Day 5: Issues in Generating Electricity 12.5, 12.8 Name ______
The electricity that comes from electrical outlets can be generated by a variety of means. It can be generated by turbines that are rotated by water (hydro, tidal), steam (nuclear, coal, natural gas, geothermal) or wind. It can come from solar cells. All methods have problems but some are particularly bad for the environment.
1) The most serious side effect of electrical energy generation is the emission of carbon dioxide. Carbon dioxide is a serious danger because it causes
A) ozone depletion B) acid rain C) climate change D) lung damage
Explain:
2) Which of the following methods emit carbon dioxide?
A) nuclear, coal B) nuclear, oil C) coal, oil D) all three
Explain:
3) Climate Change is a global issue and needs a global solution. Look at https://xkcd.com/1732/. Go to http://energyeducation.ca/encyclopedia/Electricity and look at the bottom of the page.
a) Choose bar graph and look at the regions of the world. When you push the play button, you can see how the numbers have changed from 1985 to 2013. Where was the biggest change? How big was it?
b) What caused the big change? Asia Pacific’s consumption growth was due to its increased
A) population B) standard of living C) both D) neither
Explain:
4) For each type of generation predict what the trend has been like over the past fifty years. Explain your reasoning and then Observe.
a) Coal:
b) Natural Gas:
c) Hydro:
d) Wind:
e) Solar:
f) Nuclear:
.
5) Many people are afraid of nuclear energy because of the horrific images of bombs and three disasters: 1979 Three Mile Island (US), 1986 Chernobyl (Ukraine) and 2016 Fukushima (Japan).
a) How many people have died as a result of radiation released by those three events?
A) 1000 B) 10, 000 C) 100,000 D) more than 10,000
.
b) How is nuclear power more dangerous than coal?
A) It emits air born radioactive waste. B) It emits creates more toxic waste.
C) It has a worse long term environmental impact D) The materials and tech. can be used to make bombs.
Explain:
6) Some countries are much further ahead in reducing carbon emissions. Go to the graph at the bottom of
http://energyeducation.ca/encyclopedia/Electricity_generation
a) Which parts of the graph represent a source that does not emit carbon dioxide? What is the % total?
b) Select North America and then Canada. Why is there such a big difference with the world average?
A) We are more aware of the dangers of carbon dioxide emissions.
B) We are lucky to have access to such large bodies of water like the oceans and the Great Lakes
C) We have the technology and uranium needed for nuclear power D) All three
Explain:
c) Contest: Predict the countries with the highest non-carbon emitting energy production.
d) Consider the countries that have the highest percentage in each energy type. Why are they the world leaders in these methods?
Hydro
Geothermal
Wind
Solar
Nuclear
Textbook reinforcement: Read pages 518 - 528
The textbook gives each source of energy about the same importance. Is this reasonable? Email your responses to the following questions to .