1: How was the voyage of the Beluga SkySails different than traditional industrial ship voyages?
The technology is different than traditional sailing systems because the sail area and the ship are separated by a towing rope. According to them, this result in higher power, easier deployment and higher safety than traditional sails
2: Fossil fuels supply approximately ______% of the energy consumed by people
90%
3: What are the two types of non-renewable alternative energy sources? Why are they considered to be non-renewable?
coal and natural gas.Many people are concerned that the non-renewable sources of energy are running out. No new oil wells are being discovered (if some are still knocking around, they’re often in difficult areas to access or in places that drilling is prohibited e.g. Antarctica). No new coal seams are coming to light – and even if they are, people are concerned about the carbon that is released to the atmosphere by burning coal
4: What is low-density, near-surface geothermal energy?
The cooling process is, however, very slow. The temperature of the mantle has decreased no more than 300-350°C in three billion years, remaining at about 4000°C at its base. Estimates from more than twenty years ago gave the total heat content of the Earth, reckoned above an assumed average surface temperature of 15 °C, in the order of 12.6 x10E24 MJ, and that of the crust in the order of 5.4 x 10E21 MJ. The thermal energy of the Earth is therefore immense, but only a fraction can be utilized by man. So far our utilization of this energy has been limited to areas in which geological conditions permit a carrier to "transfer" the heat from deep hot zones to or near the surface, thus giving rise to geothermal resources, but innovative techniques in the near future may offer new perspectives in this sector.
5: What are biofuels made from?
The process of manufacturing bio-fuel starts by filtering the waste vegetable oil to remove all the food particles and then the removal of water by boiling the liquid at 100 degrees Celsius for some time. After this, the titration process is carried out to establish the amount of lye required. This is followed by preparation of sodium methoxide and then heating and mixing. The liquid is left to cool down, after which the bio-fuel will be floating over the heavier glycerine.
6: What is the definition of “renewable” energy?
Renewable energy means energy that comes form natural resources and can not be exhausted. Sources of renewable energy include: water, wind, sunlight, tides and geothermal heat. This energy is not derived form nuclear or fossil fuel.
7: How much solar energy is equal to the energy stored in a all known reserves of coal, oil and natural gas on Earth?
The amount of energy from the sun that falls on Earth's surface is enormous. All the energy stored in Earth's reserves of coal, oil, and natural gas is matched by the energy from just 20 days of sunshine. Outside Earth's atmosphere, the sun's energy contains about 1,300 watts per square meter. About one-third of this light is reflected back into space, and some is absorbed by the atmosphere
8: What are passive solar energy systems? Give an example.
Passive energy, a term usually used in reference to passive solar energy, is natural energywhich is directly harnessed to achieve a desired goal. While there are many different ways to use the sun’s heat, how that heat is used and transferred determines whether the system is active or passive. Essentially, a passive system uses few or no moving parts. If you use the sun’s heat to warm a water tank, that would be passive solar; if you were to pump that water through your walls to heat your home, that would be active solar heating.
9: What are active solar energy systems? Give an example.
Solar heating is a means of collecting and storing energy, in the form of heat, harnessed from the sun. A passive solar heating system passively collects and transfers that energy. Skylight sand greenhouses are examples of passive solar heating systems because they passively accept solar heat in but do nothing to actively enhance that process. Active solar heating, on the other hand, actively enhances the collection, storage or transfer of that energy. Active solar heating systems use fans and pumps to distribute the collected heat.
10: What are solar collectors? What are they used for? How do they work? A solar collector is a device used to capture the heat energy of the sun and convert it into a form more readily usable by humans. Unlike a photovoltaic cell, a solar collector is relatively low-tech, and they can be created and installed for a very low cost. The most basic type of solar collector involves some sort of liquid medium that is heated up by the sun’s rays and then transported to distribute heat elsewhere.
11: What are photovoltaics? What are they made out of? Explain how they work.
Photovoltaic cells look similar to solar panels but they work in a different way. Solar panels are use to produce hot water or even steam. Photovoltaic panels convert the sunlight directly into electricity. A typical example of a device powered by photovoltaic cells is a solar powered calculator. This type of device only needs a small amount of electrical power to work and can even be used in a room with artificial light
12: What are solar thermal generators? How do they work?
A solar heating panel is filled with water. Its bottom has a well-insulated pipe leading to the bottom of a well-insulated hot storage tank above and behind it. The top of the panel is connected by a similar insulated pipe to the top of the same tank. This is a closed-circuit water heater. Water warms up in the panel. Warm is less dense than cold water so it rises into the top of the hot storage tank and the colder water in the hot storage tank falls down into the panel where it is warmed. The water circulates like this all day, driven simply by convection.
13: What are some of the environmental concerns of solar energy?
Harnessing power from the wind is one of the cleanest and most sustainable ways to generate electricity as it produces no toxic pollution orglobal warming emissions. Wind is also abundant, inexhaustible, and affordable, which makes it a viable and large-scale alternative to fossil fuels.Despite its vast potential, there are a variety of environmental impacts associated with wind power generation that should be recognized and mitigated.
14: What are fuel cells? How are they created?
