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Human Geography Chapter 11: Industry & Energy
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Terms in this set (72)
Industrial Revolution
A series of improvements in industrial technology that transformed the process of manufacturing goods. Technology transformed the way in which goods were manufactured. James Watt's steam engine in 1769 allowed for better concentration of power sources. Some of the earliest industries that benefitted from this event were iron, textiles, chemicals, and food processing. Industry is concentrated in Europe, North America, and East Asia.
Cottage Industry
Manufacturing based in homes rather than in factories, most common prior to the Industrial Revolution. People made household tools and agricultural equipment in their own homes or obtained them in the local village.
Site Factors
Location factors related to the costs of factors of production inside a plant, such as land, labor, and capital. Determines why one location may be more profitable for a factory than others.
Labor
The most important site factor. Minimizing its costs is important for some industries, and the variation in costs around the world is large.
Labor-Intensive Industry
An industry in which labor costs (wages and other compensation paid to employees) constitute a high percentage of total expenses. Different from a high-wage industry, which is measured in dollars or other currencies.
Fordist Production
A form of mass production in which each worker is assigned one specific task to perform repeatedly. Named after the motor company of the same name, which was one of the first to use it early in the 1900's.
Post-Fordist Production
Adoption by companies of flexible work rules, such as the allocation of workers to teams that perform a variety of tasks. It organizes workers into teams that perform a variety of tasks and solve problems through consensus. Increasingly, factory workers need skills such as computer literacy, and many now have college degrees.
Capital
The funds to establish new factories or modernize existing ones and a site factor. Manufacturers typically borrow it, but the complacency of financial institutions determines the distribution of industry. Institutions such as in Silicon Valley have been long willing to provide money for new software and communications firms, for example.
Land
A critical site factor that can be suitable for factory construction given the right conditions. Factories nowadays are located in suburban and rural areas because lots are less expensive and located close to highways for easy shipment and delivery.
Situation Factors
Location factors related to the transportation of materials into and from a factory. A firm seeks a location that minimizes the cost of transporting inputs to the factory and finished goods to consumers. To reduce costs, manufacturers try to locate their factories close to inputs and close to markets.
Bulk-Reducing Industry
An industry in which the final product weighs less or comprises a lower volume than the inputs. To minimize transport costs, this type of industry locates near its sources of inputs. Copper is an example of how location decisions are made in this industry. Mining, concentration, smelting, and refining must be located near their inputs, while manufacturing is located near markets on the East and West coasts.
Mineral
A substance formed from when Earth's 8 most common elements combine with less abundant elements to form materials of varying hardness, color, and density as well as spatial distribution. Many of these have important industrial uses. Nonmetallic types include building stones, gemstones such as diamonds, and minerals used in the manufacture of fertilizers such as nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium, calcium, and sulfur. Metallic ones have properties that are especially valuable for fashioning machinery, vehicles, and other essential elements of contemporary society. They are to varying degrees malleable (able to be hammered into thin plates) and ductile (able to be drawn into fine wire) and are good conductors of heat and electricity.
Alloy
A combination of metals that bears distinctive properties. Ferrous types contain iron, while nonferrous ones do not.
Bulk-Gaining Industry
An industry in which the final product weighs more or comprises a greater volume than the inputs. To minimize transport costs, a bulk-gaining industry needs to locate near where the product is sold. Factories that fabricate metals are an example.
Single-Market Manufacturer
A specialized manufacturer with only one or two customers. The optimal location for these factories is often in close proximity to the customers. Examples include zippers and other components attached to clothing and parts for motor vehicles.
Perishable-Products Company
A company that must be located near their markets to deliver their products to consumers as rapidly as possible. This is to ensure that products are fresh upon delivery.
Auto Alley
A corridor of auto assembly plants, formed by north-south interstate highways 65 and 75 between Michigan and Alabama, with an extension into southwestern Ontario.
