APES Unit 7 Vocabulary

energy efficiency

"using less energy to provide the same service." It is not energy conservation. Ex. When you replace a single pane window in your house with an energy-efficient one, the new window prevents heat from escaping in the winter, so you save energy by using your furnace or electric heater less while still staying comfortable.

Three Mile Island

A nuclear meltdown that happened on March 28, 1979 in two of these nuclear reactors in Dauphin County, Pennsylvania. It was rated a 5 on the 7 point International Nuclear Event Scale. It began with failures in the non nuclear secondary system, with a stuck open pilot operated relief value in the primary system, allowing a large amount of nuclear reactor coolant to escape.

hot dry-rock zones

An injection well is drilled down into the hot dry rock and the rock is fractured and made more permeable by injecting high pressure water and inducing a process called hydro-shearing. The facilities are currently being developed currently in France, Germany, Australia, USA and Japan.

solar thermal systems

It works by harnessing the thermal energy from the sun with an energy collector, then stored in a controller and used as electricity to power multiple appliances and machines; a form of energy and a technology for harnessing solar energy to generate thermal energy or electrical energy for use in industry, and in the residential and commercial sectors.

ethanol

The difference between this and biodiesel is that it contains oxygen allowing for more complete fuel combustion but biodiesel is the only alternative fuel to have fully completed the health effects testing by the Clean Air Act. The advantages is that it cost less to drive when price for oil is high, and it is a renewable resource that limits the amount of foreign import needed. The disadvantages is that it takes a lot of energy to produce it, and the energy used to produce it could be greater than the energy that is created.

liquefied petroleum gas (LPG)

a flammable mixture of hydrocarbon gases used as a fuel in heating appliances, cooking equipment, and vehicles. It is used as an aerosol propellant and a refrigerant that replaces chlorofluorocarbons in an effort to reduce damage to the ozone layer. Examples are propane, butane, and mixes that include both propane and butane.

synthetic natural gas (SNG)

a fuel gas that can be produced from fossil fuels like lignite coal, oil shale, bio fuels, or renewable electrical energy. Distribution of SNG and bio-SNG with natural gas helps the production of renewable gas be phased in at the same rate as the production capacity is increased.

high-temperature gas-cooled reactors (HTGCs)

a inherently safe, modular, underground helium-cooled nuclear reactor technology. The reactor and the nuclear heat supply system (NHSS) is has three major components: the reactor, a heat transport system, and a cross vessel that routes the helium between the reactor and the heat transport system.

kerogen

a mixture of organic chemical compounds that make up a portion of the organic matter in sedimentary rocks; its chemical composition can vary distinctively from sample to sample; Types are: Sapropelic (I), Planktonic(II), Sulfurous(III), and Residue(IV). The type of material is difficult to determine but several apparent patterns have been noticed. Ex. ocean or lake material often type III or IV classifications.

Chernobyl

a nuclear power plant in Ukraine that was the product of a flawed Soviet reactor design with serious mistakes made by plant operators. The accident was in 1986 was the result of a flawed reactor design that was operated with inadequately trained personnel. The steam explosion and fires released at least 5% of the radioactive reactor core into the atmosphere and downwind.

breeder nuclear fission reactor

a nuclear reactor capable of generating more fissile material than it consumes; they are able to achieve this feat because their neutron economy is high enough to breed more fissile fuel than they use from fertile material. The can extract almost all of the energy contained in uranium and thorium.

pebble bed modular reactor (PBMR)

a particular design of pebble bed reactor under development by South African company PBMR since 1994. It entails the construction of a demonstration power plant at Koeberg near Cape Town. It is characterised by inherently safe features, meaning no human error or equipment failure can cause an accident that would harm the public

nuclear power plant

a thermal power station in which the heat source is a nuclear reactor; it is used to generate steam which drives a steam turbine connected to a generator which produces electricity. They are usually considered to be base load stations. A nuclear reactor is a device to initiate and control a sustained nuclear chain reaction.

incandescent light bulb

an electric light which produces light with a wire filament heated to a high temperature by an electric current passing through it until it glows. The filament is protected from oxidation with a glass that is filled with inert gas or evacuated. They are manufactured in a wide range of sizes, light output, and voltage ratings, from 1.5 volts to about 300 volts.

