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Energy Business Exam 2

Terms in this set (73)

____was an early proponent of electric-powered automobiles.
Thomas Edison
Inventor Charles F. Kettering held a total of 186 patents. Many of his inventions were very influential in the automotive industry, including the development of Freon refrigerant for air conditioning systems, leaded gasoline to reduce knocks (with Thomas Midgley), and __________.
An electric starter that eliminated hand cranking to start gasoline-powered automobiles.
According to the author of the book Energy Myths and Realities, a switch to an all electric automobile fleet in the U.S. would require an increase in electrical power generation equal to _____ of all U.S. electrical generation in 2008.
25 percent
In the late 19th Century, three technologies competed to power the automobiles of the future. The three technologies were:
Electric, steam, and gasoline
Which of the following best describes the view of the author of Energy Myth and Realities with respect to electric powered automobiles?
Pessimistic
According to the article "Bernstein Energy & Power: The EVs are coming! The EVs are coming!," under the bullish case, how much new natural gas demand is projected to be needed in 2040 to generate additional electrical power versus today?
4 bcfd
According to the article "Bernstein Energy & Power: The EVs are coming! The EVs are coming!," the Tesla analyst's base case projects what percentage of all automobile sales to be electric vehicles by 2040?
50%
According to the article "Bernstein Energy & Power: The EVs are coming! The EVs are coming!," by 2040, what percentage of U.S. electricity will be generated by natural gas?
40%
Three specific petrochemicals from Stage 1 form the foundation of the industry. This is from the lecture on petrochemicals.
These three petrochemicals are:
Ethylene, propylene, and benzene
What are the three principal feedstocks for the chemical industry. (I do not mean the base petrochemicals. I am asking about the feedstocks into the chemical industry.)
Naptha, natural gas, and natural gas liquids
Which natural gas liquid is used to make the base chemical, propylene?
Propane
What is considered the world's first true synthetic fiber?
Nylon
Fertilizer is made primarily from which feedstock into the chemical industry?
Methane (natural gas)
You just purchased food at WalMart and they gave you a plastic bag with your goods. This plastic bag is most likely made from which of the following plastics?
High-density polyethylene (HDPE)
What petrochemical product is this? This is to illustrate the importance of the petrochemical industry. Hint: This is from the video lectures over petrochemicals. (picture of insulin pump)
an insulin pump
Which two natural gas liquids form roughly 2/3rds of the chemical industry feedstock?
ethane and propane
What group of reactive molecules are key to the petrochemical industry because they actively join with other molecules?
olefins
The nucleus of an atom is made up of __________ and usually a similar number of neutrons.
protons
A variant of a particular chemical compound that differs in the number of neutrons in the nucleus is known as a(n) __________.
isotope
The number of protons an atom has tells us the __________.
atomic number
An isotope of hydrogen that has one neutron in the nucleus is known as __________.
deuterium
The nuclei of certain light elements can split, releasing a lot of energy.
False
Which of the following is not a concern about nuclear power, according to the author of "Energy Myths and Realities" (Smil)?
The possibility of a nuclear explosion as a nuclear power plant.
A popular reactor design is the pressurized water reactor, which uses water as the coolant. However, the Experimental Breeder Reactor #1 (EBR-1) used __________ as the reactor coolant.
liquid sodium and potassium metal
Experimental Breeder Reactor #1 (EBR-1) was one of the first nuclear power plants to generate electricity, however its primary purpose was to prove which theory?
The capture of neutrons by uranium-238, producing plutonium-239, would produce more fuel than consumed in the process.
The man responsible for the U.S. Navy's nuclear propulsion program.
Rickover
Patrick Moore, the Co-founder of Greenpeace, and many other believed that nuclear generation is the best and most readily available choice for preventing rapid and possibly catastrophic global warming.
True
Which energy is the only low-carbon footprint option that is readily available on a gigawatt -level scale?
Nuclear Power
Lewis Strauss statement on electrical energy should obviously not be taken literally, as even "free" electricity would have to be transformed, transmitted, and distributed to users, requiring the construction and maintenance of an extensive and costly infrastructure?
"Too cheap to meter"
During the late _______, in the aftermath of the Manhattan Project and the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, there was no demand for nuclear electricity generation and no economically compelling reason to develop it rapidly.
1940's
Which complexes, centered on large nuclear plants and located in coastal desert areas, were to produce energy for the desalinization of sea water, synthesis of fertilizers, industrial activity, and intensive crop cultivation that would make desert habitable?
Nuplexes
The quintupling of world oil prices in 1973-1974 had a decidedly negative effect on nuclear fortunes.
True
What were some of the factors that halted, and then reversed, the nuclear expansions?
All of the choices
What is a good example of when a very significant buildup of unbalanced electrons move in air?
lightning
Copper atoms _____
give up their outermost electrons pretty easily.
What are the three sectors that the electric industry is broken into?
generation, transmission & distribution, and retail sale of electricity
What are significant sources of energy used in US electricity generation? By this, we are referring to sources that provide at least 5 % of the power. Select all that apply.
natural gas, coal, renewables, nuclear
If you had a home with nine 60 watt light bulbs burning, how much energy is being used?
540 watts
If you had a home with nine 100 watt light bulbs burning and you had them on for eight hours, how much energy is being used?
7.2 kW hours (kWh)
You just ate an entire Bloomin' Onion at Outback Steakhouse. It had 3080 calories. Yes -- This is true! How many hours could the amount of energy contained in the Bloomin' Onion power a 100 watt light-bulb?
Around 35 hours
Rank the following electric power units from smallest to largest, where the smallest is 1 watt and the largest is 1 x 10 ^ 15 (1,000,000,000,000,000) watts.