Truck
A mode of transportation. Most often used for short-distance delivery because they can be loaded and unloaded quickly and cheaply. It is especially advantageous if the driver can reach the destination within one day, before having to stop for an extended rest.
Train
A mode of transportation. Often used to ship to destinations that take longer than one day to reach, such as between the East and West coasts of the United States. Loading them takes longer than loading trucks, but once under way, they aren't required to make daily rest stops like trucks.
Airplane
A mode of transportation. Most expensive for all distances so they are usually reserved for speedy delivery of small-bulk, high value packages.
Boat
A mode of transportation. Attractive for transport over very long distances because the cost per kilometer is very low. They are slower than land-based transportation, but unlike trains or trucks, they can cross oceans, such as to North America from Europe or Asia.
Break-of-Bulk Point
A location where transfer is possible from one mode of transportation to another. These include seaports and airports. Containerization has made transfer between modes easier. However, costs arise every time products or inputs transfer from one mode to another. Some modes make transporting goods cheaper than others.
Just-in-Time Delivery
Shipment of parts and materials to arrive at a factory moments before they are needed. Products arrive at factories frequently. It allows manufacturers to save money as they don't accrue excess inventory nor need the extra, more expensive factory space for it. It can be disrupted by natural hazards, traffic, and labor unrest in the form of strikes and protests.
Supply
The quantity of something that producers have available for sale. Some developing regions have abundant stock of energy resources, whereas others have little.
Demand
The quantity of something that people wish to consume and are able to buy. The heaviest consumers of energy are in developed countries, whereas most of the energy sources are currently found in developing countries.
Animate Power
Power supplied by animals or by people. How we generated power back in olden days.
Fossil Fuel
An energy source formed from the residue of plants and animals buried millions of years ago. Supplies 5/6 of the world's energy, the United States in particular is highly dependent on them. The three kinds are:
-Coal. As North America and Europe developed rapidly in the late 1800s, coal supplanted wood as the leading energy source in these regions. Primarily distributed in the mid-latitudes despite forming in tropical locations. China produces nearly 1/2 of the world's coal.
-Petroleum. First pumped in 1859, petroleum did not become an important source of energy until the diffusion of motor vehicles in the twentieth century. Primarily distributed on the seafloors of the Persian Gulf and the North Sea. Russia and Saudi Arabia supply 1/4 of the world's petroleum.
-Natural Gas. Originally burned off as a waste product of petroleum drilling, natural gas is now used to heat homes and to produce electricity. 1/3 of natural gas is supplied by Russia and Southwest Asia.
Nonrenewable Energy
A source of energy that has a finite supply capable of being exhausted. Applies to fossil fuels, they are resources produced in nature more slowly than they are consumed by humans.
Energy Demand
The desire for energy by a country. The demand for energy is divided about equally between developed and developing countries. Developing countries are projected to want more of the world's energy in 2040. The United States has a high energy demand due to industry usage, transportation relying on petroleum, homes needing natural gas and coal, and commercial stores having uses and sources similar to those for homes.
Proven Reserve
The amount of a resource remaining in discovered deposits.
OPEC (Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries)
A band of developing countries with abundant petroleum reserves, mostly in Southwest Asia & North Africa. Originally formed to enable oil-rich countries to gain more control over their resource. U.S. and European transnational companies, which had originally explored and exploited the oil fields, were selling the petroleum at low prices to consumers in developed countries and keeping most of the profits. Countries possessing the oil reserves nationalized or more tightly controlled the fields, and prices were set by governments rather than by petroleum companies.
Potential Reserve
The amount of a resource in deposits not yet identified but thought to exist. When it is actually discovered, it is reclassified as a proven resource. It can be converted in two ways:
-Fields yet to be developed.
-Fields yet to be discovered.
Conservation
A way to reduce energy demand. By consuming alternative energy sources and through government mandates, demand will be reduced.
