Clean Energy Basics
Energy conversion process that captures sunlight to create electricity
What is solar energy?
The lightest element
What is hydrogen?
Engineers design this to carefully control fission
What is nuclear power plants?
Radioactive material that emits highly energetic particles and can be very extremely dangerous
What is nuclear waste?
A large contribute to biogas production
What is human waste?
Plants store this as well as glucose
What is chemical energy?
Provides 10% of the energy in the US
What is nuclear fission?
An atom splits into tow releasing this during nuclear fission
What is energy?
The National Academy of Engineers in the US has declared this goals as one of the grand challenges of the 21st century
What is providing energy from fusion?
In Brazil, 4 out of every 5 cars produced have hybrid engines capable of burning these two things
What is ordinary gas and bio-ethanol?
Biomass energy relies on this directly or by processing it into fuel
What is burning biological matter like plants?
This turns a nuclear reactor into a heat source for a power plant
What is fission?
This releases the same amount or even less of greenhouse gases than most renewable energy sources
What is nuclear power?
These are the major set backs of providing heat from fusion
What is intense amounts of heat and pressure?
Biomass fuels release this into the atmosphere similarly to fossil fuels
What is carbon dioxide?
This amount of biomass energy is delivered by burning plant matter directly
What is about half?
The same energy-releasing process that occurs in the sun
What is nuclear fusion?
This can lead to disasters like Chernobyl or Fukushima
What is fission becoming runaway process?
One major challenge of nuclear fusion is reaching this extremely high temperature, which mimics the sun
What is 100 million degrees Celsius?
Humans use this much of all CO2 absorbing plant matter on Earth
What is 1/3?
Releases gas like methane that can be burned for fuel (two answers)
What is manure decay and human waste?
An extremely hot gas made of ions or atoms with an electric charge
What is plasma?
The worlds biggest fusion plant
What is IETR?
The element produced in a fusion reaction as a byproduct and is essential for maintaining the fusion process
What is energy?
This is another source of biomass that can be used
Algae?