Final Exam (Sustainability) Flashcards
What is Albedo
The amount of energy that is reflected divided by the amount absorbed
What is the Pre-Industrial CO2 level
around 280 ppm
What is burning coal and other fossil fuels considered
Not sustainable
What does G.I.S stand for
Greenland ice sheet
What is a kWh and what does it measure
It is a measure of energy and represents kilowatts per hour
What is the critical CO2 value
560 ppm
I=P x A x T
P- Population, A- Affluence , T- Technology
Convert 1 GW to MW
1 GW= 1000 MW
What happens if a glacier melts
The sea level rises
What are important greenhouse gasses
Carbon Dioxide, Methane, Nitrous Oxide
How many BP oil spills would it take to equal one day of U.S. oil consumption?
4 BP oil spills
All fossil fuels, when burned, follow this equation: C + O2= CO2 + _____
H20
Why is the Ogallala Aquifer not sustainable?
Farmers are pumping more water into the aquifer than they are getting out of it
What does IPCC stand for?
Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change
How much of sunlight is reflected off of Earth back into the atmosphere?
Around 1/4th
What has been the main cause of increasing global temperatures since the 1800s?
Increasing concentration of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere
The United States consumes roughly what fraction of the world’s primary energy?
1/6th
Where will the greatest temperature increases occur due to global climate change?
Near the poles
What is most troublesome about the Keeling curve?
The slope is increasing over time
What percentage of primary energy consumed globally is derived from fossil fuels?
80%
What are the CO2 levels from the last great ice age, preindustrial time, and what are the critical levels of CO2?
190, 280, 560
Why doesn’t the melting of icebergs contribute to sea level rise?
icebergs already displace their volume of seawater
What does an inverter do?
Turns direct current (DC) to alternating current (AC)
What does a generator do?
It is driven by a turbine and it stores energy
What is efficiency?
Power out divided by power in
What does a kilowatt measure?
Power
What is on-grid PV?
it is energy sold back to the energy making companies
What is an isotope?
An element that has the same amount of protons and electrons (same atomic number) but a different amount of neutrons
How much sunlight is absorbed by land and the sea?
1/2 of sunlight
How do you calculate power for a turbine?
kW= Area (m2) x Speed (W/m2) x Efficiency (%)
What is the best region for generating solar power (in the US)?
The Southwest because it has more direct sunlight than anywhere else in the country
What are the three most important factors for determining the power output of a PV system?
Insolation, System Efficiency, and Array Area
In PV power systems, the inverters converts:
Direct current into alternating current
What is the component that converts sunlight into electricity?
Solar cell
What are the most important factors for determining the power output of a wind turbine?
Turbine efficiency, wind speed, and blade length
What does the power generated by a dam depend on?
The rate of water flow and the height of the dam
How much oil does the US consume each day?
8 million barrels
Which country does the US import the most oil from?
Canada
What is a proven reserve?
An oil reserve that can be economically extracted by using existing technology
What percent of a barrel of oil is refined into gas?
1/2
What year did the US first reach ‘Peak Oil’?
1970
What greenhouse gas blocks ultraviolet light but is also a component of smog in the troposphere?
Ozone
What is the purpose of a catalytic converter?
To convert harmful gasses from the engine to cleaner gasses
VOC is an abbreviation for..?
Volatile Organic Compounds
Smokestackes and tailpipes are examples of ____ pollution.
Point
Runoff from a dairy farm or a parking lot that pollutes a stream is an example of _____.
Nonpoint
Burning 1 gallon of gasoline produces how many pounds of CO2?
20 lbs
Which crop does the United States make nearly all the ethanol used in its gas from?
Corn
“E15” contains which percentage of traditional gasoline?
85%
What is the energy balance for ethanol made from corn?
1
What is a “drop-in fuel”? Such as Butanol
A fuel in which you don’t need to modify your engine to run on it
Which crop does Brazil use to make nearly all of its ethanol used in gasoline?
Sugar Cane
