ENVISCI QUIZ PREP

Feb 19 Quiz

What has happened to the amount of solid waste each person creates since the 1960s?

•It has doubled for each person, and there are twice as many people

•What is a main contributor to the increase in waste since the 60’s

•Plastic packaging

•Why is there more plastic packaging?

• Manufacturer convenience

• Store convenience

• Theft control

• Tampering control

What type of areas do might have problems locating landfills?

• Highly populated areas

• Small towns that have little land

• Areas with wealthy populations

What is the problem

with syntheticmaterials?

•They are so new that organisms have not evolved to decompose them.

•What is the most important function of landfills?

•To safely store our waste without contaminating our environment

•Why are we not building a lot more landfills?

• Citizen environmental concerns

• Lack of close cheap land• Previous bad experiences

• Not in MY back yard!

• Incinerator waste takes up less space in a landfill, but what is a problem with burying the ash?

•The ash is often is more toxic than the unburned waste

•What is a monitoring well?

•A well in or near a landfill used to be sure the landfill isn’t leaking into the ground water.

•Why do landfills have to be monitored?

•To be sure that the waste stays safely contained on site.

•Why do landfills have to be guarded 24/7/365?

•To avoid illegal dumping of wastes the landfill is not designed to hold.

•Why do we pile landfills so high?

•So that once sealed, rain water will run off rather than soak into the landfill

•Define Biodegradable

•Something that will naturally break down into it’s basic non hazardous components

•What is municipal solid waste?

•Waste produced by homes and businesses

How can we cut down landfill use?

•How can wood be disposed of?

•Burned for energy

•Converted to mulch

•Sold for firewood

•Sold as used lumber

•How can paper be disposed of?

• Recycled to make new paper

• Hammer milled into insulation for attics

•How can metal be disposed of?

•Sorted and recycled

•How can yard waste be disposed of?

•Composted to make soil enhancers

•How can food be disposed of?

•Composted to make soil enhancers

•How can glass be disposed of?

• Sorted and melted to make new glass

• Crushed and used as in roads

• Melted with some hazardous wastes to make safer waste

•How can plastic be disposed of?

•Sorted, melted and reused

•Mixed & melted with wood to make Deck boards

•What is Leachate?

•The water or other liquid that has drained through the landfill and carries waste with it

•How do we keep toxins from leaking out of landfills into the groundwater?

Line the pit with butyl liners and clay

Install drain systems to remove leachate

Mound the pit high to shed rainwater

Seal the top with butyl and clay

Plant the top to avoid erosion

• What are 2 ways toxins in our groundwater can harm us?

• Poison

• Teratogens that deform fetuses

• Carcinogens

•What is a “superfund site?”

• A hazardous waste site becomes a Superfund site when it is placed on the Environmental Protection Agency's National Priority List because of its health impact

•What is the best fossil fuel for us to use?

•Natural gas is the cleanest fossil fuel and produces the least CO2

•Is energy conservation usually worth its cost?

•Conservation usually saves much more money than it costs for energy saving equipment.

• What type of energy conservation is not to a point where it saves us money?

• Hybrid Cars may not yet be worth their cost from a purely monetary view because of their high cost, battery replacement cost, and low fuel savings.

•What is a renewable fuel?

•One that replaces itself quickly, such as firewood and water power

What is a

non-renewabble fuel?

•One that cannot be renewed or that takes millions of years to renew

•What is an inexhaustible fuel?

•A fuel that will replace itself as quickly as we can possibly use it

•Crude Oil

• Is it renewable or non-renewable?

•Non-renewable

•Conventional nuclear fission

•Is it renewable or non-renewable?

•Non renewable unless we make plutonium in breeder reactors

•Geothermal Energy

• Is it renewable or non-renewable?

•Renewable

•Solar Energy• Is it renewable or non-renewable?

• Inexhaustible, so it is renewable, at least for a few billion years

•Wind Energy

• Is it renewable or non-renewable?

•Renewable

•Conventional Natural Gas

• Is it renewable or non-renewable?

•Non-renewable

•Wind Energy

• Is it renewable or non-renewable?

•Renewable

•Coal

•Is it renewable or non-renewable?

•Non Renewable

•Biomass

• Is it renewable or non-renewable?

•Renewable

•Hydropower

• Is it renewable or non-renewable?

•Renewable

•What is the definition of a fossil fuel?

•A fuel that was once living millions of years ago

•What are the 3 fossil fuels?

•Coal

•Oil

•Natural gas

•How is coal extracted from the ground?

•Either strip mining or underground mining

• What is the environmental effect of mining coal?

• It leaves mines or pits that fill up with acidic waste water that may have to be treated forever

• It leaves huge piles of loose waste rock

•Who uses the most coal?

•Power plants

•What are the environmental problems with burning coal?

• Coal gives off more carbon dioxide than any other fossil fuel

• Coal contains sulfur that when burned produces acid rain

• Some coal contains mercury and heavy metals.

•How much coal supply do we have?

•Hundreds of years

•How are oil and gas extracted?

•Deep wells are drilled

• What is the environmental problem with drilling for oil and gas?

• Oil Spills

• Uses a LOT of water

• Weak wells require HOT water

• Can cause land to subside

•What is good about oil and natural gas?

• They are convenient to store and ship

• Oil is readily converted into gasoline

• Gasoline is portable for cars

•What is the down side to using oil and N gas?

• Carbon dioxide

• Acid Rain

• Smog

• We need it for other purposes.

• We have to import a lot of it

•How much oil and N gas is available?

•Only a few decades of proven reserves exist

•Hydrogen Fuel• Is it renewable or non-renewable?

•Renewable from sea water

•What is good about hydrogen?

• It is portable, and it’s only emission is water

•What is bad about Hydrogen?

