Deck 15: Nonrenewable Energy

Question 1

Currently, oil has a high net energy ratio because

A)It is found in small deposits.
B)It is found in stable countries.
C)It comes from cheap-to-extract deposits.
D)It comes from inaccessible places.
E)It does not take much money to get it.

Answer 1

C

Question 2

Oil sand is made up of all of the following except

A)bitumen
B)water
C)clay
D)natural gas
E)sand

Answer 2

D

Question 3

All of the following are ways the United States unnecessarily wastes energy, except

A)driving gas-guzzling vehicles
B)getting electricity from inefficient coal-burning power plants
C)using geothermal energy
D)living in poorly designed, leaky, inefficient buildings
E)using inefficient lighting, furnaces and air conditioners

Answer 3

C

Question 4

The point at which pressure in a well begins to drop and production begins to decline is called:

A)decline point
B)end point
C)reduction point
D)peak production
E)dropping point

Question 5

The United States uses what percentage of all the oil produced in the world?

A)6%
B)8%
C)11%
D)16%
E)23%

Question 6

When the net energy ratio is below what figure is there a net energy loss?

A)3
B)2
C)1
D)0
E)-1

Question 7

In order to get high-quality energy you must use high-quality energy. This rule is the result of which of the following?

A)the law of diminishing returns
B)the law of gravity
C)federal law
D)the first law of thermodynamics
E)the second law of thermodynamics

Question 8

The internal combustion engine was invented in what year?

A)1928
B)1900
C)1885
D)1843
E)1794

Question 9

Burning oil products for transportation produces how much of the world's CO₂ emissions?

A)5%
B)18%
C)23%
D)43%
E)50%

Question 10

The advantages of using oil shale and tar sand include all of the following, except

A)large potential supplies
B)easily transported within countries
C)efficient distribution system in place
D)easily transported between countries
E)high net energy yield

Question 11

As the difficulty in obtaining an energy source increases, the net energy ratio ____ and the price ____.

A)declines: declines
B)declines; increases
C)increases; declines
D)increases; increases
E)levels off; levels off

Question 12

The total amount of high-quality energy available after the energy needed to make it available is subtracted, is called

A)net energy
B)total energy
C)useful energy
D)gross energy
E)entropy

Question 13

The Industrial Revolution began in Europe how many years before the present?

A)75
B)125
C)200
D)275
E)325

Question 14

Any energy resource with a low or negative net energy yield cannot compete in the open marketplace with other energy alternatives with high net energy yields unless…

A)it is the only source of energy
B)people are nostalgic about using it
C)advertising is really good
D)told to use it by a dictator
E)subsidized by the government or some other funding source

Question 15

What percentage of the commercial energy used in the U.S.is wasted?

A)100%
B)84%
C)67%
D)50%
E)31%

Question 16

The second law of thermodynamics means dictates which of the following?

A)it takes a lot of energy to make high-quality energy from low-quality energy
B)some high-quality energy is always degraded
C)the amount of energy in the universe is constantly changing
D)high-quality energy does not degrade
E)it takes high-quality energy to get high-quality energy

Question 17

Which of the following is not a member of OPEC?

A)Saudi Arabia
B)United States
C)Kuwait
D)Nigeria
E)Venezuela

Question 18

Which of the following is not true if the rate of global consumption continues to grow exponentially at 2% per year?

A)Saudi Arabian proven reserves would last 7 years
B)proven reserves under Alaska's North Slope would meet U.S.demand for 3 years
C)Alaska's ANWR unproven reserves would meet U.S.demand for 24 months
D)the Bakken oil formation in the U.S.would last 10 years
E)if people of China use as much as people of U.S.we need 7 more Saudi Arabias

Question 19

Which of the following is not an advantage of using conventional crude oil as an energy source?

A)high net energy yield
B)efficient distribution system
C)environmental costs included in market price
D)ample supply for several decades
E)low land disruption

Question 20

What percentage of the U.S.oil consumption is imported?

A)85%
B)60%
C)44%
D)35%
E)24%

Question 21

The worst nuclear power accident in the United States occurred in 1979 in what state?

A)New York
B)Connecticut
C)Pennsylvania
D)California
E)Washington

Question 22

Burning coal, along with removing pollutants from the emissions, results in the accumulation of all of the following, except

A)radioactive radon
B)uranium
C)arsenic
D)lead
E)mercury

Question 23

Which of the following is not a reason nuclear power has declined in the United States?

