Can you pass Jim Conca’s energy quiz?
Like every year from here on out, energy will be a hot topic in 2018. Do you know which state has the lowest carbon footprint? What energy source has the biggest deathprint? What activity subjects you to the most radiation?
Take this energy quiz to test your knowledge of the most important issue in our lives. The answers are given at the end.
Six to 10 correct answers out of the 20 questions is a good passing grade. Eleven to 15 right answers means you’re really energy-literate. Sixteen to 19 correct answers means you should be advising Congress — that, or you’ve been reading my blog regularly. Twenty right answers suggests you’re Mr. Spock reincarnated.
1. True or false: Japan has not yet restarted any of the nuclear reactors that were shuttered after the Fukushima Daiichi accident.
a. True
b. False
2. What country will emit the most carbon in 2018?
a. India
b. Brazil
c. United States
d. China
3. Which global political agreement has directly led to continued closing of the hole in the Earth’s ozone layer, meaning it’s getting smaller?
a. The 2015 COP21 Paris Climate Change Conference
c. The 1994 U.N. Framework Convention on Climate Change
4. Which source will produce more energy in America in 2018?
a. wind
b. natural gas
d. oil
e. nuclear
5. Which piece of legislation in history has saved the most lives?
a. The Clean Air Act
b. The Highway Safety Act
c. Newborn Screening Saves Lives Act
d. The Clean Water Act
6. What percentage of America’s energy will be produced from wind and solar in 2018?
a. 1 percent
b. 3 percent
c. 5 percent
d. 10 percent
7. What energy source has the biggest deathprint (kills more people per kilowatt-hour produced)?
a. coal
b. natural gas
c. nuclear
d. wind
8. Which state has the lowest carbon footprint, primarily because of their energy mix?
a. Vermont
b. California
c. Washington
d. Oregon
9. Hybrid electric cars will account for only 1 percent of the global fleet in 2018, but what percentage will they be by 2040?
a. 10 percent
b. 35 percent
c. 50 percent
d. 75 percent
10. Which country will build the most nuclear power plants in 2018?
a. Russia
b. South Korea
c. China
d. United States
11. Which is the ultimate source of all the energy that we use in the world?
a. water
b. the earth
c. the atmosphere
d. the interior of past and present stars
12. Which country has the most fossil fuel in the ground?
a. Saudi Arabia
b. Russia
c. United States
d. China
13. What energy source has the smallest deathprint (kills fewest people per kilowatt-hour produced)?
a. coal
b. natural gas
c. nuclear
d. wind
14. Which type of new power plants built in 2018 will collectively generate the most power?
a. coal
b. natural gas
c. wind
d. solar
15. What subjects someone to the most radiation?
a. standing next to a nuclear reactor
b. flying across country 10 times a year
c. eating a six-ounce bag of potato chips every day
d. living in Guarapari, Brazil
16. What subjects someone to the least radiation?
a. standing next to a nuclear reactor
b. flying across country 10 times a year
c. eating a six-ounce bag of potato chips every day
d. living in Guarapari, Brazil
17. There are over 80,000 dams along rivers in the United States. How many are equipped to produce power?
a. 1 percent
b. 3 percent
c. 15 percent
d. 30 percent
18. When has the average price of energy plus food been the cheapest (normalized to today’s GDP)?
a. prehistoric times
b. 1620
c. 1850
d. 1950
e. today
19. What energy source has Bill Gates invested in, and championed, over the last few years?
a. nuclear energy
b. solar power
c. wind energy
d. tidal energy
20. What is the biggest power plant in the United States (produces the most power)?
a. Grand Coulee Dam
b. Palo Verde Nuclear Generating Station
c. Scherer Coal-fired Power Plant
d. Topaz Solar Farm
Jim Conca is a longtime resident and scientist in the Tri-Cities, a trustee of the Herbert M. Parker Foundation, and a science contributor to Forbes at forbes.com/sites/jamesconca.
Answers
- 1) b. False, five have restarted with twelve more approved to restart many in 2018
- 2) d. China, almost twice that of the U.S.
- 3) d. The 1990 Montreal Protocol
- 4) d. oil
- 5) a. The Clean Air Act
- 6) b. 3 percent
- 7) a. coal
- 8) c. Washington
- 9) b. 35 percent
- 10) c. China
- 11) d. the interior of stars, past ones for nuclear and our present Sun for all others
- 12) c. United States
- 13) c. nuclear
- 14) b. natural gas
- 15) d.
- 16) a.
- 17) b. 3 percent but many more could be powered
- 18) e. today — energy and food have never been cheaper than they are today as a proportion of our average income
- 19) a. nuclear energy
- 20) b. Palo Verde produces the most energy, about 30 billion kWhs/yr (kilowatt hours per year); the Grand Coulee Hydroelectric Dam only produces about 20 billion kWhs/yr and comes in fifth place behind four nuclear plants.
This story was originally published January 5, 2018 at 2:22 PM with the headline "Can you pass Jim Conca’s energy quiz?."