Read: Using Wind Power in New Ways for an Old Application 1: How was the voyage of the Beluga

SkySails different than traditional industrial ship voyages? It was powered with 20% of its movement energy by a wind sail tethered to the ship Introduction to Alternative Energy Sources 2: Fossil fuels supply approximately 90% of the energy consumed by people 3: What are the two types of non-renewable alternative energy sources? Why are they considered to be non-renewable? Nuclear requires a mineral mined from the Earth, Geothermal heat is being extracted faster than it is replenished 4: What is low-density, near-surface geothermal energy? Solar energy stored by soil and rock near the surface 5: What are biofuels made from? Biomass (crops, wood, etc.) 6: What is the definition of renewable energy? Energy sources regenerated by the sun within a time period useful to people Solar Energy 7: How much solar energy is equal to the energy stored in all known reserves of coal, oil and natural gas on Earth? 10 weeks 8: What are passive solar energy systems? Give an example. Promotes cooling in hot weather and retaining heat in cold weather, Overhangs that block summer sun but allow winter sun 9: What are active solar energy systems? Give an example. Energy systems that require mechanical power, Electric pump circulate air, water or other fluids from solar collectors to a location where heat is stored 10: What are solar collectors? What are they used for? How do they work? Sheets of silicon that use solar energy to produce some form of power, Provide space heating or hot water, Flat, glass-covered plates over a black background where absorbing fluid is circulated through tubes 11: What are photovoltaics? What are they made out of? Explain how they work.

Solar collector that converts sunlight directly into electricity, Made from thin layers of semiconductors and a solid-state electronic components with few or no moving parts, sunlight strikes silicon, producing a current from the circuit, making usable energy 12: What are solar thermal generators? How do they work? Focus sunlight onto water-holding containers, Water boils and is used to run conventional steam-driven electrical generators 13: What are some of the environmental concerns of solar energy? Variety of metals, glass plastics, and fluids used in the manufacture and use of solar equipment, Production and accidental spills could release toxic materials 14: What are fuel cells? How are they created? Hydrogen as power for fuel cells, Electric current separates water into hydrogen and oxygen, When H recombined with O, electrons flow between positive and negative poles, makes a current Water Power 15: Water power has been around since when? The Roman Empire 16: How much power in the United States is currently powered by hydroelectricity? 10% 17: What is microhydropower? Where is this helpful? Small systems of hydropower, and could be used in homes and small industries 18: What are the environmental benefits of hydroelectricity? Water power is clean and efficient power, No burning of fuel, no radioactive waste 19: What are the environmental consequences of hydroelectricity? Flood large tracts of land, Block fish migration, Trap sediment that would replenish beaches, Evaporative loss of water from reservoirs Ocean Energy 20: Explain how we can harness tidal power. Dam built across the entrance to a bay or estuary, Water held in or out of bay until significant difference in level forces water in or out, this runs the turbines 21: What are some of the environmental impacts of tidal power? Changes hydrology of bay, Restricts passage of fish, Changes habitat for birds and other organisms. Wind Power

22: What is the major problem with using wind power? Wind highly variable in time, place, and intensity 23: How are winds produced? Wind produced when differential heating of Earths surface create air masses with differing heat contents and densities 24: How does topography influence winds? Explain. Wind rising over a mountain or through small gaps creates stronger gusts, varying the strength of wind in different areas 25: Which regions in the United States have the greatest potential for wind power development? Pacific Northwest Coastal, Northeast Coastal, Great Plains 26: Which country has the largest wind energy capacity installed? US 27: Modern wind turbines are big- as much as 70 m high, as tall as a 23 story building, and have a generating capacity of more than 1 million watts. This is enough electricity for 500 modern U.S. homes. 28: What are the disadvantages to wind power for the environment? Kills birds, Use large areas of land, May degrade areas scenic resources. 29: What is the future outlook for wind energy generation? Provide 10% of the worlds energy, and then supply more than 20% Biofuels 30: What are the 3 categories of biofuels? Firewood, Organic wastes, Crops grown to be converted into liquid fuels 31: How many people worldwide still use wood as their primary source for energy? More than 1 billion 32: What are some of the benefits of using biofuels? Good way of disposing of wastes, firewood will still be a primary source of energy 33: What are the environmental concerns with the using of biofuels? Can pollute the air and degrade the land, Worlds forests will decrease, burning urban waste can release heavy metals Geothermal Energy

34: What are the two types of geothermal energy and how do they differ? High density - Energy from interior of earth. Low density - Solar energy that has traveled to shallow depths. 35: How many people worldwide depend on geothermal as their energy source? 40 million 36: What type of location is ideal for high-density geothermal energy? Give an example. Plate boundaries, mountains or ocean ridges 37: Where is low-density geothermal energy mostly found? Why? The surface, because the sun heats the surface with infrared rays 38: What are the PROS and CONS of using geothermal energy? Cons: Considerable thermal pollution from hot wastewaters, Water may be saline or highly corrosive, On-site noise, Emissions of gas, Disturbance of land Pros: less emissions, no large-scale transportation of materials, does not produce pollutants present in fossil fuel burning 39: What types of government incentives might encourage use of alternative energy sources? Would their widespread use affect our economic and social environment? Financial, aesthetic, and employment incentives. Yes. Chapter #17- Nuclear Energy and the Environment 1: How much of the worlds electricity do nuclear power plants provide? 17% 2: In the United States, nuclear power plants produce about 20% of the countrys electricity and about 8% of the total energy used. 3: The nuclear power plants in France provide 78% of the countrys total energy. What is Nuclear Energy? 4: What is nuclear energy? Energy contained in the atoms nucleus 5: What is the difference between fission and fusion? Fission splitting of atomic nuclei. Fusion fusing or combining of atomic nuclei. 6: Nuclear reactors use fission(fusion or fission?) and which product as a source of radioactivity? Commercial energy 7: Which type of Uranium is used for nuclear power plants?