Price
A way to reduce energy demand. Hiking up prices, such as OPEC increasing world oil prices, will decrease demand for energy.
Unconventional Resource
A resource that can only be extracted through economically unstable and/or environmentally damaging means, making its use unfeasible. As demand increases for a resource and prices rise, exploiting this kind of source can become profitable.
Nuclear Energy
A nonrenewable resource that produces electricity by splitting uranium atoms. Advantageous in that larger amounts of energy are produced from small-mass materials (Einstein's theory of relativity), but poses health hazards to workers and the environment. Thus, high costs of several billion dollars are necessary because of the required safety measures. Australia has 29% of the world's uranium reserves.
Fission
The splitting of an atomic nucleus to release energy. How a nuclear power plant produces electricity from energy.
Fusion
Creation of energy by joining the nuclei of two hydrogen atoms to form helium. How the Sun provides energy within its core. It can occur only at very high temperatures (millions of degrees) that cannot be generated on a sustained basis in a power-plant reactor with current technology.
Renewable Energy
A source of energy that has a theoretically unlimited supply and is not depleted when used by people.
Biomass Fuel
Fuel derived from wood, plant material, or animal waste. A renewable resource. Wood can be used to generate electricity and heat. Brazil uses it to fuel its cars and trucks.
Hydroelectric Power
Generating electricity from the movement of water. A renewable resource. The world's second-most-popular source of electricity, after coal. Its drawback is that there are few acceptable sites left for building dams.
Wind Power
Power generated by channeling wind. A renewable resource. It modifies the environment less severely than does the construction of a dam, and has greater potential for increased use because only a small portion of the resource has been harnessed. Wind turbines can be expensive to construct, and environmentalists argue that they are noisy, hazardous to birds and bats, and look tacky against the rest of nature.
Geothermal Energy
Energy from steam or hot water produced from hot or molten underground rocks. A renewable resource. Natural nuclear reactions make Earth's interior hot. Toward the surface, in volcanic areas, this heat is especially pronounced. The hot rocks can encounter groundwater and produce heated water or steam that can be tapped by wells. Easiest to harness at sites where tectonic plates meet.
Solar Energy
Energy provided by the Sun. A renewable resource. It has many benefits:
-The Sun has 5.5 billion years left to live, and humans are unable to destroy or deplete it.
-The Sun's energy is free and ubiquitous.
-This energy cannot be exclusively owned or sold by and particular individual or enterprise.
-Utilizing the Sun as a resource does not damage the environment or cause pollution.
Passive Solar Energy System
A solar energy system that collects energy without the use of mechanical devices. These systems use south-facing windows and dark surfaces to heat and light buildings on sunny days. The Sun's rays penetrate the windows and are converted to heat.
Active Solar Energy System
A solar energy system that captures solar radiation with photovoltaic cells that convert light energy to electrical energy. Can be accomplished directly (capturing it through photovoltaic cells), or indirectly (converting it to heat and then to electricity).
Pollution
Concentration of waste added to air, water, or land at a greater level than those resources can handle.
Air Pollution
Concentration of trace substances, such as carbon monoxide, sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxides, hydrocarbons, and solid particulates, at a greater level than occurs in average air. These make up 0.04% of Earth's atmosphere. Concentrations of these trace gases in the air can damage property and adversely affect the health of people, other animals, and plants. Mostly generated from factories and power plants, as well as from motor vehicles. Countries with the highest concentrations are in Asia, especially China and India.
Photochemical Smog
An atmospheric condition formed through a combination of weather conditions and pollution, especially from motor vehicle emissions. It causes respiratory problems, stinging in the eyes, and an ugly haze over cities. Makes up urban air pollution along with carbon monoxide and particulates.
Acid Desposition
The accumulation of acids on Earth's surface. Especially affected by this are the world's principal industrial regions.
