Sustainable Energy Production and Utilization

1. Why do people perceive change as linear over time?

2. Why is change not linear and ever increasing?

3. Roughly, from what year on, did we consume more "easy" oil than was being discovered?

4. Why is there a peak in consumption of a resource of finite supply?

5. What are the four big categories of US energy consumption and what percentage of total energy consumption does each category consume?

6. What are the big categories of US energy supply and what percentage of total energy consumption does each contribute?

7. How can we estimate the earth's surface temperature based on a simple energy balance?

8. Why is the actual temperature of the earth higher than that?

9. Which planet gives an extreme example for an increased surface temperature because of its atmosphere?

10. List consequences of Global Warming (as many as you can come up with). 1 each

11. What was the long-term average atmospheric CO2 level before the industrial revolution?

12. What is the average atmospheric CO2 level in 2015?

13. What is the key message of SEWTHA of Chapter I.1?

14. What is the key message of SEWTHA of Chapter I.2?

Textbooks

David J.C. MacKay, Sustainable Energy - without the hot air. Free on Internet.

Tester, et al., Sustainable Energy: Choosing Among Options, 2nd Edition, ISBN 9780262017473, MIT Press, 2012