Uranium 235 8: What does it mean that the Uranium is enriched? The concentration of Uranium 235 is increased 9: What is a nuclear meltdown? Nuclear accident where the coolant system fails, resulting in the leaking of radioactive material that pollutes the environment with radioactivity 10: Reactors that use ordinary water as the coolant are called: Light water reactors 11: Draw and label a diagram below to explain the nuclear power plant set-up:

A Closer Look: Radioactive Decay 12: What is a radioisotope? An isotope of a chemical element that spontaneously undergoes radioactive decay 13: What is radioactive decay? A process where an isotope changes from one to another and emits a small amount of radiation 14: What is a half-life? What is the half-life of Uranium 235? Time it takes for half of a radioactive material to decay, 700 million years 15: Define the following types of nuclear radiation: (Explain the safety measures needed when using each) * Alpha Particle: two protons and neutrons, most mass, travel very short distances only *Beta Particle: electrons, proton turns into a neutron (or vice versa) and expels a neutrino and electron * Gamma Rays: electromagnetic radiation, travel longest distances, penetrating 16: Uranium goes through a radioactive decay chain to finally become which element?

Lead-206 Nuclear Energy and the Environment 17: What are the major problems associated with the nuclear fuel cycle? Emitting radiation that affects other materials, entering the normal pathways of mineral cycling and ecological food chains Nuclear Radiation in the Environment, and its Effects on Human Health 18: How does nuclear radiation effect ecosystems? Explain and give an example. They can enter the food systems, EX: cesium-137 in Arctic North America 19: Radiation is found naturally in what kind of materials? Give 2 examples. Cosmic rays and rocks/soils 20: Where in the United States are background radiation levels higher? Mountainous areas 21: In what ways are people exposed to radiation in their everyday lives? Consumption of potassium-40 and inhalation of carbon-14 A Closer Look: Radiation Units and Doses 22: What is the commonly used unit for radioactive decay? Who is it named after? Curie (Ci), Marie Curie and her Husband 23: What is the SI unit for radioactive decay? Becquerel (Bq) 24: When dealing with the environmental effects of radiation, we are most interested in the actual dose of radiation delivered by radioactivity. This dose is commonly measured in terms of rads and rems. In the international system (SI), the units are greys and sieverts. 25: For gamma rays, the unit commonly used is the roentgen or in SI units, coulombs per kilogram 26: What is the LD50 dose of radiation in humans? 5,000 millisieverts, or 5 sieverts 27: What happened to the women who worked in the watch factories in the early 1900s? Swallowed radium, causing jaw rot, and eventually anemia and bone cancer 28: What are the health effects for workers in uranium mines? Higher rates of lung cancer Nuclear Power Plant Accidents

29: What is the current risk of a nuclear meltdown in the U.S. according to the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission? 1 in 10,000 Three-Mile Island 30: When did the event on Three-Mile Island occur? March 28, 1979 31: Where is Three-Mile Island located? Near Harrisburg, PA 32: What were some of the societal issues associated with the incident at Three-Mile Island? Major impact of the incident was fear Chernobyl 33: Summarize the events at Chernobyl, Soviet Union Failure in cooling waters: Reactor overheated melting the uranium fuel, Explosions removed top of building, and Fires produced a cloud of radioactive particles 34: How many people died and how many people were diagnosed with acute radiation sickness? 4,000 death were directly attributed to accident, 237 sicknesses 35: How many people were exposed to radiation in the days following the accident? 24,000 people estimated to have received radiation dose of 430mSv 36: What was the most common type of illness that resulted from the Japanese A-bomb survivors? Leukemia 37: What was the most common type of illness that resulted from the Chernobyl accident? Thyroid cancer 38: What happened to the ecosystem around the affected area following the meltdown? Trees and vegetation damaged Radioactive-Waste Management 39: What is low-level radioactive waste? Where it is stored? Low enough concentrations that it does not present a significant environmental hazard, Buried in nearsurface burial areas 40: What is transuranic waste? How is it created?

Composed of human-made radioactive elements heavier than uranium, Generated from production of nuclear weapons or cleanup of former nuclear weapon facilities 41: What is high-level radioactive waste? Where is it stored? Consists of commercial and military spent nuclear fuel, on-site 42: What and where is Yucca Mountain? What was the plan with it? Mountain in the desert in Nevada, to be disposed of underground in deep geologic waste repository 43: What are the safety hazards associated with using Yucca Mountain to store nuclear waste? Concerned that natural processes might allow radiation to escape The Future of Nuclear Energy 44: How much Uranium stores do we have left? 4.7 million tons 45: What are the PROS and CONS of using Nuclear Power? Pros: no emissions, clean, no contribution to acid rain Cons: expensive, non-renewable, possibility for accident 46: What are breeder reactors? Designed to produce new nuclear fuel, transforms waste or low-grade uranium into fissionable material