Chapter 20: Conventional Energy Alternatives
I. Central Case: Sweden’s Search for Alternative Energy
A. In 1980:
B . Sweden today receives about one-third of its energy and nearly half its electricity:
C. Sweden does not favor:
D. Hydroelectric power:
E . Renewables have taken longer to develop than hoped, so:
II. Alternatives to Fossil Fuels
A. Nuclear power, biomass energy, and hydropower are:
B. Conventional alternatives provide some of our energy and much of our electricity.
1. Today’s economies:
2. Fuelwood and other biomass provide:
3. Nuclear energy and hydropower each account for about:
III. Nuclear Power
1. Nuclear power is free of ______, but its promise has been clouded by nuclear weaponry, the dilemma of radioactive waste ______, and the long shadow of Chernobyl and other ______.
A. Fission releases nuclear energy.
1. Nuclear energy :
2. We convert this energy into :
3. The reaction that drives:
B. Nuclear energy comes from:
1. Nuclear reactors:
2. Uranium ore:
3. Uranium is used for nuclear power because:
4. Each radioisotope decays at a rate determined by that isotope’s half-life:
5. After several years in a reactor:
C. Fission in reactors:
D. Breeder reactors make better use of fuel, but have raised safety concerns.
1. Breeder nuclear fission makes use of 238U, which in conventional fission goes unused as a ______.
2. Because 99% of all uranium:
3. However, breeder fission is considerably more dangerous than conventional nuclear fission. This is because:
4. Breeder fission can potentially be used to:
5. Because of these reasons:
E. Fusion remains a dream.
1. Nuclear fusion:
2. The hydrogen isotopes deuterium and tritium:
3. Overcoming the mutually repulsive forces of protons:
4. Successful fusion:
F. Nuclear power delivers energy more cleanly than ______.
1. Researchers calculate:
2. Uranium generates:
3. A drawback to nuclear power:
4. A second main drawback:
5. Most governments:
G. Nuclear power poses small risks of large accidents.
1. Two events were influential in shaping public opinion about nuclear energy. The first was at a nuclear plant in Pennsylvania.
a. In 1979, the Three Mile Island plant:
b. Through a combination:
c. This process, a meltdown, proceeded:
d. The accident was brought under control:
e. Although no significant health effects:
H. Chernobyl saw the worst accident yet.
1. In 1986, an explosion at the Chernobyl plant in Ukraine caused:
2. Human error, combined with:
3. There is now a gigantic concrete sarcophagus:
4. Atmospheric currents:
I. Waste disposal remains a problem.
1. Even if nuclear power generation can be made completely safe:
2. This waste remains dangerous:
3. Currently, nuclear waste:
4. In the United States, Yucca Mountain, Nevada:
J. Multiple dilemmas have slowed nuclear power’s growth.
1. Almost every nuclear plant has turned out to be more ______than expected.
2. Plants have aged more quickly:
3. Shutting down a plant:
4. These issues make nuclear-power-generated electricity more expensive than electricity from other sources.
5. Asian nations:
6. Western Nations:
7. Nearly half of the U.S. nuclear plants:
IV. Biomass Energy
1. Biomass consists of the organic material that makes up living organisms. Biomass energy:
A. Fuelwood and other traditional biomass sources are widely used in the developing world.
1. Fuelwood and other traditional biomass energy sources constitute nearly:
2. In reality, biomass is renewable only if it is not ______
B. New biomass sources are being developed in industrialized countries.
1. Biomass sources that can be burned efficiently in power plants can produce biopower:
2. Biofuels:
3. Many of the new biomass resources are actually the waste products of:
4. Organic components from:
C. Biofuels can power automobiles.
1.Ethanol is the alcohol in:
2. Ethanol is added to gasoline:
3. Many vehicles:
4.Biodiesel is produced from:
5. Traditional diesel engines can run on ______% biodiesel.
D. Biopower generates electricity from biomass.
1. Burning biomass in air:
2. Biomass is increasingly being combined with coal:
3. Decomposition of biomass by microbes:
E. Biomass energy brings environmental and economic benefits.
1. One major environmental benefit:
2. Biomass is the product of recent:
3. This holds only if biomass sources are not:
4. Capturing landfill gas:
5. Adding ethanol and biodiesel:
6. Economic benefits:
7. Biomass is less expensive than traditional fuels:
8. Biomass also has benefits for human health:
F. Biomass energy also brings drawbacks.
1. Burning biomass in traditional ways for cooking and heating leads to health hazards from ______.
2. Harvesting fuelwood at an unsustainably rapid rate leads to:
3. Growing biofuel crops establishes monoculture agriculture:
4. Growing bioenergy crops requires:
V. Hydroelectric Power
1. In hydroelectric power, or hydropower, the kinetic energy:
A. Modern hydropower uses dams and “run-of-river” approaches.
1. Most of our hydroelectric power today:
2. An alternative is the run-of-river approach:
B. Hydroelectric power is widely used.
1. For nations with large amounts of river water:
C. Hydropower is clean and renewable.
1. Hydropower is renewable as long as:
2. Hydropower is cleaner:
3. Recent evidence indicates that large reseviors”
D. Hydropower has negative environmental impacts.
1. Damming rivers:
2. Because water discharge:
3. Sediments:
4. Dams also cause thermal pollution:
5. Dams generally block:
E. Hydropower may not expand much more.
1. Most of the world’s rivers:
2.Moreover, in developed nations:
3. In the United States, 98%:
4. Hydropower will likely continue to increase in: