Energy Resources and Consumption Test

Petroleum

A liquid mixture of hydrocarbons that is present in certain rock strata and can be extracted and refined to produce fuels including gasoline, kerosene, and diesel oil; oil.

Coolant

A liquid or gas that is used to remove heat from something.

Oil sands

A mixture of clay, sand, water, and a combustible organic material called bitumen - a thick, sticky, tarlike heavy oil with a high sulfur content. Canada contains 3/4s of this resources home. Developing institutions for this resource has major harmful effects on the land, air, water, wildlife, and climate. In order to get this wet-lands must be drained, forests are clear cut, and some rivers/steams are diverted. The project also produces huge amounts of air pollution that fill the mining region's air with dust, steam, smoke, gas fumes, and a tarry stench. It creates sludge water, which birds drink water from, eventually these birds die.

Control rod

A rod of a neutron-absorbing substance used to vary the output power of a nuclear reactor.

Subsidy

A sum of money granted by the government or a public body to assist an industry or business so that the price of a commodity or service may remain low or competitive.

Ore

An ore is an occurrence of rock or sediment that contains sufficient minerals with economically important elements, typically metals, that can be economically extracted from the deposit. The ores are extracted from the child through mining; they are then refined to extract the valuable element, or elements.

Cogeneration

Using CHP (steam and electric energy) and heat rays . Trapping the heat waste to use as actual energy instead of wasting the wasted energy.

Oil

- A liquid fossil fuel formed from marine organisms that is burned to obtain energy and used in the manufacture of plastics. - Founded mostly in Saudia Arabia

Advantages and Disadvantages of Biomass

- Advantages Ample supply No CO2 emissions Cheaper than fossil fuels - Disadvantages Not clean Low net energy yield Leads to deforestation Requires a lot of space

List the coal types in order from highest to lowest energy content.

- Anthracite: The highest rank of coal. It is a hard, brittle, and black lustrous coal, often referred to as hard coal, containing a high percentage of fixed carbon and a low percentage of volatile matter. - Bituminous: Bituminous coal is a middle rank coal between subbituminous and anthracite. Bituminous usually has a high heating (Btu) value and is the most common type of coal used in electricity generation in the United States. Bituminous coal appears shiny and smooth when you first see it, but look closer and you may see it has layers. - Subbituminous: Subbituminous coal is black in color and dull (not shiny), and has a higher heating value than lignite. - Lignite: Lignite coal, aka brown coal, is the lowest grade coal with the least concentration of carbon.

The acronym ANWR refers to what? It is important because?

- Arctic National Wildlife Refuge - Defending the Arctic Refuge. The Arctic Refuge contains one of the most fragile and ecologically sensitive ecosystems in the world. Its environment is extremely vulnerable to long-lasting disturbance because the harsh climate and short growing seasons provide little time for species to recover.

Clean coal

- Clean coal usually means capturing carbon emissions from burning coal and storing them under the earth. - Carbon capture and storage works, but is expensive to build or to retrofit onto old plants.

What are the safety issues associated with nuclear fission? How do nuclear power plants reduce those risks?

- Concerns about the safety of nuclear fission reactors include the possibility of radiation-releasing nuclear accidents, the problems of radioactive waste disposal, and the possibility of contributing to nuclear weapon proliferation. - In order to maintain safety, there are safeguards in place in case of an emergency. Guards are in place.

Coal gasification

- Conversion of solid coal to synthetic natural gas (SNG). - Coal gasification is the process of producing syngas-a mixture consisting primarily of carbon monoxide (CO), hydrogen (H2), carbon dioxide (CO2), methane (CH4), and water vapour (H2O)-from coal and water, air and/or oxygen.

When energy that is stored in fossil fuels are burned, it changes form. Explain, using the law of thermodynamics, how energy forms change and what happens to it during the chemical change.

