Chapter 15 Flashcards
(178 cards)
1
Q
Hydraulic fracturing is also called
A
hydrofracking or fracking
2
Q
What is the hydraulic fracturing process
A
Drilling deep into the earth and then angling the drill horizontally once it meets shale formation; electric charges create fractures in the shale; then a slurry of water, sand, and chemicals is pumped in; sand lodges in the fractures and holds them open as some liquid returns to the surface, including natural gas
3
Q
Hydraulic fracturing is used to
A
extract natural gas trapped in shale deposits deep underground
4
Q
Why were Dimock, PA, residents happy to allow Cabot Oil and Gas Corporation to drill for natural gas at first?
A
They were to receive royalties on gas sells &
Job opportunities increased
5
Q
Many residents started having second thoughts about the drilling. Why?
A
Drinking water turned brown, gray, or cloudy
Strange chemical smells from their wells
A well exploded because of methane buildup
6
Q
What were the resulting events from the drilling in Dimock, PA?
A
- Cabot, local political leaders, and Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) would not listen to residents’ concerns
- News media picked up the story
- Documentary filmmaker Josh Fox produced the 2010 film Gasland and won numerous awards
- Finally, Pennsylvania DEP fined Cabot and required them to pay for hauling in clean drinking water
- However, Pennsylvania Governor Tom Corbett ordered an end to the water shipments
- U.S. EPA found that 5 of 64 wells tested were contaminated with chemicals that could threaten health
7
Q
Most of Earth’s energy comes from the sun such as:
A
Solar, wind, hydroelectric, photosynthesis, biomass
8
Q
We use ___________ in our homes, machinery, and vehicles and in products that provide comfort and conveniences.
A
energy
9
Q
What are some non-renewable energy sources?
A
crude oil
natural gas
coal
nuclear energy
10
Q
What are some renewable energy sources?
A
biomass energy hydropower solar energy wind energy geothermal energy tidal and wave energy
11
Q
Fossil fuel extracted from ground(liquid)
A
Crude oil
12
Q
Fossil fuel extracted from ground(gas)
A
Natural gas
13
Q
Fossil fuel extracted from ground(solid)
A
Coal
14
Q
Energy from atomic nuclei of uranium
A
Nuclear energy
15
Q
Energy stored in plant matter from photosynthesis
A
Biomass energy
16
Q
Energy from running water
A
Hydropower
17
Q
Energy from sunlight directly
A
Solar energy
18
Q
Energy from wind
A
Wind energy
19
Q
Earth’s internal heat rising from core
A
Geothermal energy
20
Q
Energy from tides and ocean waves
A
Tidal and wave energy
21
Q
We rely mostly on what for energy?
A
Fossil fuels
22
Q
Highly combustible substances from the remains of organisms from past geologic ages are called?
A
Fossil fuels
23
Q
Fossil fuels provide most of our energy for:
A
Transportation, heating, cooking
24
Q
Easy to transfer and have lots of uses
A
Electricity
25
Annual global consumption of ______________________ has risen greatly over the past half-century.
Fossil fuels
26
Oil, coal, natural gas are all what?
Fossil fuels
27
Across the world today, over 80% of our energy and 2/3 of our electricity come from:
Coal, oil, and natural gas
28
- Once depleted, it cannot be renewed
- Includes oil, coal, natural gas
- We will use up earth’s accessible store in decades to centuries
- to replenish the fossil fuels we have depleted so far would take millions of years
Non-renewable energy
29
- Supplies are not depleted by our use
| - Includes sunlight, geothermal energy, and tidal energy
Renewable energy
30
_________________________ Is helping to obtain less accessible deposits
Hydraulic fracturing
31
Energy is _______________ Distributed
Unevenly
32
Some regions of the globe have substantial reserves of _______, _____________, & _________________ where as others have very few.
Oil, coal, and natural gas
33
Nations with the largest proven reserves of oil
Venezuela, Saudi Arabia, Canada, Iran, Iraq
34
Nations with the largest proven reserves of natural gas
Iran, Russia, Qatar, Turkmenistan, United States
35
Nations with the largest proven reserves of coal
United States, Russia, China, Australia, India
36
What country has the largest percentage of oil reserves?