Fuel cells are a remarkable power source. They store energy in two naturally occurring elements (oxygen and hydrogen, which are already in our atmosphere) and form a single waste product (pure water). Refueling a fuel cell means providing more hydrogen and oxygen. With an external source of electricity such as a solar panel, one can split the waste water back into its component parts and use it again as fuel! Or, as they did in the Apollo missions, you can drink the water.
15: Water power has been around since when?
Roman Empire
16: How much power in the United States is currently powered by hydroelectricity?
Hydroelectric power plants in the United States are currently the largest producer of renewable power in the U.S. It produced around 66.8% of the total renewable power in the U.S. in 2008
17: What is microhydropower? Where is this helpful?
Micro-hydro power is the small-scale harnessing of energy from falling water, such as steep mountain rivers. Using this renewable, indigenous, non-polluting resource, micro-hydro plants can generate power for homes, hospitals, schools and workshops.Practical Action promotes small-scale hydro schemes that generate up to 500 kilowatts of power. The micro-hydro station, which converts the energy of flowing water into electricity, provides poor communities in rural areas with an affordable, easy to maintain and long-term solution to their energy needs.
18: What are the environmental benefits of hydroelectricity?
Hydroelectric power is water power. Hydroelectricity is derived from the energy created by running or falling water. The pressure of flowing water turns underwater turbines, which are connected to a generator that produces electricity. Sometimes water flow and pressure are natural, but often they are created by dams constructed for that purpose
19: What are the environmental consequences of hydroelectricity?
The size of the reservoir created by a hydroelectric project can vary widely, depending largely on the size of the hydroelectric generators and the topography of the land. Hydroelectric plants in flat areas tend to require much more land than those in hilly areas or canyons where deeper reservoirs can hold more volume of water in a smaller space.
20: Explain how we can harness tidal power.
Tidal power is generated from the ocean's tides. There are three forms of energy available in the ocean tides such as wave energy, tidal energy and thermal energy. Among these, tide energy is used successfully to generate power. When high tide comes to the shore, they can be captured in a reservoir and when the tide lowers the captured water can be released from the reservoir back to ocean. It works similar to hydroelectric power plant where the gravitational force of falling or flowing water is used to rotate a turbine. France makes energy from tidal power.
21: What are some of the environmental impacts of tidal power?
While tidal power is far more predictable than solar or wind, its periodic nature can still be an issue (unless the design allows for reversible flow, power is only generated during half of the tidal cycle, and, even if it can generate power in both directions, the relative pauses between spring and neap tides will not generate significant power), and placement of systems for optimal power still depend on the surrounding geography, since confined watercourses experience greater fluctuations in height and current.
22: What is the major problem with using wind power?
The massive subsidies provided to Wind Power is a wasteful use of our tax dollars. Efficiency and Conservation programs should be the priority if significant reductions in fossil fuel use are to be achieved. Industrial wind factories are destructive to communities and local environments. Fragile ecosystems are destroyed. Birds and bats are killed. Animal habitats are disrupted and wildlife is driven from the area. Noise and vibrations cause human health problems, including sleep problems, headaches and nervous disorders. Home values and real estate price sare reduced, with some properties becoming impossible to sell.
23: How are winds produced?
Wind is simple air in motion. It is caused by the uneven heating of the earth's surface by the sun. Since the earth's surface is made of very different types of land and water, it absorbs the sun's heat at different rates.
24: How does topography influence winds? Explain.
When the topography affects the weather, it is often called an orographic effect, from -oro that means 'mountain' in Greek. We are then talking about orographic fog, orographic convections and sometimes, katabatic and anabatic winds. The former is when cold air sinks from the hills down in the valley, at night, and the latter is the opposite, during daytime. As you understand, the wind cannot go through a hill or a mountain; it has to rise over it, to come down after it. That creates an undulation in the flow of the air that certainly affects a hot air balloon. Sometimes, at the lee of a mountains, you can see cumulus lenticularis clouds. Those are shaped like a lens and don't move. They are made from air that rises and sinks as an eddy. This is often used by glider pilots to gain altitude from taking it from the rising side. A hot air balloon would the the same but, unfortunately, you can't direct it.
25: Which regions in the United States have the greatest potential for wind power development?
The model confirms that wind power in the central plains of the United States has the most potential to provide energy to the electric grid, and it successfully predicts the location of wind farm development currently underway. The model also highlights Missouri, South Dakota, Nebraska, Indiana, and Montana as being undeveloped states in terms of wind energy potential.
26: Which country has the largest wind energy capacity installed?
United States
27: Modern wind turbines are big- as much as ______ m high, as tall as a _____ story building, and have a generating capacity of more than ______ watts. This is enough electricity for _______ modern U.S. homes.
70, 23, 1million, 500
28: What are the disadvantages to wind power for the environment?
kill thousands of bats/birds , if put in the ocean, can harm the ocean ecosystem, can harm forest (when being built in that area) along with wildlife there, soil erosion due to building of turbines (exaggerated argument though)
29: What is the future outlook for wind energy generation?
Wind energy is a clean, renewable way of producing electricity. If costs are brought down, its future looks assured as a complement to other electrical production technologies such as fossil fuels, nuclear energy, and solar energy. Much of its future development will undoubtedly be offshore.
