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19) Canada, with less than ________% of the world population, consumes ________% of the
world’s oil.
A) 0.5; 2.5
B) 0.5; 1.5
C) 0.2; 1.0
D) 0.2; 1.5
E) 1.0; 1.5
20) Energy conservation in Canada ________.
A) became a national policy in the 1970s following the OPEC embargo, and it continues today
B) has become important to most citizens
C) has not been important until recently, but new government funding of alternative energy
sources is now spurring research and rapid development
D) depends on whether we will be able to develop new materials for better insulating our homes
E) has lagged as we wait for technology to improve, so that more efficient vehicles are possible
21) Energy conservation in Canada ________.
A) can be accomplished only through changes in environmental laws
B) is unlikely to ever occur
C) has been accomplished by putting a price on carbon emissions
D) will be a reality only if there is another major war resulting in the extreme prices for fossil
fuels
E) can be improved by the choices of individuals
22) Energy can be conserved by ________.
A) using reengineered appliances
B) increasing the use of air-conditioning to reduce amount of waste heat
C) replacing compact fluorescent bulbs with tungsten bulbs
D) building new roads to reduce traffic congestion
E) employing cold fusion
23) When oil reached the $100 a barrel benchmark, the Investors Group found that 83% of
Canadians planned to ________.
A) take a trip to Florida before the price of airplane tickets rose any higher
B) drive across Canada to visit National Parks before oil prices went any higher
C) buy a more fuel-efficient diesel-powered boat the next time they purchased a pleasure craft
D) spend vacations in the United States where fuel is less expensive than in Canada
E) buy a more fuel-efficient car the next time around
24) Many developed nations have economies that are closely tied to imported fossil fuels. One
important consideration is that ________.
A) their economy is vulnerable to political decisions made in fuel-exporting nations
B) if the price of fossil fuels increases, the economy in these nations will only improve because
of the increased value of their exports
C) as supplies increase, fossil fuels will decline in price
D) if energy conservation is put in place, the cost of fossil fuels will decrease
E) if energy conservation is put in place, the cost of fossil fuels will increase
25) The greatest environmental impact of burning fossil fuels is ________.
A) that we release carbon back into the carbon cycle, increasing the amount available for plant
growth
B) the resulting carbonic acid, which leads to acid rain in areas downwind from power plants
C) on the ozone layer
D) the increase in greenhouse gases
E) the land damage from extraction
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26) The average vehicle fuel efficiency of Canadian vehicles has ________.
A) improved in the past two decades, thanks to higher fuel efficiency standards, following those
introduced in California
B) worsened in the past two decades, because of the shift in the types of cars we buy
C) come within 10% of the car fuel efficiency in the European Union, thanks to the sharing of
technology allowed by European car companies, such as Mercedes and Fiat, which have
acquired controlling shares in some North American major car companies, such as Chrysler
D) improved in the last two decades, thanks to the introduction of energy-efficient hybrid cars
E) improved by 35% since the 2006 election of the Conservative government
27) OPEC was formed to ________.
A) take maximum advantage of developed nations’ dependence on imported oil
B) develop technologies to conserve nonrenewable energy resources
C) protect its national members’ petroleum reserves for their own use
D) punish those developed countries that support Israel
E) ensure that developing nations get their fair share of fossil fuels
28) Canadian oil production ________.
A) is continuing to increase as demand decreases
B) is sufficient to meet national needs, thanks to major conservation efforts
C) peaked years ago, requiring imports of more than 60% of petroleum to meet demand
D) is now high enough for Canada to export nearly half the oil it produces
E) has to fit the quotas imposed by OPEC
29) Cogeneration ________.
A) uses what otherwise would be a waste heat
B) increases entropy
C) is not technically practical yet
D) produces hydrogen needed for fuel cells
E) produces organic compounds that can then be used to heat houses and industrial buildings
30) Cogeneration ________.
A) uses a similar approach as combined cycle generation
B) is a viable alternative to the very expensive energy insulation
C) can almost double the fuel efficiency when used in automobiles
D) cogenerates lithium needed for fuel cells
E) cogenerates high-energy inorganic compounds which could be then used to heat houses and
industrial buildings
16.5 True/False Questions
1) Hubbert’s peak is the name of the first place oil was discovered in Alberta.
2) Although fossil fuels are a nonrenewable source of energy, the energy they contain originally
came from a renewable source.
3) Fossil fuels do not include wood and biologically produced natural gas.