- Energy can not be created or destroyed - Potential energy, as the name implies, is energy that has not yet been used, thus the term potential. - Kinetic energy is energy in use (or motion). A tank of gasoline has a certain potential energy that is converted into kinetic energy by the engine. When the potential is used up, you're outta gas! Batteries, when new or recharged, have a certain potential. - - When placed into a tape recorder and played at loud volume (the only settings for such things), the potential in the batteries is transformed into kinetic energy to drive the speakers. When the potential energy is all used up, the batteries are dead. In the case of rechargeable batteries, their potential is reelevated or restored. - In the hydrologic cycle, the sun is the ultimate source of energy, evaporating water (in a fashion raising it's potential above water in the ocean). When the water falls as rain (or snow) it begins to run downhill toward sea-level. As the water get closer to sea-level, it's potential energy is decreased. Without the sun, the water would eventually still reach sea-level, but never be evaporated to recharge the cycle. - Chemicals may also be considered from a potential energy or kinetic energy standpoint. One pound of sugar has a certain potential energy. If that pound of sugar is burned the energy is released all at once. The energy released is kinetic energy (heat). So much is released that organisms would burn up if all the energy was released at once. Organisms must release the energy a little bit at a time. - Energy is defined as the ability to do work. Cells convert potential energy, usually in the from of C-C covalent bonds or ATP molecules, into kinetic energy to accomplish cell division, growth, biosynthesis, and active transport, among other things. - Heat is lost during chemical change.

Natural gas

- Found mostly in Russia - Conventional natural gas lies above most reservoirs of crude oil. But that found in deep-sea and remote land areas where natural gas pipelines have not been built is usually burned off because costs are too high to build pipelines to distribute it. - It is considered clean because it burns less CO2 then coal and oil do.

Fuel rod

- Fuel rod. A long, slender, zirconium metal tube containing pellets of fissionable material, which provide fuel for nuclear reactors. Fuel rods are assembled into bundles called fuel assemblies, which are loaded individually into the reactor core. - The rods - actually tubes made of a zirconium alloy - contain ceramic pellets of uranium oxide that are about the size of a fingertip. Ordinarily, this fuel core is kept submerged in water that circulates to remove the heat of nuclear fission, making steam that is used to turn turbines to generate electricity. - One rod contains as much energy as one ton of coal.

List seven products that are derived primarily from crude oil.

- Gases - Gasoline - Aviation Fuel - Heating oil - Diseal Oil - Naptha - Grease and Wax - Asphalt

What are 3 advantages of using biofuels over gasoline?

- Less CO2 emissions - High net energy yield - Virtually everywhere - Set up to easily transport and store so we can use the things we already have in our country

At present, what are the top five types of energy used globally?

- Natural gas—31.8% - Petroleum (crude oil and natural gas plant liquids)—28.0% - Coal—17.8% - Renewable energy—12.7% - Nuclear electric power—9.6%

Photovoltaic cells (PV)

- Photovoltaics (PV) is the conversion of light into electricity using semiconducting materials that exhibit the photovoltaic effect, a phenomenon studied in physics, photochemistry, and electrochemistry. - A photovoltaic system employs solar panels, each comprising a number of solar cells, which generate electrical power. PV installations may be ground-mounted, rooftop mounted or wall mounted. The mount may be fixed, or use a solar tracker to follow the sun across the sky.

Refining

- Remove impurities or unwanted elements from (a substance), typically as part of an industrial process. - Oil refinery or petroleum refinery is an industrial process plant where crude oil is transformed and refined into more useful products such as petroleum naphtha, gasoline, diesel fuel, asphalt base, heating oil, kerosene, liquefied petroleum gas, jet fuel and fuel oils.

Explain how electricity is produced by a dam (you can draw a diagram)

- The more water that passes through a dam, the more energy is produced. Once a dam is built, an artificial man-made lake is created behind the dam. Electricity is produced by a device called a turbine. - Hydropower plants capture the energy of falling water to generate electricity. A turbine converts the kinetic energy of falling water into mechanical energy. Then a generator converts the mechanical energy from the turbine into electrical energy.

Explain the parts of the nuclear fuel cycle including how they affect the net energy yield and CO2 emissions.

