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| type of chemical element or mass of such an element that typically is lustrous, opaque, malleable, and can conduct heat and electricity |
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| wade through streambeds, sifting through large amounts of debris by hand with a pan or simple tools, searching for high-density tantalite. It washes large amounts of debris into streams, disturbing stream banks, causing erosion and harming ecologically important riparian plant communities. |
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| Entire mountaintops are blasted off, and the waste is dumed into adjacent valleys. Used for coal in the Appalacian Mnts. Destroys habitat because of debris, pollutes, and clogs streams and rivers |
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| Using large vacuum-cleaner-like hydraulic dredges, miners collect sand and gravel from beneath the sea. Suflur is extracted from salt deposits in the Gulf of Mexico. Over 1.5 trillion are on the Pacific floor, but the difficulty of mining them kept their extraction uneconomical so far |
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| Require that mining companies "reclaim" vegetation atop surface=mined sotes. Also, post bonds to cover reclamation to cover reclamation before mining is approved. Impacts of mining can be severe and long-lasting though so it's not very effective. |
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| encourages propecting for minerals on federally owned land by allowing any U.S. citizen to stake a claim on any plot of public land and hen patent the claim for just a few dollars an acre. |
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| Process ore to get metals out |
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| make steal by adding carbon to iron by smelting most methods are water and energy intensive, emit air pollution. Soil and water can be polluted by the left over ore which may have heavy metals and chemicals present |
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| a mineral or grouping of minerals from which we extract metals |
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| Fossil fuels, the sun, nuclear power, solar radiation, hydrolics, biomass |
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| highly combustibles substances formed from the remains of organisms from past geological ages. 3 used most widely- oil, coal and natural gas |
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| forms from organic matter, hard and blackish, coal is the most abundant fossil fuel on Earth. It generates 1/2 electricity in US. *Peat- bad kind of coal (organic material that is near the surface still and wet) Strip mining and subsurface mining. |
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| Fastest growing fossil fuel, 1/4 o global commercial energ consumption. Consists primarily of mathane. Biogenic gas- organic matter by bacteria. Thermo- compression and heat deep underground. Greatest in Russia and Middle East and US-lead the world in gas production and gas consumption |
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| In Saudi Arabia, US, & Russia mostly, the more you take out of an area, the harder it is to get out making it more expensive. |
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| Hubbert's Peak- geologist M. Kind Hubbert predicted US oil production would peak around 1970 and then decline. (40 yrs. until we have none left) |
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| moist sand and clay containing 1-20% bitumen, removed by strip mining, E Venezuela and NE Alberta |
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| sedimentary rock filled with kerogen, mined with strip mines or subsurface mines, 40% global reserves in US |
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| seafloor sediments, ice-like solids, methane embedded in crystal lattice of water molecules |
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Salt in food, sand in gravel, lead in ink, nickel in batteries etc. |
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| Nonmetallic minerals and fuel |
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Sand and gravel, limestone, salts, gemstones, uranium, fossil fuels, phosphorous (fertilizer)
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| heavy machinery removes the overlying soil and rock (overburden), resource is then extracted, each strip then filled with the overburden that has been removed. Commonly used for coal, sand, gravel, and oil sands. It destroys natural communities over large areas and can trigger extensive soil erosion, it can also cause acid drainage |
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| shafts are excavated deep into the ground, networks of tunnels are dug or blasted out to follow deposits of the mineral. Miners remove the resource systematically and ship it to the surface. Used for zinc, lead, nickel, tin, gold, copper, uranium, diamonds, phosphate, salt, and potash. Most dangerous form of mining. Dynamite blasts, collapsing shafts and tunnels, inhale toxic fumes and coal dust. It pollutes groundwater and creates black lung disease. |
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| Digging a gigantic hole, removing the desired ore along with waste rock that surrounds the ore. Some are enormous, worlds largest- Bingham Canyon Mine near Salt Lake City, Utah. Habitat loss, Acidic water. |
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| Impacts of fossil fuel use |
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| pollute air, drive GCC, contaminate groundwater, acid drainage, metals, destruction of habitats |
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| the energy that holds together protons and neutrons within the nucleus of an atom. Converted into thermal energy to generate electricity. From processed and enriched uranium. No greenhouse gas emissions, less air pollution then fossil fuels. Less accidents when you mine. |
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| Top producers & consumers of coal, oil and natural gas |
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Oil- Saudi Arabia, Iran Iraq
Natural Gas- Russia, Iran, Qatar
Coal- US, Russia, China |
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| Electricity in a power plant |
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| Everything heats up water, the turbine turnsthe water, the water is condensed and goes to a cooling tower, reheats water |
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-Valmy, Tracy, and Fort Churchill power stations produced 43% of the electricity provided to the company's 361,000 electic customers
-Remaining electricity delivered from the states
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| Reasons for seeking energy alternatives |
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| Running out of fossil fuels, safer/less contaminating ways of energy uses |
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| Major sources of renewable energy |
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| biomass, hydroelectic, solar, wind, etc. |
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| Converted to biopower through combustion. From animal and plant matter. The stuff that we burn. 2 liquid kinds-ethanol and gas engines. No carbon emissions, a lot of land use. Co-firing: when the add biomass to coal plants |
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| we use kinetic energy of moving water to turn turbines and generate electricity. Comes from impounding water in reservoirs behind concrete dams that block the flow of river water. Renewable as long as water isn't overdrawn form river system, power is clean: no greenhouse gas emissions. Numerous disruptive ecological effects to riparian environments. |
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Passive- designs buildings to maximize capture of sunlight in winter, but keep buildings cool in the summer
Active- uses technological devices to focus, move, or store solar energy. Renewable, local control, solar cookers. Not everywhere is sunny enough, up-front investment. |
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| Photovaltalic cells generate electricity directly |
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| electrons move from phosphorous side of silicon plate to boron side, creating electric current. |
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| Renewable, no emissions, local, low cost. Not everywhere is windy enough, far from pop., object to aesthetics, blades kill animals, high start-up cost. Generates the wind's kinetic energy into electrical energy. |
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| form of renewable energy that doesn't originate from the sun, but generated deep within the Earth. Geothermal power plants use the energy of naturally heated water and dtream for firect heating and to turn turbines and create electricity. |
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