How Green Is Your IQ?

    So, you think you know the environment. Let's see.

    Everybody talks about the environment these days, and a lot of people are even trying to do something about it. But amid all the discussion, it can be hard to keep the facts straight. Do you know how much electricity is wasted in the U.S. every year by appliances and electric gadgets in standby mode? Or what the most prevalent greenhouse gas is? And who started all this talk about the effect of greenhouse gases on climate, anyway? Try our quiz to see how familiar you are with your environment.

    1.The debate over how to power the U.S. has been raging since the Nixon years, and was given extra impetus during last year's presidential campaign. Just how does the U.S. keep the lights on? Match the share of electricity generated this year to the fuel source:

    A. Coal 1. 3.4%

    B. Nuclear power 2. 22%

    C. Natural gas 3. 45%

    D. Hydroelectric 4. 21%

    E. Other renewables 5. 7.4%

    ANSWER:

    A-3, B-4, C-2, D-5, E-1. Coal is still king, but it's the one source of power whose share of the electricity mix has fallen this year, to 45% from 49% last year.

    2 Speaking of power sources, what country gets the largest share of its electricity from renewable sources?

    A. Denmark

    B. Norway

    C. New Zealand

    D. Austria

    E. Iceland

    ANSWER:

    E. Iceland's power is about 75% hydroelectric and 25% geothermal. Geothermal power, or tapping the earth's underground heat, provides a rare double whammy for clean energy: It's cheap and always available. Just not everywhere. Norway, a close second in renewable sourcing, gets 99% of its electricity from hydroelectric power.

    3. Lots of countries rely on large hydroelectric projects, but in richer countries hydro has just about reached the limits of its capacity for one reason or another, shifting the focus to other possible power sources. What country gets the most juice from renewable energy other than hydro?

    A. Denmark

    B. Portugal

    C. Spain

    D. New Zealand

    E. Iceland

    ANSWER:

    A. Denmark gets 30% of its power from nonhydro renewable sources, mainly wind and biomass─more than Iceland gets from geothermal power, or Portugal and Spain get from their extensive wind farms.

    4 Household appliances and electric gadgets suck up lots of energy in standby mode just to keep the clock on and the machine ready to go at a moment's notice. In rough terms, the amount of electricity wasted that way in the U.S. each year is equivalent to the output of:

    A. 0.8 nuclear power plants

    B. 1.8 nuclear power plants

    C. 8 nuclear power plants

    D. 18 nuclear power plants

    ANSWER:

    D. Scientists at the Department of Energy's Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory estimate as much as 10% of U.S. residential electricity use is lost in 'standby power.' That's about one-sixth of all the power produced by the 104-strong fleet of nuclear reactors in the U.S.

    5. Worries about how to curb man-made greenhouse-gas emissions are now a driving force behind economic and foreign policy world-wide, as the current Copenhagen climate-change summit demonstrates, but how did it all get started? Who first described a link between man-made emissions, a greenhouse effect and rising global temperatures?

    A. Joseph Fourier （1768-1830）

    B. John Tyndall （1820-1893）

    C. Lord Kelvin （1824-1907）

    D. Svante Arrhenius （1859-1927）

    E. Al Gore （1948- ）

    ANSWER:

    D. Fourier first proposed the idea of a 'greenhouse effect.' Tyndall first proved it was real, and the prestigious Tyndall Centre for Climate Change Research in the U.K. is named after him. But Arrhenius was the first to link industrial activity, especially burning coal, to rising levels of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere─and to rising temperatures, though he initially expected that effect would take a few thousand years.

    6. When it comes to emissions of greenhouse gases, most people know the biggest culprits: China and the U.S. Which three countries round out the top five?

    A. Brazil

    B. Mexico

    C. South Korea

    D. India

    E. South Africa

    F. Russia

    G. Indonesia

    H. Japan

    ANSWER:

    G, A and D. Indonesia and Brazil have zoomed up the rankings thanks to the inclusion of tropical deforestation─not just industrial activity─in the tally. That's one reason people from investment bankers to think-tank types are becoming tree huggers: Preventing deforestation is seen as a relatively easy and cheap way to tackle a huge chunk of global emissions, though plenty of questions loom about how to enforce forest-protection schemes in remote places.

    7. Speaking of emissions, what's the most prevalent greenhouse gas in the earth's atmosphere?

    A. Methane

    B. Carbon dioxide

    C. Water vapor

    D. Tropospheric ozone

    E. Hot air from politicians

    ANSWER:

    C. Water vapor makes up by far the largest share of the gases in the atmosphere that interact with sunlight and contribute to global warming. However, water vapor also condenses into clouds, which help reflect sunlight, so most of the attention is on longer-lived greenhouse gases that more effectively trap heat, such as carbon dioxide and methane.

