Mariko and I spent two hours finishing this... let us know what you think!
1. What river is China planning to divert that will cause conflict with India?
The Brahmaputra River.
2. Why did Brashears go back to that specific site to take the photo, and what did he see? What possible explanations are there for this? Take both sides of the climate crisis argument in your answer.
They wanted to compare the glacier size before and after. He saw and estimated that about 40% of the glacier was gone since the photo taken in 1921. A possible explanation is global warming where an increase in temperature melted the ice, or that the Earth is in a cycle of climate change.
3. What was so surprising in the 1958 movie? Was this common knowledge? How can you tell?
The movie "The Unchained Goddess" was almost spot on in describing the cause and effects of climate change. It was not common knowledge because no one paid attention to it.
4. How did the cheapness of energy influence public opinion?
"The history of the U.S. is a history of cheap energy."
5. Is the climate crisis an energy issue, a tree issue, an albedo issue, or a permafrost issue?
The climate crisis is an energy issue.
6. What happened at Kyoto? What was the most embarrassing part? Why did the US behave so?
The U.S. did not sign the Kyoto Protocol because they felt it would put them at a "competitive disadvantage" with developing countries exempt from the protocol.
7. Why would China's growth outweigh any changes the US might make to change carbon emissions?
China is like the proverbial stupid teenager whose body was growing faster than its brain. On a more serious note, China is growing very rapidly but also moving from a "third-world environment" to a more American type of lifestlye where every family has a car.
8. What is Geely? Where? What model is their biggest seller? Is this scary? Why? What did their director say?
Geely is the biggest privately-owned car company in China. Their biggest seller is the "King Kong". It is scary because they do not have any initiatives right now to make cars more fuel efficient, but their director said they maybe will in the future.
9. How many coal plants does China create every week?
Two new ones every week!
10. Dr. Ling Wen says 30% growth over 5 years. What is the doubling rate for this? (recall the rule of 70). Why is his line "if we can" so scary? What are his responsibilities, in what order?
The doubling time is 70/30 which is about 2.33 years. It is scary because "if we can" is not very convincing. His responsibilities are to make money for shareholders first, second to society.
11. In what year will India's population exceed that of China? Why?
By 2030, because they have a higher growth rate.
12. What is the third largest contributor to greenhouse gases? Where?
The process of making cement. It comes from roasting powdered limestone and clay because a lot of energy has to be used to heat the solution.
13. What reduction in CO2 did the Indian guy say they could do by 2050? What is the growth rate? What did Sunita Narain say about this? Why is this not sustainable?
A 10% reduction. The growth rate of the cement industry is 10% per year.
It uses a lot of materials and energy and results in a lot of waste. She said that if every Indian were to live like an American, then the planet was doomed.
14. What did Pachauri say? What are his reasons?
The responsibility is on the U.S. because greenhouse emmisions are largely the result of industrialized societies. Developed countries also have more money and are more equipped to deal with climate change.
15. What did the US negotiators say? Why is this unfair? What did China say?
They said that they would make no cuts to emissions unless developing nations did too. This is unfair because underdeveloped countries are not equipped with the money and resources to even develop their countries much less be worried about their emmisions in doing so. China took lead in saying that developing nations should start to cut emmisions, but the U.S. negotiator said, "The formulation that has been put forward we cannot accept..." And they got booed Then they changed their minds...
16. Google Senator Inhofe, and find out why he is a global warming skeptic. Where does his money come from?
He is a skeptic because of supposed evidence from "top climate scientists". His money comes from the oil and gas industry... interesting.
16. This video was filmed in 2008. What was the position of each candidate?
Both Obama and McCain endorsed policies to reduce emissions.
17. What did Jeffrey Sachs say?
We've been ignoring the problem.
18. How many tons of coal are mined in the powder river basin each day?
1,000,000 tons a day.
19. The director of the West Virginia power plant (Charlie Powell) says: "we produce 1300 kilowatts of power every hour". It is clear he does not know as much about electricity as you do. What is wrong with his statement?
The watt is a unit of energy equivalent to one joule per second. It already has a time component to it; therefore you can't have watts per hour. Watts per hour actually refers to the change of power per hour, not energy produced in a unit of time.
20. How many pounds of Coal power your TV for one hour? What percentage of power in the US comes from Coal?
1/4 pound of coal for the TV. 52% of power comes from coal mined in the U.S.
21. Analyze the term "clean coal" from both sides of the argument. What are the motives of each side and why?
Clean coal emphasizes using more coal to create a base load electricity generator while at the same time planting more trees and using energy-efficient appliances to make the coal "clean". Also, they hope to initiate "carbon capture and storage". From one stand point, solar and wind are intermittent whereas coal can be used as long as there is a supply. On the other hand we will run out eventually!
22. Senators Byrd and McConnell represent which states? What is their bias?
Kentucky and West Virginia. Their bias is that coal is "their baby".