• It takes more energy in the form of electricity to make it than it gives off when you use it as a fuel

•What is good about biomass?

• The net amount of carbon dioxide produced is zero. Co2 is used by the plant, and when it is burned, the next crop uses it all up

• It can be made into portable car fuel

•What is bad about biomass fuel?

• It uses land that we need for food crops

•What is good about hydropower?

• It produces a lot of electricity without polluting the air or water

•What is bad about hydropower?

• Dams harm fish reproduction

• Dam lakes fill up with silt

• Power has to be used near the dam

•What is good about wind energy?

•Totally non polluting

•What is bad about wind power?

• You never know when the wind will blow

• The best winds are often not where there are people to use the power

•How can we capture solar energy?

•Photo cells

•Reflectors and boilers

•Passive heating

• What is the problem with photocells?

• They’re still pretty expensive

• They don’t work when the sun isn’t shining

•What is the problem with reflector boilers?

• They take a LOT of room

• They don’t work when the sun isn’t shining

• What is the problem with passive solar?

•It is fairly limited to heating

•They don’t work when the sun isn’t shining

•What is good about Geothermal energy?

• Low temp set with a heat pump are very efficient to run

• Save a LOT on heating and cooling

• Inexpensive to install

•What is bad about geothermal?

Low temperature sets are only good for heating.

Hot sets can only be used in a few areas because the hot rock is too deep

•What is good about Nuclear Fission

•What is bad about Nuclear Fission

• Waste must be stored for thousands of years

• Mining for fuel pollutes

• Boom!

• No air or water pollution

• Relatively inexpensive to run once the plant is online

• Can build them close to cities

•What is a renewable fuel?

•One that replaces itself quickly, such as firewood and water power

What is a

non-renewabble fuel?

•One that cannot be renewed or that takes millions of years to renew

•What is an inexhaustible fuel?

•A fuel that will replace itself as quickly as we can possibly use it

•Crude Oil

• Is it renewable or non-renewable?

•Non-renewable

•Conventional nuclear fission

•Is it renewable or non-renewable?

•Non renewable unless we make plutonium in breeder reactors

•Geothermal Energy

• Is it renewable or non-renewable?

•Renewable

•Solar Energy• Is it renewable or non-renewable?

• Inexhaustible, so it is renewable, at least for a few billion years

•Wind Energy

• Is it renewable or non-renewable?

•Renewable

•Conventional Natural Gas

• Is it renewable or non-renewable?

•Non-renewable

•Wind Energy

• Is it renewable or non-renewable?

•Renewable

•Coal

•Is it renewable or non-renewable?

•Non Renewable

•Biomass

• Is it renewable or non-renewable?

•Renewable

•Hydropower

• Is it renewable or non-renewable?

•Renewable

•What is the definition of a fossil fuel?

•A fuel that was once living millions of years ago

•What are the 3 fossil fuels?

•Coal

•Oil

•Natural gas

•How is coal extracted from the ground?

•Either strip mining or underground mining

• What is the environmental effect of mining coal?

• It leaves mines or pits that fill up with acidic waste water that may have to be treated forever

• It leaves huge piles of loose waste rock

•Who uses the most coal?

•Power plants

•What are the environmental problems with burning coal?

• Coal gives off more carbon dioxide than any other fossil fuel

• Coal contains sulfur that when burned produces acid rain

• Some coal contains mercury and heavy metals.

•How much coal supply do we have?

•Hundreds of years

•How are oil and gas extracted?

•Deep wells are drilled

• What is the environmental problem with drilling for oil and gas?

• Oil Spills

• Uses a LOT of water

• Weak wells require HOT water

• Can cause land to subside

•What is good about oil and natural gas?

• They are convenient to store and ship

• Oil is readily converted into gasoline

• Gasoline is portable for cars

•What is the down side to using oil and N gas?

• Carbon dioxide

• Acid Rain

• Smog

• We need it for other purposes.

• We have to import a lot of it

•How much oil and N gas is available?

•Only a few decades of proven reserves exist

•Hydrogen Fuel• Is it renewable or non-renewable?

•Renewable from sea water

•What is good about hydrogen?

• It is portable, and it’s only emission is water

•What is bad about Hydrogen?

• It takes more energy in the form of electricity to make it than it gives off when you use it as a fuel

•What is good about biomass?

• The net amount of carbon dioxide produced is zero. Co2 is used by the plant, and when it is burned, the next crop uses it all up

• It can be made into portable car fuel

•What is bad about biomass fuel?

• It uses land that we need for food crops

•What is good about hydropower?

• It produces a lot of electricity without polluting the air or water

•What is bad about hydropower?

• Dams harm fish reproduction

• Dam lakes fill up with silt

• Power has to be used near the dam

•What is good about wind energy?

•Totally non polluting

•What is bad about wind power?

• You never know when the wind will blow

• The best winds are often not where there are people to use the power

•How can we capture solar energy?

•Photo cells

•Reflectors and boilers

•Passive heating

• What is the problem with photocells?

• They’re still pretty expensive

• They don’t work when the sun isn’t shining

•What is the problem with reflector boilers?

• They take a LOT of room

• They don’t work when the sun isn’t shining

• What is the problem with passive solar?

•It is fairly limited to heating

•They don’t work when the sun isn’t shining

•What is good about Geothermal energy?

• Low temp set with a heat pump are very efficient to run

• Save a LOT on heating and cooling

• Inexpensive to install

•What is bad about geothermal?

Low temperature sets are only good for heating.

Hot sets can only be used in a few areas because the hot rock is too deep

•What is good about Nuclear Fission

•What is bad about Nuclear Fission

• Waste must be stored for thousands of years

• Mining for fuel pollutes

• Boom!

• No air or water pollution

• Relatively inexpensive to run once the plant is online

• Can build them close to cities