Energy, Industry, Economics & Development

99 terms

Biofuel

Any fuel which comes from biomass. It includes liquid fuels (bioethanol and biodiesel), various biogases and solid biofuels.

Deep mining

Mining deep beneath the surface using a system of tunnels and shafts.

Fossil fuel

A fuel produced from organic material which was growing millions of years ago. When we use these fuels we are using the sun’s energy from millions of years ago, which has been stored in the fossil fuels.

Geothermal energy

Energy extracted from hot rocks or water beneath the surface.

Geothermal power

Using the heat contained deep in the Earth (which is more concentrated in volcanic areas).

Hydrocarbon

A compound of hydrogen and carbon. Methane (CH4) is the simplest.

Lignite

A dull brown coal which is typically about 60% carbon.

Non-renewable fuel

One that is not being formed as fast as we are using it, e.g. coal, oil and gas. Current reserves of these fuels will eventually run out.

Opencast mining

Mining at the surface by excavating an open pit.

Penstock

The pipe feeding water to a hydroelectricity turbine.

Petroleum (crude oil)

A mixture of hydrocarbons found in the pore spaces of some rocks.

Photovoltaic cell

A system for producing electricity from sunlight (photo = light, voltage = electricity). The cells absorb the sun’s rays using semi-conducting materials, such as silicone. Electrons are knocked loose from their atoms, which allow them to flow through the material to produce electricity.

Pumped storage

A system where the reservoir in a hydroelectric power station acts much like a battery – storing power in the form of water when demands are low, and producing maximum power during peak periods.

Renewable fuel

One that is being formed as fast as (or even faster than) we are using it, e.g. wind power and tidal power. It will not run out.

Thermal power station

A power station where the fuel is burned to produce heat, which turns water into steam. The steam then turns a turbine to generate electricity. It generally refers to those power stations powered by fossil fuels (coal, oil and gas) and nuclear fuel.

Turbine

Any system that converts a flowing fluid into energy.

Assembly line

The method of production, for example in a car factory, where each car passes through a series of stages and each stage concentrates on one part of the production process.

Automated

A process that is made automatic.

Computerised

Run by computers.

Economies of scale

The ways in which one large unit can operate more cheaply and efficiently than several smaller units.

Footloose industry

An industry that is not tied to any particular type of location.

Heavy industry

Industries dealing with bulky raw materials and products.

High-technology industry

An industry that uses the most advanced technology to make products which may, or may not, be high technology themselves.

Industrial sector

The subdivision of industries into primary, secondary and tertiary.

Light industry

Industries dealing with raw materials and products which have little weight or bulk.

Manufacturing industry

Industries that convert raw materials into finished goods. Also known as secondary industries.

Mass production

The production of large quantities of a particular item in large factories.

Oil refinery

The factory which takes crude oil and breaks it down into useful products, such as vehicle fuel, aviation fuel and heating oil.

Overburden

Soil or other rock covering a mineral deposit.

Petrochemical industry

The industry that uses the products of oil refineries to manufacture products like plastics.

Pharmaceutical

To do with medicines and drugs.

Primary industry

industry Industries which produce raw materials.

Quaternary industry

Industries which are knowledge-based. Sometimes considered as a subdivision of tertiary industries.

Raw materials

The things that will be converted into the finished product.

Research & development

The development of new products and new methods of production. Advanced industrial systems rely heavily on capital investment in these processes.

Secondary industry

Industries which convert raw materials into finished goods. Also known as manufacturing industries.

Service industry

Industries which provide for people’s needs, other than physical items. Also known as tertiary industries.

Tanning

The conversion of skin into leather.

Tertiary industry

Industries which do not produce goods, but distribute them or provide a service.

Agriculture

Another word for farming. It is the artificial cultivation of plants (crops) and rearing of animals for food and other products.

Arable

Growing crops.

Biotechnology

Using biological processes or living micro-organisms in industry.

Capital

Technically, this is something required to help in producing other goods, e.g. machinery or storage buildings. However, in the sense that it’s used here, you can take it to mean money.

Cash crop

A crop produced to be sold for money.

Cereal

A grain crop like wheat, maize or millet.

Chitimene

A system of shifting cultivation practised in Zambia.

Combine harvester

A machine which cuts cereal crops, separates the grains from the husks and stalks and produces three separate outputs – grain, straw (the plant stems) and the husks.

Commercial farming

Farming to make a surplus to sell for profit.

Contour ploughing

Ploughing around a hill, rather than up and down it (to prevent soil erosion).

Cover cropping

A method of preventing soil erosion. A fast-growing crop is planted after the main crop has been harvested. Sometimes this is a ‘green manure’ crop, which is ploughed back into the soil to add nutrients. In this way, the soil is left bare for the minimum amount of time.