4) Coal burning produces more greenhouse gases per unit of energy than any other fuel.
5) The greatest improvement in energy conservation would be more efficient home heating.
6) About two-thirds of Canadian petroleum is used for transportation.
7) China produces and consumes three times more coal than the second largest producer and
consumer of coal.
16.6 Essay Questions
1) What are the ultimate sources of all of Earth’s energy?
2) Describe some of the concerns about the Mackenzie Valley pipeline.
3) Discuss the three types of energy sources and give examples of each.
4) Why is it that in most parts of the world, local people do not benefit from the removal of fossil
fuels from their local environment? Discuss the economic, political, and environmental reasons
for why locals may not benefit.
5) Compare and contrast the energy use in developing and developed countries: the amount of
use, the type of energy used, and the major uses.
6) What are the concerns about extracting fossil fuels from the Arctic lands? Provide an example.
7) Describe the ecological impacts of large catastrophic oil spills using the example of British
Petroleum (BP) Deepwater Horizon. How would a spill in, for example, the Beaufort Sea in the
Canadian Arctic be different from the BP Deepwater Horizon spill?
8) What is fracking? What resources can be extracted with fracking? What are the promises and
perils of this technology?
16.7 Scenario-Based Questions
Read the following scenario and answer the questions below.
In Johannesburg, South Africa, the South Western Township (Soweto) was one of several areas
established early in the last century for blacks to live in away from the white ruling minority. On
the hills surrounding Soweto, the company that provides South Africa’s electricity, Eskom, built
a large, coal–burning, electricity-generating plant. The electricity was for white areas of
Johannesburg, miles away from the plant. The residents of Soweto had no electrical connections.
1) The high sulphur content of the coal burned in South African power plants means that the
________.
A) power plants contribute to acidic deposition
B) power plants burn more cleanly than other nations’ plants, with little pollution
C) power plants emit high levels of radioactive pollution
D) coal is very inexpensive, leading to an improved economy
E) coal is very expensive, forcing most poor people to go without electricity
2) The heavy levels of soot from the electrical plant upwind of Soweto, along with dust from
gigantic mine dumps from gold and coal mines, created particulate pollution more than three
times the recommended level. This resulted in ________.
A) high levels of heart disease
B) increased incidence of lung disease
C) high levels of birth defects
D) problems with running local automobiles and other machinery
E) enriched agricultural fields and increased crop yields
3) Other than in downtown Johannesburg, the worst air pollution in the region in the year 2000
was in Soweto. The probable explanation is that in downtown Johannesburg ________, and in
Soweto ________.
A) coal–fired electrical plants were the cause; automobile traffic in overcrowded areas was the
problem
B) automobile traffic was the cause; automobile traffic was also the cause
C) automobile traffic was the cause; the burning of fuels in each home for heating, light, and
cooking was a major contributor to indoor and outdoor air pollution
D) gasoline–powered electrical generators were the cause; trash incinerators were a problem
E) trash incinerators were a problem; gasoline–powered electrical generators were the cause
4) The global problem with using coal to generate electricity is the resulting ________.
A) environmental damage in the area around the mine
B) water pollution
C) carbon dioxide released
D) particulate pollution
E) sulphur dioxide released
5) Things have improved in Soweto in the past 10 years. However, even in areas where
electricity is available, as of 2002, it typically cost up to 10 times more per kilowatt–hour for
electricity in Soweto than it cost nearby industries for electricity, and electricity in Soweto cost
over 30% more than in the nearby white suburban areas. A possible reason for these cost
differences is that ________.
A) residents of Soweto use more electricity, so they pay more
B) the electricity must travel farther to reach them
C) the electrical lines in Soweto are so old that it is impractical for the electric company to use
them
D) residents of Soweto move frequently and the costs of new hookups are expensive
E) environmental and social justice appears to be lacking
6) One of the promises made by the government in 1994 was “free electricity.” Since 2001 the
government has provided a small amount, 50 kilowatt hours per month, free to each household.
Beyond that, a household must pay for the electricity that it uses. Many people would prefer a
flat–rate pricing system, where each household throughout greater Johannesburg would pay the
same rate each month. This would mean that ________.
A) all households in Johannesburg would be able to have all the electricity that they need
B) Eskom, the electric company, would probably make huge profits
C) wealthy households would end up paying much more and have less electricity than they do
now
D) poor households would end up paying much more for their electricity than they do now
E) there would be no incentive to keep electric usage low, and environmental issues related to
the generation of electricity would worsen
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