30: What are the 3 categories of biofuels?
Vegetable oil is used in several old diesel engines that have indirect injection systems. This oil is also used to create biodiesel, which when mixed with conventional diesel fuel is compatible for most diesel engines. Bioalcohols are biologically produced alcohols.The combined processes of gasification, combustion and pyrolyis gives rise to Syngas which is a biofuel.
31: How many people worldwide still use wood as their primary source for energy?
1 billion people
32: What are some of the benefits of using biofuels?
Engines running on biofuels emit carbon dioxide (CO2), the primary source of greenhouse gas emissions, just like those running on gasoline. However, becauseplants and trees are the raw material for biofuels, and, because they need carbon dioxide to grow, the use of biofuels does not add CO2 to the atmosphere, it just recycles what was already there.
33: What are the environmental concerns with the using of biofuels?
Adding ethanol to gasoline decreases emissions of carbon monoxide and helps reduce carcinogenic substances in gasoline such as benzene, toluene, and xylene. According to the EPA, a 10% ethanol blend can reduce benzene by 25% compared to gasoline. However, ethanol does result in slightly higher emissions of acetaldehyde. Ethanol also has a mixed impact on ground-levelsmog – some studies show an increase, others a decrease.
34: What are the two types of geothermal energy and how do they differ?
Dry steam powers plants by natural occurring large areas of hydrothermal resources
Flash steam power plants generate energy from liquid hydrothermal resources with high temperatures.
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.
Deep–earth, high–density geothermal energy is naturally occurring heat that originates in Earth’s interior. While this type of geothermal energy is not technically nonrenewable, the energy source may be considered renewable when rates of extraction are equal to or lesser than rates of natural replenishment.
37: Where is low-density geothermal energy mostly found? Why?
groundwater because it cool
38: What are the PROS and CONS of using geothermal energy? There is an enormous amount of thermal energy deep within the earth, that is replenished at a very high rate. This amount is conservatively estimated to be higher than all the fossil fuels and uranium combined.
39: Would their widespread use affect our economic and social environment?
paying them to use the energy sources or less taxes
1: How much of the world’s electricity do nuclear power plant provide?
17%
2: In the United States, nuclear power plants produce about ____% of the country’s electricity and about _____% of the total energy used.
20, 8
3: The nuclear power plants in France provide _____% of the country’s total energy.What is Nuclear Energy?
80
4: What is nuclear energy?
Nuclear energy originates from the splitting of uranium atoms in a process calledfission. At the power plant, the fission process is used to generate heat for producing steam, which is used by a turbine to generate electricity.
5: What is the difference between fission and fusion?
Fission involves taking a large atom (such as uranium or plutonium) and hitting it with a neutron to "split" it.Fusion is the opposite - it involves very small atoms, usually hydrogen, and using extreme pressure and heat to force them together into a larger one (helium).
6: Nuclear reactors use _________ (fusion or fission?) and which product as a source of radioactivity? ____________________
fission and the product is uranium oxide
7: Which type of Uranium is used for nuclear power plants?
Uranium-235
8: What does it mean that the Uranium is “enriched”?
increased in concentration
9: What is a nuclear “meltdown”?
Nuclear meltdown refers to a very serious nuclear reactor accident, which results in core damage from overheating. This kind of accident occurs when the heat that is produced by the nuclear reactor is exceedingly more than the heat that the cooling systems are removing.
10: Reactors that use ordinary water as the coolant are called: ____________________
moderators
11: Draw and label a diagram below to explain the nuclear power plant set-up:
See the below
12: What is a radioisotope?
A radioisotope, or radioactive isotope, is one in which the nucleus decays spontaneously, giving off particles and energy. When the decay leads to a change in the number of protons, it transforms that atom to an atom of a different element.
13: What is radioactive decay?
Radioactive decay is the spontaneous disintegration of unstable atomic nucleus, and as a result leads to release of energy. It also leads to the emission of ionised particles, which are very hazardous. Radioactive decay is a very random process, hence it cannot be predicted.
14: What is a half-life? What is the half-life of Uranium 235?
Time required by a body to process and eliminate half the amount of a substance introduced into it. Also called biological half life, biological half time, metabolic half life, or metabolic half time.The half life of uranium 232 is 68.8 years and 99.6 years in lifetime. Uranium 238 has a half-life of 4.46 billion years and uranium 235 has a half-life of 704 billion years. Natural uranium usually consists of three isotopes which include: uranium-238, uranium-235, and uranium-234. All the uranium isotopes are radioactive.
15: Define the following types of nuclear radiation: (Explain the safety measures needed when
using each)
* Alpha Particle: An alpha particle is actually a helium-4 nucleus (4He2+, or 24He++), and it's composed of two protons and two neutrons.
*Beta Particle: A beta particle is either an electron or a positron emitted by an atomic nucleus in beta decay, which is a type of radioactive decay.
* Gamma Rays: Gamma rays are the strongest from of radiation. This is what makes nuclear radiation so dangerous.
16: Uranium goes through a radioactive decay chain to finally become which element?
lead-206
17: What are the major problems associated with the nuclear fuel cycle?