A)nuclear accidents in the U.S.and the Ukraine
B)declining amount of available uranium
C)poor management
D)concerns about radioactive waste disposal
E)extremely high cost of plant construction

Question 24

When compared to burning coal directly, producing synfuels has all of the following disadvantages, except

A)requires mining 50% more coal
B)production and burning of synfuels could release 50% more carbon dioxide
C)synfuels have lower net energy yield than conventional coal
D)synfuels require greatly increased use of water
E)supplies are quite low

Question 25

In the United States, fine-particle pollution, mostly from coal-burning power plants, kills how many people each year?

A)5,000
B)7,000
C)12,000
D)18,000
E)24,000

Question 26

If the energy required to mine, purify, and transport the uranium, along with cleaning up the radioactive wastes, are included in energy lost in nuclear plants, the net energy loss amounts to what percentage?

A)100%
B)98%
C)96%
D)94%
E)92%

Question 27

Almost 72% of the world's reserves of oil shale are found in

A)The United States
B)Russia
C)Canada
D)Iraq
E)Ukraine

Question 28

Which of the following countries has the largest proven reserves of natural gas?

A)Iran
B)Qatar
C)United States
D)Russia
E)Saudi Arabia

Question 29

Who has the world's largest coal reserves?

A)India
B)U.S.
C)Russia
D)China
E)Australia

Question 30

Which of the following would be a place you would expect to find methane hydrate gas?

A)Arctic ice sheet
B)Greenland ice sheet
C)high mountain glaciers
D)permanent snow pack
E)Tundra permafrost

Question 31

Which of the following is the primary gas in natural gas?

A)ethane
B)methane
C)propane
D)butane
E)hydrogen sulfide

Question 32

Which of the following is not a problem with burning coal?

A)it is the dirtiest of all fossil fuels
B)it releases large amounts of black carbon particulates
C)it emits trace amounts of radioactive materials
D)burning coal produces a highly toxic ash
E)supplies of coal are very limited

Question 33

Which of the following is true of natural gas?

A)it is easy to transport.
B)it has a high net energy ratio.
C)it emits less carbon dioxide than other fossil fuels
D)it is pumped into pressurized tanks at deep sea oil rigs
E)the U.S.has more natural gas reserves than Russia.

Question 34

Which of the following countries has the largest of the proven reserves of coal?

A)Russia
B)China
C)U.S.
D)Australia
E)India

Question 35

How much of the energy in a light-water reactor is lost?

A)26%
B)42%
C)63%
D)75%
E)83%

Question 36

In the U.S., coal-burning power plants produce what percentage of the electricity?

A)2%
B)21%
C)45%
D)19%
E)9%

Question 37

In China air pollution is causing as many as ____ premature deaths per year.

A)1,000
B)30,000
C)200,000
D)700,000
E)1,000,000

Question 38

The disadvantages of oil shale and tar sand as an energy sources include all of the following, except

A)low net energy yield
B)severe land disruption
C)low potential supplies
D)releases carbon dioxide and other air pollutants when produced and burned
E)high water use

Question 39

According to the U.S.Energy Administration and the Worldwatch Institute, when the harmful costs of using coal are included in the cost of coal, it becomes

A)the most expensive way to produce electricity
B)the second most expensive way to produce electricity
C)the third most expensive way to produce electricity
D)the fourth most expensive way to produce electricity
E)the least expensive way to produce electricity

Question 40

U.S.coal companies and coal-burning utilities have suggested there is something called clean-coal. Which of the following is false about clean coal?

A)stricter pollution controls will not stop release of some carbon dioxide
B)burning coal will always result in production of hazardous ash
C)one type of coal is significantly cleaner than other types
D)climate scientist James Hansen calls coal the single greatest threat to civilization
E)air pollutants will always be released by burning coal

Question 41

What percentage of the U.S.population lives within 75 miles of an above-ground spent-fuel storage site?

A)23%
B)33%
C)43%
D)53%
E)63%

Question 42

By 1850, Europeans were harvesting firewood faster than the forests could replace it.

Question 43

About 70% of the world's estimated supply of oil is light or sweet crude oil.