Venezuela 17.7%
37
Which country has the largest amount of natural gas reserves?
Iran 18.2%
38
What country has the largest amount of coal reserves?
United States 26.6%
39
It takes _____________ to make energy.
Energy
40
To harness, extract, process, and deliver energy requires substantial inputs of energy such as:
Powerful machinery, vehicles, storage tanks, pipelines, etc.
41
The difference between costs in energy invested and benefits of energy received is called what?
Net energy
Net energy = energy returned - energy invested
42
EROI stands for what?
Energy returned on investment
43
Higher ratios mean we receive more energy than we ___________.
Invest
44
EROI ratios can __________.
Change
45
Do fossil fuels have a high or low EROI?
High
46
EROI ratios __________ when we extract the easiest deposits first.
Decline
47
When EROI ratios decline, we now must work harder to extract the remaining ___________.
Reserves
48
U.S _____________ & _______________ EROI Ratios have gone from 30:1 and 1950s to 11:1 today
Oil and natural gas
49
What type of environment is the following:
Little or no oxygen present
Deep lakes, swamps
Produces fossil fuels
Anaerobic environment
50
Fossil fuel’s we’re form from organisms that lived ________________________.
100-500 million years ago
51
How is coal formed?
It is formed from organic matter (plants) placed under high-pressure
52
The worlds most abundant fossil fuel is ________ And was created 300 to 400 million years ago
Coal
53
Strip mining of coal
For deposits near the surface
54
Subsurface mining of coal
For deposits deep underground
55
Mountaintop removal of coal
Entire mountain tops are cut off, environmentally distructive, common and the Appalachian Mountains
56
Crude oil is made of?
Liquid made of Hydrocarbons
57
Petroleum is made of?
Natural gas plus oil
| Formed from organic material (plankton) in coastal marine waters
58
Biogenic gas is created?
In shallow water by anaerobic decomposition of organic matter by bacteria
Swamp gas, landfill gas
59
Thermogenic gas is formed?
Deep underground
60
Natural gas is mainly __________.
Methane(CH4)
61
Oil sands(tar sands) Are made up of what?
- Sand deposits with bitumen
- A form of petroleum rich and carbon, poor in hydrogen
- degraded and chemically altered crude oil deposits
62
What country has 47.4% coal production and 50.3% coal consumption?
China
63
What country has 13.1 oil production and what country has 19.9% oil consumption?
Production – Saudi Arabia
| Consumption – United States
64
What country has 12.9% coal production and 11.9% coal consumption?
U.S
65
What country has 12.9% oil production and what country has 12.1% oil consumption?
Production – Russia
| Consumption – China
66
What country has 20.6% natural gas production and 22.2% natural gas consumption?
U.S
67
What country has 17.9% natural gas production and 12.3% natural gas consumption?
Russia
68
Once it is extracted, oil is ____________.
| Hydrocarbons are sorted for different uses
Refined
69
Oil is used for:
Fuel, lubricating oils, asphalt, and precursors of plastics and other petrochemical products
70
How are oil sands/tar sands removed?
They are removed by strip mining or deep underground extraction
71
____________ has been used for thousands of years to cook, he homes, and fire pottery.
________ fired steam engines power factories, trains, chips, and industrial furnaces.
_________ fired power plants convert water to steam.
Coal
Coal
Coal
72
Used to generate electricity in power plants, heat, and cook in homes
Natural gas
73
What is liquefied natural gas and how is it transported?
Gas converted to liquid
It is shipped in refrigerated tankers
74
Used to fuel vehicles(gasoline, diesel, jet fuel)
Oil
75
How many years of oil do we have left?
About 53 years
76
Liquefied natural gas emits 1/2 as much _______ as coal, 2/3 as much as oil
CO2
77
__________________ Based products include lubricants, fabrics, pharmaceuticals
Petroleum
78
Geologist M. King Hubbard predicted that US oil production would peak around 1970 (termed Hubbards peak).
