PUTTING THIS ALL TOGETHER

Energy Review 2014

Shawn Achor: The happy secret to better work | Video on TED.com

EVERYTHING IS CONNECTED TO EVERYTHING ELSE Ecology Human Population Evolution/Sexual Selection Energy

Everything you do has an effect on the environment – the good news is . . . (It’s the economy, stupid.)

All these subjects come together as we begin to finish the “academic” part of our year

NEED TO KNOW FOR THE TEST: Fossil Fuels

150+ years of coal, 50+ years oil, natural gas Peak Oil, (coal, natural gas) Our lifestyle depends on cheap and plentiful

fossil fuels – high energy = high quality of life. In the U.S. (5% of the world’s population) we consume 20-30% of the world’s energy

Nuclear Fuel (know: fission vs. fusion) What are we going to do with the waste? We want to store the waste in Yucca Mountain?

Renewables What is the negative part of each one solar, wind, geothermal, biomass, water

NEED TO KNOW CONTINUED: Electricity:

KCP&L 75% Coal 20% Nuclear 4% Oil 1% Wind

How do we make electricity?-most (99%) of the time the electrons are powered by heating water, the pressurized steam of the boiling water turns a turbine (making something spin is the key to creating electricity) which turns a generator. The generator then motivates electrons to move.

NEED TO KNOW CONTINUED: Al Gore, Inconvenient Truth Fracking – what is it? Pros and Cons Reduce, Reuse, Recycle What is peak oil? “The Oil We Eat” Earthship How can you make electricity? Energy Basics

First law of thermodynamicsEnergy is the ability to do workWork is applying a force over a distance