Final Study Guide 14 Flashcards

ENergy and Global Changes

1
Q

What are ways to reduce emissions of carbon dioxide?

A
  • Transition to cleaner emitting energy sources such as nuclear, water, wind, and solar
  • Plant more trees
  • Burn less fossil fuels
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2
Q

What are some of the problems with nuclear energy?

A

Nuclear energy is harmful to human health and the environment because of the radioactive waste it produces. The half life of these radio-active ions last long periods and affect human health.

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3
Q

Why is nuclear energy a possible solution to the climate crisis?

A

Nuclear energy does not emit the amount of carbon based gases that cause the greenhouse effect on earth

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4
Q

Is nuclear energy a renewable source?

A
  • No, but it is preferred to fossil fuels because it does not emit greenhouse gases.
  • Nuclear energy is not a renewable source of energy because there is only a certain amount of iridium that can be found on Earth
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5
Q

Why are all hydrocarbon fuels non-renewable?

A
  • At the pace that we use them and at the pace they regenerate it will be almost a million years before there will be enough to use at current level.
  • They are used faster than they are regenerated
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6
Q

Watt

A

1 watt is defined as the energy consumption rate of one joule per second

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7
Q

Joule

A

Basic energy unit of the metric system

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8
Q

Btu

A
  • Traditional unit of energy equal to about 1055 joules

- It is the amount of energy needed to cool or heat one pound of water by one degree Fahrenheit

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9
Q

Quad

A
  • A quad is a unit of energy equal to 1015 BTU

- Used by the U.S. Department of Energy in discussing world and national energy budgets

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10
Q

Efficiency

A

using less energy to provide the same level of energy. It is therefore one method to reduce human greenhouse gas emissions

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11
Q

Nonrenewable

A
  • A resource that is utilized faster than it is replenished

> ex: fossil fuels, nuclear energy

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12
Q

Oil

A
  • Formed when heat and pressure compressed the remains of prehistoric plants, animals, and aquatic life under the bed of the sea or lakes for millions of years
  • Drilled and pumped from giant underground pockets, or oil wells, and processed through a system called distillation
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13
Q

Natural Gas

A
  • A fossil fuel formed when layers of buried plants and animals are exposed to intense heat and pressure over thousands of years
  • Cleanest fossil fuel
  • colorless, odorless, tasteless
  • Highly flammable
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14
Q

Coal

A

a combustible black or brownish-black sedimentary rock usually occurring in rock strata in layers or veins called coal beds or coal seams

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15
Q

Nuclear Energy

A
  • Use of exothermic nuclear processes to generate useful heat and electricity
  • Includes nuclear fission, nuclear decay and nuclear fusion
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16
Q

Deforestation

A

Clearance or clearing is the removal of a forest or stand of trees where the land is thereafter converted to a non-forest use

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17
Q

Oil Trap

A

?

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18
Q

Carboniferous

A

?

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19
Q

Crude Oil

20
Q

Petroleum

21
Q

Reserves

22
Q

End of Oil

23
Q

Hubbert’s Peak

A

The Hubbert peak theory says that for any given geographical area, from an individual oil-producing region to the planet as a whole, the rate of petroleum production tends to follow a bell-shaped curve. It is one of the primary theories on peak oil.

24
Q

Oil shale

A
  • Oil shale is commonly defined as a fine-grained sedimentary rock containing organic matter that yields substantial amounts of oil and combustible gas upon destructive distillation.
  • Oil shale extraction is more complicated than crude oil extraction; it includes the extra steps of retorting and refining.
25
Fracking
fracturing of rock by a pressurized liquid in order to obtain some type of oil or gas
26
Gas Hydrate
?
27
EROI
- Energy return on investment (EROI) is the ratio of the energy delivered by a process to the energy used directly and indirectly in that process. EROI - - is defined as: EROI = quantity of energy supplies/ quantity of energy used in supply process
28
CSS
?
29
Caprock
?
30
Chain Reaction
?
31
Fission
a splitting of something into two parts
32
Salt Dome
?
33
Reserves
?
34
Hydropower
?
35
Solar Power
- Direct energy coming in from the sun - Can be used to heat homes (solar panels) - Main use for heated water panels in US: swimming pools - Solar energy in photovoltaic cells can be used, or we can concentrate sun energy - Ex: If you drive to Vegas, you see 3 big towers --> A solar facility that concentrates solar power - Affordable, Renewable - Solar Energy cons: > There may be environmental consequences > Requires a lot of land > There isn’t always a lot of sun
36
Photovoltaic
?
37
Resource
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38
Deposit
?
39
Reservoir Rock
high porosity rock formation, capable of storing oil
40
Trap
- Something that prevent oil from continuing to rise - Ex: impermeable caprock around a reservoir rock > others: salt dome trap, fault trap
41
Source Rock
an initial sediment with organic material
42
Wind Energy
- Fastest growing energy segment in the world and has been for 25 years - Cost of wind power has dropped by 99% - In the next 20 years, wind energy will be a top competitor for energy provision - Disadvantages: need different kind of power grid, ugly, kills birds
43
Concentrated Solar
?
44
Geothermal Energy
Idea that we can extract heat from the Earth
45
Fusion
process of joining 2 or more things to form a single entity