Was his production accurate?
His protection was accurate and US production continues to fall
79
Discoveries of new oil fields peaked ______ years ago and we are using more oil than we are discovering.
30
80
“The long emergency”
- lacking cheap oil to transport goods, our economies collapse and become localized
- Large cities will have to have urban agriculture
- Fewer petroleum based fertilizers and pesticides would mean increase and hunger
More optimistic observers
-Argue that as supplies dwindle, conservation and alternative energies will kick in
These are all possible future affects of what?
Oil use
81
Mountaintop removal mining has brought _________ Extraction to a whole new level.
Coal
82
- Makes mining economically efficient
- Safer than subsurface mining because of fewer accidents and health risks
- however, it can cause staggering volumes of rock and soil to slide down slope
Massive scale mountaintop removal mining
83
Massive scale mountaintop removal mining can cause staggering volumes of rock and soil to slide downslope. What are the issues with this?
- destroys entire hillsides
- pollutes or buries streams
- Destroys large areas of habitat
84
______________________ forms when rain water and oxygen react with newly exposed rock containing sulfide minerals.
Coal dust pollution occurs along _______________________.
Sulfuric acid
Transport routes
85
How does Hydraulic fracturing expand our access to oil and gas?
Unlocking formally and accessible deposits of shell gas and tight oil, Hydrofracturing has ignited a boom an extraction and the US
86
An abundance of natural gas has led to what?
It has enabled many power plants to switch from coal to natural gas
US carbon dioxide emissions have fallen since 2007
87
35% of oil and 10% of natural gas extracted in the US today come from offshore sites in the _________________ and Southern California.
Gulf of Mexico
88
Deep _______________ drilling is boosting oil and gas production.
Offshore
89
In 2008, ________________ lifted a moratorium on offshore drilling and opened up most of US coast for drilling.
Congress
90
The public’s reaction to the ______________________________spill forced Obama to backtrack.
Deep water horizon’s
91
What did the government do after the deep water horizon spill?
Cancelled drilling permits until new safety measures were devised
92
What did the Deepwater Horizon’s spill show?
It showed that offshore drilling is very dangerous-largest spill ever
93
What do all of the following have in common?
- Countless animals such as birds, shrimp, fish, etc. died
- Coastal marsh plants died, leading to erosion
- Fisheries were devastated, and fisherman lost jobs
- tourism suffered
- Economic and social impacts will last for years
Impacts the Gulf of Mexico has suffered because of the Deepwater horizon’s spill
94
______________ continue to clean the Gulf Oil spill.
People
95
_________________ Continue to conduct a wide range of scientific studies to determine long-term impacts of the Gulf oil spill.
Researchers
96
During the Gulf oil spill, how many barrels of oil leaked per day?
62,000
97
Melting ice in the Arctic is opening up new ____________________.
Shipping lanes
because nations want to get to oil and gas deposits
98
The following are severe pollution risks caused by what?
Icebergs, pack ice, storms, cold, and winter darkness will hamper response efforts
Frigid water temperatures will slow the natural breakdown of the oil
Oil spill
99
A proposed expansion of this pipeline will provide jobs, but will cause more deforestation.
What is this pipeline called?
Keystone pipeline
100
TransCanada corporation built a __________ mile pipeline to transfer diluted bitumen to Illinois and Oklahoma.
2200
101
Technologies, equipment, and approaches to remove chemical contaminants while generating electricity from coal is called what?
Clean coal technologies
102
Some clean coal technologies consist of:
Scrubbers chemically convert or remove pollutants
Coal that contains a lot of water can be dried
Gasification – coal is converted into cleaner synthesis gas/syngas which can be used to turn a gas or steam turbine
103
_________________________ have reduced pollution, but clean coal is still a dirty way to generate power
Clean coal technologies
104
Even very clean coal releases ________________________.
Greenhouse gases
105
Captures CO2 emissions, converts the gas to a liquid, and stores it underground or in the ocean.