    8. Overfishing is one of the big environmental problems affecting nearly every country. What is by far the most caught fish in the world by commercial fishermen?

    A. Cod

    B. Tuna

    C. Anchoveta

    D. Halibut

    E. Alaskan pollack

    ANSWER:

    C. Anchoveta, a relative of the anchovy that thrives all along the Pacific coast of South America, is used primarily for animal feed. The No. 2 catch, Alaskan pollack, makes up the vast majority of fish sticks and fast-food fish.

    9. Bottle recycling has never been more popular in the U.S. On average, how many pounds of plastic bottles did each American recycle last year?

    A. 1.6 pounds

    B. 8 pounds

    C. 16 pounds

    D. 24 pounds

    ANSWER:

    B. Some 2.4 billion pounds of plastic bottles were recycled in the U.S. in 2008, according to a joint report by the American Chemistry Council and the Association of Postconsumer Plastic Recyclers. That's a record, as is the percentage of bottles being recycled in the U.S. About 27% of all the milk jugs and soda bottles on store shelves eventually end up being recycled.

    10. Water, water everywhere, but not so much to drink. About 70% of the Earth is covered by water, and there's more beneath the surface. But seawater is too salty to drink, and water at the poles and in glaciers is frozen. What percentage of the world's water is fresh and liquid? And what percentage is also found above ground, in lakes and rivers?

    A. 10% and 2%

    B. 5% and 1%

    C. 3% and 0.5%

    D. 1% and 0.3%

    ANSWER:

    D. Only 1% of the world's water is fresh and unfrozen─and most of that is found in underground aquifers. Only 0.3% of the world's water is fresh surface water, including huge concentrations like the Great Lakes, the Amazon and Lake Baikal. That's one reason scientists, environmentalists, ecologists and military planners all worry about water shortages becoming a source of conflict in coming decades.

    你的環(huán)保智商有多高？

    你覺得自己很懂環(huán)保，那不妨來試試。

    現在，每個人都在談環(huán)境保護，很多人甚至在嘗試做一些環(huán)保方面的事情。然而，雖然環(huán)保是個大熱門，但有些現實情況并不為人所知。你知道美國每年因電器和電子設備處于待機狀態(tài)而浪費多少電力嗎？你知道最常見的溫室氣體是哪一種嗎？是誰第一個提到溫室氣體對氣候造成的影響？讀者不妨試試下面的測驗，看你對環(huán)保問題到底了解有多深？

    1. 自尼克松政府以來，關于美國該使用哪一類能源的爭論就變得愈演愈烈，2008年總統(tǒng)大選期間，這一話題更是焦點中的焦點。美國是如何保持燈火通明的？請將以下發(fā)電方式與其在2009年美國發(fā)電總量中的占比進行連線。

    A. 煤炭發(fā)電 1. 3.4%

    B. 核能發(fā)電 2. 22%

    C. 天然氣發(fā)電 3. 45%

    D. 水力發(fā)電 4. 21%

    E. 其它可再生能源發(fā)電 5. 7.4%

    正確答案：

    A-3,B-4,C-2,D-5,E-1.煤炭發(fā)電仍是老大，占2009年發(fā)電總量的45%,但比去年的49%有所下降。

    2. 以下哪個國家的可再生能源發(fā)電占其發(fā)電總量的比重最大？

    A. 丹麥

    B. 挪威

    C. 新西蘭

    D. 奧地利

    E. 冰島

    正確答案：

    E.冰島的能源結構75%為水力發(fā)電，25%為地熱發(fā)電。地熱發(fā)電方式利用的是地表下面的熱能，這是一種獨特的清潔能源，既成本低廉，又能持續(xù)不斷，可惜并非每個地方都能利用這種方式。挪威在可再生能源方面緊隨其后，其99%的能源來自于水力發(fā)電。

    3. 很多國家依靠大型水力發(fā)電項目來供電，但出于各種原因，一些相對發(fā)達國家的水電已經達到產能上限，因此將目光投向其他潛在的發(fā)電方式。以下哪個國家在利用除水電外的可再生能源方面最有建樹？

    A. 丹麥

    B. 葡萄牙

    C. 西班牙

    D. 新西蘭

    E. 冰島

    正確答案：

    A.丹麥有30%的電力來自非水電的可再生能源，主要是風力發(fā)電和生物發(fā)電─比冰島的地熱發(fā)電、葡萄牙和西班牙的大規(guī)模風電場在發(fā)電總量中所占的比重更大。

    4. 家用電器和電子設備處于待機狀態(tài)時會消耗大量電力，這是因為要保持內部時鐘的開啟，讓機器一接到信號就能立刻啟動。據粗略估計，美國每年消耗在待機狀態(tài)的用電量相當于多少個核電站的發(fā)電量？

