Fossil Fuels
A dirty but abundant rock that provided much of the electricity production in the US throughout the 1900s. Its use is now in decline due to increasing awareness of its social and environmental impacts.
What is coal?
The country that produces most of the world's solar panels.
What is China
The type of energy that is produced by this clean energy source.
What is electricity?
The types of useful energy that can be produced by this source.
What are heat and electricity?
The names of three critical parts of a wind turbine.
What are the blades, the gear box, and the rotor hub. (also tower, nacelle, generator)
The fossil fuel that is now producing the majority of the electricity in the US.
What is natural gas?
The proper name for the solar electric panels you see on rooftops and in fields.
What is photovoltaic
What is habitat destruction to river ecosystems?
Two places where this energy source is commonly used.
What are Sweden, Middle East, Europe, Japan, China. US, but not as much.
Two complaints commonly associated with wind energy.
What are noise pollution and bird/bat mortality. Also sometimes visual impact in beautiful mountainous areas.
The primary criticism of all fossil fuels.
What is climate change? *Fossil fuels release carbon dioxide when they are combusted and this is resulting in global warming and other impacts of climate change including rising sea levels, droughts, floods and ocean acidification.
The EROI of solar.
What is 10-30?
What is the displacement of communities when dams and reservoirs are built?
A major environmental problem associated with waste-to-energy.
What is air pollution?
Two environmental advantages of wind power.
What are: no air pollution including greenhouse gas emissions, no water pollution, minimal damage to habitat.
The practice used to extract coal from the Earth.
What is mountaintop removal?
One of the environmental problems of solar energy.
What is: mining for the materials and disposal of the panels at the end of their life?
Two primary reasons hydropower is considered better than fossil fuels.
What are: no greenhouse gas emissions and it is a renewable energy source?
Two major advantages of Waste to Energy.
What are... getting rid of waste so it doesn't have to be landfilled and getting energy literally out of garbage?
Two US states where wind is growing rapidly.
What are Texas, Iowa and Oklahoma?
The powerful greenhouse gas that is often released unintentionally while fracking for natural gas.
What is methane?
What are upfront costs? The panels pay for themselves within a few years through the electricity they generate, but many people don't have the money to invest and need government incentives--which come and go depending on the political party that is in office.
The name and location of the largest hydroelectric dam in the world.
What is the Three Gorges Dam in China?
Something that would make this energy source much safer and more effective.
What is better sorting/recycling practices that remove toxic materials from the waste stream?
An advantage and a disadvantage of offshore wind.
What is... Advantage: steady winds and Disadvantage: expensive to install and maintain?