Acid Precipitation
Conversion of sulfur oxides and nitrogen oxides to acids that return to Earth as rain, snow, or fog. It damages lakes, killing fish and plants. On land, concentrations of acid in the soil can injure plants by depriving them of nutrients and can harm worms and insects. Buildings and monuments made of marble and limestone have suffered corrosion from acid rain. Does not occur in the same location as the emission of the pollutants, something geographers continue to investigate.
Ozone
A gas that absorbs ultraviolet radiation and is found in the stratosphere, a zone 15 to 50 kilometers (9 to 30 miles) above Earth's surface. Were it not for this layer in the stratosphere, the Sun's UV rays would damage plants, cause skin cancer, and disrupt food chains.
CFC (Chlorofluorocarbon)
A gas used as a solvent, a propellant in aerosols, a refrigerant, and in plastic foams and fire extinguishers. These threaten Earth's ozone layer by breaking it down.
Nonconsumptive Water Usage
The use of water that is returned to mature as a liquid. Applies to most industrial and municipal uses of water because the wastewater is primarily discharged into lakes and streams.
Consumptive Water Usage
The use of water that evaporates rather than being returned to nature as a liquid. Applies to most agricultural uses because the water is used primarily to supply plants that transpire it and therefore cannot be treated and reused.
BOD (Biochemical Oxygen Demand)
The amount of oxygen required by aquatic bacteria to decompose a given load of organic waste; a measure of water pollution. If too much waste is discharged into water, the water becomes oxygen starved and fish die. This can occur when bodies of water become loaded with municipal sewage or industrial waste. The sewage and industrial pollutants consume so much oxygen that the water can become unlivable for normal plants and animals, creating a "dead" stream or lake.
Point-Source Pollution
Pollution that enters a body of water from a specific source. The two most common sources are manufacturers and municipal treatment plants. Many factories use water for cooling and then discharge the warm water back into the river or lake. Fish adapted to cold water, such as salmon and trout, might not be able to survive in the warmer water.
Nonpoint-Source Pollution
Pollution that originates from a large, diffuse area. Much harder to control since they usually pollute in greater quantities. The principal source is agriculture. Fertilizers and pesticides spread on fields to increase agricultural productivity are carried into rivers and lakes by irrigation systems or natural runoff. Expanded use of these products may help to avoid a global food crisis in the short term, but they destroy aquatic life by polluting rivers and lakes.
Solid Waste Pollution
A form of pollution generated from humans. As people acquire more material goods, they generate more of this. People in developed countries generate more than twice as much than people in developing countries.
Sanitary Landfill
A place to deposit solid waste, where a layer of Earth is bulldozed over garbage each day to reduce emissions of gases and odors from the decaying trash, to minimize fires, and to discourage vermin. Though it manages to concentrate solid waste pollution, it may only work temporarily. Chemicals released by the decomposing solid waste can leak from the landfill into groundwater. This can contaminate water wells, soil, and nearby streams.
Hazardous Waste
A type of pollution that includes heavy metals (including mercury, cadmium, and zinc), PCB oils from electrical equipment, cyanides, strong solvents, acids, and caustics. These may be unwanted by-products generated in manufacturing or waste to be discarded after usage. If poisonous industrial residuals are not carefully placed in protective containers, the chemicals may leak into the soil and contaminate groundwater or escape into the atmosphere. Breathing air or consuming water contaminated with toxic wastes can cause cancer, mutations, and chronic ailments.
Recycling
The separation, collection, processing, marketing, and reuse of unwanted material. Involves the breaking down of the components used in the creation of plastics, papers, aluminum, and glass, and preparing them for use in a future application. Increasingly used in industry as a way to promote more sustainable industrial processes. Materials that would otherwise be "thrown away" are collected and sorted through:
-Curbside Programs
-Drop-Off Centers
-Buy-Back Centers
-Deposit Programs
Remanufacturing
The rebuilding of a product to specifications of the original manufactured product using a combination of reused, repaired, and new parts. Materials are manufactured into new products for which a market exists. Increasingly used in industry as a way to promote more sustainable industrial processes. Four major manufacturing sectors account for more than half the recycling activity—paper mills, steel mills, plastic converters, and iron and steel foundries. The principal inputs into manufacturing include paper, plastic, glass, and aluminum.
