Renewable Energy

Used to heat water, buildings, and generate electricity.

Wind, biomass, and hydropower.

Energy that isn't directly powered by the sun, instead it is used to power another process that provides energy.

A device that directly converts chemical energy into electricity without needing to produce steam and use a turbine and generator.

Requires hydrogen from a tank and oxygen from the air.

Plant material, including undigested fiber in animal waste, used as fuel.

Converted into liquid fuel. Biodiesel is made from plant or animal oils and is becoming popular as an alternative for diesel in trucks and farm equipment.

Energy conservation

Using less energy, as for example, by reducing energy use and waste.

Carpooling -- uses less fuel

Using less energy to accomplish a given task, as for example, with new technology.

Designing and manufacturing more fuel-efficient automobiles.

A groundwater storage area between impermeable layers of rock.

Is trapped and often under pressure.

The movement of seawater into a freshwater aquifer located near the coast; caused when groundwater is depleted faster than it is replaced.

A type of irrigation that conserves water by piping it in to crops through sealed systems.

Pipes with tiny holds convery water directly to individual plants, right to the root system.

Gray water

Water that has already been usedfor a relatively non-polluting purpose, such as showers, dishwashing, and laundry.

Is not potable, but can be reused for toliets, plants, or car washing.

1. Removal of salt from ocean or brackish water.
2. Salt water is evaporated, and water vapor is condensed into freshwater (salt left behind).
3. Involves forcing salt water through a filter permeable to water, but not salt.

Rock that is slowly broken down due to the weathering processes.

The pathway of various nutrient minerals or elements from the environment through organisms and back to the environment.

• Sand
• Silt
• Clay
• Loam

Compare size of particles

• Medium sized particles (.002 to .05 mm in diameter)
• Small particles (less than .002 mm)
• .002 mm or less, contain that greatest surface area of all soil particles
• Ideal soil, 40% of each sand and silt, 20% clay

Strip Cropping

Sedimentation

Salts are left behind after water body dries up.

Responsible for deposits of table salt, gypsum.

The extraction of mineral and energy resources near Earth's surface by first removing te soil, subsoil, and overlying rock strata.

Piles of loose rock produced when a mineral such as uranium is mined and processed (extracted and purified from the ore).

Way to restore mining land by trapping sediment and pollutants before they get into streams, improving water quality.

Biodiversity

The number, variety, and variability of Earth's organisms.

Consists of three components: genetic diversity, species richness, and ecosystem diversity.

Extinction

The introduction of a foreign species into an ecosystem in which it did not evolve.

Upsets the balance among the organisms live in that area and interferes with the ecosystem's normal functioning.

Stored seeds that are safe from habitat destruction, climate warming, etc.

Seed banks can be used to reintroduce extinct plant species.

1. Conservation biology
2. in-sutu conservation
3. ex-sutu conservation

1. The scientific study of how humans impact organisms and of the development of ways to protect bilogical diversity.
2. On-site conservation, includes the establishment of parks and reserves.
3. Off-site conservation, involves conserving in human made settings. ie- zoos