The dual-use nature of uranium for both peaceful and military purposes is a major proliferation problem associated with the nuclear fuel cycle. Uranium undergoes a series of steps until it is usable in nuclear power reactors.
18: How does nuclear radiation effect ecosystems? Explain and give an example.
Nuclear radiation, unlike the radiation from a light bulb or a microwave, is energetic enough to ionize atoms by knocking off their electrons. This ionizing radiation can damage DNA molecules directly, by breaking the bonds between atoms, or it can ionize water molecules and form free radicals, which are highly reactive and also disrupt the bonds of surrounding molecules, including DNA.
19: Radiation is found naturally in what kind of materials? Give 2 examples.
soils and rocks. Examples: are granite & shale
20: Where in the United States are background radiation levels higher?
Florida
21: In what ways are people exposed to radiation in their every day lives?
exposed to radiation
22: What is the commonly used unit for radioactive decay? Who is it named after?
curie, named after Marie 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 _____ and ______. In the international system (SI), the units are ______ and ________.
rads, rems, grays, sievert.
25: For gamma rays, the unit commonly used is the ____________ or in SI units, ___________
roentgen, coulombs
26: What is the LD50 dose of radiation in humans?
5 sieverts
27: What happened to the women who worked in the watch factories in the early 1900’s?
women died of anemia
28: What are the health effects for workers in uranium mines?
high rates of lung cancer
29: What is the current risk of a nuclear meltdown in the U.S. according to the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission?
one in ten thousand
30: When did the event on Three-Mile Island occur?
March 28, 1979
31: Where is Three-Mile Island located?
near Harrisburg, Pennsylvania
32: What were some of the societal issues associated with the incident at Three-Mile Island?
fear of another meltdown, revealed problems to nuclear power.
33: Summarize the events at Chernobyl, Soviet Union
The Chernobyl nuclearpower plant was built in the wooded marshlands of northern Ukraine, approximately 80 miles north of Kiev. Its first reactor went online in 1977, the second in 1978, third in 1981, and fourth in 1983; two more were planned for construction. A small town, Pripyat, was also built near the Chernobyl nuclear power plant to house the workers and their families.
34: How many people died and how many people were diagnosed with acute radiation sickness?
237 people
35: How many people were exposed to radiation in the days following the accident?
3 million people
36: What was the most common type of illness that resulted from the Japanese A-bomb survivors?
leukemia
37: What was the most common type of illness that resulted from the Chernobyl accident?
thyroid cancer
38: What happened to the ecosystem around the affected area following the meltdown? Radioactive
The half-life of radioactive material is the time taken for half the amount initially present to decay. Because many of the most significant radioisotopes have short half-lives in the range of hours or days, most have decayed away by now
39: What is low-level radioactive waste? Where it is stored?
As mentioned above, low-level radioactive waste is defined as any radioactive waste that does not belong in one of the other three categories. Those three categories are (1) high-level waste (spent nuclear fuel or the highly radioactive waste produced if spent fuel is reprocessed), (2) uranium milling residues, and (3) waste with greater than specified quantities of elements heavier than uranium
40: What is transuranic waste? How is it created?
Material contaminated with transuranic elements—artificially made, radioactive elements, such as neptunium, plutonium, americium, and others—that have atomic numbers higher than uranium in the periodic table of elements. Transuranic waste is primarily produced from recycling spent fuelor using plutonium to fabricate nuclear weapons.
41: What is high-level radioactive waste? Where is it stored?
High-level radioactive wastes are the highly radioactive materials produced as a byproduct of the reactions that occur inside nuclear reactors.
42: What and where is Yucca Mountain? What was the plan with it?
The U.S. nuclear establishment in industry and government has, since 1987, focused on geologically unsuitable Western Shoshone Indian land in Nevada for opening the world’s first permanent burial dump for highly radioactive nuclear wastes. Yucca’s rock, fractured by earthquake activity – not to mention nuclear weapons blasts at the nearby Nevada Test Site – would allow radioactivity to massively leak out into the underground drinking water supply over time.
43: What are the safety hazards associated with using Yucca Mountain to store nuclear waste?
probability of earthquakes. explosions, and changes in storage environments
44: How much Uranium stores do we have left?
104 uranium
45: What are the PROS and CONS of using Nuclear Power?
As demand for electricity soars, the pollution produced from fossil fuel-burning plants is heading towards dangerous levels. Coal, gas and oil burning power plants are already responsible for half of America's air pollution. Burning coal produces carbon dioxide, which depletes the protection of the ozone.The rods that contain the uranium fuel pellets would dissolve, leaving the fuel exposed. The temperature would increase with the lack of a cooling source. When the fuel rods heat to 2800°C, the fuel would melt, and a white-hot molten mass would melt its way through the containment vessels to the ground below it.
