I. Central Case: Sweden S Search for Alternative Energy

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: