ENV100Y5 Lecture : env100 note 53.docx

• School: UTM
• Department: Environment
• Course: ENV100Y5
• Professor: murk

Document Summary

Most serious proposed solutions for permanent disposal of radioactive waste involve storage by geological isolation. Nuclear fusion = forcing together the nuclei of lightweight elements under extremely high temperature and pressure: scientists have not yet achieved cold fusion useable for commercial power generation. If we could control fusion, we could produce vast amounts of energy from water. People have long harvested biomass energy from many types of organic matter: wood from trees, charcoal from burned wood, matter from agricultural crops, combustible animal waste products. Fuelwood and other biomass sources constitute 80% of all renewable energy used worldwide. Traditional biomass sources are widely used in the developing world. In some areas, almost total dependence on fuelwood for energy. About i billion people depend on fuelwood as a primary energy source. Can lead to deforestation biomass is only renewable if it grows faster than we harvest it (main causes of deforestation are still land clearing, logging, disease, environmental change)