46: What are breeder reactors?
these are the special reactors whuch convert a non-fissionable radioactive material to fissionable radio active material .e.g. U-238 is non-fissionable but can be made fissonable with Breeder . U 235 is not available in large amount so some other materials are used as a fuel in Nuclear reactors which are made fit for fission using a breeder . A nuclear reacter can fission a fuel but a beerder makes a non-fissionable material fissionable
The technology is different than traditional sailing systems because the sail area and the ship are separated by a towing rope. According to them, this result in higher power, easier deployment and higher safety than traditional sails
2: Fossil fuels supply approximately ______% of the energy consumed by people
90%
3: What are the two types of non-renewable alternative energy sources? Why are they considered to be non-renewable?
coal and natural gas.Many people are concerned that the non-renewable sources of energy are running out. No new oil wells are being discovered (if some are still knocking around, they’re often in difficult areas to access or in places that drilling is prohibited e.g. Antarctica). No new coal seams are coming to light – and even if they are, people are concerned about the carbon that is released to the atmosphere by burning coal
4: What is low-density, near-surface geothermal energy?
The cooling process is, however, very slow. The temperature of the mantle has decreased no more than 300-350°C in three billion years, remaining at about 4000°C at its base. Estimates from more than twenty years ago gave the total heat content of the Earth, reckoned above an assumed average surface temperature of 15 °C, in the order of 12.6 x10E24 MJ, and that of the crust in the order of 5.4 x 10E21 MJ. The thermal energy of the Earth is therefore immense, but only a fraction can be utilized by man. So far our utilization of this energy has been limited to areas in which geological conditions permit a carrier to "transfer" the heat from deep hot zones to or near the surface, thus giving rise to geothermal resources, but innovative techniques in the near future may offer new perspectives in this sector.
5: What are biofuels made from?
The process of manufacturing bio-fuel starts by filtering the waste vegetable oil to remove all the food particles and then the removal of water by boiling the liquid at 100 degrees Celsius for some time. After this, the titration process is carried out to establish the amount of lye required. This is followed by preparation of sodium methoxide and then heating and mixing. The liquid is left to cool down, after which the bio-fuel will be floating over the heavier glycerine.
6: What is the definition of “renewable” energy?
Renewable energy means energy that comes form natural resources and can not be exhausted. Sources of renewable energy include: water, wind, sunlight, tides and geothermal heat. This energy is not derived form nuclear or fossil fuel.
7: How much solar energy is equal to the energy stored in a all known reserves of coal, oil and natural gas on Earth?
The amount of energy from the sun that falls on Earth's surface is enormous. All the energy stored in Earth's reserves of coal, oil, and natural gas is matched by the energy from just 20 days of sunshine. Outside Earth's atmosphere, the sun's energy contains about 1,300 watts per square meter. About one-third of this light is reflected back into space, and some is absorbed by the atmosphere
8: What are passive solar energy systems? Give an example.
Passive energy, a term usually used in reference to passive solar energy, is natural energywhich is directly harnessed to achieve a desired goal. While there are many different ways to use the sun’s heat, how that heat is used and transferred determines whether the system is active or passive. Essentially, a passive system uses few or no moving parts. If you use the sun’s heat to warm a water tank, that would be passive solar; if you were to pump that water through your walls to heat your home, that would be active solar heating.
9: What are active solar energy systems? Give an example.
Solar heating is a means of collecting and storing energy, in the form of heat, harnessed from the sun. A passive solar heating system passively collects and transfers that energy. Skylight sand greenhouses are examples of passive solar heating systems because they passively accept solar heat in but do nothing to actively enhance that process. Active solar heating, on the other hand, actively enhances the collection, storage or transfer of that energy. Active solar heating systems use fans and pumps to distribute the collected heat.
10: What are solar collectors? What are they used for? How do they work? A solar collector is a device used to capture the heat energy of the sun and convert it into a form more readily usable by humans. Unlike a photovoltaic cell, a solar collector is relatively low-tech, and they can be created and installed for a very low cost. The most basic type of solar collector involves some sort of liquid medium that is heated up by the sun’s rays and then transported to distribute heat elsewhere.
11: What are photovoltaics? What are they made out of? Explain how they work.
Photovoltaic cells look similar to solar panels but they work in a different way. Solar panels are use to produce hot water or even steam. Photovoltaic panels convert the sunlight directly into electricity. A typical example of a device powered by photovoltaic cells is a solar powered calculator. This type of device only needs a small amount of electrical power to work and can even be used in a room with artificial light
12: What are solar thermal generators? How do they work?
A solar heating panel is filled with water. Its bottom has a well-insulated pipe leading to the bottom of a well-insulated hot storage tank above and behind it. The top of the panel is connected by a similar insulated pipe to the top of the same tank. This is a closed-circuit water heater. Water warms up in the panel. Warm is less dense than cold water so it rises into the top of the hot storage tank and the colder water in the hot storage tank falls down into the panel where it is warmed. The water circulates like this all day, driven simply by convection.
13: What are some of the environmental concerns of solar energy?
Harnessing power from the wind is one of the cleanest and most sustainable ways to generate electricity as it produces no toxic pollution orglobal warming emissions. Wind is also abundant, inexhaustible, and affordable, which makes it a viable and large-scale alternative to fossil fuels.Despite its vast potential, there are a variety of environmental impacts associated with wind power generation that should be recognized and mitigated.
14: What are fuel cells? How are they created?