    A. 0.8個核電站

    B. 1.8個核電站

    C. 8個核電站

    D. 18個核電站

    正確答案：

    D.美國能源部勞倫斯伯克力國家實驗室的科學家估計，有多達10%的美國家庭住宅用電耗費在"待機模式"上，相當于美國總共104個核電站六分之一的發(fā)電量。

    5. 如何限制人為溫室氣體排放現已成為影響各國經濟和外交政策的推動力量，即將召開的哥本哈根峰會就是一個例子。然而，這一切是如何開始的？是誰第一個將人為碳排放的溫室氣體效應與全球變暖問題聯系起來？

    A. 傅立葉（Joseph Fourier） （1768-1830）

    B. 約翰？丁鐸爾（John Tyndall） （1820-1893）

    C. 開爾文男爵（Lord Kelvin） （1824-1907）

    D. 斯范特？阿累尼烏斯（Svante Arrhenius） （1859-1927）

    E. 阿爾？戈爾（Al Gore） （1948- ）

    正確答案：

    D.傅立葉首先提出"溫室氣體"的概念。丁鐸爾最先證明這一概念的真實性，英國大名鼎鼎的丁鐸爾氣候變化研究中心就是以他命名的。但阿累尼烏斯最先將工業(yè)活動，尤其是煤炭燃燒，與大氣中上升的二氧化碳濃度以及不斷升高的全球氣溫聯系起來，雖然他起初預測這種溫室效應將過幾千年才會顯現。

    6. 談到溫室氣體排放，大多數人都知道兩個最大的排放國：中國和美國。除此之外，下面哪三個國家名列溫室氣體排放的前五名。

    A. 巴西

    B. 墨西哥

    C. 韓國

    D. 印度

    E. 南非

    F. 俄羅斯

    G. 印度尼西亞

    H. 日本

    正確答案：

    G、A和D.由于工業(yè)活動和熱帶雨林遭到破壞的雙重原因，印度尼西亞和巴西進入溫室氣體排放國的前五大。這也是從投資銀行家到智庫的各類組織正在成為愛樹一族的一個原因：防止森林遭到破壞被視為減少全球一大部分碳排放的相對容易和廉價的方式，但就如何在偏遠地區(qū)推行森林保護措施還存在諸多問題。

    7. 談到碳排放，什么是地球大氣中最常見的溫室氣體？

    A. 甲烷

    B. 二氧化碳

    C. 水蒸氣

    D. 對流層臭氧

    E. 政客嘴里噴出的熱氣（夸夸其談）

    正確答案：

    C.目前，水蒸氣是大氣中占比最多的氣體，它們與陽光產生反應，是全球變暖的因素之一。不過，水蒸氣也會凝結成云，有助于反射陽光。因此，人們把更多的注意力放在影響時間更長、更容易吸收熱量的其他溫室氣體上面，如二氧化碳和甲烷等。

    8. 過度捕魚是影響幾乎每個國家的重大環(huán)保問題。下面哪一種魚類在商業(yè)捕魚活動中被捕撈的數量最多？

    A. 鱈魚

    B. 金槍魚

    C. （魚是）魚

    D. 大比目魚

    E. 阿拉斯加狹鱈

    正確答案：

    C.（魚是）魚是鳳尾魚的旁親，在南美的太平洋沿岸數量很多，主要用于動物飼料。排名其次的是阿拉斯加狹鱈，主要用于制作魚條和魚肉快餐食品。

    9. 在美國，舊瓶回收變得前所未有得流行。2008年美國平均每人回收了多少磅的塑料瓶？

    A. 1.6磅

    B. 8磅

    C. 16磅

    D. 24磅

    正確答案：

    B.根據美國化學理事會和美國塑料回收協會的統(tǒng)計，2008年美國約回收了24億磅的塑料瓶，創(chuàng)下歷史最高紀錄。塑料瓶回收比例也創(chuàng)下新高，商店貨架上的牛奶罐和蘇打水瓶最終有27%左右得到回收。

    10. 水無處不在，但飲用水的數量并不多。地球約有70%的面積被水覆蓋，地表下面的水更多。然而，海水太咸不能喝，南北極和冰川地帶的水都處于凍結狀態(tài)。全世界有百分之多少的水是流動的活水？地表的流動淡水，即在湖泊和河流的水，占全球水資源總量的百分之多少？

    A. 10%和2%

    B. 5%和1%

    C. 3%和0.5%

    D. 1%和0.3%

    正確答案：

    D.全世界只有1%的流動活水資源─大多數都位于地下蓄水層；地表淡水只占0.3%,包括五大湖、亞馬遜河以及貝加爾湖這樣的大規(guī)模淡水集結地。正因如此，科學家、環(huán)保主義者、生態(tài)學家和軍事戰(zhàn)略家都在擔心，未來幾十年內，淡水匱乏將成為戰(zhàn)亂和爭端的導火索。