Review sheet for BIOL 104 Exam 3

Below are important terms and/or concepts that you should understand.

General energy resources
surface mine
subsurface mine
cornucopians
neo-Malthusians

What are the major differences between surface and subsurface mines?
How can economics and technology extend resource supplies?
How does the concept of "reduce, reuse, recycle" fit in?

Oil resources
conventional oil
heavy oil
OPEC
oil embargo
oil shale
kerogen
retort furnace
tar sands
bitumen

How much oil do we have? Who has the most?
How can heavy oil be recovered?
Why don't we get more oil from OPEC nations?
Why aren't we using our oil shale reserves?
Where are we getting most of our imported oil?

Natural gas resources
methane
propane
butane
LP gas
tight sands

What is the major gas in natural gas?
What is done with the "other stuff" found in natural deposits of natural gas?
Where is it usually found?
Why are more people using it today?
Does natural gas cause polltion problems?
Where are future deposits located?

Coal resources
carbon content
energy content
anthracite
bituminous
subbituminous
lignite
slurry pipeline
fluidized-bed combustion
gypsum
coal gasification
coal liquefaction

What is our highest-energy, lowest-sulfur type of coal?
How much coal do we have?
Why does burning coal cause air pollution problems?
How is coaled mined? How does this affect cost?
What types of coal are mined in the western United States?
How do we transport coal?
How can coal be burned cleanly?
How can coal be converted to liquid and gaseous fuels?

Nuclear power
radioactivity
isotopes
conventional fission reactor
uranium-235
uranium-238
core
heat exchanger
turbine-generator
breeder fission reactor
plutonium-239
fusion reactor
tritium
deuterium
rem
core meltdown
Three Mile Island/Chernobyl
containment shell rupture
nuclear waste disposal

Why is uranium radioactive?
What is the fuel for a nuclear power plant?
How does a nuclear power plant generate electricity?
Can plutonium be used to produce electricity?
What is nuclear fusion?
Why do people fear nuclear power?
Are we dying younger because of nuclear power plants?
Where are we disposing of nuclear wastes from power plants?
Are some countries still building nuclear power plants?

Renwable energy resources
geothermal energy
The Geysers
steam
heat pump
solar energy
passive solar system
active solar system
photovoltaic cells
solar tracker/concentrator
hydroelectric power
wind power
DC (direct current)
biomass fuels
wood
methane
ethanol
methanol

Are some types of geothermal energy actually non-renewable?
What country/city depends heavily on geothermal energy?
What kinds of solar energy systems can be used for water and space heating?
What kinds of solar energy systems can be used to generate electricity?
How can water and wind produce electricity?
Can we retrofit old dams to generate electricity?
What renewable energy resource are most people in developing nations using today?
How can renewable supplies of methane and ethanol be produced?

Land resources
land management
economic
balanced multiple-use
ecological
preservationaist
National Wilderness System
parklands
deforestation
desertification

How has land use changed in the United States during the past century?
How are most public lands managed today?
What are current problems facing public lands?
Is deforestation restricted to tropical rain forests?
How do livestock contribute to desertification?

Wildlife resources
wildlife protection
economics
aesthetic/recreational
ecological
ethics
extinction
habitat disturbance/destruction
commercial hunting/poaching
predator/pest control
collecting
pollution
species introductions
species approach
laws, treaties
wildlife refuges
gene banks, zoos, botanical gardens
ecosystem approach
biosphere reserves

Why should we be concerned with wildlife extinctions?
What human activities are contributing to wildlife extinctions today?
How can we protect individual species threatened with extinction?
What is a better approach for protecting whole habitats and the species found there?

Society and environment
economics
cost-benefit analyses
redirect economic growth
politics
legislative branch
National Environmental Policy Act
environmental impact statement
executive branch
EPA
Superfund
judicial branch
environmental law
long-range planning
special interest groups
bureaucracy
religion
stewardship

How can economics affect our natural environment?
Do the costs of goods and services reflect the cost of these on the environment?
How has our political system impacted the environment? How has it protected it?
What branches of our government are responsible for different environmental problems?
Does religion have any influence on the environment?