Fuel cells are a remarkable power source. They store energy in two naturally occurring elements (oxygen and hydrogen, which are already in our atmosphere) and form a single waste product (pure water). Refueling a fuel cell means providing more hydrogen and oxygen. With an external source of electricity such as a solar panel, one can split the waste water back into its component parts and use it again as fuel! Or, as they did in the Apollo missions, you can drink the water.
15: Water power has been around since when?
Roman Empire
16: How much power in the United States is currently powered by hydroelectricity?
Hydroelectric power plants in the United States are currently the largest producer of renewable power in the U.S. It produced around 66.8% of the total renewable power in the U.S. in 2008
17: What is microhydropower? Where is this helpful?
Micro-hydro power is the small-scale harnessing of energy from falling water, such as steep mountain rivers. Using this renewable, indigenous, non-polluting resource, micro-hydro plants can generate power for homes, hospitals, schools and workshops.Practical Action promotes small-scale hydro schemes that generate up to 500 kilowatts of power. The micro-hydro station, which converts the energy of flowing water into electricity, provides poor communities in rural areas with an affordable, easy to maintain and long-term solution to their energy needs.
18: What are the environmental benefits of hydroelectricity?
Hydroelectric power is water power. Hydroelectricity is derived from the energy created by running or falling water. The pressure of flowing water turns underwater turbines, which are connected to a generator that produces electricity. Sometimes water flow and pressure are natural, but often they are created by dams constructed for that purpose
19: What are the environmental consequences of hydroelectricity?
The size of the reservoir created by a hydroelectric project can vary widely, depending largely on the size of the hydroelectric generators and the topography of the land. Hydroelectric plants in flat areas tend to require much more land than those in hilly areas or canyons where deeper reservoirs can hold more volume of water in a smaller space.
20: Explain how we can harness tidal power.
Tidal power is generated from the ocean's tides. There are three forms of energy available in the ocean tides such as wave energy, tidal energy and thermal energy. Among these, tide energy is used successfully to generate power. When high tide comes to the shore, they can be captured in a reservoir and when the tide lowers the captured water can be released from the reservoir back to ocean. It works similar to hydroelectric power plant where the gravitational force of falling or flowing water is used to rotate a turbine. France makes energy from tidal power.
21: What are some of the environmental impacts of tidal power?
While tidal power is far more predictable than solar or wind, its periodic nature can still be an issue (unless the design allows for reversible flow, power is only generated during half of the tidal cycle, and, even if it can generate power in both directions, the relative pauses between spring and neap tides will not generate significant power), and placement of systems for optimal power still depend on the surrounding geography, since confined watercourses experience greater fluctuations in height and current.
22: What is the major problem with using wind power?
The massive subsidies provided to Wind Power is a wasteful use of our tax dollars. Efficiency and Conservation programs should be the priority if significant reductions in fossil fuel use are to be achieved. Industrial wind factories are destructive to communities and local environments. Fragile ecosystems are destroyed. Birds and bats are killed. Animal habitats are disrupted and wildlife is driven from the area. Noise and vibrations cause human health problems, including sleep problems, headaches and nervous disorders. Home values and real estate price sare reduced, with some properties becoming impossible to sell.
23: How are winds produced?
Wind is simple air in motion. It is caused by the uneven heating of the earth's surface by the sun. Since the earth's surface is made of very different types of land and water, it absorbs the sun's heat at different rates.
24: How does topography influence winds? Explain.
When the topography affects the weather, it is often called an orographic effect, from -oro that means 'mountain' in Greek. We are then talking about orographic fog, orographic convections and sometimes, katabatic and anabatic winds. The former is when cold air sinks from the hills down in the valley, at night, and the latter is the opposite, during daytime. As you understand, the wind cannot go through a hill or a mountain; it has to rise over it, to come down after it. That creates an undulation in the flow of the air that certainly affects a hot air balloon. Sometimes, at the lee of a mountains, you can see cumulus lenticularis clouds. Those are shaped like a lens and don't move. They are made from air that rises and sinks as an eddy. This is often used by glider pilots to gain altitude from taking it from the rising side. A hot air balloon would the the same but, unfortunately, you can't direct it.
25: Which regions in the United States have the greatest potential for wind power development?
The model confirms that wind power in the central plains of the United States has the most potential to provide energy to the electric grid, and it successfully predicts the location of wind farm development currently underway. The model also highlights Missouri, South Dakota, Nebraska, Indiana, and Montana as being undeveloped states in terms of wind energy potential.
26: Which country has the largest wind energy capacity installed?
United States
27: Modern wind turbines are big- as much as ______ m high, as tall as a _____ story building, and have a generating capacity of more than ______ watts. This is enough electricity for _______ modern U.S. homes.
70, 23, 1million, 500
28: What are the disadvantages to wind power for the environment?
kill thousands of bats/birds , if put in the ocean, can harm the ocean ecosystem, can harm forest (when being built in that area) along with wildlife there, soil erosion due to building of turbines (exaggerated argument though)
29: What is the future outlook for wind energy generation?
Wind energy is a clean, renewable way of producing electricity. If costs are brought down, its future looks assured as a complement to other electrical production technologies such as fossil fuels, nuclear energy, and solar energy. Much of its future development will undoubtedly be offshore.
30: What are the 3 categories of biofuels?
