14: An Historical Perspective on U.S. Energy Use
Q1: What is energy?
Q2: What were the energy sources for people who lived in 1850? 1900? 1975?
Q3: What does a comparison of these sources illustrate?
Energy is the capacity to do work. The energy mentioned earlier as part of an ecosystem is the same energy that is being discussed here.
In 1850 the largest source of energy was wood. The next largest source was muscles. What was life like in 1850? What was the wood and muscle power used for?
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15: An Historical Perspective on U.S. Energy Use (cont.)
In 1900 the largest source of energy was coal with muscle power again second. What was life like in 1900? What were the coal and muscle power used for?
In 1975 the largest source of energy was oil and the second. Iargest was natural gas. What was life like in 1975? What were the oil and natural gas used for?
What is most important to notice is the change. Through the years our energy sources have changed and so has our way of life
. Relating this to the energy situation today, it is important to keep in mind. that it too will change. How will it change? Who and what will cause it to change? More on this later.
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16: Electricity
Q1: What is electricity?
Q2: How was it produced traditionally?
Q3: What is the difference between a. traditional steam power plant and a nuclear power plant?
Q4: Name three alternate sources of electricity?
As stated before, energy is the capacity to do work. Energy can come from wood, oil, coal, gas, wind, the sun, water, uranium and other sources. Electricity is a form of energy, a very versatile form of energy.
Electricity can be described as a flow of electrons, a fast flow of electrons. They flow at a rate of 186,000 miles per second. Traveling at that rate it would take an electron one second to travel 7 1/2 times around. the world.
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17: Electricity (cont.)
Because electricity is so versatile and. convenient, it has become a major power source for our country. The problem with it comes when we begin to consider its production.
How a Traditional Steam Power Plant Operates
Electricity is produced when a magnet turns inside a coiled copper wire. In a traditional power plant usually oil or coal is burned to heat water, that makes steam, which turns the turbine, that turns the magnet in the generator and produces electricity.
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18: Electricity (cont.)
How A Nuclear Power Plant Operates
A nuclear power plant operates similarly to a traditional power plant in that water is boiled to produce steam which turns the turbine which turns the magnet in the generator producing electricity. The main difference is that in nuclear plants the fuel used is uranium which “fissions” instead of burning like oil and coal. In fission a uranium atom breaks apart into lighter elements releasing much heat and one or more free neutrons which then bombard other uranium nuclei causing them to split and continue the process. The released heat causes the water to boil and change to steam.
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19: Pollution
Q1: What is pollution?
Q2: How do we contribute to pollution in our daily lives?
Q3: How do electrical power plants contribute to pollution?
To pollute means to make impure. It means to contaminate with some material that doesn’t belong there and might cause a problem.
In a traditional steam power plant the smoke from the plant emits particles into the air causing a certain degree of pollution. The amount of pollution depends on the kind of fuel used, the efficiency of the plant and the scrubber system used to clean the smoke as it rises in the chimney.
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20: Pollution (cont.)
The fuel for nuclear power plants, uranium, is a radioactive substance and requires special care from the time it is mined. Plutonium, a waste product from a nuclear power plant, is of concern because it is radioactive, can be used to make nuclear bombs and it is not known how to safely store it for the approximate 500,000 years of its life span.
Both traditional and nuclear power plants use large amounts of water that must be cooled before being allowed to return to the body of water from which it came. Sometimes thewater is not cooled enough and raises the temperature of the water where it enters. This can harm and even kill temperature sensitive marine life.
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21: Pollution (cont.)
Some other types of pollution are the chemical wastes from our homes and industries, litter one throws on the street, smoke from cigarettes, exhaust from cars, buying more than one needs and buying things with excessive packaging. Consider plastic alone, it lasts literally forever, is not biodegradable and is now found throughout the world causing such problems as having plastic bags obstruct the stomachs of fish and get caught in the engines intakes of boats.
1
1
Dierr, E., “Plastic Is Forever”,
Oceans
. November, 1980
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22: Conservation
Q1: What is conservation?
Q2: How can we help preserve and take care of the air, water and soil?
Q3: What has this to do with energy?
To conserve means to preserve, to take care of something. If we want to take care of the air we breath, we will have to limit the pollution of it by ourselves and other individuals and groups. The same is true for our waterways, soil and environment in general.
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23: Conservation (cont.)
If we limit the amount of energy we require, then less electricity must be produced. If less electricity is produced, then less pollution will enter the air, waterways and other parts of our environment. Since a significant amount of electricity is currently being produced by nuclear power plants, it would mean less radioactive pollution and less plutonium for which to provide security.
How can we limit the energy we use? By being good consumers and buying only what it needed, choosing items that require the least amount of energy to be produced, by walking and bicycling
(cont.)
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24: Conservation (cont.)
more and driving less, using electricity carefully, recycling newspapers, cans and bottles, and using the very minimum amount of plastic that is needed.
Another important thing that can be done is to talk with friends and family about conserving. Together people can share and develop ideas. Conservation is a, social responsibility and requires both individual and group effort.
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25: Personal—Political
Q1: What can one person do to help create a better world?
Q2: How does this relate to politics?
Q3: How does this relate to you?
Politics has to do with decision making, power and control. Power can be considered as a form of control. One way to view personal power is to see the amount of control one has over his or her own life.
Everyone has some control and choice on what they eat, buy and do. Learning personally to think in terms of choosing the most wholesome and least energy consuming items is a good way to begin cutting down on pollution, helping to conserve Earth’s resources and making ones life healthier all at the same time. This is the first level of action.
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26: Personal—Political (cont.)
The next thing one could do is to get involved with other people discussing pollution problems, how to save energy what can be done about it. As a group you can help each other learn to conserve, to pollute less, make more of an impact on the energy used in your area and have a good time doing it.
Extending this idea further, you and your group could plan a particular action. It could be to develop a recycling project, form questions and ask all candidates running for office what their positions are on specific environmental issues or work on getting rid of a local pollution problem.
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27:Personal—Political (cont.)
Many people feel helpless as if there is nothing they can do to solve an environmental problem. This is not true. They can go to the proper town officials, form a group, get all the facts they can, get the media to help them get the facts and publish their concerns, get legal advice and, if the problem remains, go to the Connecticut Department of Environmental Protection as a group.
Living in a democracy each person has certain freedoms and responsibilities. Along with the respecting of each persons rights, there is the expectation that each person will do his or her best toward creating a healthy and wholesome future for himself or herself and other people too.
Activities
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1. Bring in samples and list on chalk board the names of various common items one might buy in the supermarket like a bag of potato chips, a gallon of milk, some apples. Using a scale of 1 to 5 with 5 as the highest, rate how much energy it takes to a) produce, b) package, c) transport and d)score each item. Compare results.
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2. Use the slide show
A Single Voice
, with or without speaker. It is put out by the Connecticut Fund for the Environment and helps to explain how people have been, are and can be effective in solving environmental problems.
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3. Make a scrapbook or class bulletin board collecting current newspaper articles on pollution, energy, conservation or environmental law and discuss if each is a local, national or international issue.
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4. Show and discuss the Dr. Seuss film
The Lorax
. It is an environmental film on conservation, pollution and hope for the future. It is based on his book,
The Lorax
. Free from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, John F. Kennedy Building, Boston MA 02203.
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5. From the local electric company request material on current cost of electricity and determine cost for running various appliances such as the television and refrigerator.
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6. Schedule a tour of the local power plant.
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7. Coordinate a class with the production of electricity, the social studies teacher at election time or the math teacher on problem solving to determine bills or the amount of electricity used under certain situations like watching a colored television set for five hours.