Gobbling Greenhouse Gases Trivia Quiz

Answer: Wind Turbines

Human beings have harnessed the power of wind for millennia; the earliest record of windmills is from the first century in Persia. This technology spread to Europe in the Middle Ages and, by the late 1800s, people around the world were able to convert the kinetic energy of wind into electricity. With turbines being created rapidly, dropping costs, and enhanced performance, wind turbines are proliferating at greater and greater rates.

In 2015, 63 gigawatts of wind power was added throughout the world with the addition of wind turbines.

Answer: Silvopasture

The term 'silvopasture' comes from Latin words for 'forest' and grazing', which precisely describes the term - integrating trees and pasture into a unified system for raising livestock. This integration takes on a variety of forms. Trees can be spaced evenly, arranged in clusters, or used as living fencing. Silvopasture is truly an ancient practice; the dehesa system, which yields jamón ibérico ("Iberian ham"), is a silvopasture system that has been cultivated on the Iberian Peninsula for more than 4,000 years.

Silvopasture systems sequester carbon both in the soil below the ground and in biomass aboveground. Silvopasture provides shade and protection from natural elements to livestock, as well as rich food, and both of these factors improve animal health and the production of milk, meat, and offspring. Since the livestock yield is higher on a silvopasture plot, deforestation to provide grazing area can be reduced.

Answer: Tidal Energy

Modern designs for using tidal energy to generate electricity are largely thanks to Japanese naval commander Yoshio Masuda, who invented the oscillating water column in the 1940s. As a wave or tide rises within such a column, air is pushed through a turbine, creating electricity.

There are several plants utilizing oscillating water columns throughout the world. The appeal of harnessing tidal energy is that it is constant and energy storage is not necessary. The oscillation of oceanic movements is essential to energy development; the higher the wave, the greater its power potential is likely to be.

Answer: Multi-layered Agroforestry

The key to multistrata, or multi-layered, agroforestry is that both horizontal and vertical space is optimized. The benefits of such a system are similar to the forests that are emulated - prevention of erosion and flooding, recharging groundwater, restoration of land and soils, and promoting biodiversity. Because there are many layers of vegetation, carbon sequestration occurs in both soil and biomass, making the greenhouse gas curtailment similar to restoring or adding forests, with the additional benefit of producing food.

There are hundreds of millions of acres of land throughout the world that use the benefits of multistrata agroforestry. This includes many acres that cultivate coffee and cacao, grown in the shade of the higher layers of trees in these stratified systems. Multistrata coffee plants enjoy the benefits of living longer than sun-grown equivalents, having better pest control, and featuring superior fertilization and water absorption. Like so many other greenhouse gas-reducing ideas, the carbon sequestration is complemented by farmers saving money due to the benefits described.

Answer: Nuclear Energy

Nuclear power involves a complicated process to create steam, but it has a low carbon footprint and might be a viable or vital process to consider implementing, in conjunction with other renewable energy options that don't have the same safety concerns, in an effort to combat global warming. Greenhouse gases emitted in the process of generating electricity by powering steam turbines via coal-fired power have been calculated to be ten to a hundred times higher than for nuclear power.

Answer: Peatland Protection

Peatlands, also called bogs or mires, are thick and mucky, with a consistency between solid ground and water, made up of dead and decomposing plant matter. Layers of peat can reach up to twenty meters deep, and their typical carbon content is 50%. Since it has so much carbon and is so readily accessible, peat has a long history of usage as a fossil fuel.

Peatlands cover a small percentage of the earth's land area, but store an estimated 500 to 600 gigatons of carbon. For peatlands to stockpile carbon effectively, they need plants to absorb and store it through photosynthesis, and water to create conditions necessary to keep carbon from escaping into the atmosphere. Developing incentives to maintain the ecological integrity of peatlands is crucial in terms of sequestering carbon and diminishing greenhouse gas emissions, especially if preserving the marshy land means missing out on potential economic gains from using the land to cultivate food or timber.

Answer: Biochar

Pyrolysis, the process that produces biochar, comes from Greek terms 'pyro' for 'fire' and 'lysis' for 'separating' or 'loosening'. Biomass is slowly baked or burned in the absence (or near absence) of oxygen. Biochar is commonly created from waste material, like peanut shells or wood scraps. As the biomass is heated, gas and oil separate from carbon-rich solids, providing fuels that can be used for energy. Pyrolysis can occur in large industrial systems, but it can also be made in small kilns, so biochar can be used in any context, including places that might have the greatest need for it.

The structure of biochar is so porous that it has a large surface area, and all these abundant pores attract nutrients and vital microorganisms. This can reduce soil acidity and increase crop yield. Pyrolysis produces carbon-dense material thanks to sugars that plants create during photosynthesis. When biomass decomposes on the earth's surface, greenhouse gases are emitted. Biochar, however, retains most of the carbon present in biomass and buries it below the surface, delaying the atmospheric emissions.

Answer: Solar Farms

Large-scale arrays of hundreds, thousands, or even millions of panels that are powered by solar photovoltaics have the capacity to generate tens or hundreds of megawatts of power. Considering the entire life cycle of solar farms and coal plants, solar farms curb carbon emissions by 94% compared to coal plant emissions, and the emissions of sulfur, nitrous oxides, mercury, and particulates are eliminated entirely.

The discovery of silicon solar photovoltaic technology was accidental. Scientists at Bell Labs in the US were searching for sources of power that functioned in hot, humid, and remote locations where batteries could fail and the electrical grid could not reach. Selenium had been the standard for experimental solar panels, and Bell Labs scientists found that silicon achieved more than a tenfold increase in efficiency in comparison. The cost of photovoltaics in the 1950s was prohibitive, but investments, tax incentives, and technology improvements have brought the cost down to the point that the technology is becoming one of the least expensive sources of energy in the world.

Answer: Afforestation

Since trees have the capacity to synthesize and sequester carbon through photosynthesis, creating new forests where there were previously no trees is important in the fight against global warming. Pretty much any space that has been unattended or forgotten, including highway medians, abandoned lots, and areas disrupted by uses such as mining, is a welcome candidate for afforestation.

Many places that are optimum areas for afforestation are located in low-income countries, and the opportunities from developing forests extend from reducing carbon emissions to supporting biodiversity and providing human needs for firewood, food, and medicine. Creating forests takes decades, and a focus on the socioeconomic and environmental benefits is instrumental in the successful implementation of such efforts. The new forests that are cultivated will result in economically beneficial and more socially just environments.

Answer: Geothermal Power

A constant flow of heat moves from the depths of the earth toward its crust, generating plate tectonic movement. Geothermal energy creates reservoirs of hot water underground, as evinced by the geysers at Yellowstone National Park or the hot springs found across Iceland's landscape. Locating hydrothermal pools can prove to be a difficult task, but enhanced geothermal systems target deep underground cavities to create hydrothermal pools where they do not already exist. Geothermal energy is reliable and efficient, and the heat source is free. Unlike wind and solar energy that requires certain weather conditions, subterranean resources are constantly providing the conditions needed to make use of geothermal energy.