CHAPTER 13ENERGY

MC

The U.S. Department of Energy estimates that wind farms at favorable sites in North Dakota, South
Dakota, Kansas and Texas
could more than meet the electricity needs of the lower 48 states

Which of the following statements best describes a projected side benefit to human health from
increased use of wind power?
The reduction in use of coal to generate electricity will lower the amount of air
pollutants from coal that kill up to 24,000 Americans per year and add climate-
changing chemicals to the air

Which of the following methods of producing electricity have the lowest net energy ratios?
nuclear power and photovoltaics

The statement that it takes high quality energy to get high quality energy refers to
the processes and fuel required to extract and refine some energy sources

Which of the following statements about net energy is false?

All forms of energy supply the same amount of net energy yield.

The energy source with the highest net energy ratio for space heating is
passive solar

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Net energy is
the total useful energy from an energy resource minus the amount of energy used
and wasted in producing it

The energy source with the highest net energy ratio for transportation is
natural gas

World oil supplies and prices are expected to be controlled long-term by

OPEC

At present consumption rates, projected world crude oil reserves will be 80% depleted
between 2050 and 2100

Tar sands
contain large supplies of heavy oils

Tar sand processing requires large amounts of ________and also requires preliminary forest
_______________.
water, clear cutting

Bitumen is
high-sulfur heavy oil

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Which of the following countries has the greatest tar sand deposits?
Canada

Liquefied petroleum gas consists of

butane and propane

A process for extracting natural gas that is causing a growing environmental problem involves
hydraulic fracturing of rocks and is called
fracking

The main problem with use of conventional natural gas as a transportation fuel is
the fact that not many fueling stations exist at present

The countries with the largest reserves of natural gas are

Russia, Iran, and Qatar

Coal supplies ____ of the electricity generated in the United States.

54%

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The world's most abundant conventional fossil fuel is
coal

The world's identified and unidentified coal reserves should last at least ____ years at current usage
rates.
200

Which form of producing electrical energy produces the highest amount of CO 2 per unit of energy,
when expressed as a percentage of emissions released by burning coal directly?
coal-fired electricity

The majority of commercial energy comes from

nonrenewable energy resources from the earths crust

In 2009, the President of the United States

requested that the Congress cut off funding for the Yucca Mountain radioactive
waste storage facility while other shorter-term alternative are evaluated

Light-water reactors generate about ____ of the worlds nuclear-generated electricity.

85%

The useful operating life of today's nuclear power plants is supposed to be ____ years.

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 1560

The explosions at the Fukushima Nuclear Power Plant in northeast Japan following damage by an
offshore earthquake blew the roofs off of three of the reactor buildings. The explosions were caused
presumably by a buildup of hydrogen gas when the backup generators were
disabled

The purpose of generating steam within a nuclear power plant reactor core is, like other energy
producing systems, to
turn a turbine which generates electricity

All of the following statements accurately describe the office-home building of the Rocky Mountain
Institute except:
The Institutes heating bill is just less than $50 per year.

The home of the Rocky Mountain Institute demonstrates that

energy efficient design and renewable energy alternatives can work in cold climates

Below are listed some widely-used devices and the amount of energy they waste. Which pair of
choices is not correct?
nuclear power plant 50%

What percentage of the commercial energy used in the United States is wasted?

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 84%

What percentage of the commercial energy used in the United States is wasted unnecessarily?
43%

If the hidden health and environmental costs of using gasoline were included in the price of gas as a
tax, the actual cost in the United States would be
$12.00 per gallon

Current models of the gasoline-electric car

get up to 51 miles per gallon

Superefficient and ultralight cars

may eventually get up to 300 mpg

Widespread replacement of the U.S. vehicle fleet with highly efficient plug-in hybrids over a couple of
decades would
cut U.S. oil consumption by up to 90%, eliminate the need for oil imports and reduce
carbon dioxide emissions by 27%

The National Building Competition which started in 2010 is an opportunity for

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 commercial buildings, including those of major corporations, to compete in cutting
energy use over a 12 month period

The energy efficiency of buildings can be improved by all of the following strategies except
building big windows into the northern side of new housing

We continue to waste energy rather than convert to more energy efficient behaviors because:
There is a lack of substantial tax breaks for doing so and there is a glut of artificially
low costing fossil fuels are correct.

The energy in the sunlight striking the earth for just 1 hour is enough to run the worlds economy for
one year

It is risky for companies to invest in renewable energy because:

Subsidies and tax breaks have to be renewed by the government every few years.

Advantages of solar heating include all of the following except:

Access to the sun can be blocked by other structures.

All of the following can be used for cooling a house in warm weather except
foil sheets under the floor

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Which of the following is not an advantage of solar cells?
works the same in all areas of the planet

Cells that convert solar energy directly into electricity are called
photovoltaic cells

Which of the following statements about PV cells is false?

The U.S. government is the current global leader in photovoltaic production.

The leading renewable energy source that is used to produce electricity today is
Hydropower

Which of the following is a disadvantage of hydropower?

There is a high environmental impact from flooding land to form a reservoir.

