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Geo ch.11 (3)
Industry and Energy - Renewable Energy and Pollution
| Term | Definition |
|---|---|
| Corporate Average Fuel Efficiency (CAFE) | government mandate responsible for higher standard for miles per gallon in vehicles |
| unconventional fossil fuel resources | Resources are considered unconventional if we lack economically feasible or environmentally sound technology with which to extract them |
| oil sands | unconventional resource found in Canada, Venezuela, and Russia, sands saturated with petroleum, profitable mining in Alberta, Canada |
| hydraulic fracturing | involves pumping water at high pressure to further break apart rocks and release more gas that can be extracted; Texas, Oklahoma, and Appalachian Mtns, requires a lot of water and opponents fear env. damage |
| fission | the splitting of an atomic nucleus to release energy |
| radioactive waste | one product of all nuclear reactions |
| Fukushima Daiichi plant | in Japan, in 2011, earthquake and tsunami caused a meltdown |
| Chernobyl | 1986, nuclear reactor meltdown from a runaway reaction |
| plutonium | harvested from radioactive waste and used for making nuclear weapons |
| Waste Isolation Pilot Plant | nuclear waste is stored here, 660 meters underground in New Mexico |
| uranium | nonrenewable, proven reserves will last 124 years, Australia has 29% of the world's supply |
| breeder reactor | turns uranium into a renewable resource by generating plutonium - this is more lethal and easier to make into a bomb so few have been built |
| nuclear fusion | the fusing of hydrogen atoms to form helium - cannot be generated with current technology |
| renewable energy | a source of energy that has a theoretically unlimited supply and is not depleted when used by people |
| biomass fuel | derived from burning wood, plant material, and animal waste directly or converting them to charcoal, alcohol, or methane gas |
| hydroelectric power | generating electricity from the movement of water |
| wind power | 90% of world production in China, N America, and Europe - high cost of constructing turbines - only 1/3 of US has sufficient winds for power - some people say they are harmful for birds and bats |
| geothermal energy | energy from hot water or steam, can be harnessed where crustal plates meet, leading producers are the US, Philippines, and Indonesia, also in Iceland |
| passive solar energy system | collects energy without the use of mechanical devices |
| active solar energy system | collects solar radiation through the use of mechanical devices and converts it either to heat energy or to electricity |
| passive solar energy in window panes | double and triple window panes, low-emissivity glass filled with argon to insulate, and phase-change technologies |
| photovoltaic cells | made of silicon, electrons move through the silicon to produce direct current (DC) electricity |
| Bell Laboratories | invented photovoltaic cells in 1954 |
| indirect active solar energy | solar radiation is first converted to heat and then to electricity |
| hybrid vehicles | conserve gasoline by running on electricity at low speeds |
| pollution | occurs when more waste is added to air, water, and land than those resources can handle |
| air pollution | a concentration of trace substances at a greater level than occurs in average air |
| carbon monoxide | reduces blood oxygen level, impairs vision, worsens breathing problems |
| photochemical smog | formed when hydrocarbons and nitrogen oxides react with sunlight |
| particulates | dusk and smoke particles |
| temperature inversion | trap pollution near the ground |
| acid deposition | the accumulation of acids, including sulfuric and nitric acid, on Earth's surface |
| acid precipitation | sulfur oxides and nitrogen oxides, emitted by burning fossil fuels, enter the atmosphere, where they combine with oxygen and water and fall |
| greenhouse effect | the increase in Earth’s temperature, caused by carbon dioxide trapping some of the radiation emitted by the surface |
| ozone | a gas that absorbs ultraviolet radiation in the stratosphere |
| chlorofluorocarbons | a gas used as a solvent, a propellant in aerosols, a refrigerant, and in plastic foams and fire extinguisher |
| non-consumptive water use | use of water that is returned to nature as a liquid – most industrial and municipal uses |
| consumptive water use | use of water that evaporates rather than being returned to nature as a liquid – most agricultural uses |
| biochemical oxygen demand (BOD) | the amount of oxygen required by aquatic bacteria to decompose a given load of organic waste |
| point-source pollution | enters a body of water at a specific location, 2 main sources are manufacturers and municipal treatment plants |
| nonpoint-source pollution | comes from a large, diffuse area, principal source is agriculture |
| Aral Sea | once the world's 4th largest lake, now shrinking because of pollution |
| sanitary landfill | a place to deposit solid waste, where a layer of earth is bulldozed over garbage each day to reduce emissions of gases/odors from the decaying trash, to minimize fires, and to discourage vermin |
| hazardous wastes | include heavy metals (including mercury, cadmium, and zinc), PCB oils from electrical equipment, cyanides, strong solvents, acids, and caustics |
Created by:
imr36093
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