Summarized findings Flashcards
What are the four A’s of energy security
Availability
Accessibility
Acceptability
Affordability
Challenge of decarbonization
Global emissions must be cut in half by 2030 to limit warming to 1.5 and achieve net zero emissions by 2050
Calculating compound average growth rates (CAGR)
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How to calculate the carbon footprint
It is the sum of all greenhouse gas emissions associated with an individual organization or product expressed in CO2 equivalence.
Carbon footprint should include:
- Direct emissions
- Indirect emissions related to electricity consumption
- Indirect emissions associated with other products and materials
What is the difference between direct and embodied energy
Direct:
Activities that involve the conversion of an energy fuel or resource into usable energy (gasoline to power a car / converting sunlight with photovoltaic cells into electricity)
Embodied:
Represents the total amount of energy required to make and transport a finished product or material (energy needed to extract and process natural resources into usable material feedstocks)
What are the concepts of energy conservation
- Energy curtailment:
Represents efforts to reduce the demand for energy by changing people’s needs or behaviors - Energy efficiency:
Efficiency refers to the technical performance of a piece of equipment that converts energy from one state to another
What is the residence time?
It is the amount of time a substance remains as a defined volume such as the the atmosphere, lake, or a small reactor in a lab
What is a greenhouse gas?
It is a gas that absorbs and emits radiant energy within the thermal infrared range
This gas causes greenhouse effect
What are the primary greenhouse gases in Earth’s atmosphere?
water vapor, carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide, and ozone
What complements technology-based mitigation strategies?
Changing consumption patterns, dietary change, and reduction in food wastes
What other benefits do mitigation strategies provide?
Reducing air pollution and providing more robust and resilient energy systems
What are the earth’s primary pollutants?
Ozone, particular matter, carbon monoxide, sulphur dioxide, oxides of nitrogen
what are the causes and effects of each of these pollutants?
Ozone:
It’s source is the emission from vehicles, power plants, industrial boilers, and other fossil fuel burning facilities
Ozone causes coughing, chest tightness or pain, decreases lung function and worsen asthma and other chronic lung diseases
PM:
Enters the lungs and causes respiratory problems
10 < PM < 2.5: Arises from crushing and grinding activities and dust on roads
PM < 2.5: Arises from cares, power plants, wood burning, forest fires, and other combustion
CO:
Forms when carbon does not burn completely. It comes from vehicles and can be caused by industrial combustion, wood burning stoves and wildfires
It causes flu-like symptoms, chest pain, and sometimes death.
SO2:
Produced when coal and oil fuels containing sulphur are burned in power plants and refineries
Long-term exposure can aggravate asthma and other chronic lung and cardiovascular diseases. It also contributes to the formation of PM
NO:
NO2 is formed from the emissions of combustion processes from both mobile and stationary sources.
It increases a person’s susceptibility to pulmonary infections.
What does the AQI indicate?
It helps communicate air quality trends to the public
How to reduce the risk and negative impacts associated with air pollutants?
- Reducing emissions at the source
- Adding pollution control equipment
