Environmental Management

Question 1

Non-renewable

Answer 1

Finite in supply e.g. fossil fuels

Question 2

Renewable

Answer 2

Sustainable, with an infinite supply and usually associated with little or no environmental pollution

Question 3

Global energy mix 2016

Answer 3

31% oil, 28% gas, 27% coal, 4% nuclear, 7% hydro, 3% renewable

Question 4

+/- of oil

Answer 4

+ easy transportation and storage
+ can be distilled into different types of fuel
+ cleaner and easier to burn than coal
+ by-product of sulfur is used industrially
- non-renewable and generates C02
- not as clean as natural gas
- risk of oil spills e.g. Deep Horizon 2012 - 4.9 million barrels spilled
- concerns about peak oil -> volatile prices
- political instability -> 30% of world’s oil passes through the Strait of Hormuz

Question 5

Factors affecting demand and supply of energy

Answer 5

Location, climate, tidal range, relief
Accessibility, energy prices, funding, logistics
Regulation, legislation

Question 6

Increase of US shale oil production

Answer 6

305 to 499 million tonnes of shale gas from 2008-13

Question 7

Nuclear +/-

Answer 7

+ zero emissions
+ increased energy security for countries able to make use of it
+ not prone to fuel price fluctuations
+ despite disasters, nuclear power plants have generally demonstrated reliability
+ extremely plentiful supply
- accidents e.g. Chernobyl, Fukushima
- radioactive waste/storage disposal
- terrorism/nuclear weapons
- high construction and decommissioning costs
- increased localised risk of cancer

Question 8

What happened to the cost of wind energy

Answer 8

Costs of generating electricity from wind today are only about 10% of what they were 20 years ago. Also, one large turbine manufacturer has stated that it expects turbine costs to be reduced by 3.5% a year for the foreseeable future.

Question 9

Evolution of wind power

Answer 9

• 2008: a Dutch company installed the first world’s first floating wind turbine in Italy -> Submerged Deepwater Platform System
• Swedish company Nordic brought a two-bladed turbine onto the market

Question 10

Growth of global solar capacity

Answer 10

From 1257 MW to 137,000 MW from 2000 to 2013

Question 11

What percentage of the world population without access to electricity in 2012

Answer 11

18%

Question 12

How many people in the world rely in fuelwood, charcoal and animal dung for cooking

Answer 12

2.5 billion people

Question 13

How many people died in 2012 as a result of air pollution

Answer 13

8 million

Question 14

Strategies to tackle air pollution

Answer 14

1. Stricter environmental regulation - polluter pays principle e.g. caps on emissions
2. Investment into R&D in the field of greener
   technologies

Question 15

Incidental pollution

Answer 15

One-off pollution incidents

Question 16

Sustained pollution

Answer 16

Longer term pollution incidents

Question 17

How many of the world population lack access to safe drinking water

Answer 17

1 in 9

Question 18

How much of industrial waste in LICs is dumped untreated into rivers

Answer 18

70%

Question 19

Reason for improving access to safe water

Answer 19

Can be among the most cost-effective means of reducing illness and mortality

Question 20

Green water

Answer 20

That part of total precipitation that is absorbed by soil and plants, then released back into the air

Question 21

Blue water

Answer 21

Collects in rivers, lakes, wetlands and groundwater

Question 22

Water stress

Answer 22

When there is an insufficient access to fresh water for drinking and other domestic purposes for a specific period of time

Question 23

Water scarcity

Answer 23

The lack of sufficient available water resources to meet water needs within a region

Question 24

Virtual water

Answer 24

The amount of water that is used to produce food or any other product and is thus essentially in the item e.g. producing 1kg of wheat requires 1000 litres

Question 25

Soil degradation

Answer 25

A change in the soil health status resulting in a diminished capacity of the ecosystem to provide goods and services for its beneficiaries
N.B. globally, it is estimated that 15% of the Earth’s land area has been degraded - 1 billion hectares

Question 26

Causes of soil degradation

Answer 26

Erosion by wind and water
Physical degradation
Chemical degradation - pollution, acidification and salinisation
Biological degradation - through loss of organic matter and biodiversity
Climate and land-use change

Question 27

What is soil degradation doing to carbon storage

Answer 27

Reducing the soil’s carbon storage ability. Over the last 50 years, global soils have lost about 100 billion tonnes of carbon

Question 28

Negative effects of meat consumption fact

Answer 28

Changing from the average American diet to a vegetarian one could cut annual emissions by almost 1.5 tonnes of CO2

Question 29

What happened to the world’s total forest area from 1990 to 2005

Answer 29

Reduced by 3%

Question 30

Constraints on improving degraded environments

Answer 30

1. Population growth
2. High rates of rural-urban migration
3. Environmental hazards
4. Poor knowledge in terms of implementing strategies to reduce/prevent degradation
5. Poor management
6. Political conflict