Electricity Generation and Storage
Devices used to harness wind and solar power.
What are wind turbines, solar cells (aka Photovoltaic cells).
This long-term shift in weather patterns impacts local, regional, and global climates.
What is climate change?
The three main causes of wind production.
What are changes in the temperature of air, land, and water? (When air flows over a warm surface, it heats up and rises. This leaves room for cooler air to flow in. The flowing air is wind).
Ways we transform energy from one form to another.
What is turning on a light bulb (electric to light), turning on a fan (electric to mechanical), and operating a wind turbine (wind energy to electrical energy)?
This system uses the heat from the ground, resulting in lower electrical bills when heating homes and businesses.
What is geothermal heating?
The units of measurement of electricity.
What are amps, WATTS, and volts (V)?
People in coastal areas may face this major consequences of melting glaciers and global warming.
What is flooding and property damage?
Converts sunlight directly into electricity.
What are Photovoltaic (PV) systems or also known as solar cells?
This term means how much energy is used over a certain amount of time, like how fast electricity flows. It is measured in Watts, which refers to the "speed" of electricity.
What is power?
Power=Watts
Power (W)= 1/2 x p x A x v3
Achieving more than 50% of electricity generation from clean energy in the US comes with this difficulty.
What is large-scale, clean energy adoption?
The difference between energy and power.
What is the capacity to do work (energy) and the power to which energy is transferred or used over time.
Residents of the south and southwest United States are likely to experience these two natural disasters due to climate change.
What are wildfires and droughts?
The devices used to measure the power coming from the sun.
What is a solar energy meter (AKA pyranometers and pyrheliometers)?
The name of the device that transfers electrical energy from one alternating-current circuit to one or more other circuits either increasing (stepping up) or reducing (stepping down) the voltage.
What is a transformer?
These two terms refer to wiser energy use and reducing waste to lower the use of electricity.
What are efficiency and conservation?
The acts of turning off lights when not using them, and purchasing high eficiency machines.
What are ways you can reduce the use of electricity?
Stronger and more intense versions of this type of storm are becoming more common in the southeast parts of the United States.
What are hurricanes?
These are the three types of wind turbines.
What are HAWT (horizontal axis wind turbine), VAWT (vertical axis wind turbines) and Bladeless (no blades but just a tower that sways in the wind).
This building makes electricity. Many of them use coal and natural gas. They burn fuel and use the heat to run machines that produce electricity for us to use.
What is a power plant?
Over the past five years, eight of these have been approved in northern Virginia, where no utility-scale project existed.
What are large-scale, solar farms?
The capture of energy produced at one time for use at a later time.
What is electrical storage?
A type of gas in the Earth's atmosphere that traps heat from the sun, acting like a blanket to keep our planet warm.
What is greenhouse gas?
The changes making the most impact on improving turbine performance.
What are longer and stronger blades designed to increase the energy produced by wind turbines and placing them in higher locations?
This is like a big, super highway in the sky that carries electricity from where it's made to where it's needed to go. It uses tall towers and wires to transport large amounts of electricity over long distances.
What are transmission lines?
These three physical and social consequential considerations are made when deciding to develop renewable energy projects.
What are job creations, energy prices, and resource allegations?
(accept any reasonable response)
Sources that generate most of the electricity in the US.
What are natural gas and nuclear power?
Coal plants contribute to air pollution and climate change, but these are the reasons that they are kept running.
What are affordability, reliability, and constant power to meet on-demand needs for energy consumption?
The device used to measure wind power.
What is an anemometer?
These are used in the final step in the process of delivering electricity to homes and businesses. They carry electricity from substations to neighborhoods and communities.
What are distribution lines?
AMRO is an acronym for strategies that can help minimize the negative effects of wind and solar energy development.
What is AVOID, MINIMIZE, and RESTORE.
This refers to the careful placement of turbines to avoid and minimize harm to habitats and other terrestrial spaces and restore what was disturbed.
Population density, access to electricity, and economic development are noted in these two types of countries.
What are the differences in electrical uses between developed and underdeveloped (third world) countries?
These are important skills to have when working with communities (members of the public and government officials) to address climate change.
What are collaboration and communication skills?
Accept any answer that refers to interpersonal skills such as interacting effectively with others, demonstrating active listening, and working cooperatively towards a shared goal.
Two main reasons for siting wind farms in the ocean.
What is more constant wind and lack of interference from structures on land (such as hills, mountains, and buildings)?
This is another name for a power company, a business that generates, transmits, and distributes electricity to homes and businesses.
What is a utility company?
Local communities often worry about this main issue when deciding to create a solar or wind farm.
What are the direct benefits to the community?
These are used to store electricity.
What are dry cell batteries, lithium batteries, flow batteries, and solid-state batteries?
When discussing the effects of climate change with the public, this information is critically important to demonstrate.
What data are gathered from multiple reliable sources, and what conclusions are drawn from the data that show climate is changing and harming our environment?
Types of jobs related to renewable energies such as wind and solar power.
What are project managers, solar engineers, environmental scientists, meteorologists, mechanical engineers, and battery scientists? (any job that relates to the question should be accepted) any
This term refers to a network of power plants, substations, transformers, and power lines that generate and distribute electricity to homes and businesses.
What is a power grid, also known as the electrical grid?
This harmful environmental impact is associated with the use of fossil fuels, but not solar power generation.
What is pollution?
Accept a response that might also refer to harming ecosystems, food production, air quality, and public health.