- The various activities associated with the production of electricity from nuclear reactions are referred to collectively as the nuclear fuel cycle. The nuclear fuel cycle starts with the mining of uranium and ends with the disposal of nuclear waste. With the reprocessing of used fuel as an option for nuclear energy, the stages form a true cycle. To prepare uranium for use in a nuclear reactor, it undergoes the steps of mining and milling, conversion, enrichment, and fuel fabrication. These steps make up the 'front end' of the nuclear fuel cycle. After uranium has spent about three years in a reactor to produce electricity, the used fuel may undergo a further series of steps including temporary storage, reprocessing, and recycling before wastes are disposed of. Collectively these steps are known as the 'back end' of the fuel cycle. - Minning takes a lot of CO2 emissions. - Minning also takes a lot of energy, so there is not a lot of net energy yield with nuclear energy.

Advantages of Passive or Active Solar Heating

-net energy is high (passive) and moderate (active) -no CO2 emissions -moderate costs (passive) -very low air, water, land disturbance -energy is free -quick installation

Passive solar heating system

-no moving parts, the way you design your house -captures sunlight directly within structure and converts to low-temperature heat for space heating -thermal mass in form of walls, floors, etc. to collect solar heat and release slowly through day and night -solar envelope house -cheapest way to heat a home in an area with sunlight available 60% of the day

Crude oil

- Unrefined petroleum; fossil fuel - (Oil as it comes out of the ground) - A black, gooey liquid consisting of hundreds of different combustible hydrocarbons along with small amounts of sulfur, oxygen, and nitrogen impurities. (Makes up 30% of the world"s energy.) Leaves being tar sands and oil shale rock. - Deposits of conventional crude oil and natural gas often are trapped together under domes deep within the earth's crust on land or under the seafloor. The crude oil is dispersed in pores and cracks in underground rock formations, somewhat like water saturating a sponge. To extract the oil, developers drill a well vertically or horizontally into the deposit beneath the ground or sea bottom. Then oil, drawn by gravity out of the rock pores flows into the bottom of the well - all of which reduces the net energy yield of the resulting oil.

Explain energy efficiency and what the United States can do to cut energy waste. What can we do as individuals?

- We can: Use Your Thermostat/Ceiling Fans/Energy-Efficient Light Bulbs and Conserve water. - The U.S. can offer tax incentives in order for people to stop using so much energy. - Efficient energy use, sometimes simply called energy efficiency, is the goal to reduce the amount of energy required to provide products and services. For example, insulating a home allows a building to use less heating and cooling energy to achieve and maintain a comfortable temperature.

What are the issues related to radioactive wastes? Explain the controversy surround Yucca Mountain as a waste disposal site.

- We don't know what to do with spent fuel rods, because they have so much radioactive waste, we don't know a safe way to dismantle them. - Scientist tried to put them all in Yucca Mountain, but leaks and creaks prevented these rods from being stored in this mountain.

Advantages of having a hybrid car

- Won't use as much gas. - Self-recharge when you break - When you go slow the battery runs but then when you go fast the gas runs. You save gas by doing this. Eco-mode you can't go as fast.

Geothermal energy

-heat stored underground in rocks and fluids in the Earth's mantle -in the winter: a closed loop of buried pipes circulates water which extracts heat from ground and transfers it to the house -in the summer: removes heat from house and storing it underground -EPA standards: cheapest, reliable, clean, energy efficient

Breeder nuclear fission reactor

A breeder reactor is a nuclear reactor that generates more fissile material than it consumes.[1] Breeder reactors achieve this because their neutron economy is high enough to create more fissile fuel than they use, by irradiation of a fertile material, such as uranium-238 or thorium-232 that is loaded into the reactor along with fissile fuel. Breeders were at first found attractive because they made more complete use of uranium fuel than light water reactors, but interest declined after the 1960s as more uranium reserves were found,[2] and new methods of uranium enrichment reduced fuel costs.

Containment structure

A containment building, in its most common usage, is a reinforced steel or lead structure enclosing a nuclear reactor. It is designed, in any emergency, to contain the escape of radioactive steam or gas to a maximum pressure in the range of 275 to 550 kPa (40 to 80 psi).

Biofuel

A fuel derived directly from living matter, such as vegetable oil.