Crop rotation

Changing the crop on a plot every year for three or four years before the first crop is grown again.

Draught animals

Animals used to pull tools or machines, such as ploughs.

Dry farming

A series of methods used to stop soil erosion in areas with low rainfall. It includes not ploughing the land and also growing drought-resistant varieties.

Economic

To do with money and generating wealth.

European Union

An economic and political group of 27 member countries which are located in Europe. It adopts a common policy for food imports from outside the Union.

Extensive farming

Farming without achieving the maximum output from each plot of land, but compensating for this by farming a large area.

Fallow

Leaving the land without a crop in order to recover its nutrients and fertility.

Fertiliser

The average number of children born per woman.

Foot and mouth disease

An infectious and sometimes fatal disease that affects sheep and cattle and some wild species. It causes a high fever and blisters inside the mouth and on the feet (causing lameness). It is a severe problem for animal farming, since it is highly infectious and can be spread by infected animals, through contact with contaminated farming equipment, vehicles, clothing or feed, and by domestic and wild animals. Trade restrictions and quarantines – and occasionally the elimination of millions of animals – are used to prevent outbreaks.

G20

A group of 20 countries with large economies.

GDP per capita

Gross domestic product is the value, in dollars, of the goods and services that a country produces in a year. The total GDP figure is divided by the country’s total population to calculate GDP per person (per capita).

Globalisation

The process by which local economies, societies and cultures have become integrated through communication, transportation and trade. Economic globalisation is the integration of national economies into the international economy through trade, foreign investment and the flow of capital across international boundaries.

Grain elevator

Large storage towers (silos) used to store grain.

Herbicide

A weed killer.

Hunter-gatherer

An ancient way of life, whereby people survive by gathering berries and fruit and hunting animals.

Hybrid

An improved variety produced by crossbreeding existing varieties.

Industrial Revolution

The process that took place in certain MEDCs between 1750 and 1900. It changed the economies of those countries from agricultural to industrial, developed factories, and led to urbanisation.

Infrastructure

The organisational features needed for something to work. For example, irrigation infrastructure could be the pipes, pumps, sprinklers, etc. The infrastructure for a whole community includes transport, education, health service, banks, etc.

Intensive farming

Farming to achieve the maximum output from each plot of land.

Irrigation

Providing crops with water by artificial means, i.e. not directly from rainfall.

Manure

Any organic matter added to the soil to improve its structure and mineral content, e.g. animal dung or vegetable waste.

Market

Although this term could mean a local place where people of the community come to buy goods, its meaning is also more general and means anywhere where there is a demand for the product, e.g. a foreign country.

Mixed farming

Farming with both crops and animals.

MNC (or TNC)

Multinational corporation: A company which has its operations in several countries. A transnational company.

Monoculture

Growing the same crop on the same plot repeatedly.

NIC

Newly industrialised country: Countries previously categorised as LEDCs but which have started to develop secondary and tertiary industries in recent years.

Nomadism

Moving from place to place, usually with animals, in search of pasture.

Output

The products of a system.

Overcropping

Growing crops too close together or too frequently on a plot so that the soil loses fertility.

Overgrazing

Grazing too many animals on a plot of land, with the result that the quality of the pasture deteriorates.

Overstocking

Keeping too many animals on a plot of land.

Pastoral

Keeping animals.

Pesticide

A chemical to kill insects and other pests that affect crops or animals.

Physical input

The breakdown of rocks at the Earth’s surface, involving changes in temperature.

Plantation

A large commercial tropical farm that grows a single crop.

Recession

When wealth production (defined by gross domestic product) decreases for a period of two or more consecutive quarters of the year.

Retail chain

A large company, sometimes a multinational, with shops in many areas of a country.

Rotational grazing

Having a series of fenced areas and moving animals from one area to another to prevent overgrazing.

Shifting cultivation

A system of arable agriculture where there is no permanent home and the plots are cultivated for two or three years and then abandoned for many years.

Strip cultivation

A method of preventing soil erosion. Crops are grown in narrow bands, often at right angles to the prevailing wind, with other bands of different crops in between. The crops are harvested at different times so the field is never left completely bare.

Subsistence farming

Farming just to feed oneself and one’s family, rather than farming for profit.

Technology

Machines and other tools.

Terraces

Flat steps constructed to allow cultivation on steep slopes.

Terracing

A system used to grow crops on sloping land by creating flat steps.

TNC

Transnational corporation: A company which has its operation in several countries. A multinational company.

Tsetse fly

Large biting flies that inhabit much of mid-continental Africa between the Sahara and Kalahari deserts. They live by feeding on the blood of vertebrate animals, and are the main transmitters of trypanosomes, which cause human sleeping sickness and animal trypanosomiasis.