23. What is IGCC? Where is it located? Has it been tested? Where would they inject the ground? Why is this dangerous? Are we "carbon capture ready"? Where would this be tested first, and why is it problematic? If pipelines were used, why would these be dangerous?
"Integrated gas combined cycle." It turns coal into a cleaner burning gas, cin gas. It is located in Florida. It has not been tested. They would compress the carbon dioxide into the ground underground where there is water. It is dangerous because we do not know the effects. It would be tested first in Florida, but this is problematic because Florida won't exempt them from possible damage. Pipes are dangerous because they could leak. We are technically "carbon capture ready" because we have caps that can sit over exisitng plants and capture carbon dioxide. However, it's also problematic because where would we store all this carbon now?
24. How many tons of CO2 does the US emit every day?
2 billion tons.
25. The US is called the "Saudi Arabia of Coal". Why?
Because we have a huge amount of energy resources in the form of coal.
26. What is the second largest emitter of greenhouse gases? Now list the top three in order.
Car tail pipes. The first is fossil fuel power plants, second is car tail pipes, and third is the process of making cement.
27. What are CAFE standards, and what does it stand for? What happened in the last few years to the CAFE standards? When were they created, and track the mpg numbers since then. How did auto manufacturers get around the CAFE standards since the Ford Explorer came out?
The Corporate Average Fuel Economy standards were first imposed in 1975 to raise the fuel economy of vehicles in the United States in the wake of the 1973 oil embargo. However, exemptions for SUVs were allowed around 1995, and the average fuel economy for vehicles in the United States now have dropped back to their normal levels because the prevalence of such "exemptions".
27. What is John Dingell's motive? Why? Where is he from? Why did he block seat belts? Is his responsibility only to his 800,000 citizens or to the country, or the planet as a whole?
28. What MPG is the terminator seeking for California? By when? Jerry Brown is next in the video. What is his job now?
42.5 MPG by the middle of the century. Jerry Brown's job now is running for governor.
29. In the 1970's all cars in the US came in two flavors: "49 state" or "CA". Why?
California had a huge smog problem. It has a lot of regulations on cars as a result.
30. What pressure was put on the EPA in December 2007? Who was in office then?
The pressure was for not accepting California's waver for a higher MPG in California than the federal government was putting by the automotive industry. Bush was in office at the time.
31. What is the clean air act?
The Clean Air Act was first enacted in 1970 under Nixon to mandate the control of air pollution on a national level. It required the EPA to enforce regulations protecting the public from exposure to hazardous airborne contaminants as well as addressed the issue of acid rain, ozone depletion and toxic air pollution by corporations.
32. Who was the EPA administrator during the Bush administration? What did he do? What do you think about his actions?
Steven Johnson. He censored California's waiver documents. I think he pulled a China.
33. What was the target of the CA emissions standards?
Higher MPG on California cars. It would have reduced carbon dioxide emissions by 40% had all 50 states enacted their ideas.
34. What is Hibernia owned by Exxon? How much oil did it pump since coming into operation? At 80 million bbl/day, how many days of global oil supply did it provide?
The largest oil platform in the world. It has pumped 500,000,000 barrels of oil. It provided 500,000,000/80,000,000 = 6.25 days of global oil supply.
35. How did the Exxon lady defend their lack of investment in renewable resources?
Exxon's Sherri Stuewer believes that fossil fuels will remain the predominant source of energy for decades to come, and it is delivering that energy need that Exxon will continue to carve out its market niche. According to Exxon, they are already investing a responsible amount of funds into researching renewable resources.
36. Dan Kammen says what? Where does he work?
Dan Kammen says that we should be outraged at these oil companies for their lack of action in the field of renewable energies. He is the director of the Renewable and Appropriate Energy Laboratory at the University of California, Berkeley, where he works on "designing, testing, and disseminating renewable and appropriate energy systems".
37. How much did Exxon make in the year of the movie? How much did they invest in renewable energy? Explain.
Exxon made a net profit of 40 billion dollars in 2007. Less than one-tenth of one percent of its profit is being invested in renewable energies, or about $100 million.
38. It has been said that if you drive a Prius hybrid with fuel from the tar sand of Canada, it's the equivalent of driving a Hummer. Why?
To extract the oil from the tar sands is a resource-intensive process requiring petrochemicals to refine the oil. As a result, the carbon footprint of this is often greater than that of conventional oil being pumped out of the ground. Driving a Prius with fuel from tar sands will be no more efficient than driving a Hummer because of all the resources involved in refining that fuel.
39. During the 2008 video, they state that oil is at $90/bbl. What is it today?
According to the NYMEX index, oil is currently at $96.77/bbl.
40. The car companies were working on a diesel-electric hybrid: what happened and why?
The car companies failed to keep their commitment to launch a diesel-electric hybrid and instead focused on selling trucks, SUVs, and Hummers. This was because this was where all the profit was to be had.