New International Division of Labor
Transfer of some types of jobs, especially those requiring low-paid, less-skilled workers, from more developed to less developed countries. A reason why industries are changing locations.
Outsourcing
A decision by a corporation to turn over much of the responsibility for production to independent suppliers. It has had a major impact on the distribution of manufacturing because each step in the production process is now scrutinized closely in order to determine the optimal location. Especially important in the electronics industry.
Vertical Integration
An approach typical of traditional mass production in which a company controls all phases of a highly complex production process. Was traditionally regarded as a source of strength for manufacturers because it gave them the ability to do and control everything.
Maquiladora
A factory built by a US company in Mexico near the US border, to take advantage of the much lower labor costs in Mexico. Under U.S. and Mexican laws, companies receive tax breaks if they ship materials from the United States, assemble components at one of these plants in Mexico, and export the finished product back to the United States. Labor leaders fear that more manufacturers will relocate production to Mexico to take advantage of lower wage rates. Environmentalists argue that trade agreements have encouraged firms to move production to Mexico because laws there governing air- and water-quality standards are less stringent than in the United States and Canada.
BRICS
An acronym coined by the investment banking firm Goldman Sachs for Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa. The foreign ministers of these five countries started meeting in 2006. These five countries together encompass 26 percent of the world's land area and 42 percent of the world's inhabitants, but account for only 23 percent of world GDP. Economists think that if they combine their unique strengths, they can be the world's dominant industrial block in the twenty-first century.
Textiles and Apparel
The production of woven fabrics and clothing; a prominent example of a labor-intensive industry that generally requires less-skilled, low-cost workers. It involves three principal steps:
-Spinning of fibers to make yarn.
-Weaving or knitting of yarn into fabric.
-Assembly of fabric into products.
All steps are labor-intensive, but of varying levels and importance. Overall production costs are generally lower in developing countries because substantially lower labor costs than in developed countries offset higher shipping and taxation costs. Most of the cost of clothing sold in developed countries is markup by the retailer. Workers in developing countries earn only around 1 percent of the final cost to the consumer.
Steel
An alloy of iron that is manufactured by removing impurities in iron, such as silicon, phosphorus, sulfur, and oxygen, and adding desirable elements, such as manganese and chromium. The two principal inputs are iron ore and coal. In the past, production of this alloy was a good example of a bulk-reducing industry that located near its inputs. The distribution of producers has been altered by:
-Changes in the relative importance of the main inputs.
-Increasing importance of proximity to markets.
Because of the need for large quantities of bulky, heavy iron ore and coal, production traditionally clustered near sources of the two key raw materials. Proximity to markets became important with the introduction of minimills, where scrap metal, the main input, is widely available.
Right-to-Work Law
A US law that prevents a union and a company from negotiating a contract that requires workers to join the union as a condition of employment. A way in which industry is shifting away from the traditional industrial areas of northwestern Europe and the Northeastern United States. Requires a factory to maintain an "open shop." These laws make it much more difficult for unions to organize factory workers, collect dues, and bargain with employers from a position of strength. These laws ultimately shifted industrial locations from the Northeast to the South and West in the United States.
Intraregional Shifts in Europe
The way in which manufacturing has diffused from traditional industrial centers in northwestern Europe toward Southern and Eastern Europe. Government policies have encouraged relocation toward economically distressed peripheral areas. Since the fall of communism in the early 1990s, investment in industry has increased rapidly in Central Europe. Central Europe offers manufacturers two important site and situation factors: low-wage but relatively skilled labor and proximity to Western Europe markets.
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