Question 44

Proponents of nuclear power proclaim nuclear power releases no carbon dioxide. Critics point out that carbon dioxide is released at all of the following points except

A)during the 10 year + construction of the plant
B)during the processing the tons of concrete for construction
C)during the operation of the nuclear plant
D)during mining of the uranium ore
E)during the concentration of the uranium ore

Question 45

The 13 countries that make up OPEC have about two-thirds of the world's proven crude oil reserves.

Question 46

About 33% of commercial energy is wasted because of the second law of thermodynamics.

Question 47

Proven and unproven global reserves of conventional crude oil we be 80% depleted between 2050 and 2100.

Question 48

Nuclear power has a low net energy yield.

Question 49

Any energy resource with a low or negative net energy yield cannot compete in the open marketplace with other energy alternatives with higher net energy yields unless it is subsidized by the government.

Question 50

Almost one-fourth of the world's crude oil is controlled by states that sponsor or condone terrorism.

Question 51

Some critics of nuclear power say new nuclear power plants should meet all of the following criteria, except

A)it must generate enough net energy not to need subsidies, or tax breaks
B)spent fuel and dismantled plants must be easy to dispose of
C)reactors must be built so a runway chain reaction is impossible
D)reactor fuel must not be able to be used to make nuclear weapons
E)uranium must be available from friendly governments

Question 52

Waste from the production of nuclear weapons must be stored for how long before it is safe?

A)25 years
B)100 years
C)1,000 years
D)150,000 years
E)240,000 years

Question 53

To keep using conventional oil at the estimated increasing rate of consumption, we must discover proven reserves of oil equivalent to the current Saudi Arabia supply every 5 years.

Question 54

Which of the following is not true of nuclear powered electricity generation?

A)plenty of uranium
B)low CO2 emissions
C)less land disruption than coal
D)high net energy yield
E)requires huge subsidies

Question 55

China is the world's single largest consumer of oil in 2009.

Question 56

Fossil fuels are considered can be renewed in a few decades or centuries.

Question 57

Net energy is the amount of useful energy available from a source minus the energy necessary to get it to the consumer.

Question 58

The United States and 14 other countries have been selling nuclear reactors for decades. As a result, how many countries now have nuclear weapons or the knowledge and ability to produce bomb-grade material?

A)22
B)32
C)40
D)60
E)100

Question 59

China and the United States are the two largest consumers of crude oil, and have about 20% of the world's proven crude oil reserves.

Question 60

Since 1984, the production of conventional crude oil from reserves has exceeded new oil discoveries.

Question 61

Kerogen is the name given to a solid combustible mixture of hydrocarbons found in oil shales.

Question 62

The U.S.government ha provided huge subsidies, tax breaks, loan guarantees, and accident insurance guarantees to the nuclear power industry.

Question 63

Extracting heavy oil releases less greenhouse gases per barrel than conventional oil.

Question 64

Coal is the world's most abundant fossil fuel.

Question 65

The most common nuclear reactors are heavy-water reactors.

Question 66

James Hansen, of the NASA Goddard Center, says coal is the single greatest threat to civilization and all life on the planet."

Question 67

Because of coal-burning power plants, the United States is the world's leading emitter of carbon dioxide and sulfur dioxide.

Question 68

Forty-three percent of global carbon dioxide emissions come from burning gasoline and diesel for transportation.

Question 69

_______________ countries started the industrial revolution about 275 years ago.

Question 70

The long-term global outlook for conventional natural gas supplies is better than that for crude oil.

Question 71

Probable reserves, with a 50% chance of recovery, are called ____________________.

Question 72

Cutting ____________________ is the fastest, cheapest, and most environmentally beneficial source of energy.

Question 73

Methane makes up the majority of natural gas.

Question 74

Digging up and processing shale oil releases more carbon dioxide and has a higher environmental impact than does producing crude oil.

Question 75

Coal is, by far, the dirtiest of all fossil fuels.

Question 76

A coal burning power plant releases 100 times more radioactivity into the atmosphere than does a nuclear power plant of the same energy output.

Question 77

According to EPA, people who drank water contaminated by coal ash slurry over a long period of time had a 1 in 50 chance of getting cancers of the lung and bladder.

Question 78

The United States has more proven natural gas reserves than does Russia.

Question 79

The United States uses only about _____________ % renewable energy resources.

Question 80

Nuclear power is the slowest growing form of commercial energy in the world.