41. What did Toyota build, and why? How long is their advantage now?
Toyota built the Prius because the Japanese car manufacturer thought it was going to be left behind by the partnership between the U.S. Government and the major American car manufacturers to develop hybrid vehicles. The Prius debuted worldwide in 2001, and only now are American manufacturers starting to offer their own competing hybrids.
42. Do you believe the lady from GM? Explain.
She is playing the role of public relations. No company will ever admit that it has its interests first and foremost in profit and the environment second. GM is no exception when trying to explain why it didn't pursue hybrids earlier.
43. What happened to the Chevy Volt in the Photo Shoot?
The car could hardly make it up a hill, and then finally stalled out. The shoot was cancelled as a result.
44. Is corn ethanol really a green solution? Who is pushing corn ethanol and why?
Corn is not really a green solution because it competes with food production and also requires petrochemicals to fertilize. Most of the people pushing corn ethanol are lobbyists and politicians in theMidwest, the corn-growing states of America.
45. Why does Dan Kammen say corn is not a good biofuel?
Corn ethanol competes directly with food production and it also requires the use of costly and non-renewable petrochemicals to fertilize. The energy balance for corn ethanol is also seven times less than that of sugar cane ethanol.
46. Explain the three sources of bio-ethanol: corn, cellulosic and sugar cane. Brazil produces which of these?
Corn ethanol is ethanol produced from fermentation of the starch in ground corn kernels. Cellulosic ethanol is ethanol made from non-edible parts of plants that are rich in cellulose, such as corn husk or bagasse. Sugar cane ethanol is ethanol made from processed sugar cane as a dedicated fuel crop and offers seven times the energy balance of corn; it is around sugar cane ethanol that Brazil's energy economy is founded upon.
47. How does Amy's statement about small interests resonate with Senator Dingell's actions earlier in the film?
Small local interests are being put ahead of the nation's interest as a whole, and this is impeding progress. Similarly, Dingell put interests of the automotive industry in his state of Michigan ahead of what was good the country.
48. Compare renewable energy in Germany to the US.
Germany has pushed for renewable energy from the beginning because they recognized that they didn't have fossil fuel resources like the United States, and unlike in the United States, the people there are much more willing to trust government. As a result, Germany gave large subsidies for the development of renewable energy sources such as solar and wind, while in America, support has been inconsistent at best.
49. How does the smart grid fit into the renewable energy solution?
Smart grids help to improve the efficiency that is the connection between suppliers, distributors, and consumers. This helps with our energy situation because it lessens the amount of energy that is wasted or left unused. It also encourages private homes and residences to generate their own solar and wind energy, of which surpluses can be sold back into the grid.
50. T. Boone Pickens sold his oil investments and moved into wind farms in Texas. Check into this on wikipedia to see how he's doing now (2011).
Pickens delayed his plan to build wind farms and will instead focus on natural gas, citing that "low natural gas prices have made utility companies view wind power as too expensive."
51. About 150,000 megawatts of power is what Pickens plans on installing, which would be worth how much per year? 24 hours per day, 365 days per year, sell the power for $0.10 per kWh. 131.4 billion dollars per year? If his ROI is 7 years, and the turbines last 17 years, how much money will his company make overall?
If his ROI is 7 years, he gets to make a profit for the final 10 years of the life of his turbines. So, 1.314 trillion dollars overall?
52. Why is nuclear energy getting a fresh look?
As calls for carbon-free energy grow, nuclear energy is being revisted. Anti-nuclear lobbyists and the accident at Three Mile Island killed nuclear power in the 1970s, but after the Cold War, the trend is starting to reverse.
53. Who became president?
Barack Obama became president in 2008. He is not as interested in pushing for nuclear power as McCain, instead favoring solar, wind, and other renewable energy sources.
54. What is the difference between Navy nuclear power plants and commercial industrial power plants?
Navy nuclear power plants are much smaller and are designed to produce no more than a few hundred megawatts, the amount of power required to power a Navy vessel. By comparison, commercial power plants must produce thousands of megawatts for a power grid. These two designs are optimized differently befitting their different roles, hence they are not really comparable.
55. How is nuclear waste storage involved in this problem?
Anti-nuclear activists often cite nuclear waste as another reason not to go nuclear. Spent fuel from nuclear power plants often have a half-life of millions of years and thus have to be safely stored and sealed away. It was proposed that Nevada be the site of a nuclear dump, but the state refused.
56. Explain cap and trade, and the plus and minus for this proposal.
Companies are only allowed a certain amount of emissions, otherwise known as a "cap". Once they have used up their allotted quota, they must "buy" more pollution permits from other companies. The finite supply of permits will drive up the cost for remaining permits, and in theory, should act as an economic incentive to prevent companies from polluting and invest in cleaner technologies. However, the bill to pass the proposal hit when gas prices were at a record high, and Congress was in no mood to pass anything that might remotely raise the gas prices. It was never voted on.
hoang phong
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