Pesticides PERIOD B2, Air Pollution PERIOD B2, Renewable Energy PERIOD B2, Non-Renewable Energy PERIOD B2

Pesticides

Chemicals to kill organisms we consider undesirable.

Insecticides

Type of pesticide that is used to kill insects.

Herbicides

Type of pesticide that is used to kill weeds.

Fungicides

Type of pesticide that is used to kill fungus.

Nematocides

Type of pesticide that kills flat worms.

Rodenticides

Type of pesticide used to kills rats or mice.

Coevolution

The result of dynamic interactions between predator and prey species.

First-generation pesticides

Natural substances that are used by plant species to defend themselves from insects.

Second-generation pesticides

Synthetic organic chemicals for use as pesticides.

Broad-Spectrum Agents

Pesticides that are toxic to many species

Selective-Spectrum Agents (Narrow)

Pesticides that are effective against a small range of organisms.

Persistence

The length of time that pesticides remain deadly in the environment.

Genetic Resistance

The development of immunity to pesticides through natural selection.

Pesticide Treadmill

The trend in which farmers pay more and more for pest control programs that are less and less effective. Caused by genetic resistance.

Tolerance Level

The amount of toxic pesticide residue that can legally remain on the crop when the consumer eats it.

Bacillus Thuringensis

A microbe, or common soil bacterium that is a registered pesticide sold commercially as a dry powder. Releases a protein that disrupts the digestion system of pests.

Pheromone

Hormone released by a female insect species that is ready to mate; chemical sex attractant.

Aqua Heat

A machine that sprays boiling water on crops to kill weeds and insects.

Steam Pasteurization

In which meat carcasses are suspended and passed through a cabinet, where they are blasted with steam to kill surface microbes.

Integrated Pest Management (IPM)

An approach in which each crop and its pests are evaluated as parts of an ecological system. Then a control program is developed that includes a mix of cultivation and biological and chemical methods applied in proper sequence and with the proper timing

Troposphere

Innermost layer of the atmosphere. It contains about 75% of the mass of earth's air and extends about 17 kilometers (11 miles) above sea level.

Tropopause

transition boundary that limits mixing between the troposphere and upper zones

Stratosphere

The second layer, stretching 17-50 kilometers (11-31 miles) above the earth's surface.. Its lower portion contains enough ozone (O3) gas to filter out about 99% of the sun's harmful ultraviolet radiation.

Stratopause

boundary between stratosphere and mesosphere

Mesosphere

The third layer of the atmosphere that is not only the coldest layer, but also spans altitudes of roughly 48 kilometers to 80 kilometers (50 miles). Most asteroids break apart in this layer.

Thermosphere

The fourth layer of the atmosphere where altitude spans from 80 kilometers and 460 kilometers. Temperature increases in the lower portion rapidly and then levels off as pressure decreases

Greenhouse Effect

The process in which certain gases (carbon dioxide, methane, and water vapor) trap sunlight energy in the Troposphere as heat

Ozone Shield

stratospheric ozone layer that absorbs ultraviolet radiation

Global Warming

an increase in the average temperature of the earth's atmosphere (especially a sustained increase that causes climatic changes)

ozone depletion

When the concentration of the ozone is reduced in the stratosphere

Primary pollutants

pollutants that are put directly into the air by human or natural activity.

secondary pollutants

pollutants that form from chemical reactions that occur when primary pollutants come in contact with other primary pollutants or with naturally occuring substances, such as water vapor.

Photochemical reaction

Any chemical reaction activated by light

Photochemical smog

A mixture of primary and secondary pollutants formed under the influence of sunlight

Photochemical oxidants

chemicals such as NO2, O2, PANs - they can react with (oxidize) certain compounds in the atmosphere that are usually not oxidized by reaction with oxygen

Industrial Smog

Consists mostly of sulfur dioxide, suspended droplets of sulfuric acid (formed from some of the sulfur dioxide) and a variety of suspended solid particles and droplets.

Gray-air smog

Given its name because the tiny suspended particles of salt and carbon (soot) gives industrial smog a gray color.

