When Does 32 million = 9? Can You Pass REAP's Pop Energy Quiz

 REAP has the following quiz up on their website. (Answers below.)

 

 

 

 

1)  What uses more total energy in the U.S. – buildings or transportation?
 

 

 

2)  What is the biggest source of renewable energy in use today in Alaska?

3)  32 million barrels of oil is enough to supply world demand for how long?

4)  Which two towns on the Iditarod Sled Dog Race trail are powered with wind power?

5)  What is the average yearly energy savings of homes that have participated in the Alaska Home Energy Rebate Program?

6)  Up to how much of their income do rural Alaskans spend on energy?

 7)  What does REAP stand for?

 

ANSWERS:

1A - Buildings! Buildings accounted for 39.9% of total energy use in 2008, according to the U.S. Department of Energy statistics. Transportation used only 28%.

2A - Hydropower is the largest supplier of energy currently. It provides 21% of Alaska’s electrical power.

 3A -  About 9 hours. In 2010, global demand for oil averaged 87.8 million barrels/day, according to the International Energy Agency

 4A -  Nome and Unalakleet. Unalakleet has 6 Northwind100 turbines, which since November 2009 have kept the town from having to burn more than 100,000 gallons of diesel. Nome has 18 Entegrity EW-50 turbines installed on Banner Peak in 2008.  Learn more…

 5A -  Just over $1,500 (This figure from 2010 is based on a survey of 6,998 homes that had participated in the program).

 6A -  In Alaska, nearly 80% of rural communities are dependent on diesel fuel for their primary energy needs. The poorest Alaskan households spend up to 47% of their income on energy, more than five times their urban neighbors.

7A -REAP = Renewable Energy Alaska Project and they're having their

 "The Business of Clean Energy in Alaska"  Conference April 19 and 20 at the Dena'ina Center

Only the truly delusional* and/or those with a vested interest in fossil fuel use still deny that climate change is serious and we need to find ways to use less.  This is most clear when we see business folks spending money to cut the costs of their business' energy use.  At this conference they come together to find more ways to save.

Monday the registration prices increase so if you plan to go, now's the time to sign up.  I've gone to two of these as a blogger.  (Yes, they give me a free press pass. And they said it was ok to post their quiz.)  There's a lot to learn and interesting people to meet. 

Here's a link to their agenda.   You can get to their registration from there.

*I know.  I'm usually more moderate, but there comes a time when you can't keep pretending that some people have reasonable arguments.  On climate change we're past that point.  And some of the deniers acknowledge that by now talking about adaptation.  We can still use all the fossil fuels we want, we just have to adapt to the changes they are causing.  

Here's someone else who can't help but speak up on climate change who understands things better than I.  James Hansen, a climate change scientist and grandfather, speaks up at TED: