction of U.S. oil production)?

A

Higher

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9
Q

Why has the Arctic gained world attention?

A

Potential large reserves of undiscovered oil and gas.

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10
Q

What is crude oil? (4 points)

A

A mixture of hundreds of different types of hydrocarbon molecules

Formed 1.5 - 3 km underground

Formed from dead organic material buried in marine sediments

Transformed by time, heat and pressure.

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11
Q

Refineries separate crude oil into components such as ____, _____ and _____.

A

gas; tar; asphalt

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12
Q

Geologists map underground rock formations to determine ____ and ____ of petroleum deposits.

A

size; location

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13
Q

______ _____ ____ reveals the oil that could be extracted with the current technology.

A

Technically recoverable oil

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14
Q

Define ‘Economically recoverable oil’.

A

Recognizes the balance between the costs of extraction, transportation and the current price of oil.

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15
Q

Oil that is technologically and economically feasible to remove under current conditions is known as ___________.

A

Proven recoverable reserve

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16
Q

Define ‘Exploratory drilling’

A

Small, deep holes to determine whether extraction should be done. (Oil is under pressure and often rises to the surface).

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17
Q

What are primary and secondary extraction?

A

Primary: The initial drilling and pumping of available oil.

Secondary: Solvents, water or steam is used to remove additional oil; expensive.

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18
Q

Four methods for oil sands extraction

A

Open-pit mining (only 20% accessible)

Cyclic steam stimulation (not common)

Steam-assited gravity drainage (main focus currently)

Vapour extraction

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19
Q

What are some advantages and disadvantages of heavy oils from oil shale?

A

Advantage:

  • Large potential supply
  • Moderate cost (oil sand)
  • Efficient distrubution system in place
  • Easily transported between countries
  • Technically is well-developed

Disadvantage:

  • High cost (oil shale)
  • Releases CO2 and other air pollutants when burned
  • Low net energy yield
  • Large amount of water used for processing
  • Severe land disruption from mining
  • Water pollution from mining
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20
Q

Natural gas is composed of ___ - ___% methane

A

50-90

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21
Q

Natural gas is removed as liquified _______ gas and shipped as liquified _____ gas.

A

petroleum; natural

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22
Q

What are some advantages and disadvantages of conventional natural gas?

A

Advantage:

  • Ample supplies (62-125 years)
  • Moderate environmental impact
  • High net energy yield
  • Emits less CO2 and other air pollutants than other fossil fuels
  • Low cost (with large subsidies)
  • Easily transported by pipeline
  • Good fuel for fuel cells and gas turbines

Disadvantage:

  • Nonrenewable resrouce
  • Releases CO2 and other air pollutants when burned
  • Methane (a greenhouse gas) can leak from pipelines
  • Difficult and costly to transport from one country to another
  • Shipped ascross the ocean as highly exposive LNG (liquified natural gas)
  • Requires pipelines(?)
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23
Q

What is shale gas?

A

Natural gas trapped in sedimentary rocks. Removed by hydraulic fracturing (fracking).

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24
Q

Describe fracking.

A

Drill well and inject pressurized fluid or gas to fracture rock

Fluid pumped into cracks (usually water mixed with sand and additives)

Sand keeps the crack open after pumping

Natural gas collected

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25
Q

What are the advantages and disadvantages of shale gas?

A

Advantage:

  • Natural gas supplies may increase several fold
  • Natural gas relatively low environmental impact

Disadvantage:

  • Actual resource amount not well known
  • Contains more CH4 than conventional natural gas
  • Some water pollution issues with both fracking and SAGD
26
Q

What is coal?

A

Organic matter (woody plant material) that was compressed under very high pressure to form dense, solid carbon structures.

27
Q

What is peat?

A

Organic material that is broken down anaerobically but remains wet, near the surface and not well compressed

28
Q

What are the three types of coal?

A

Lignite = least compressed
Sub-bituminous and bituminous
Anthracite = most compressed; has the most energy

29
Q

Name the methods of underground coal extraction.

A

Room-and-Pillar

Longwall Mining

30
Q

Name the methods of near ground coal extraction.

A

Area Strip Mining

Countour Strip Mining

31
Q

Coal generates __% of the world’s electricity

A

50

32
Q

Coal reserves are expected to last between ___ and ___ years.

A

100; 950

33
Q

What are economic systems?

A

Social and legal arrangements people construct to satisfy their needs and wants (to improve their well-being)

34
Q

A ____ ____ economy occurs with dictator ships

A

centrally; planned

35
Q

Describe the recognition stage of a policy life cycle

A

Low political weight

Results from published scientific research is popularized by the media

Public involvement starts the political process

High dissension; opposing views

36
Q

What are the four approaches to waste management?

A
  • Municipal solid waste (homes, institutions, small biz)
  • Industrial solid waste (production of goods, mining, agriculture, and petroleum extracting/refining)
  • Hazardous waste (solid or liquid waste that is toxic, chemically reactive, flammable or corrosive)
37
Q

What are the stages of a policy life cycle?

