AP Environmental Chp 14-15 Test
What percentage of the energy used in the United States is unnecessarily wasted? Why is so much energy wasted? List three widely used energy in efficient technologies
84% ; 41% of this energy unavoidably ends up as low quality waste heat in the environment because of degradation of energy quality imposed by the second law of thermodynamics, the other 43% is wasted unnecessarily mostly due to an efficiency of industrial motors, motor vehicles, power plants, lightbulbs and numerous other devices
Define and give an example of energy efficiency. Explain why improving energy efficiency and reducing energy waste is a major energy resource
A measure of how much useful work we can get from each unit of energy we use.
Define natural gas, liquefied petroleum gas, and liquefied natural gas
A mixture of gases of which 50 to 90% is methane but also include smaller amounts of heavier gaseous hydrocarbons such as propane and butane. Propane and butane gases can be liquefied under high-pressure and removed as LPG Natural gas can also be transported across oceans and converted by high pressure and very low temperature into this highly flammable liquid LNG
What is coal and how is it formed?
A solid fossil fuel formed from the remains of land plants that were buried and exposed to intense heat and pressure for 300 to 400 million years
What are the major advantages and disadvantage is of using coal as an energy resource
Advantages are: ample supplies in many countries, medium to high net energy, Low cost when environmental costs are not included disadvantages are: severe land disturbance and water pollution, fine particle and toxic mercury emissions threaten human health, and it's a large amounts of CO2 and other air pollutants when produced and burned
What are the major advantages and disadvantage is of using natural gas as an energy resource
Advantages are: ample supplies, versatile fuel, medium that energy, and it's less CO2 and other air pollutants then other fossil fuels when burned disadvantages are: Low net energy for LNG, production and delivery may omit more CO2 and CH4 per unit of energy produce then cold, fracking uses and pollutes large volumes of water, potential groundwater pollution from fracking
What are the major advantages and disadvantage is of using crude oil as an energy resource
Advantages are: ample supply for several decades, net energy is medium but decreasing, low land disruption, efficient distribution system Disadvantages are: water pollution from oil spills and leaks, environmental costs not included in market price, releases CO2 and other air pollutants when burned, vulnerable to international supply interruptions
What are the major advantages and disadvantages of using Hydro power
Advantages are: high net energy, large untapped potential, low cost electricity, low emissions of CO2 and other air pollution in temperate areas disadvantages are: large land disturbance and displacement of people, high CH for emissions from rapid biomass decay and shallow tropical reservoirs, disrupts downstream aquatic ecosystems
What are the major advantages and disadvantages of using wind to produce electricity
Advantages are: high net energy, widely available, low electricity costs, a little or no direct emissions of CO2 and other air pollutants, easy to build and expand disadvantages are: needs back up or storage system when winds die down unless connected in a national electrical grids, Visual pollution for some people, low level noise bothers some people, can kill birds if not properly designed and located
What are the major disadvantages and advantages of using shale oil and heavy oils produced from oil shale rock and from oil sands
Advantages are: large potential supplies, easily transported within and between countries, if fission distribution system in place disadvantages are: low net energy, expensive, releases CO2 and other air pollutants, severe land disruption, water pollution and Highwater use
What are the major advantages and disadvantage is of using geothermal energy as a source of heat and to produce electricity?
Advantages are: medium net energy and high efficiency at accessible sites, lower CO2 emissions than fossil fuels and low operating costs on favorable sites Disadvantages are: high cost except at concentrated and accessible sources, scarcity of suitable sites, noise and some CO2 emissions
What is peak production for an oil well or oil field
After about a decade of pumping the pressure in a well starts to drop and it's rate of crude oil production starts to decline
Define Hydro power and summarize the potential for expanding it
Any technology that uses the kinetic energy of flowing and falling water to produce electricity. Another way is to tap in to energy from ocean tides and waves along seacoast where they are almost always continuous waves
What is crude oil (petroleum) and how are oil deposits detected and removed
Black gooey liquid containing a mixture of combustible hydrocarbons along with small amounts of sulfur oxygen and nitrogen impurities. They are detected with explosives or machines that send shockwaves underground and that is used to produce a three dimensional Seesmic map which shows the location and size of rock formation. To be extracted they drill a well and the oil drawn by gravity out of the rock ports flows to the bottom of the wall in his palms from there to the surface
What is biomass and what are the major advantages and disadvantage is of using wood to provide heat and electricity
Burning solid biomass organic matter found in plants or plant related material work by converting it to gaseous or liquid biofuels makes energy. Advantages are: widely available in some areas, moderate costs, medium net energy, no net CO2 increase if harvested, burned, and replanted sustainably and plantations can help restore degraded lands disadvantages are: contributes to deforestation, clear cutting can cause soil erosion, water pollution and loss of wild habitat, can open ecosystems to invasive species and increases CO2 emissions if harvested in burned unsustainably
Describe efforts by China and the United States to make the shift to a new energy economy
China has reduced it's heavy dependence on coal and leads the world in climate changing CO2 emissions. It's building wind farms and solar power plants, supporting research on better batteries and improves solar and wind technologies. As well as selling all electric cars. The US is falling behind because powerful fossil fuel and electric utility companies will get threatened
What are US café standards? What are the hidden costs of using gasoline
Corporate average fuel economy standards established by law to improve the gas mileage of cars, light trucks, vans and sport utility vehicles Hidden costs of using gasoline include government subsidies for oil companies, car companies and roadbuilders, defense spending for securing access to middle east oil supplies, cost of pollution control and clean up and higher medical bills and health insurance premiums resulting from illness is caused by air and water pollution from the production and use of motor vehicles
What is refining
Crude oil is heated in pressurize vessels separated into various fuels and other components with different boiling points in a complex process
What are the major advantages and disadvantages of using hydrogen as a fuel to use in producing electricity and powering vehicles
Disadvantages are: negative net energy, CO2 emissions produced from carbon containing compounds high costs create need for subsidies needs H2storage and distribution system advantages are: can be produced from plentiful water at some sites no CO2 emissions is produced with use of renewables good substitute for oil high-efficiency in fuel cells
Why do we need to make a new energy transition over the next 50 to 60 years? What are the two key components of this energy resource shift?