Temperature Inversion/Thermal Inversion

A layer of dense, cool air can be trapped beneath a layer of less dense, warm air in an urban basin or valley.

Acid Deposition

Sulfur oxides and nitrogen oxides, emitted by burning fossil fuels, enter the atmosphere-where they combine with oxygen and water to form sulfuric acid and nitric acid-and return to Earth's surface as either wet or dry substances

Acid Rain

A less technical term for acid deposition

pH

A numerical measure of the concentration of hydrogen ions in a solution.

Sick Building Syndrome

EPA studies have linked pollutants found in buildings to dizziness, headaches, coughing, sneezing, nausea, burning eyes, chronic fatigue, and flulike symptoms.

fiberglass

widespread and potentially potent carcinogen in indoor air

formaldehyde

extremely irritating gas; causes chronic breathing problems, dizziness, rash, headaches, sore throat, sinus and eye irritation, and nausea; caused by common building materials, furniture, drapes, upholstery and adhesives

asbestosis

a chronic, fatal disease that can make breathing impossible

mesothelioma

an inoperable cancer of the chest cavity

Radon-222

colorless, odorless, tasteless, naturally occurring radioactive gas that is produced by the radioactive decay of uranium--238 (found in soil, rock and underground deposits of phosphate, granite and shale)

cilia

tine mucus-coated hairlike structures that wave back and forth in your upper respiratory tract

respiratory diseases

lung cancer, asthma, chronic bronchitis, emphysema

National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS)

required by the Clean Air Acts for several outdoor pollutants

emission trading policy

enables the most polluting power plants to buy and sell SO2 pollution rights

Energy Efficiency

The percentage of total energy input that does useful work in an energy conversion system.

Life Cycle Cost

The initial cost plus the lifetime operating cost.

Cogeneration

The production of two useful forms of energy from the same fuel source.

Super-insulated Houses

Heavily insulated houses that are so airtight that heat from direct sunlight, appliances and human bodies warm them with little or no need for backup heating systems.

Strawbale Houses

Houses with walls consisting of compacted bales of certain types of straw covered with plaster.

passive solar heating system

captures sunlight directly within a home and converts it into low-temperature heat for space heating

active solar heating system

collectors absorb solar energy and a fan or a pump supplies part of a building's space-heating or water-heating needs

solar legal rights

laws that prevent others from building structures that block their access to sunlight

earth tubes

can be used for indoor cooling. At a depth of 3-6 meters the soil temperatures stay about 5-13 C all year long allowing cool partially dehumidified air to enter a house.

central receiver system/ power tower

huge arrays of computer-controlled mirrors called HELIOSTATS tract the sun and focus sunlight on a central heat-collection tower that then produces steam from a collection fluid then power

solar thermal plant or distributed receiver system

sunlight is focused on oil-filled pipes running through the middle of curved solar collectors; it creates high temperatures for industrial processes - producing steam to run turbines and produce electricity

parabolic dish collectors

a distributed receiver system (similar to a TV satellite dish) used instead of parabolic troughs to track the sun along two axes and focus the heat to a collection fluid that can then be used to create steam then power.

photovoltaic (PV) Cells

Commonly called solar cells; directly converts solar energy into electrical energy with boron-enriched silicon wafer.

large-scale hydropower project

A high dam is built across a large river to create a reservoir. Some of the water in the reservoir is allowed to flow through huge pipes at controlled rates, spinning turbines and producing electricity.

small-scale hydropower project

A low dam with no reservoir (or only a small one) is built across a small stream. Output in small systems can vary with seasonal changes in stream flow.

pumped-storage hydropower systems

Supply extra power mainly during times of peak electrical demand. During low demand, usually night, conventional power is used to bring water from lower lakes or reservoirs back to a higher elevation to be used again.

Ocean thermal energy conservation (OTEC)

In evaluating the use of the large temperature differences of tropical oceans for producing energy, this would be used with plants anchored to the bottom of tropical oceans in suitable sites.

