Patterns in resource consumption

Question 0

Biocapacity

Answer 0

Capacity of an area or ecosystem to generate an ongoing supply of resources and to absorb its water.

Question 1

Ecological footprint

Answer 1

Sustainability indicator which expresses the relationship between population and the natural environment. Sums up the use of natural resources by a country’s population.

Question 2

Global hectare

Answer 2

One global hectare(gha) is equivalent to one hectare of biologically productive space with world average productivity.

Question 3

Carbon footprint

Answer 3

Total set of GHG(greenhouse gas) emissions caused in- and directly by an individual/organisation/event/product.

Question 4

Overshoot

Answer 4

When humanity’s demand on nature exceeds the biosphere’s supply or regenerative capacity.

Question 5

Resources

Answer 5

Any aspect of the environment that can be used to meet human needs.

Question 6

Flow renewable resources

Answer 6

Resources that do not need regeneration.

Question 7

Resource depletion

Answer 7

Consumption of non-renewable, finite resources which will lead to their exhaustion.

Question 8

Optimum population

Answer 8

One that achieves a given aim in the most satisfactory way.

Question 9

Economic optimum

Answer 9

Level of population, which through the production of goods and services provides the highest average standard of living.

Question 10

Underpopulated

Answer 10

When there are too few people in an area relative to the resources and level of available technology.

Question 11

Overpopulated

Answer 11

When there are too many people in area relative to the resources and level of available technology.

Question 12

Optimum rhythm of growth

Answer 12

Level of population growth that best utilises the resources and available technology. Improvements in resource or technology paralleled by more rapid population growth.

Question 13

Population pressure

Answer 13

When population per unit area exceeds the carrying capacity.

Question 14

Neo-Malthusians

Answer 14

Pessimistic lobby(grupa nacisku) who fear that population growth will outstrip(przewyższać) resources.

Question 15

Anti-Malthusians

Answer 15

Resource optimists, who argue that population growth will slow well before the limit of resources are reached.

Question 16

Green Revolution

Answer 16

Introduction of high-yielding seeds and modern agricultural techniques to developing countries.

Question 17

Proved oil reserves

Answer 17

Quantities of oil that geological and engineering information indicates with reasonable certainty can be recovered in the future from known reservoirs under existing economic and operating conditions.

Question 18

Supply shock

Answer 18

Significant interruption to supply due to an environmental, economic or political event.

Question 19

Reserves-to-production(R/P) ratio

Answer 19

Reserves remaining at the end of any year are divided by the production in that year. Result is the length of time that those remaining reserves would last if production were to continue at that level.

Question 20

OPEC

Answer 20

Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries
Members: Algieria, Angola, Ecuador, Iran, Iraq, Kuwait, Libya, Nigeria, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates and Venezuela.

Question 21

Peak oil production

Answer 21

Year in which the world or individual oil-producing country reached its highest level of production, with declining production thereafter.

Question 22

Geopolitics

Answer 22

Political relations among nations, particularly relating to claims and disputes concerning borders, territories and resources.

Question 23

Energy crisis

Answer 23

Serious shortage of energy which interrupts domestic supplies and has an impact on all sectors of the economy.

Question 24

Strategic Petroleum Reserve

Answer 24

USA’s reserve supply of oil, which should last for about three months in the event of severe interruptions to imported oil.

Question 25

Energy pathways

Answer 25

Supply routes between energy producers and consumers.

Question 26

Oil sands

Answer 26

Extra heavy oil: naturally occurring mixtures of sand or clay and water which form an extremely dense, viscous(lepki) form of petroleum called bitumen.

Question 27

Coal gasification

Answer 27

Process that converts solid coal into a gas, used for power generation.

Question 28

Clean coal technology

Answer 28

Power plant processes that both, increase the efficiency of coal burning and significantly reduce emissions.

Question 29

Unconventional natural gas

Answer 29

Natural gas that is more difficult to access and thus more expensive to extract than ‘conventional’ reserves.

Question 30

Fast-breeder reactor

Answer 30

Nuclear reactor in which chain reaction is maintained mainly by fast neutrons. Capable of producing more fissionable(rozszczepiającego) material than it consumes.

Question 31

Repowering

Answer 31

Replacing first-generation wind turbines with modern multi-megawatt turbines which give a much better performance.

Question 32

Biofuels

Answer 32

Fossil fuel substitutes that can be made from a range of agri-crop materials including oilseeds, wheat, corn and sugar.

Question 33

Geothermal energy

Answer 33

Natural heat found in the Earth’s crust(skorupa) in the form of steam, hot water and hot rock.

Question 34

Photovoltaic systems

Answer 34

Solar panels that convert sunlight directly into electricity.

Question 35

Conservation of resources

Answer 35

Management of the human use of natural resources to provide the maximum benefit to current generations while maintaining capacity to meet the needs of future generations.

Question 36

Recycling

Answer 36

Concentration of used or waste materials, their reprocessing and subsequent use in place of new materials.

Question 37

Reuse

Answer 37

Extending the life of a product beyond what was the norm in the past or putting product to a new use.

Question 38

Quotas

Answer 38

Agreement between countries to take only a predetermined(ustalone z góry) amount of a resource. Quotas may change on an annual or longer time period basis.

Question 39

Rationing

Answer 39

Last resort management strategy when demand is massively out of proportion to supply.

Question 40

Subsidy

Answer 40

Financial aid supplied by the government to an industry for reasons of public welfare, balance of payments, etc.

Question 41

Recycling deserts

Answer 41

Areas where rates of recycling are well below the national/regional average.

Question 42

Overfishing

Answer 42

Level of fishing resulting in the depletion of the fish stock.

Question 43

Tragedy of the commons

Answer 43

Idea that common ownership of resources leads to over-exploitation as some nations will always want more than others.

Question 44

Total allowable catch

Answer 44

Maximum quantity of fish that can be caught each year.

Question 45

Landfill

Answer 45

Site at which refuse(odpadki) is buried under layers of earth.

Question 46

Incineration

Answer 46

Waste treatment technology that involves the combustion of organic materials and substances.
Incineration+other high-temperature waste treatments=described as thermal treatment.

Question 47

Product stewardship

Answer 47

System of environmental responsibility whereby producers take back a product, recycling it as far as possible, after the customer has finished with it.

Question 48

Substitution

Answer 48

Use of common and thus less valuable resources in place of rare, more expensive resources e.g. aluminium instead of copper.

Question 49

Carbon credit(also called emission permit)

Answer 49

Permit that allows an organisation to emit a specified amount of greenhouse gases.

Question 50

Carbon trading

Answer 50

Company that does not use up the level of emissions can sell the remained entitlement to other company, which pollutes above its entitlement(uprawnienia).

Question 51

Community energy

Answer 51

Energy produced close to the point of consumption.

Question 52

Microgeneration

Answer 52

Generators producing electricity with an output of less than 50 KW.