What is this called?
Carbon capture and carbon storage (sequestration)
106
Carbon capture and storage schemes propose to __________________________________.
Inject liquefied carbon dioxide emissions underground
107
Oil companies provide jobs for millions. How many people work in the Gulf of Mexico alone?
107,000
But more people work in tourism, service jobs, and fishing jobs.
108
Why don’t citizens in developing nations benefit from drilling?
- Corporations pay off the governments
- Few environmental or health regulations exist
- many people still live in poverty, without water or electricity
109
Nations importing fossil fuels are vulnerable to supplies becoming unavailable or costly because?
Seller nations control prices, causing panic
110
What country has the highest oil consumption?
US
111
Downsides of Fossil fuel extraction for residents include:
Pollution from shale gas drilling creates external costs, such as having to find a drinkable water when water becomes contaminated
112
Hurricanes Katrina and Rita 2005 destroyed offshore platforms, causing oil and gas prices to ____________.
Spike
113
The politically volatile ________________________ has the majority of oil reserves causing a constant concern for the US.
Middle east
114
Following the 1973 oil embargo, the US enacted policies to reduce its dependence on _______________________.
Foreign oil
115
The following are what kind of policies?
- Established a one-month emergency stock pile of oil
- capped the price domestic producers could charge
- funded research into renewable energy sources
- Enacted conservation measures
- urged secondary extraction at old oil wells
- called for development of more domestic sources
Policies to reduce dependence on foreign oil
116
Many want drilling in ____________________________, but drilling won’t help much and will destroy the nations last wilderness.
Arctic national wildlife refuge
117
US imports more oil from:
Non-middle eastern countries
118
Obtaining a given amount of output, while using less energy input
Results from technological improvements
Energy efficiency
119
The practice of reducing energy use
Efficiency is one way toward conservation
Energy conservation
120
We can extend our non-renewable energy supplies by:
Be less wasteful and reduce our environmental impact
121
_______________________ Uses far more energy per person then people in most other nations
United States
122
The United States has cut its energy intensity in 1/2 since ____________.
1950
123
Cars and power plants lose 2/3 of energy as ___________________.
Waste heat
124
Excess heat produced during electrical generation can heat buildings or produce other power.
It can double the efficiency of a power plant
Cogeneration
125
Improvements can reduce energy to heat and cool buildings such as:
Passive solar, insulation, plants, roof color
126
CAFE standards mandate higher fuel efficiency in cars.
In 2007, Congress mandated that cars must get ________ mpg by 2020.
35
127
Fuel efficiencies fell from ____ mpg in 1984 to ______ mpg in 2004.
22
19.3
128
Nuclear energy occupies an odd and conflicted position in our debate over energy.
It is free of air pollution produced by fossil fuels, yet it’s promise has been clouded by:
Weaponry, waste disposal, and accidents
129
Public safety concerns have led to limit development of ____________________.
Nuclear power
130
The US generates the most electricity from nuclear power.
But only _____% of US electricity comes from nuclear power
France gets _______% of it’s electricity from nuclear power.
20
75
131
The energy that holds protons and neutrons together within the nucleus of an atom is called:
Nuclear energy
132
The splitting apart of atomic nuclei
The reaction that drives the release of nuclear energy in power plants
Nuclear fission
133
Neutrons can hit other atoms, causing a:
Chain reaction
134
An uncontrolled chain reaction can cause an _______________ – nuclear power plants control fission
Explosion
135
A substance (water or graphite) that slows the neutrons bombarding uranium
Allow fission to begin in a nuclear reactor
Excess neutrons must be soaked up
A moderator
136
A metallic alloy that absorbs neutrons
Placed into the reactor with the water-bathed fuel rods
Are moved into and out of the water to control the rate of the reaction
Control rods
137
_______________ atoms are radioactive and emit high-energy radiation as they decay into daughter cells
Uranium’s
138
Uranium ore is uncommon and _______________.
Finite
139
Over 99% of uranium occurs as ________________.