Watt, Kilowatt, Megawatt, Gigawatt, Terawatt, Petawatt
What country has "Energy so clean you can drink it?"
Norway
While coal is use for electricity generation, what fuel allows for easier transportation?
oil
India has about 600 million people without access to electricity. When the electricity is made available, that electricity is going to be from _____.
coal
How many turkeys can a nuclear reactor cook on Thanksgiving Day and how many total people are fed? Assume the following:
Nuclear reactor is 1 gigawatt and each oven uses 2200 watts.
The cooking time is 4 hours and you can cook 24 hours per day. (Always round down if you have a partial cooking time. We don't want to make anyone sick with partically cooked food!)
Assume each turkey feeds 12 people.
about 2.7 million turkeys and 32.7 million people fed
The U.S. power industry in separated into regions referred to as:
FERC regions
You just purchased food at WalMart and they gave you a plastic bag with your goods. This plastic bag is most likely made from which of the following plastics?
High-density polyethylene (HDPE)
If you had a home with 20 light bulbs of 75 watts each burning and you had them on for ten hours each day, how much energy is being used per day?
15000
You just ordered a medium cheese pizza (2236 calories) but only ate 1/2 of it. You threw the rest in the trash (which means you wasted 1/2 of the energy - calories). How many hours could the amount of energy you wasted from your meal could power a 60 watt light-bulb? Select the closest answer. Note: This question is to remind us that food waste is wasted energy. Remember that 1 calorie is equal to 4184 Joules. A "X" wattage light bulb would need "X" joules each second to operate since a watt is equal to a joule/second.
about 22 hours
Which of the following is not a concern about nuclear power, according to the author of "Energy Myths and Realities" (Smil)?
The possibility of a nuclear explosion as a nuclear power plant.
What group of reactive molecules are key to the petrochemical industry because they reactively join with other molecules.
olefins
____________ are a type of ionizing radiation that are not very penetrating and can be stopped by the skin.
alpha particles
If you had a home with six 50 watt light bulbs burning, how much energy is being used?
300 watts
Plastic #1
PET (polyethylene terephalate)
Plastic #2
HDPE (High-Density Polyethylene)
Plastic #3
PVC (Polyvinyl Chloride)
Plastic #4
LDPE (Low-Density Polyethylene)
Plastic #5
PP (Polypropylene)
Plastic #6
PS (Polystyrene)
Plastic #7
Other (BPA, Polycarbonate and LEXAN
How much total energy does one person in the world, on average, require each year of energy, according to the video titled: Switch: The Complete Documentary? In other words, what is one person's total energy footprint each year?
20,000,000 watt-hours
Nuclear fission:
is the splitting of the nuclei of certain heavy isotopes with neutrons, often producing neutrons and gamma radiation, and releasing large amounts of energy.
Investor Owned Utilities
These are for-profit companies with assigned franchise territories that own and operate generation facilities as well as transmission and distribution lines and which sell electricity directly to customers
Federal Power Administrations
They operate federally owned hydroelectric dams along some of the nation's largest rivers, including the Columbia and Colorado rivers.
Municipal Utilities and Public Utilities
These are generally not-for-profit entities that have been created by a city, county or metropolitan government to provide relatively low cost electricity to the residents and businesses in their district.
Electric Cooperatives
These typically not-for-profit utilities are customer owned and were founded by people in more sparsely populated rural areas.
Electric Marketers
They do not own generation or transmission and distribution facilities. Instead, they buy these services from traditional utilities or independent power producers, and then resell electricity at a higher price to other utilities or distributors in need of power.
What are the most important parts of our energy future, as described in the Switch video. Be clear and specific in your answer.
We should focus on energy efficiency first
Turn things off when we don't use them
People will make the right choices if we have the right information
What you and I do are the most important part of our energy future
What are the three sectors of the electric power industry? Clearly list and describe each.
Sector 1: The generation of electricity which is done at power plants.
Sector 2: The transmission and distribution of electricity via high voltage electric power lines.
Sector 3: Retail which involves the actual sale of electricity.
What are the challenges and issues of adoption of electric cars in the 21st century?
Sector 1: The generation of electricity which is done at power plants.
Sector 2: The transmission and distribution of electricity via high voltage electric power lines.
Sector 3: Retail which involves the actual sale of electricity.
What are the three stages of the petrochemical process? List them and explain what generally happens in each stage. Give an example of one petrochemical or hydrocarbon in each of the stages.
Stage 1: Base Chemicals - the primary building blocks that can be classified into two groups: olefins and aromatics. Ethylene is an example in this stage.
Stage 2: Intermediates and Derivatives - These base chemicals turn into intermediates and polymers. Phenol is an example
Stage 3: Consumable Products - Intermediates are turned into products that become inputs to many industries. Polyethylene is an example
Describe the advantages and disadvantages of nuclear energy as an energy source.
Pros of nuclear energy: carbon-free electricity, small land footprint, high power output, reliable energy source. Cons of nuclear energy: uranium is technically non-renewable, very high upfront costs, nuclear waste, malfunctions can be catastrophic
What is ionizing radiation? What are the differences between alpha, beta, gamma, and neutron radiation? Which is the most dangerous? Explain.
Ionizing radiation is radiation with enough energy to remove electrons from the atom, creating an ion.
Alpha - 2 protons 2 neutrons +2 charge
Beta (b) -electron originating from the nucleus of an atom -1 charge
Gamma (g) - rays and x rays
Neutron (n) - neutral charges particle MOST DANGEROUS because they are very penetrating and only stopped by hydrogen rich materials
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