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43 Cards in this Set
- Front
- Back
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About how much of the world's commercial energy comes from nonrenewable fossil fuels?
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three quarters
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What makes up the rest of the world's commercial energy?
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nonrenewable nuclear fuel and renewable sources
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What is Net energy?
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the amount of high quality energy available from a resource minus the amount of energy needed to make it available.
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What percent of the commercial energy is used?
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92%
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What resources are used for energy?
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carbon-containing fossil fuels, nuclear power, renewable resources
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name some renewable resources
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biomass, hydropower, geothermal, wind, and solar energy.
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What are the advantages and disadvantages of fossil fuels?
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Oil, natural gas, and coal are abundant and inexpensive but using them causes air and water pollution, degrades land and releases green house gases
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What is crude oil?
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black, gooey liquid. Comes from the ground.
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What are petrochemicals?
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used as raw materials in industrial organic chemicals, cleaning fluids, pesticides, plastics, etc.
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What are proven oil reserves?
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identified deposits from which crude oil can be extracted profitably at current prices with current technology.
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What is tar sand?
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mixture of clay, sand, water and a combustible organic material called bitumen
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What is bitumen?
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a thick sticky tar like heavy oil with a high sulfur content.
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What is natural gas?
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a mixture of gases of which 50%-90% is methane. This versatile fuel can be burned to heat space and water to produce electricity and to propel vehicles.
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What is liquefied petroleum gas?
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stored in pressurized tanks. Mostly used in rural areas.
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What is conventional natural gas?
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lies above most reservoirs of crude oil. Found in deep sea and remote land areas. this adds climate-changing CO2 to the atmosphere
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What is coal?
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The rock that burns. Its burned in power plants to generate about 40% of the world's electricity.
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What is synthetic natural gas?
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gaseous fuel containing mostly methane produced from solid coal.
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What is coal gasification?
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It removes sulfur and most other impurities from coal.
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What are the advantages and disadvantages of nuclear energy?
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The nuclear power fuel cycle has a low environmental impact and low accident risk. However, its limited due to high costs, low net energy yield, radioactive wastes.
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What is the nuclear fuel cycle?
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it is the mining of uranium, processing and enriching the uranium to make fuel, using it in the reactor, and safely storing the resulting highly radioactive wastes.
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What is energy efficiency?
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The measure of how much work we can get from each unit of energy we use.
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What are 4 widely used devices that waste large amounts of energy?
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incandescent light bulbs, internal combustion engines, nuclear power plants, and coal-fired power plants.
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How much energy is wasted off incandescent lightbulbs?
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90%-95%
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How can we save energy in industies?
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replace energy wasting electric motors, recycle, get rid of incandescent lightbulbs
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How can we save energy in transportation?
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superefficient and ultralight cars, shifting from diesel powered to electrified rail systems, building accessible mass transit systems, encourage bicycle use.
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How can we save money with buildings and homes?
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insulate the building and plug leaks, use energy efficient windows, heat water more efficiently, use energy efficient appliances, use energy efficient lighting
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In the US, how does our crude oil production compare with our crude oil consumption?
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The US produces 9% of world's crude oil, but uses 25% of it.
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What are proven oil reserves?
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Identified deposits from which crude oil can be extracted profitably at current prices with current technologies.
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What does our current knowledge about proven oil reserves tell us about the sustainability of our current oil use?
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80% will be depleted therefore we must look for more oil, use & waste less oil or use other sources
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What is "clean coal"? Is it really clean?
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It is a campaign to burn other types of coal that are "cleaner" than others. However, it is not clean at all. There is no such thing as clean coal; it still emits fossil fuels.
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About how much of all commercial energy used in the US is wasted unnecessarily?
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43% is wasted
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About how much of the energy used by an incandescent light bulb is used to produce light?
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5%-10%
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What explanation does the book give for why we still waste so much energy?
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Fossil fuels, nuclear power, etc is cheaper and a few large and long lasting tax breaks, rebates, low interest and long term loans and other incentives
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What does a passive solar heating system do?
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absorbs and stores heat from the sun directly within a well-insulated structure without the need for pumps or fans to distribute the heat.
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What does an active solar heating system do?
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uses energy from the sun by pumping a heat-absorbing fluid through special collectors usually mounted on a roof or on special racks to face the sun.
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What do solar thermal systems?
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concentrate and transform energy from the sun into high temp. thermal energy, which can then be used to heat water and produce steam to generate electricity.
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What do solar cells do?
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Produce electricity
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What is hydropower?
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uses the kinetic energy of flowing and falling water to produce electricity.
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What is biomass?
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Consists of plant materials and animal wastes that can be burned directly as a solid fuel or converted into gaseous or liquid biofuels.
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What can be used in place of petroleum-based diesel fuel and gasoline?
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biodiesel and ethanol
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What is geothermal energy?
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heat stored in soil, underground rocks, and fluids in the earth's mantle.
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How can governments encourage or discourage the use of particular energy policies?
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keep prices of selected energy resources artificially low to encourage use of resources, keep prices of selected energy resources artificially high to discourage use, and emphasize consumer education.
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How can we make a transition to a more sustainable energy future?
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We can make a transition to a more sustainable energy future by greatly improving energy efficiency, using a mix of renewable energy resources, and including the environmental costs of energy resources in their market prices.
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