quiz 3 lecture vocab

Question 1

Pop Growth: Implications

Answer 1

• inc. demand for: food, water, energy, other nat res.
• host country demog changes:
  
  • migrants are younger & childless or w/ young children
  • voluntary migs are better educated, motivated than non immigrants
• uneven distribution of impacts; cocentrated in urban areas

Question 2

Pop Growth debate: neo-malthusians

Answer 2

1. Neo-malthusians:
   
   • pop growth causes misery / env. degredation
   • limited carrying capacity

Question 3

Pop growth debate: economists

Answer 3

• pop growth is source of progress
• stimulates:
  
  • inc. efficiency
  • resource substitution
  • conservation
  • innovation
  • ppl live longer and better now than when pop was smaller
• policies & markets are the problem, not pop growth

Question 4

Pop growth debate: Inequality Argument

Answer 4

• pop growth, env. deg, misery all caused by unequal social structural arrangements
• LDC econ stagnation caused by:
  
  • poverty, inequitable trade policies, ongoing dependencies / neo-colonialism
• large multinational corps are destroying env, not indigenous pop
• hunger caused by poverty & high food prices, not overpop
  
  • 22 most food-def African nations could meet needs w/ just 11% of surplus held by neighbors
  • Thailand: rice prod increased 30%, exports increased 9x faster -> per capita rice has dropped
  • China has 1/2 India’s cropland per person, but India has more widespread/severe malnutrition

Question 5

there’s enough food for 2800/cal/day/person, but…

Answer 5

• 30 million americans malnourished
• 1/3rd world grain fed to animals
• smaller % of world is hungry, but that’s of a much larger number, so more actual people are hungry

Question 6

Benefits of biotechnology

Answer 6

1. early maturing crops
2. more efficient users of solar energy for prim. prod.
3. more resistant to: droughts, pests, salinity, etc

Question 7

Sustainable Agriculture examples

Answer 7

• Agro-ecology / low-input farming
• more labor-intensive traditional practicies
• use ecological principles of diversity, interdependence, & synergy to improve productivity
• multiple cropping, rotation, inter-cropping, mixed farming (plants + animals)

Question 8

Population is Stabilizing (rate of growth falling) due to…

Answer 8

1. socio-economic development -> falling birth rates
2. family planning programs
3. global diffusion of feminism & women’s rights
4. increasing death rates due to misery, malnutrition, HIV/AIDS, other diseases, disasters, etc

Question 9

Energy Dependence

Answer 9

• energy mediates human-environment interactions & sustainability
  
  • we are always producing and consuming energy
• inc. living standards = inc. consumption

Question 10

OPEC

Answer 10

• Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries
• created in 1960 at Baghdad Conference
• Iraq, Iran, Kuwait, S. Arabia, Venezuela
• 70s: took control of oil production: 63% of global supplies
  
  • 73: Arab-Israeli war -> Oil Embargo
  • World economic decline / human misery
  • triggered MDC changes:
    
    • IEA
    • conservation / efficiency / energy alts
    • such that Iran War (79) did not have same impact

Question 11

IEA

Answer 11

• International Energy Agency, Paris-based, autonomous, intergovernmental org.
• created in 1974 in response to 1973 oil crisis

Question 12

When energy prices spike (cyclical), political reaction will be to… (4)

Answer 12

• boost production (Bush Sr & Jr), opposed by env’s
• change behavior w/ BTU tax (Clinton), opposed by consumers
• increase efficiency (Clinton, Obama)
• fund alternatives (Obama)

… depending on their political stance

Question 13

2 reasons US has military bases in foreign countries…

Answer 13

1. protect economic interests
2. protect geopolitical interests

Question 14

Predicament

Answer 14

Chronic problem leading to a crisis, if left unattended

inter-crisis predicaments:

• gas hogs still predominant
• cheap gas
• efficiency, conservation, & alternative efforts are less predom.

Question 15

Crisis

Answer 15

rapidly deteriorating situation leading to disaster, if left unattended

• ‘73, ‘79, mid 90s, 2000s, recently

Question 16

energy problems: source

Answer 16

1. source probs: oil supplies will run out… how soon depends on efficiency, conservation, alts; finding new sources; world economic growth
2. • supply-side policies: subsidies, cheap gas
   • externalized cost / lack of demand-side policy
   • gas hogs still ~50% sales
   • ~30bill/yr military protection
   • env./social costs of energy prod/consumption

Question 17

energy problems: pop growth, econ dev., distribution probs

Answer 17

• MDCs are 20% of global pop, use 75% world energy
• 1 US = 3 in Japan = 6 in Mexico = 531 ethiopeans

Question 18

energy problems: policy & geopolitical

Answer 18

• supply-side policies: subsidies, cheap gas
• externalized cost / lack of demand-side policy
• gas hogs still ~50% sales
• ~30bill/yr military protection
• env/social costs of energy prod/consumption

Question 19

energy problems: sink

Answer 19

• might be more pressing than source probs
• greenhouse gas emissions
• oil spills, other pollutants
• Coal Production:
  
  • 80% of NOx & SO2 gases
  • forest damage from acid rain
  • 65,000-200,000 die/yr
  • mercury, a carcinogen
  • more radioactive particles per unit energy than nuclear
• If costs could be internalized it’d drive efficiency, conservation, alternatives

Question 20

present system: oil

Answer 20

• relatively cheap
• easy to transport
• high yield of net useful energy
• multiple uses / versatile
• greenhouse & other gas emissions