Uranium – 238
140
Uranium 238 does not emit enough ______________ for a chain reaction.
Neutrons
141
Uranium-238 must be processed enriched into _____________
Uranium-235
142
Uranium 238 is formed into pellets (UO2) and put into _________________
Fuel rods
143
Spent fuel from nuclear energy can be reprocessed, but it is expensive so it is disposed of as _________________________.
Radioactive waste
144
Nuclear power helps us avoid emitting 2.5 million metric tons(___%) of carbon dioxide per year
7%
145
How do power plants pose fewer health risks from pollution?
They are safer for workers than coal fired plants
146
Less uranium needs to be mined, damaging less _____________.
Land
147
What are the downsides of nuclear power?
Disposal of radioactive waste is challenging and if an accident or sabotage occurs, the consequences can be catastrophic
148
3 mile Island in Pennsylvania in 1979 was the most serious _________________________ accident in the US
Nuclear power
149
- Coolant water drained from the reactor
- Temperatures rose inside the reactor core
- Melting the metal surrounding the fuel rods
- Releasing radiation
- Which was trapped inside the containment building
- Cleanup cost billions and took years
3 mile Island “Meltdown”
150
The explosion at the Chernobyl plant in Ukraine happened in ________.
1986
151
The 3 mile Island “Meltdown” was due to:
Mechanical failure and human error
152
__________________ was the most severe nuclear plant accident that has ever occurred and was due to human error and unsafe design
Chernobyl
153
During the Chernobyl “Meltdown”, for ______ days radiation escaped while crews tried to put out the fires.
10
154
How many residents were evacuated during the Chernobyl accident?
More than 100,000 residents were evacuated
155
The Chernobyl accident killed _______ people directly
31
156
______ miles surrounding landscape still remain contaminated from the Chernobyl accident.
19
157
On March 11, 2011, a _____ magnitude earthquake struck Japan, causing an immense tsunami.
9.0
158
The earthquake and tsunami in Japan killed _____________ people and flooded the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant.
23,000
159
During the Fukushima Daiichi “Meltdown”, ______ reactors had full meltdowns.
3
160
During Fukushima, radiation was released at levels equal to _________________.
Chernobyl’s
161
Trace amounts of radiation were detected ___________________ after Fukushima.
Around the world
162
____________________ is still being released from Fukushima.
Radioactivity
163
Could the Fukushima disaster have been prevented?
Yes, it could have been prevented, generators should not be put in basements
164
Radioactive materials can be stolen and used by ________________.
Terrorists
- especially in poor nations of the former Soviet Union
- hundreds of former nuclear sites have gone without adequate security for years
165
Despite safer designs, accidents and human errors will occur when using ____________ energy
Nuclear
166
The ____________ is buying up some of the radioactive material and is using this material to produce power.
U.S
167
The US stores nuclear waste at more than 120 sites in _____ states
39
168
It is enormously expensive to build, maintain, operate, and ensure the safety of ____________ facilities
Nuclear
-Decommissioning plants is even more expensive
169
Plants serve less than ______ their expected lifetimes
1/2
170
Costs to generate ___________ electricity are higher than from coal and other sources
Nuclear
- governments must subsidize nuclear power
- But some people advocate more nuclear power with safer reactors
171
Yucca mountain, Nevada was chosen to store radioactive waste.
How much money was spent on its development?
$13 billion
-President Obama’s administration ended support for it
172
Why was Yucca Mountain selected as the waste site for radioactive waste?
Because it’s remote and unpopulated
- It has a deep water table and isolated aquifer
- It’s on federal land and can be protected
173
_______________________ of radioactive waste is subject to accidents or sabotage
Transportation
174
____________________ Helped build our complex industrialized societies
Fossil fuels
175
We are now approaching a turning point in history because ________________ production will begin to decline
Fossil fuel
176
We can encourage conservation and alternative energies or we can wait until fossil fuels are ____________.
Depleted
177
__________________ Energy showed promise, but high costs and public fear stalled it’s growth
Nuclear
178
We need to turn to _________________ energy sources
Renewable
