You are on page 1of 6

Read: Using Wind Power in New Ways for an Old Application

1: How was the voyage of the Beluga SkySails different than traditional industrial ship voyages?
It used kites and the wind for its voyage.
Introduction to Alternative Energy Sources
2: Fossil fuels supply approximately 90% of the energy consumed by people
3: What are the two types of non-renewable alternative energy sources? Why are they considered
to be non-renewable? Coal and oil are non-renewable because of the output exceeds the input.
4: What is low-density, near-surface geothermal energy? It is energy stored by ricks and soil.
5: What are biofuels made from? Plant or animal material.
6: What is the definition of renewable energy? Energy input is equal to is output.
Solar Energy
7: How much solar energy is equal to the energy stored in a all known reserves of coal, oil and
natural gas on Earth? It is equal to all the known reserves of coal, oil, and natural gas.
8: What are passive solar energy systems? Give an example. Systems that promote cooling in hot
weather and heat in cold weather like trees shading a home in the summer.
9: What are active solar energy systems? Give an example. Systems that require mechanical
energy like electrical pumps.
10: What are solar collectors? What are they used for? How do they work? They provide space
heating or hot water in glass covered plates with heat absorbing liquid.
11: What are photovoltaics? What are they made out of? Explain how they work. Directly
converts sunlight into electricity using solar cells.
12: What are solar thermal generators? How do they work? They focus sunlight on containers
with water, which turn into steam to turn turbines.
13: What are some of the environmental concerns of solar energy? One concern are the metals
and fluids to manufacture it.
14: What are fuel cells? How are they created? A highly efficient power generating system
producing electricity by combining fuel and oxygen in electrochemical reaction.
Water Power
15: Water power has been around since when? Since the 18
th
and 19
th
century.
16: How much power in the United States is currently powered by hydroelectricity? 10% of the
total energy.
17: What is microhydropower? Where is this helpful? Small systems adding together to create
electricity.
18: What are the environmental benefits of hydroelectricity? It requires no burning of fuels and
is clean.
19: What are the environmental consequences of hydroelectricity? The building of dams disturbs
habitats, and dams block migrating patterns.
Ocean Energy
20: Explain how we can harness tidal power. We harness it by buoys or harness the motion.
21: What are some of the environmental impacts of tidal power? They affect the hydrology of the
body of water which affects vegetation and life.
Wind Power
22: What is the major problem with using wind power? Winds tends to be highly variable.
23: How are winds produced? Produced when differential heating of Earths surface creates air
masses which differ heat contents and densities.
24: How does topography influence winds? Explain. The shape of the land depends on wind due
to the strength and duration.
25: Which regions in the United States have the greatest potential for wind power development?
The greatest region is in the Great Plain states.
26: Which country has the largest wind energy capacity installed? The United States.
27: Modern wind turbines are big- as much as 70m high, as tall as a 23-story building, and have
a generating capacity of more than 1 million watts. This is enough electricity for 500 modern
U.S. homes.
28: What are the disadvantages to wind power for the environment? They kill birds and degrade
areas scenery.
29: What is the future outlook for wind energy generation? IT is a major investment into the
future.
Biofuels
30: What are the 3 categories of biofuels? Firewood, organic wastes, and crops.
31: How many people worldwide still use wood as their primary source for energy? More than 1
billion people.
32: What are some of the benefits of using biofuels? Cleaner burnout of burning, and provided
by the Earth through food.
33: What are the environmental concerns with the using of biofuels? Food prices crashing,
deforestation.
Geothermal Energy
34: What are the two types of geothermal energy and how do they differ? There is the deep-earth
high density and shallow-earth.
35: How many people worldwide depend on geothermal as their energy source? 40 million
people.
36: What type of location is ideal for high-density geothermal energy? Give an example. The
areas need heat flow high enough in order to have the heat. Tectonic boundaries are common
high-density geothermal energy.
37: Where is low-density geothermal energy mostly found? Why? IT can be found anywhere.
38: What are the PROS and CONS of using geothermal energy? Pros: does not require large
transportation, chenicals, or burn air pollutants. Cons: possible degrading, creating roads, drill
wells.
39: What types of government incentives might encourage use of alternative energy sources?
Would their widespread use affect our economic and social environment? Some incentives
would be tax breaks and special lanes for the use alternative energy sources. They would change
our society for the better.
Chapter #17- Nuclear Energy and the Environment
1: How much of the worlds electricity do nuclear power plant provide? 17%.
