Fossil Fuel | Fuel that comes from the remnants of prehistoric organisms. |
Commercial Energy Sources | Sources that are bought and sold. |
Subsistence Energy Sources | Sources gathered by individuals for their own use. |
Conservation of Energy | Energy cannot be created or destroyed; it can only be changed from one form to another. |
EROEI | Energy return on energy invested. (Energy obtained from the fuel/Energy invested to get it) |
Cogeneration | Using a fuel to generate electricity and produce heat. |
Coal | A solid fuel formed from the remains of 280-360 million yr old plant materials |
Lignite, Sub-bituminous, bituminous, and anthracite. | The four types of coal ranked from lesser to greater age, exposure to pressure, and energy content. |
Petroleum | A mixture of hydrocarbons, water, and sulfur that occur in underground deposits. |
Oil Refinery | Uses heat to separate crude oil into gasoline, kerosene, fuel oil, and diesel fuel. |
Natural Gas | Exists as a part of petroleum in the ground, and in gaseous deposits separate from petroleum. |
Oil Sands | A slow-moving, viscous deposit of bitumen mixed with sand, water, and clay. |
Bitumen (tar/pitch) | A degraded kind of petroleum that forms when petroleum migrates close to the surface where bacteria metabolize some of the light hydrocarbons and others evaporate. |
Hubbert Curve | A graph that shows the point at which world oil production would reach a maximum and the point at which we would run out of oil. |
Fission | A nuclear reaction in which a neutron hits a larger atomic nucleus, which them splits into 2+ parts. |
Uranium 235 (U-235) | The isotope of uranium that undergoes nuclear fission. |
Fuel Rods | The cylindrical tubes that house the nuclear fuel used in nuclear power plants. |
Control Rods | Cylindrical devices that can be inserted between fuel rods to absorb excess neutrons, thus slowing/stopping the fission reaction. |
Radioactive Waste | Nuclear fuel that can no longer produce enough heat to be used in a power plant, but still emits radioactivity. |
High-Level Radioactive Waste | The form of nuclear waste used in fuel rods. |
Low-Level Radioactive Waste | The protective clothing, tools, rags, and other things used in routine plant maintenance. |
Nuclear Fusion | The reaction that occurs when lighter nuclei are forced together to produce heavier nuclei and release heat. This powers the Sun and other stars. |
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