Vegetable oil is used in several old diesel engines that have indirect injection systems. This oil is also used to create biodiesel, which when mixed with conventional diesel fuel is compatible for most diesel engines. Bioalcohols are biologically produced alcohols.The combined processes of gasification, combustion and pyrolyis gives rise to Syngas which is a biofuel.
31: How many people worldwide still use wood as their primary source for energy?
1 billion people
32: What are some of the benefits of using biofuels?
Engines running on biofuels emit carbon dioxide (CO2), the primary source of greenhouse gas emissions, just like those running on gasoline. However, becauseplants and trees are the raw material for biofuels, and, because they need carbon dioxide to grow, the use of biofuels does not add CO2 to the atmosphere, it just recycles what was already there.
33: What are the environmental concerns with the using of biofuels?
Adding ethanol to gasoline decreases emissions of carbon monoxide and helps reduce carcinogenic substances in gasoline such as benzene, toluene, and xylene. According to the EPA, a 10% ethanol blend can reduce benzene by 25% compared to gasoline. However, ethanol does result in slightly higher emissions of acetaldehyde. Ethanol also has a mixed impact on ground-levelsmog – some studies show an increase, others a decrease.
34: What are the two types of geothermal energy and how do they differ?
Dry steam powers plants by natural occurring large areas of hydrothermal resources
Flash steam power plants generate energy from liquid hydrothermal resources with high temperatures.
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.
Deep–earth, high–density geothermal energy is naturally occurring heat that originates in Earth’s interior. While this type of geothermal energy is not technically nonrenewable, the energy source may be considered renewable when rates of extraction are equal to or lesser than rates of natural replenishment.
37: Where is low-density geothermal energy mostly found? Why?
groundwater because it cool
38: What are the PROS and CONS of using geothermal energy? There is an enormous amount of thermal energy deep within the earth, that is replenished at a very high rate. This amount is conservatively estimated to be higher than all the fossil fuels and uranium combined.
- To access the vast majority of the energy, the earth’s crust has to be drilled for extreme distances.
39: Would their widespread use affect our economic and social environment?
paying them to use the energy sources or less taxes
1: How much of the world’s electricity do nuclear power plant provide?
17%
2: In the United States, nuclear power plants produce about ____% of the country’s electricity and about _____% of the total energy used.
20, 8
3: The nuclear power plants in France provide _____% of the country’s total energy.What is Nuclear Energy?
80
4: What is nuclear energy?
Nuclear energy originates from the splitting of uranium atoms in a process calledfission. At the power plant, the fission process is used to generate heat for producing steam, which is used by a turbine to generate electricity.
5: What is the difference between fission and fusion?
Fission involves taking a large atom (such as uranium or plutonium) and hitting it with a neutron to "split" it.Fusion is the opposite - it involves very small atoms, usually hydrogen, and using extreme pressure and heat to force them together into a larger one (helium).
6: Nuclear reactors use _________ (fusion or fission?) and which product as a source of radioactivity? ____________________
fission and the product is uranium oxide
7: Which type of Uranium is used for nuclear power plants?
Uranium-235
8: What does it mean that the Uranium is “enriched”?
increased in concentration
9: What is a nuclear “meltdown”?
Nuclear meltdown refers to a very serious nuclear reactor accident, which results in core damage from overheating. This kind of accident occurs when the heat that is produced by the nuclear reactor is exceedingly more than the heat that the cooling systems are removing.
10: Reactors that use ordinary water as the coolant are called: ____________________
moderators
11: Draw and label a diagram below to explain the nuclear power plant set-up:
See the below
12: What is a radioisotope?
A radioisotope, or radioactive isotope, is one in which the nucleus decays spontaneously, giving off particles and energy. When the decay leads to a change in the number of protons, it transforms that atom to an atom of a different element.
13: What is radioactive decay?
Radioactive decay is the spontaneous disintegration of unstable atomic nucleus, and as a result leads to release of energy. It also leads to the emission of ionised particles, which are very hazardous. Radioactive decay is a very random process, hence it cannot be predicted.
14: What is a half-life? What is the half-life of Uranium 235?
Time required by a body to process and eliminate half the amount of a substance introduced into it. Also called biological half life, biological half time, metabolic half life, or metabolic half time.The half life of uranium 232 is 68.8 years and 99.6 years in lifetime. Uranium 238 has a half-life of 4.46 billion years and uranium 235 has a half-life of 704 billion years. Natural uranium usually consists of three isotopes which include: uranium-238, uranium-235, and uranium-234. All the uranium isotopes are radioactive.
15: Define the following types of nuclear radiation: (Explain the safety measures needed when
using each)
* Alpha Particle: An alpha particle is actually a helium-4 nucleus (4He2+, or 24He++), and it's composed of two protons and two neutrons.
*Beta Particle: A beta particle is either an electron or a positron emitted by an atomic nucleus in beta decay, which is a type of radioactive decay.
* Gamma Rays: Gamma rays are the strongest from of radiation. This is what makes nuclear radiation so dangerous.
16: Uranium goes through a radioactive decay chain to finally become which element?
lead-206
17: What are the major problems associated with the nuclear fuel cycle?
