ENERGY USE
WHAT IS THE MOST ABUNDANT FOSSIL FUEL IN THE UNITED STATES?
COAL
WHAT FOSSIL FUEL IS OFTEN FOUND WITH OIL?
Natural Gas
WHAT ARE TWO POLLUTANTS RELEASED BY COAL?
Sulfur dioxide (SO₂)
Carbon dioxide (CO₂)
Nitrogen oxides (NOₓ)
Particulate matter
Mercury
WHAT COMPOUND MAKES UP THE VAST MAJORITY OF NATURAL GAS?
CH4 - Methane
CONTRAST FISSION AND FUSION. WHICH DOES A NUCLEAR POWER PLANT USE?
Fission: Breaking a larger atom into two smaller atoms.
Fusion: Combining two or more small atoms (or subatomic particles) into a larger atom.
Nuclear power plants use fission.
WHICH NONRENEWABLE FUEL GENERATES THE MOST SOX AND NOX EMISSIONS?
Coal
NAME TWO SUBSISTENCE ENERGY SOURCES
Firewood (fuelwood)
Animal dung
Charcoal
Crop Residues
Peat/Bog Mos
WHY IS PETROLEUM RARELY USED IN THE PRODUCTION OF ELECTRICITY?
Petroleum is costly and is primarily reserved for transportation (gasoline, diesel, jet fuel), making it inefficient and uneconomical for electricity production.
COAL IS A DIRTY FUEL YET STILL THE MOST COMMON SOURCE OF ELECTRICITY WORLDWIDE. EXPLAIN WHY.
Coal is widely available in many regions, reducing dependence on imports.
Coal-fired power plants and mining infrastructure are already built, making it cheaper to continue using coal than to transition to new energy systems.
Coal provides reliable baseload power, which is critical for growing economies.
WHAT ARE TWO COMPONENTS OF FRACKING FLUID?
Water
Sand
Also: Chemical additives such as friction reducers and corrosion inhibitors.
WHERE WAS THE SITE OF THE MOST DEVASTATING NUCLEAR ACCIDENT IN HISTORY?
Chernobyl
WHICH NONRENEWABLE FUEL GENERATES THE FEWEST HARMFUL EMISSIONS?
Natural gas.
WHAT DOES EROEI STAND FOR?
Energy Return on Energy Invested
NAME TWO REASONS WHY TAR SAND BITUMEN IS INFERIOR TO “NORMAL” CRUDE OIL
Lower EROEI
Greater environmental impact
Possible answers:
More expensive to extract and refine
Requires large amounts of water
Produces more CO₂ per barrel
Slower extraction rates
GIVE AN EXAMPLE OF COGENERATION
A power plant or factory that generates electricity and then captures the waste heat to provide space heating, hot water, or industrial steam.
NAME TWO BENEFITS OF USING NATURAL GAS
Lower emissions than coal and oil (less SO₂, NOₓ, particulate matter, and CO₂ per unit of energy)
Higher efficiency in electricity generation, especially in combined-cycle power plants
Also:
Abundant supply (especially due to fracking)
Lower cost compared to other fossil fuels
Reliable baseload and peak-load power
Cleaner-burning (no ash production)
WHEN IT COMES TO GENERATING ELECTRICITY, WHAT DOES A NUCLEAR POWER PLANT AND A COAL POWER PLANT HAVE IN COMMON?
Both use heat to produce steam, which spins a turbine connected to a generator to produce electricity.
WHICH MINING TECHNIQUE PROVIDES US WITH MOST OF OUR COAL?
Surface mining
Includes strip mining and mountaintop removal.
WHAT IS THE PRIMARY REASON WHY GLOBAL DEMAND FOR ENERGY HAS INCREASED OVER THE LAST FEW DECADES?
Primary: Population growth
Secondary: Economic development and rising standards of living.
NAME TWO NON-FUEL PRODUCTS OF CRUDE OIL
Plastics
Asphalt
Synthetic fibers such as nylon and polyester
WHAT ARE THE MAJOR TYPES OF COAL IN ORDER OF INCREASING QUALITY?
Lignite → Bituminous → Anthracite
NAME TWO STATES THAT FRACKING IS BOOMING IN
Texas
Pennsylvania
North Dakota
Colorado
Ohio
WHAT IS THE CURRENT “SOLUTION” TO DISPOSING OF RADIOACTIVE WASTE?
Cooling pools
Dry cask storage (steel and concrete containers for long-term storage).
THE FUEL THAT MOST CONTRIBUTES TO THE FORMATION OF ACID PRECIPITATION
Coal
Releases the most sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxides, forming sulfuric acid and nitric acid when mixed with water.
WHAT IS THE APPROXIMATE EFFICIENCY OF A TRADITIONAL COAL-FIRED POWER PLANT?
30-35%
EXPLAIN THE PROCESS BY WHICH CRUDE OIL IS REFINED INTO VARIOUS PRODUCTS
Crude oil is heated so it vaporizes, and the vapors rise through a fractionating column. Different hydrocarbons condense at different heights based on their boiling points, separating the crude oil into products such as gasoline, diesel, jet fuel, lubricants, and asphalt.
Heat it and let it rise up to different heights in a chamber so you can collect the different types.
LIQUIFIED COAL HAS BEEN PROPOSED AS A VIABLE ALTERNATIVE TO OIL. DESCRIBE TWO CONSEQUENCES OF USING THIS A LONG-TERM FUEL.
Higher greenhouse gas emissions
Increased environmental damage from coal extraction
High water use in the liquefaction process
Lower EROEI compared to conventional oil
NAME ONE WAY THE “FRACKING” DEGRADES THE AIR, WATER, AND LAND. BE SPECIFIC.
Water contamination
Air pollution
Land degradation
Induced seismicity
IF THE HALF OF URANIUM IS 700 MILLION YEARS, HOW MUCH OF THE ORIGINAL SAMPLE WILL REMAIN AFTER 2.8 BILLION YEARS?
1/16 or 6.25%
THE FUEL WITH THE MOST RADIOACTIVE EMISSIONS
Coal.
Coal naturally contains trace amounts of uranium and thorium.
Remember: Nuclear power plants emit only water vapor into the air.