Question 21

present system: coal

Answer 21

• very abundant
• high yield of net useful energy
• cheapest source of inustrial heating/electricity
• highly polluting

Question 22

present system: natural gas

Answer 22

• more efficient than coal
• versatile: industry / transportation / power
• fewer pollutant than any other fossil fuel
• highly concentrated in just a few areas
• methane emission leakage & incomplete combustion has warming effect 25x > CO2

Question 23

present system: nuclear

Answer 23

• zero CO2 or other greenhouse gasses
• highly controversial: long-lived low-level radiation & storage concerns
• risks of: exposure, meltdown, accidents,
  
  • Three Mile Island, PA (TMI)
    
    • radioactive gas escaped, lawsuits cost 2x cost of plant
  • chernobyl meltdown: more radiation than Hiroshima/Nagasaki combined -> fallout in much of Europe, some Alaska
• planning, construction, regulation is unfavorable
• slow growth… likely a failing techno-option

Question 24

controversy is…

Answer 24

a good thing, as it forces action, conversation, etc

Question 25

present system: renewables

Answer 25

• really the oldest “tech”
• could provide 50% of orld energy needs in next 50 yrs, or less than 50 yrs if we increase efficiency
• science/principles well established, but large scale commercial availability is “impractical & unaffordable”
  
  • which is a CULTURAL argument not based in reality

Question 26

present system: biomass

Answer 26

• traditional fuels: wood, charcoal, dung, plant residue
• low net yield, dirty -> black carbon, CO2, CO
• major cause of deforestation, erosion, desertification, degredation, biodiversity loss in LDCs
• used to produce biofuels
  
  • biogas anaerobic digesters make methane from biomass
    
    • 6million in China, 750k in India
    • residue -> fertilizer
    • seasonal variability
  • ethanol from corn and others

Question 27

present system: hydropower

Answer 27

• salmon / dam / climate change dilemma
• 0 emissions, long lifespan
• can be useful for irrigation
• highly dependent on topography / seasonal hydrological variability
• displaces ppl/wildlife, destroys habitat, descreases siltation
• just 13% of world potential used, but most of the remainder in China, India, S. America

Question 28

present system: wind

Answer 28

• N. Dakota is “saudi arabia of wind”, more power potential than local demand, 90% of US wind potential
• “wind parks” on 10% of earth’s land could produce 2x projected 2020 demand
• req’s no water for cooling, produce no CO2 or other air pollution
• kills birds, but more die in alternative venues
• land can be re-used for grazing, crops
• 3x cheaper than nuclear
• cheapest if subsidized at same rate as coal, oil, gas
• UK, Denmark, Netherlands, Spain, produce 2x US amount

Question 29

present system: solar

Answer 29

• could supply world needs fro Equatorial regions
• variably available, needs storage / backup
• US: active/passive solar investments lower than 70s
• Jordan, Israel, Australia, new housing in Arizona/Florida: domestic hot water from solar
• scale: portable up to megawatt plants
• production/infrastructure is costly
• land can’t be used for anything else
• Growing rapidly because
  
  • cheapest way to supply 2 billion villages in LDCs
  • generator price keeps dropping
  • Fukushima -> domestic/industrial PVE subsidies
  • EU nations switching FF subsidies to wind/PVE
  • corporations: PR

Question 30

passive solar heating

Answer 30

captures sunlight directly via structures, stores & releases as low temp heat

Question 31

active solar heating

Answer 31

specially designed collectors, usually on roofs, concentrate solar energy, heating a medium, which is then distributed elsewhere (shower, floorboards, etc)

Question 32

PVE

Answer 32

• photovoltaic energy
• no pollution, no moving parts, no water
• made of silicon, 2nd most abundant mineral

Question 33

present system: hydrogen fuel

Answer 33

• energy from H2 gas via electrolysis
• abundant, but takes more energy to make than you get out of it
• 2.5x more energy by weight than gasoline
• no greenhouse gasses, just water
• stored in tanks, or safely as hydrides; transported by pipeline
• versatile: industry / transportation / heating

Question 34

present system: efficiency

Answer 34

• cheapest, easiest, fastest way to solve current energy predicament
• ‘75-2000, US economy grew by 50% but energy intensity dropped by 40% via improved tech, policies, marketing
• BUT: success bred complacency
  
  • oil prices fell, consumers saw less need for eff.
  • Reagan taunted it as 70s relic, froze CAFE standards
    
    • GM said could hit 33mpg by 85… rolled back to 26
  • Bush Jr. said “you don’t need to conserve; we’ll go get the oil for you”
  • energy plan of 2001 put off raising CAFE
  • McCain/Kerry amendment for 36mg did not pass
  • 2004 fleet avg was lowest since 1980

Question 35

CAFE

Answer 35

corporate average fuel economy

Question 36

efficiency 2

Answer 36

• power sector could cut rates by 40% & CO2 emissions by 50% w/ upgrades
• 2.7mpg gain would displace Persian Gulf imports
• companies that pursued efficiency make more money
• things to do:
  
  • efficient lighting: save 120 power plants
  • efficient electric motors: 150 power plants
  • eliminate waste (lighting empty places)
  • better architecture -> passive solar
  • efficient appliances

Question 37

barriers to energy efficiency

Answer 37

• renewables get lower tax breaks / subsidies
• issue-attention cycle
• fragmented energy policies, split by fuel type; net effects: supply-side policies, less favor for alts
• need for global articulation of energy policies