Tar sand

A mixture of clay, sand, water, and a combustible organic material called bitumen - a thick, sticky, tarlike heavy oil with a high sulfur content. Canada contains 3/4s of this resources home. Developing institutions for this resource has major harmful effects on the land, air, water, wildlife, and climate. In order to get this wet-lands must be drained, forests are clear cut, and some rivers/steams are diverted. The project also produces huge amounts of air pollution that fill the mining region's air with dust, steam, smoke, gas fumes, and a tarry stench. It creates sludge water, which birds drink water from, eventually these birds die.

Nonrenewable resource

A non-renewable resource is a resource that does not renew itself at a sufficient rate for sustainable economic extraction in meaningful human time-frames. An example is carbon-based, organically-derived fuel. The original organic material, with the aid of heat and pressure, becomes a fuel such as oil or gas.

Nuclear fission

A nuclear reaction in which a heavy nucleus splits spontaneously or on impact with another particle, with the release of energy.

Reactor

A nuclear reactor, formerly known as an atomic pile, is a device used to initiate and control a self-sustained nuclear chain reaction. Nuclear reactors are used at nuclear power plants for electricity generation and in propulsion of ships.

Turbine

A turbine is a rotary mechanical device that extracts energy from a fluid flow and converts it into useful work. The work produced by a turbine can be used for generating electrical power when combined with a generator.

Active solar heating system

Active solar heating systems use solar energy to heat a fluid -- either liquid or air -- and then transfer the solar heat directly to the interior space or to a storage system for later use. If the solar system cannot provide adequate space heating, an auxiliary or back-up system provides the additional heat.

Advantages and Disadvantages of conventional natural gas

Advantages - Ample supplies - High net energy yield - Emits less CO2 and other pollutants than other fossil fuels Disadvantages - Low net energy yield for LNG - Releases CO2 and other air pollutants when burned - Difficult and costly to transport from one country to another

Advantages and Disadvantages of Coal

Advantages -Ample supplies in many country -High net energy yield -Low cost when environmental costs are not included Disadvantages -Severe land disturbance and water pollution -Fine particle and toixc mercury emissions threaten human health -Emits large amounts of CO2 and other air pollutants when produced and burned

Advantages and Disadvantages of Oil shale and Tar Sand

Advantages -Large potential supplies -Easily transported within and between countries -Efficient distribution system in place Disadvantages -Low net energy yield -Releases CO2 and other air pollutants when produced and burned -Severe land distribution and high water use

Advantages and Disadvantages of the Nuclear Fuel Cycle

Advantages -Low environmental impact (without accidents) -Emits 1/6 as much CO2 as coal -Low risk of accidents in modern plants Disadvantages -Very low net energy yield and high overall cost -Produces long-lived, harmful radioactive wastes -Promotes the spread of nuclear weapons

Advantages and Disadvantages of Ocean waves and Tidal energy

Advantages -Renewable -Not much environmental impact -Ample supplies -Less dependent on oil and foreign imports -Waves are very predictable -No land disruption Disadvantages -Only certain places are applicable -Effect on marine ecosystem -Source of Disturbance for Private and Commercial Vessels -No consistance -Weak Performance in Rough Weather -Noise and Visual Pollution

Advantages and Disadvantages of Hydrogen Fuel Cells

Advantages -can be produced from water -low environmental impact -easier to store than electricity -nontoxic -no CO2 -high efficiency (45-65%) Disadvantages -H2 not found naturally in nature -energy is needed to produce fuel -negative net energy -nonrenewable if generated by fossil fuels or nuclear -will take 25 to 50 years to phase into -excessive H2 leaks may deplete ozone

Advantages and Disadvantages of Geothermal Energy

Advantages -high efficiency -moderate net energy at accessible sites -lower CO2 than fossil fuels -low land use -low cost at favorable sites Disadvantages -can be depleted -environmental costs not listed in market price -CO2 emissions -moderate to high local air pollution -noise and odor (H2S)

Advantages and Disadvantages of Hydropower

Advantages -moderate to high net energy -high efficiency 80% -low-cost electricity -no CO2 emissions -provide flood control Disadvantages -high construction costs -flooding land to create reservoirs -decreases natural flow into ecosystems

Advantages and Disadvantages of Solar Energy

Advantages -net energy is high (passive) and moderate (active) -no CO2 emissions -moderate costs (passive) -very low air, water, land disturbance -energy is free -quick installation Disadvantages -need access to the sun 60% of the time -high cost (active) -needs a lot of maintenance or repair -environmental costs aren't listed in market price -sun can be blocked

