Chapter 23

Question 1

Anthropocene

Answer 1

The “Age of Man,” a geologic epoch beginning about 1780, when the coal-powered steam engine launched the industrial revolution; proposed by atmospheric chemist Paul Crutzen to recognize the speed and magnitude of the changes industrial society is causing in the Earth system.

Question 2

Nonrenewable Resource

Answer 2

A natural resource that is produced at a rate much slower than the rate at which human civilization is using it up; for example, fossil fuels.

Question 3

Carbon Economy

Answer 3

The economy of modern industrial civilization, so-called because it runs primarily on fossil fuels.

Question 4

Nuclear Energy

Answer 4

Energy produced by the fission of the radioactive isotope uranium-235, which can be used to make steam and drive turbines to create electricity.

Question 5

Carbon Sequestration

Answer 5

The pumping of CO2 generated by fossil-fuel combustion into reservoirs other than the atmosphere.

Question 6

Oil Trap

Answer 6

An impermeable barrier that blocks the upward migration of crude oil or natural gas, allowing them to collect beneath the barrier.

Question 7

Global Change

Answer 7

Change in the climate system that has worldwide effects on the biosphere, atmosphere, and other components of the Earth system.

Question 8

Oil Window

Answer 8

The limited range of pressures and temperatures, usually found at depths between about 2 and 5 km, at which crude oil forms.

Question 9

Hydroelectricity Energy

Answer 9

Energy derived from water moving under the force of gravity driving a turbine that generates electricity.

Question 10

Quad

Answer 10

A unit consisting of 1 quadrillion British thermal units, used to measure large quantities of energy.

Question 11

Biofuel

Answer 11

A fuel, such as ethanol, derived from biomass.

Question 12

Renewable Resource

Answer 12

A natural resource that is produced at a rate rapid enough to match the rate at which human civilization is using it up; for example, wood.

Question 13

Carbon Intensity

Answer 13

The amount of carbon released into the atmosphere per amount of energy produced by burning of a fossil fuel. For example, burning methane releases 145 Gt of carbon per quad of energy produced, so its carbon intensity is 145 Gt/quad.

Question 14

Fossil Fuel

Answer 14

An energy resource formed by the burial and heating of dead organic matter, such as coal, crude oil, natural gas.

Question 15

Hydraulic Fracturing

Answer 15

A technique for withdrawing oil and gas from shale and other tight formations by first pumping water and sand into a borehole at high pressures to create fractures through which the oil and gas can more readily flow.

Question 16

Natural Resource

Answer 16

A supply of energy, water, or raw material used by human civilization that is available from the natural environment.

Question 17

Reserve

Answer 17

The supply of a natural resource that has already been discovered and can be exploited economically and legally at the present time.

Question 18

Resource

Answer 18

1. The entire amount of a given material, including the amount that may become available for use in the future; includes reserves plus known but currently unrecoverable supplies plus undiscovered supplies that geologists think may eventually be found.
2. A natural resource

Question 19

Solar Energy

Answer 19

Energy derived from the Sun

Question 20

Stabilization wedge

Answer 20

A strategy for reducing carbon emissions by 1 gigaton per year in the next 50 years relative to a business-as-usual scenario. About seven stabilization wedges will be necessary to stabilize carbon emissions at current levels.

Question 21

Sustainable Development

Answer 21

Development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.