In order, the largest wind power producers are:

China, United States, Spain, Germany, India

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Which number and cause of bird death are incorrectly matched (for the U.S.)?
pesticide poisoning - 500,000

Which three states in the USA have the potential to provide enough usable wind power to supply the
entire countrys electricity needs?
North Dakota, Kansas, and Texas

All of the following statements about solid biomass are correct except
it can lead to deforestation

Which of the following statements about geothermal power is false?

It releases more carbon dioxide than fossil fuels.

The use of hydrogen gas would eliminate most of the air pollution problems we have today because:
When it burns it combines with oxygen gas in the air to produce water vapor.

The lesson we can learn from disasters such as the disruption of oil production by Hurricane Katrina
and loss of nuclear power from the tsunamis in Japan is that
a shift to a more decentralized energy system would improve national and economic
security

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A soft energy path is one that
relies on improving energy efficiency and increasing the use of a variety of
renewable energy resources

TF

There are three major forms of fossil fuels: coal, oil, and natural gas.T

The estimated oil reserves in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge would meet current world oil
demand for at least another 50 years.F

The world's dependence on fossil fuels has been increased through subsidies and tax breaks that
support fossil fuel processors (oil companies).T

It has been estimated that using nuclear power will require more energy than it will ever produce.T

Nuclear power is now the world's fastest-growing energy source.F

The United States wastes almost none of its energy.F

Photovoltaic cells do not produce any of the greenhouse or acid gas emissions associated with
electricity generated by the combustion of fossil fuels.T

A spent fuel rod that has been removed from a nuclear power plant reactor core is essentially safe from
radioactivity after a period of about 10 years.F

None of the three worst nuclear power plant accidents occurred in the United States.F

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The most efficient and long-lasting light bulb available today is the LED (light-emitting diode).T

Microwave ovens use about the same amount of energy as conventional ovens.F

China plans to lead the world in relying on renewable energy resources.T

Reducing energy waste is a commendable activity, but would not impact our energy supplies in any
meaningful way.F

Sunlight reflected onto a power tower is a great idea for collecting solar energy, but there is no way
to store the collected energy.F

It has been estimated that capturing the winds energy at the worlds best sites would only produce
about 50% of the electricity currently being used worldwide.F

One of the disadvantages of liquid biofuels is that the area where the crops are grown has to compete
with areas where food crops can be grown.T

Brazil, the second largest ethanol producer, makes its ethanol from the residue of sugar cane.T

Geothermal fuels have lower carbon dioxide emissions than fossil fuels.T

COMPLETION

The quickest, cleanest, and cheapest way to provide more energy is to ____________________.
reduce energy waste

____________________ produces fewer pollutants than burning coal, but is significantly more
expensive and produces radioactive wastes.
Nuclear power

Large reserves of ____________________ are located in Canada and are now considered to be
conventional oil reserves, second only in size to those in Saudi Arabia.
oil sands

_______________energy is the only energy that really counts.

net

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Although coal is a very plentiful fuel, when burned it produces very high ____________________
emissions.
carbon dioxide

Wind is actually an indirect form of ____________________ energy.

solar

Producing steel from recycled scrap iron uses _______________% less energy than producing steel
from virgin iron ore.
75

Using wind to produce electricity is an important step toward ____________________.

sustainability

The estimated proven reserves under Alaskas North slope would meet current world demand for oil
for about ____________months or U.S. demand for less than ____________years.
6, 3

____________________ is the point in time when we reach the maximum overall rate of crude oil
production for the whole world.
Global peak production

About ____________________% of the worlds proven crude oil reserves are in the hands of
government-owned companies.
85

About ____________________ % of the electricity used in the United States is produced by burning
coal.
44

The cleanest burning alternative among the fossil fuels is ______________ __________.
natural gas

The element _______________is said to be a safer radioactive element that could be used in newer
nuclear power plant reactors.
thorium

Ultra-high voltage, digitally controlled _________ ___________ would be more responsive to local
and regional changes in supply and demand of energy.
smart grids

An example of an energy efficient window is a ______________ ______________ window.

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triple paned

A proposed program whereby owners of fuel-inefficient vehicles pay higher fees and the revenue from
those fees is given to owners of fuel-efficient vehicles is called the ____________________ program.
fee-bate

____________________ loading washers are more efficient than ____________________ loading

washers.
Front, top

Food riots in Mexico were caused by the decrease in corn production in the United States when food
crop land was converted to producing corn for ______________.
ethanol, biofuels

MATCHING
Match the items listed below with the appropriate choice

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 1. Steam is generated to produce electricity in which compartment? B
2. Water from the external cooling area penetrates inside the plant to which
compartment? C
3. Which area of the plant is susceptible to a meltdown? A
4. Electricity is generated in which area of the plant? C

Match the appropriate energy source with the advantage or disadvantage in the list below.
a. wind power
b. nuclear power
c. natural gas
d. hydro-electric
e. passive solar

5. radioactive wastes are an ongoing problem B

6. requires access to sunlight for 60% of daylight hours E
7. disrupts aquatic ecosystems D
8. difficult and costly to transport between countries C
9. easy to build and expand A
10. low level noise pollution A
11. emits less carbon dioxide than other fossil fuels when burned C
12. needs a back-up system for cloudy days E
13. displacement of people D
14. low risk of incidents in newer, modern plants B

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