solar cells

an electrical device that converts the energy of light directly into electricity by the photovoltaic effect; a form of photoelectric cell, a device whose electrical characteristics, such as current, voltage, or resistance, vary when exposed to light. Assemblies of photovoltaic cells are used to make solar modules which generate electrical power from sunlight,

uranium oxide fuel

an oxide of uranium; also a black, radioactive, crystalline powder that naturally occurs in the mineral uraninite. It plays an important role in the creation of nuclear fuel through nuclear reprocessing and uranium enrichment. It is mainly used as a nuclear fuel in the form of fuel rods in nuclear reactors.

petrochemicals

chemical products derived from petroleum; Primary ones are divided into three groups depending on their chemical structure: ole fines, aromatics, and synthesis gas. Major hydrocarbons produced in them are obtained from primarily natural gas processing plants, petroleum refineries, and petroleum refineries by extraction from the reformat produce in catalytic reformers.

geothermal energy

clean, sustainable energy from the earth's heat; heat from the earth's molten core can be converted to electricity; the geothermal heat is circulated within the rock or is transferred to underground reservoirs of water in a continuous form, making this a renewable source. Our textbook considers it to be nonrenewable because the amount of it must be high to be feasible and not every location has the same amount.

plug-in hybrids

hybrids with high-capacity batteries that can be charged by plugging them into an electrical outlet or charging station; They can store enough electricity from the power grid to reduce their petroleum consumption under typical driving conditions. Two kinds: Series plug in hybrids or Extended Range Electric Vehicles (EREVs) and Parallel or Blended plug in hybrids

crude oil

it is pumped from the ground in the Middle East, West Africa, the Americas, and Asia, and then it is pumped into ships, tankers, and sailed across the ocean to oil refineries on the Delaware River. It is used for refining which is the complex series of processes that manufactures finished petroleum products out of it.

photovoltaic (PV) cells

normal solar panel systems that are infused with silicon, boron, and phosphorous. When sunlight is shined, the elements reach with the light and release electrons which releases electricity. The environmental costs are that there is no energy production without sunlight at night, it is less reliable when weather gets bad unexpectedly, and it is costly if consumer invests in batteries. The environmental benefits are that they provide clean, green energy, it is free and abundant energy, and there is low chance of breakage.

synfuels

one of the many solutions on the table for solving the developing energy crisis; a liquid fuel, or sometimes gaseous fuel, obtained from syngas, a mixture of carbon monoxide and hydrogen, in which the syngas was derived from gasification of solid feedstocks such as coal or biomass or by reforming of natural gas.

energy conservation

reducing energy consumption through using less of an energy service; it differs from efficient energy use. Ex. Driving less. It can increase environmental quality, national security, personal financial security, and higher savings. A way to improve it is by energy audit, which is an inspection and analysis of energy use and flows for energy conservation in a building, process, or system to reduce negative effects.

Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE)

regulations in the US in the wake of the Arab Oil Embargo that were intended to improve the average fuel economy of cars and light trucks produced for sale in the US. It has separate standards for passenger cars and light trucks. The city and highway miles per gallon estimates help consumers compare the fuel economy of different vehicles when shopping for new cars.

high-level radioactive wastes

the fuel from the hot core of commercial nuclear power plants. It is the most intensely radioactive material on the planet, and unshielded exposure gives lethal radiation doses. It accounts for 95% of the radioactivity generated in the last 50 years from all sources, including nuclear weapons production.

pressurized water reactors

the primary coolant (water) is pumped under high pressure to the reactor core where it is heated by the energy generated by the fission of atoms; it then flows to a steam generator where it transfers its thermal energy to a secondary system where steam is generated and flows to turbines, producing an electric generator

coal gasification

the process of producing syngas-a mixture consisting primarily of methane, carbon monoxide, hydrogen, carbon dioxide, and water vapor-from coal and water, air or oxygen. It was gasified using early technology to produce coal gas; hydrogen obtained can be used for various purposes like making ammonia, powering a hydrogen economy, or upgrading fossil fuels.

coal liquefaction

the production of liquid fuels from coal using a variety of industrial processes. It is generally a high-temperature/high-pressure process that requires a significant energy consumption and, multi-billion dollar capital investments. The processes are classified as direct conversion to liquids processes and indirect conversion to liquids processes.

cogeneration

the use of heat engine or power station to simultaneously generate electricity and useful heat. It is a thermodynamically efficient use of fuel. It was practiced in some of the earliest installations of electrical generation. It depends on a good baseload of operation on both in terms of an on-site electrical demand and heat demand.

micropower systems

the work that researchers at several universities are doing to develop very small electric generators and prime movers or devices to convert heat or motion to electricity, for use close to the generator; differs from microgeneration in being concerned with universities, mobility and milliwatts or watts rather than individuals, homes and kilowatts.