2: In the United States, nuclear power plants produce about 20% of the countrys electricity and
about 8% of the total energy used.
3: The nuclear power plants in France provide 80% of the countrys total energy.
What is Nuclear Energy?
4: What is nuclear energy? Energy contained in atoms nucleus.
5: What is the difference between fission and fusion? Fission is the breaking apart of atoms while
fusion binds them together.
6: Nuclear reactors use fission (fusion or fission?) and which product as a source of
radioactivity? Uranium
7: Which type of Uranium is used for nuclear power plants? Uranium 235.
8: What does it mean that the Uranium is enriched? To increase concentration of uranium.
9: What is a nuclear meltdown? There is not enough water to cool the system.
10: Reactors that use ordinary water as the coolant are called:heat changers.
11: Draw and label a diagram below to explain the nuclear power plant set-up
A Closer Look: Radioactive Decay
12: What is a radioisotope? A form of a chemical element that undergoes radioactive dacay.
13: What is radioactive decay? Changing the radioisotope from one to the other.
14: What is a half-life? What is the half-life of Uranium 235?
15: Define the following types of nuclear radiation: (Explain the safety measures needed when
using each)
* Alpha Particle: has two protons and two neutrons.
*Beta Particle: electrons with mass of 1/1840.
* Gamma Rays: similar to x-rays but more energetic.
16: Uranium goes through a radioactive decay chain to finally become which element? Lead 206.
Nuclear Energy and the Environment
17: What are the major problems associated with the nuclear fuel cycle? Radioactive waste, site
selection, power plant/reactor, water disposal.
Nuclear Radiation in the Environment, and its Effects on Human Health
18: How does nuclear radiation effect ecosystems? Explain and give an example. They can
create mutations.
19: Radiation is found naturally in what kind of materials? Give 2 examples. Rocks and soil.
Granite rocks and limestone bedrock.
20: Where in the United States are background radiation levels higher? Flordida.
21: In what ways are people exposed to radiation in their every day lives? The air, sky, and food.
A Closer Look: Radiation Units and Doses
22: What is the commonly used unit for radioactive decay? Who is it named after? Curie after
Marie and Pierre Curie.
23: What is the SI unit for radioactive decay? Becquerel.
24: When dealing with the environmental effects of radiation, we are most interested in the
actual dose of radiation delivered by radioactivity. This dose is commonly measured in
terms of rads and rems. In the international system (SI), the units are grays and
sieverts.
25: For gamma rays, the unit commonly used is the roentgen or in SI units, coulumbs per
kilogram.
26: What is the LD50 dose of radiation in humans? WE do not know.
27: What happened to the women who worked in the watch factories in the early 1900s? They
received bone cancer or anemia due to their ingesting radium.
28: What are the health effects for workers in uranium mines? They receive lung cancer.
Nuclear Power Plant Accidents
29: What is the current risk of a nuclear meltdown in the U.S. according to the U.S. Nuclear
Regulatory Commission? One chance in 10000.
Three-Mile Island
30: When did the event on Three-Mile Island occur? A nuclear meltdown.
31: Where is Three-Mile Island located? Pennsylvania.
32: What were some of the societal issues associated with the incident at Three-Mile Island? The
trust between governments were gone.
Chernobyl
33: Summarize the events at Chernobyl, Soviet Union A leak in the Soviet Union plant caused it
to travel to Sweden.
34: How many people died and how many people were diagnosed with acute radiation sickness?
237 cases with 3 billion diagnosed.
35: How many people were exposed to radiation in the days following the accident? 24000.
36: What was the most common type of illness that resulted from the Japanese A-bomb
survivors? Thyroid cancer.
37: What was the most common type of illness that resulted from the Chernobyl accident?
Leukemia.
38: What happened to the ecosystem around the affected area following the meltdown? The
surrounding area was affected by radioactive soil contaminating plants and animals.
Radioactive-Waste Management
39: What is low-level radioactive waste? Where it is stored? Contains low concentrations of
radioactivity. Stored onsite.
40: What is transuranic waste? How is it created? Contaminated waste by man-made radioactive
elements.
41: What is high-level radioactive waste? Where is it stored? Commercial and military spent
fuel. Stored in commercial nuclear reactors.
42: What and where is Yucca Mountain? What was the plan with it? A nuclear store site in USA.
The plan was to transport all hazardous waste underneath it.
43: What are the safety hazards associated with using Yucca Mountain to store nuclear waste?
Possibility of spills and accidents, and kidnapping of nuclear waste.
The Future of Nuclear Energy
44: How much Uranium stores do we have left? 85 years of uranium stores.
45: What are the PROS and CONS of using Nuclear Power? Pros: little air emissions, not
contribute to acid rain. Cons: great damage to ecosystems if accidents, affects human health if
spilled.
46: What are breeder reactors? Designed to make new nuclear fuel by transforming waste

You might also like