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49 Cards in this Set
- Front
- Back
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Solar energy is wonderfully abundant but is hard to get it _____ enough to be useful.
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concentrated
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With flat plate collectors, ___ is pumped to the roof of a building where th sun heats it. This is considered ____ solar.
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water
active |
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Active solar means that _____ and/or _____ are used to get solar energy from the collection site to where it is needed.
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pumps
wires |
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One reason that solar water collectors are not as widely used is that they cost __ to ___% more than electric or gas heaters.
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5 to 10
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One drawback with solar water panels is that they don't work well when....
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the sun is not shining brightly.
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Solar heating that does not involving spending energy to get the energy is called....
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passive solar
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Passive solar energy has a ____ net energy yield than active solar energy.
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higher
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One of the best passive solar actions you can do in your home is merely making sure your house has plenty of .....
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insulation
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Why are properly placed deciduous trees a good idea in your landscaping?
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The leaves shade your home in the summer and allow sun contact in the winter.
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The majority of the energy used in your home is for ....
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heating
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Energy Star buildings, which was created by the _ _ _, is awarde to buildings that uase at least ___% less energy than others in their class.
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EPA
40 |
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When backup energy is needed for solar homes, ____ or ____ is usually enough to meet the need.
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wood in wood stove
natural gas or propane |
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Which sector of our society is against solar heating?
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utility and oil companies
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Sunlight can be converted directly to electricity via ....
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photovoltaic cells
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What must the power company do if you make more solar or wind electricity than you can use?
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buy it from you
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One active solar method involves concentrating sunlight using refectors, but this can only be done in...
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places where the sun is intense and where there's lots of land.
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The ____ ______ collects sunlight in long troughs that super heat fluid in a pipe that is hot enough to make steam for making electricity.
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solar trough
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A ____ _____ is where a bunch of mirrors are focused on a single tower to heat liquid which will get hot enough to boil water to make steam for electricity.
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power tower
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Other than photovoltaic cells, the only way we know how to make electricity is to ....
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heat water to make steam to turn a turbine which turns a generator that makes the electricity.
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People who use conventional electricity (like most of us) are said to be on the ....
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"grid"
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As technology increase and more people embrace photovoltaics and solar water heating, the price of these will...
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drop
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The most common form of renewable energy is ____ but most sites for it are already utilized.
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hydroelectric
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____ have ecological drawbacks, displace people & wildlife, but provide water and recreation.
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dams
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The largest dam every built is the __ ___ ___ in ___.
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Three Gorges Dam
China |
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The reason Germany & Spain are ahead of the US in wind power is because of ....
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governmental carrots
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Does the US have enough land space in conjunction with farm land to produce all the electricity we need from wind power?
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Yes
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A drawback to wind power is its impact on wildlife such as ....
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birds
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One problem that wind farms face in affluent places that are windy is _______ism.
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NIMBY
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Perhaps the most common biomass energy is from...
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firewood
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Waste water treatment plants and landfills and dairy farms can generate lots of ____ from a_____ic digestion.
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methane
anerobic |
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____ is the number one source of fuel in developing countries
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Wood
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Farms in many places use manure to produce ___gas which is 2/3 methane. When spent, it can be used as ____for crops
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bio
fertilizer |
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Ethanol can be used in our cars but because it must be distilled and uses lots of farmland, fertilizer, and pesticide for production it has a low ___ ___ ____.
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net energy yield
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Using farmland to grow corn for making ethanol can lead to increase ___ for irrigation, and more e____ that will clog streams with s_____.
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water
erosion sediment |
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Ethanol for cars is probably a ___ idea.
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bad
(Unfortunately our country is going "full steam ahead" with it.) |
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Ethanol delivers ___ miles per gallon than gasoline and because of the processing needed, produces ___ for global warming.
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less
carbon dioxide |
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Gasoline additive, __ __ __ __, may improve air for CAA, but is contaminating ___ supplies.
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MTBE
water (especially in LUST's, leaking underground storage tanks) |
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Hydrogen fuel cells are essentially ______ which use hydrogen and oxygen to make electricity instead of metals like lithium, nickel, lead, or cadmium.
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batteries
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Unlike batteries, fuel cells provide a means of storing electricity within the bonds of ___ and don't need to be recharged.
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hydrogen
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Like natural gas and propane, hydrogen fuel for combustion or fuel cells must be processed, concentrated , and _____ and, which lowers the ___ ___ ___ and costs a lot.
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compressed
net energy yield |
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Sunlight can be used in PV cells to make electricity for making hydrogen, which is the opposite process of ___ ____.
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fuel cells
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Water splitting using electricity, preferably with sunlight on PV cells, is called _____.
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electrolysis
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Fuel cells don't have to run on just hydrogen. They can be made to get hydrogen stripped from ___ if they use the right catalyst.
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ethanol, gasoline, methanol or any other hydrocarbon
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On drawback to geothermal energy is that it is not ____ in all parts of the world.
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available
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High quality geothermal energy is the type that can be turned into ___ or used for industrial purposes.
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electricity
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Geothermal energy can be used by a homeowner via the utilization of an u___ h___ p____.
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underground heat pump.
The earth's high density holds a constant temperature, which is much better than air-based heat pumps. |
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Only a few places on earth have significant enough tides to utilize a ___ ___ system of making electricity with rising and falling of the tides.
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tidal power
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Perhaps the best way to get us to utilize new renewable energy methods is via ___ and ____.
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sticks and carrots
(laws & building codes & higher CAFE standards) and (tax credits, incentives) |
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CAFE standard refers to....
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Corporate Average Fuel Economy (it's the standard amount of miles per gallon that our country's cars get)
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