A

Recognition, Formulation, Implementation, Control

38
Q

Describe environmental public policy.

A
  • Includes laws and regulations that deal with society’s interactions with the gov’t
  • Is developed at all levels of gov’t (local, provincial, federal and international)
  • Purpose is to promote common good
  • Two goals: improve human welfare, protect the natural world
  • Addresses prevention or reduction of population as well as use of natural resources
39
Q

_______________________ and _____________ are two approaches of environmental public policy used to accomplish changes.

A

Command and control strategy (regulatory approach); Market strategy (set prices on pollution and resource use)

40
Q

The system that establishes a monetary value for an ecosystem service is known as _____________ (PES). This is part of the ________ approach to environmental public policy.

A

Payment for economic services; market

41
Q

Describe the formulation stage of the policy life cycle.

A

Rapidly increasing political weight leads to high media coverage

Public is aroused and debates policy options; political battles occur

Three E’s of environmental policy:
E - Effectiveness, Efficiency, Equity

42
Q

Describe the implementation stage of the policy life cycle.

A

Political and environmental costs exacted

Policy determined; focus moves to regulatory agencies

Public concern and political weight decline; media lose interest

Industry learns to comply; emphasis switches to enforcement of regulation, efficiency and equity

43
Q

Describe the control stage of the policy life cycle.

A

Years have passed since recognition stage

Policies are supported; become embedded in society (vulnerable to political shift)

Public may forget there was a serious problem (e.g. acid rain)

44
Q

Give a current example during each stage of the policy life cycle.

A

Recognition: Indoor air pollution, Urban sprawl

Formulation: Nuclear wastes, Global warming

Implementation: Renewable energy, Acid deposition (acid rain)

Control: Sewerage, Water treatment, Contagious disease (vaccines)

45
Q

Some environmental policies have no _______ costs but have _______ costs.

A

economic; political

46
Q

What effects does environmental public policy have on the economy?

A
  • Some argue environmental regulations are excessive; cost jobs, reduces competitiveness of economy
  • Some claim it has significant adverse effect on the economy
  • Cost-Benefit analysis demonstrates pollution prevention is cheaper than cleaning up
47
Q

What are the three components of waste management?

A
  • Minimize the amount of waste generated
  • Recovering waste and finding ways to recycle
  • Disposing of waste safely and effectively
48
Q

33% of global wastes are produced by less than __% of the population.

A

5

49
Q

Municipal solid waste increased ___ from 1960-____. This resulted in a per-capita increase of ____ from 1960-1990.

A

3 x (times); 2000; 70%

50
Q

____ kg of municipal solid waste is produced per person in North America.

Waste management costs ___ ______ (million/billion)

A

383; 1.5; billion

51
Q

E-waste, also known as _______ ________ has been rapidly ______ (increasing/decreasing) by 140,000 tonnes.

A

electronic waste; increasing

52
Q

Since 1960, waste generation in North American has increased by ____% but has been decreasing during the past ___ years.

A

300; 10

53
Q

What has accounted for the greatest relative increase in waste generation?

A

Plastic.

54
Q

Possible ways to deal with solid waste include:

A 
Sanitary Landfill
Waste to energy (incineration)
Recycle
Reuse
Compost
55
Q

What are some of the problems that occur with landfills?

A

Leachate and groundwater pollution
(chemicals dissolve water and are transported by it)

Methane
(buried wastes produce biogas made of methane, CO2 and hydrogen)

Incomplete decomposition
(some plastics resist decomposition; petroleum-based polymers for example; biodegradable things degrade slowly)

Settling
(waste settles as it compacts and decomposes; shallow depressions or deep holes are created)

56
Q

What is the 2nd law of Thermodynamics?

A

Whenever energy is changed from one form to another, we always end up with up with less usable energy than we started with

57
Q

What is net energy efficiency?

A

Net energy efficiency is a measure of how much useful energy we get from an energy source after subtracting the energy used and wasted in making the energy available.

58
Q

What are the two ways to improve net energy efficiency?

A
  1. Minimize the number of conversion steps

2. Maximize the efficiency of each step

59
Q

What is End Use Philosophy?

A

Consider complete life cycle analysis and cost

Prolongs fossil fuel supplies which buys times to implement alternate energy

Reduces oil imports and provides energy security

Reduce environmental degradation

60
Q

What are three major ways to tackle Energy Efficiency? Provide examples.

A

Industry:
- higher efficiency lighting, replace inefficient motors, cogeneration

Transportation:
- Increased fuel economy, hybrid-electric, fuel-cell vehicles

Building Design:
- Insulation, energy-efficient standards

61
Q

Give examples of types renewable energy.

A 
Flowing water (hydro)
Solar
Wind
Biomass
Geothermal
Hydrogen fuel

Flashcards (14 decks)

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