The dual-use nature of uranium for both peaceful and military purposes is a major proliferation problem associated with the nuclear fuel cycle. Uranium undergoes a series of steps until it is usable in nuclear power reactors.
18: How does nuclear radiation effect ecosystems? Explain and give an example.
Nuclear radiation, unlike the radiation from a light bulb or a microwave, is energetic enough to ionize atoms by knocking off their electrons. This ionizing radiation can damage DNA molecules directly, by breaking the bonds between atoms, or it can ionize water molecules and form free radicals, which are highly reactive and also disrupt the bonds of surrounding molecules, including DNA.
19: Radiation is found naturally in what kind of materials? Give 2 examples.
soils and rocks. Examples: are granite & shale
20: Where in the United States are background radiation levels higher?
Florida
21: In what ways are people exposed to radiation in their every day lives?
exposed to radiation
22: What is the commonly used unit for radioactive decay? Who is it named after?
curie, named after Marie 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 _____ and ______. In the international system (SI), the units are ______ and ________.
rads, rems, grays, sievert.
25: For gamma rays, the unit commonly used is the ____________ or in SI units, ___________
roentgen, coulombs
26: What is the LD50 dose of radiation in humans?
5 sieverts
27: What happened to the women who worked in the watch factories in the early 1900’s?
women died of anemia
28: What are the health effects for workers in uranium mines?
high rates of lung cancer
29: What is the current risk of a nuclear meltdown in the U.S. according to the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission?
one in ten thousand
30: When did the event on Three-Mile Island occur?
March 28, 1979
31: Where is Three-Mile Island located?
near Harrisburg, Pennsylvania
32: What were some of the societal issues associated with the incident at Three-Mile Island?
fear of another meltdown, revealed problems to nuclear power.
33: Summarize the events at Chernobyl, Soviet Union
The Chernobyl nuclearpower plant was built in the wooded marshlands of northern Ukraine, approximately 80 miles north of Kiev. Its first reactor went online in 1977, the second in 1978, third in 1981, and fourth in 1983; two more were planned for construction. A small town, Pripyat, was also built near the Chernobyl nuclear power plant to house the workers and their families.
34: How many people died and how many people were diagnosed with acute radiation sickness?
237 people
35: How many people were exposed to radiation in the days following the accident?
3 million people
36: What was the most common type of illness that resulted from the Japanese A-bomb survivors?
leukemia
37: What was the most common type of illness that resulted from the Chernobyl accident?
thyroid cancer
38: What happened to the ecosystem around the affected area following the meltdown? Radioactive
The half-life of radioactive material is the time taken for half the amount initially present to decay. Because many of the most significant radioisotopes have short half-lives in the range of hours or days, most have decayed away by now
39: What is low-level radioactive waste? Where it is stored?
As mentioned above, low-level radioactive waste is defined as any radioactive waste that does not belong in one of the other three categories. Those three categories are (1) high-level waste (spent nuclear fuel or the highly radioactive waste produced if spent fuel is reprocessed), (2) uranium milling residues, and (3) waste with greater than specified quantities of elements heavier than uranium
40: What is transuranic waste? How is it created?
Material contaminated with transuranic elements—artificially made, radioactive elements, such as neptunium, plutonium, americium, and others—that have atomic numbers higher than uranium in the periodic table of elements. Transuranic waste is primarily produced from recycling spent fuelor using plutonium to fabricate nuclear weapons.
41: What is high-level radioactive waste? Where is it stored?
High-level radioactive wastes are the highly radioactive materials produced as a byproduct of the reactions that occur inside nuclear reactors.
42: What and where is Yucca Mountain? What was the plan with it?
The U.S. nuclear establishment in industry and government has, since 1987, focused on geologically unsuitable Western Shoshone Indian land in Nevada for opening the world’s first permanent burial dump for highly radioactive nuclear wastes. Yucca’s rock, fractured by earthquake activity – not to mention nuclear weapons blasts at the nearby Nevada Test Site – would allow radioactivity to massively leak out into the underground drinking water supply over time.
43: What are the safety hazards associated with using Yucca Mountain to store nuclear waste?
probability of earthquakes. explosions, and changes in storage environments
44: How much Uranium stores do we have left?
104 uranium
45: What are the PROS and CONS of using Nuclear Power?
As demand for electricity soars, the pollution produced from fossil fuel-burning plants is heading towards dangerous levels. Coal, gas and oil burning power plants are already responsible for half of America's air pollution. Burning coal produces carbon dioxide, which depletes the protection of the ozone.The rods that contain the uranium fuel pellets would dissolve, leaving the fuel exposed. The temperature would increase with the lack of a cooling source. When the fuel rods heat to 2800°C, the fuel would melt, and a white-hot molten mass would melt its way through the containment vessels to the ground below it.
46: What are breeder reactors?
these are the special reactors whuch convert a non-fissionable radioactive material to fissionable radio active material .e.g. U-238 is non-fissionable but can be made fissonable with Breeder . U 235 is not available in large amount so some other materials are used as a fuel in Nuclear reactors which are made fit for fission using a breeder . A nuclear reacter can fission a fuel but a beerder makes a non-fissionable material fissionable