Advantages and Disadvantages of Wind Power

Advantages -no CO2 emissions -land can still be used for livestock -quick construction -high efficiency -low energy costs Disadvantges -steady winds needed -noise pollution -visual pollution -noise pollution -can kill migratory birds -back up systems needed

Advantages and Disadvantages of Oil

Advantages: -As a liquid, oil can be distilled into other fuels such as gasoline, kerosene and diesel. - It can be pumped from the ground which eliminates mining. -Transportation of oil is easy -High net energy yield but decreasing -Efficient distribution system Disadvantages: - being a liquid it can escape and cause an oil spill -Environmental costs -Releases CO2 and other air pollutants when burned -Vunerable to international supply interruptions

Anthracite coal

Anthracite coal is a form of coal that is almost made entirely of carbon. Anthracite coal is much harder than other forms of coal such as bituminous, and is usually found in areas surrounding mountains or deep valleys.

Biodiesel

Biodiesel is an alternative fuel similar to conventional or 'fossil' diesel. Biodiesel can be produced from straight vegetable oil, animal oil/fats, tallow and waste cooking oil.

Biomass

Biomass is waste material from plants or animals that is not used for food or feed; it can be waste from farming or horticulture, food processing, animal farming, or human waste from sewage plants. It is used in various industrial processes, like energy production or as raw materials for manufacturing chemicals.

Contrast nuclear fusion and nuclear fission.

Both fission and fusion are nuclear reactions that produce energy, but the applications are not the same. Fission is the splitting of a heavy, unstable nucleus into two lighter nuclei, and fusion is the process where two light nuclei combine together releasing vast amounts of energy.

Coal

Coal is mostly carbon with variable amounts of other elements; chiefly hydrogen, sulfur, oxygen, and nitrogen. Coal is formed if dead plant matter decays into peat and over millions of years the heat and pressure of deep burial converts the peat into coal.

Coal liquefaction

Coal liquefaction is a process of converting coal into liquid hydrocarbons: liquid fuels and petrochemicals. This process is often known as "Coal to X", where X can be many different hydrocarbon-based products. However, the most common process chain is "Coal to Liquid Fuels" (CTL).

Who are the two most energy efficient countries?

China and Japan

Is BITUMIOUS related to coal, oil, or natural gas?

Coal

Is LIGNITE related to coal, oil, or natural gas?

Coal

Energy efficiency

Efficient energy use, sometimes simply called energy efficiency, is the goal to reduce the amount of energy required to provide products and services. For example, insulating a home allows a building to use less heating and cooling energy to achieve and maintain a comfortable temperature.

Energy productivity

Energy Productivity, which is defined as the ratio of output divided by energy consumption, is a useful indicator for understanding the energy efficiency of an industry or an economy.

Energy

Energy is the ability to do work. Energy comes in different forms: Heat (thermal) Light (radiant) Motion (kinetic)

Spent

Having been used and unable to be used again.

Many believe hydrogen is the future of energy, but what are the challenges to making hydrogen the main source for our energy needs?

Hydrogen energy is hard to obtain because there is not a lot of it in the air, so it is hard to advocate for it.

Nuclear fusion

In nuclear chemistry, nuclear fusion is a reaction in which two or more atomic nuclei are combined to form one or more different atomic nuclei and subatomic particles. The difference in mass between the reactants and products is manifested as either the release or absorption of energy.

CAFE (Corporate Average Fuel Economy) standards

Puts pressure on the transportation economy to make more fuel efficient cars.

What advantages do biofuels have over fuels produced from oil?

It is blended with gasoline and can be used as an alternative fuel for your car. Plant-based fuels come from renewable source, can be grown anywhere and have lower carbon emissions as compared to fossil fuels.

Why is it not economically viable to use ethanol corn as an energy source?

It is not economically viable because greenhouse gases are released from making this energy.

LEED program

LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) is an internationally recognized green building certification system, providing third-party verification that a building or community was designed and built using strategies aimed at improving performance across all the metrics that matter most: energy savings, water efficiency, CO2 emissions reduction, improved indoor environmental quality, and stewardship of resources and sensitivity to their impacts.