Fossil fuels are responsible for three of the worlds most serious environmental problems such as air pollution , climate change and ocean acidification. Improving energy efficiency and reducing energy ways, decreasing our dependence on nonrenewable fossil fuels and relying more on a mix of renewable energy from the sun, wind, earths interior heats, flowing water and biomass
What are several ways to improve energy efficiency an existing buildings?
Get a home energy audit to detect airleaks, insulate the building and plug leaks, use energy-efficient windows, heat water more efficiently, use energy efficient appliances, computers and lighting and stop using standby mode. Get a passive/active solar heating system
What is fracking and how does the process work
Greatly increased production of natural gas and oil from shale rock that could have several harmful environmental effects. They require enormous volumes of water and produces huge volumes of hazardous waste water that flows back into the surface with released natural gas or oil, it is one of the causes of hundreds of small earthquakes in the 13 states in recent years due to shifting of bedrock from high pressure injection of fracking wastewater
What is geothermal energy and what are the three resources of such energy
Heat stored in soil, underground rocks and fluids in earths mantle
What is Shale oil and how is this heavy oil produced? What are Oil sands
Heavy oil Extracted from oil shale rock unconventional petroleum deposits
What percentages of the commercial energy used in the world and in the United States are provided by conventional crude oil
In the world it's 32% in the United States it's 36%
What three countries have the worlds largest proven natural gas reserves? Which three are the largest producers of natural gas? Which three are the largest consumers of natural gas
Iran Russia and Qatar United States Russia and China United States Russia and China
What are proven oil reserves
Known deposits from which oil can be extracted profitably at current prices using current technology
Distinguish between nonrenewable and renewable energy resources and give three examples of each type
Non-renewable energy comes from fossil fuel such as oil, natural gas, and coal and the nuclei of certain atoms of elements such as uranium or nuclear energy. Renewable energy resources such as wind, Hydro power, solar energy, biomass and heat from the earths interior (geothermal energy)
What is nuclear fission? How does a nuclear fission reactor work and what are its major safety features?
Occurs when the nuclei of certain isotopes with a large mass numbers are split apart into lighter nuclei when struck by a neutron and release energy. The heat released by the chain reaction of fissions inside the reactor of a nuclear power plant is used to convert water into steam which spins a turbine to generate electricity. Safety feature is a containment shell to fix steel reinforced concrete surrounds the reactor core
What is OPEC
Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (12 countries)
What is cogeneration
Producing two useful forms of energy (electricity and heat) from the same fuel source
What is energy conservation? What are the major advantages of reducing energy waste?
Reducing or eliminating the unnecessary wasting of energy.
What is a solar cell (photovoltaic or PV) cell and what are the major advantages and disadvantage is of using such devices to produce electricity
Solar energy can be converted directly into electrical energy using thin transparent wafers of purified silicone or polycrystalline silicon with trace amounts of metals that allow them to conduct electricity
Define net energy and explain why it is important in evaluating energy resources
The amount of energy available from a resource minus the amount of energy needed to make it available . It shows how energy efficient power sources are in producing energy
Explain why some energy resources need help in the form of subsidies to compete in the marketplace and give an example
The low net energy and the resulting high cost of the entire nuclear fuel cycle is one reason why governments throughout the world heavily subsidized nuclear generated electricity to make it available to consumers at an affordable price this way they can hide the true costs of nuclear power fuel cycle
Explain how highly radioactive spent-fuel rods are stored and what risks these presents
The rods are so thermally hot and highly radioactive that they cannot be simply thrown away. researchers have found that 10 years after being removed from a reactor a single spent fuel rod assembly can still emit enough radiation to kill one person standing 1 meter away in less than three minutes.
What are the advantages of using taller wind turbines
This allows them to tap into the strong and more constant winds found at a higher altitude on land and sea to produce more electricity at a lower cost
Describe the process of carbon capture and sequestration
This technology includes removing CO2 from the smoke stacks of coal burning power plants and isolating it from the environment by storing it in depleted oil and gas fields and underground coal mines or in the underground salt aquifers
What three countries have the worlds largest proven oil reserves? Which three are the largest producers of oil? Which three are the largest consumers of oil?
United States China and Japan. Saudi Arabia Russia United States United States China Japan
What three countries are the three leading users of nuclear power? What percentage of electricity generated in the United States comes from nuclear power?
United States Russia and China and the United States generates 20% of the electricity using nuclear power
What three countries have the worlds largest proven coal reserves? Which three are the largest producers of coal? Which three are the largest consumers of coal?
United States, Russia, China China United States Indonesia China United States India