Saline solar ponds

Usually located near inland saline seas or lakes in areas with ample sunlight; can produce electricity from heat stored in layers of increasing concentrations of salt.

freshwater solar ponds

Can be used to heat water and space. A shallow hole is dug and lined with concrete. As number of large plastic black bags, each filled with several centimeters of water, are placed in the hole and then covered in fiberglass insulation panels. The panels let sunlight in, but keep most of the heat stored in the water during the daytime from being lost in the atmosphere. When the water in the bags has reached its peak temperature in the afternoon, a computer turns on pumps to transfer hot water from the bags into large, insulated tanks for distribution.

biomass

organic matter in plants produced through photosynthesis.

biofuels

Created from many forms of biomass, organic matter can be burned directly or converted into gaseous or liquid forms that can then be used as fuels.

biogas

A mixture of 60% methane and 40% carbon dioxide, liquid ethanol and liquid methanol.

biogas digesters

holds anaerobic bacteria that convert organic plant and animal wastes into methane fuel for heating and cooking.

Ethanol

Can be made from sugar and grain crops by fermentation and distillation.

Gasohol

Gasoline mixed with 10-23% pure ethanol; can be burned in conventional gasoline engines and sold as super unleaded or ethanol-enriched gasoline.

Methanol

Made mostly from gas but can also be produced at a higher cost from wood, wood wastes, agricultural wastes, sewage sludge, garbage and coal.

biomass plantations

Where large numbers of fast-growing trees (especially cottonwoods, poplars, sycamores and leucaenas), shrubs, and water hyacinths are planted to be burned directly and converted into burnable gas, or fermented into a liquid alcohol fuel. Located on semi-arid land.

bagasse

The residue left after sugarcane harvesting and processing, can be burned or converted into a biofuel to produce electricity.

photovoltaic cell

Uses sunlight to split water into hydrogen and oxygen at an efficiency of 12.4%.

fuel cell

A possibility to power a car in which hydrogen and oxygen gas combined to produce electrical current.

geothermal energy

heat transferred from the earth's underground concentrations of dry steam, wet steam, or hot water trapped in fractured or porous rock

dry steam

steam without water droplets

wet steam

mixture of steam and water droplets

hot dry-rock zones

molten rock that has penetrated the earth's crust heats subsurface rock to high temperatures

warm-rock reservoir deposits

low to moderate temperature; used to preheat water and run heat pumps

taxing energy

government-based approach to include harmful costs of using energy (user-pays) in the market prices

freebates

self-financing system - charges fees to purchasers of inefficient products and uses those funds to provide rebates to buyers of efficient technology

full cost pricing

environmental and health costs are included in the market price of energy

energy management systems

"smart" control systems using fiber optic cables to control fuel and solar cells, heating and AC systems,

net energy

the total useful energy available from the resource over its lifetime minus the amount of energy used, automatically wasted, and unnecessarily wasted in finding, processing, concentrating, and transporting it to users

net energy ratio

the ratio of useful energy produced to the useful energy used to produce it

primary oil recovery

drilling a well and pumping out the oil that flows by gravity into the bottom of the well

secondary oil recovery

after the flowing oil is removed, water is injected into nearby wells to force some of the remaining heavy oil to the surface

tertiary oil recovery

Removal of some of the heavy oil left in an oil well after other recovery processes. Involves injecting steam into a secondary well to force the remaining oil to the recovery well.

refinery

the place where crude oil is heated and distilled in gigantic columns to separate it into liquid components with different boiling points such as naphtha, diesel oil, heating oil, aviation fuel, and gasoline

petrochemicals

the products of oil distillations that are used as raw materials

kerogen

A shale oil. The heavy waxy mixture of hydrocarbon compounds, slow-flowing, dark-brown oil formed when the vapor is condensed.

bitumen

A part of tar sand. a mixture of clay, sand, water, and oil removed by surface mining. Creates a gooey, black, high-sulfur heavy oil.

natural gas

a mixture of 50-90% by volume of methane, CH4, the simplest hydrocarbon; smaller amounts of heavier gaseous hydrocarbons such as ethane c2h6,