Lignite

Lignite, often referred to as brown coal, is a soft, brown, combustible, sedimentary rock formed from naturally compressed peat. It is considered the lowest rank of coal due to its relatively low heat content

Liquefied natural gas (LNG)

Liquefied natural gas (LNG) is natural gas that has been cooled to a liquid state, at about -260°Fahrenheit, for shipping and storage. The volume of natural gas in its liquid state is about 600 times smaller than its volume in its gaseous state.

Liquefied petroleum gas (LPG)

Liquefied petroleum gas or liquid petroleum gas (LPG or LP gas), also referred to as simply propane or butane, are flammable mixtures of hydrocarbon gases used as fuel in heating appliances, cooking equipment, and vehicles.

Decommissioned

Make (a nuclear reactor or weapon) inoperative, and dismantle and decontaminate it to make it safe.

Are TAR SANDS related to coal, oil, or natural gas?

Natural Gas

Is METHANE related to coal, oil, or natural gas?

Natural Gas

When looking at energy return, what is the only energy source that is greater than coal?

Nuclear: Hydroelectric and wind power

Is CRUDE OIL related to coal, oil, or natural gas?

Oil

Is OIl SHALE related to coal, oil, or natural gas?

Oil

Is BUTANE related to coal, oil, or natural gas?

Oil which could be a natural gas

Peat

Peat, also known as turf, is an accumulation of partially decayed vegetation or organic matter.

Petrochemicals

Petrochemicals are chemical products derived from petroleum. Some chemical compounds made from petroleum are also obtained from other fossil fuels, such as coal or natural gas, or renewable sources such as corn, palm fruit or sugar cane. The two most common petrochemical classes are olefins and aromatics.

Solar energy

Power obtained by harnessing the energy of the sun's rays.

Radioactive waste

Radioactive waste is waste that contains radioactive material. Radioactive waste is usually a by-product of nuclear power generation and other applications of nuclear fission or nuclear technology, such as research and medicine.

Photo chemical

Relating to or caused by the chemical action of light.

Hydroelectric

Relating to or denoting the generation of electricity using flowing water (typically from a reservoir held behind a dam or other barrier) to drive a turbine that powers a generator.

Renewable resource

Renewable resource is a natural resource which replenishes to overcome resource depletion caused by usage and consumption, either through biological reproduction or other naturally recurring processes in a finite amount of time in a human time scale.

Oil shale

Shale oil can be extracted from oil shale rock. However, producing shale oil requires large amounts of water and has a low net energy yield and a very high environmental impact. (5 barrels of water used for each barrel of oil.)

Shale oil

Shale oil can be extracted from oil shale rock. However, producing shale oil requires large amounts of water and has a low net energy yield and a very high environmental impact. (5 barrels of water used for each barrel of oil.)

________________ is the active element in most photovoltaic cells.

Solar cell

Solar thermal systems

Solar thermal energy is 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.

Synthetic natural gas (SNG)

Substitute natural gas (SNG), or synthetic natural gas, is a fuel gas that can be produced from fossil fuels such as lignite coal, oil shale, or from biofuels (when it is named bio-SNG) or from renewable electrical energy.

Synfuels

Synthetic fuel or synfuel is 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.

Bituminous coal

The most common form of coal; produces a high amount of heat and is used extensively by electric power plants.

Fracking

The process of injecting liquid at high pressure into subterranean rocks, boreholes, etc. so as to force open existing fissures and extract oil or gas.

Half-life

The time taken for the radioactivity of a specified isotope to fall to half its original value.

Tidal power

Tidal power or tidal energy is a form of hydropower that converts the energy obtained from tides into useful forms of power, mainly electricity. Although not yet widely used, tidal energy has potential for future electricity generation.

Explain how uranium is used to make electricity in a nuclear power plant.

Uranium - A metal in the periodic table. However, the fission of uranium atoms replaces the burning of coal or gas. In a nuclear reactor the uranium fuel is assembled in such a way that a controlled fission chain reaction can be achieved thus getting energy.

Plug-in hybrid

You charge the battery every night, it is not recharged on its own. It saves more gas than regular hybrid cars.