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Introduction to Energy Choices – Starter Pack

Summary

This energy starter pack combines a vocabulary list with a quiz and cloze notes to reinforce key concepts from the video. The quiz assesses students’ understanding of why energy is so essential, while the vocabulary list defines essential terms like consume, product, equivalent, and underpin. This resource helps students with comprehension and mastering key terminology.

Bell Ringer

Instructions: Answer the prompt provided by your teacher.










Vocabulary

Instructions: Watch the Introduction to Energy Choices video and listen for the vocabulary words.

WordDefinitionExample
Attributenoun; a quality, feature or characteristic that belongs to someone or something“[Energy choices are] based on four attributes: affordable, available, reliable, and sustainable.”
Reliableadjective; able to be trusted to work well or do what is expected“ . . . we have to back [wind and solar] up with a more reliable, on-demand source.”
Sustainableadjective; not harmful to the planet and able to last a long time“And energy that is not affordable is ultimately not sustainable.”
Open marketnoun phrase; a system where goods and services are traded freely with few restrictions“It’s hard for an expensive resource to compete in the open market with a cheap one.”
Externalitynoun; a hidden cost or side-effect of something that affects others“Paying for these so-called externalities would raise their cost and bring competing sources closer together.”
Market disadvantagenoun phrase; a condition where a product or company has fewer benefits compared to others“But if some countries do this and others don’t, it creates a market disadvantage.”
Subsidynoun; money given by a government to help lower the cost of a product or service“Subsidies help bring down the cost of expensive new technologies, but we can’t afford to subsidize them forever.”
Commoditynoun; a raw material or basic product that can be bought and sold“[Oil’s highly developed transportation network] has made a regional resource into a global commodity.”
Consistentadjective; always acting or behaving in the same way – staying steady over time“Can we rely on a consistent supply?”
Disruptverb; to cause something to stop working in the usual way“With oil, hurricanes and war have sometimes disrupted that global trade.”
Intermittentlyadverb; starting and stopping – not working continuously“Wind and solar produce electricity intermittently.”
Criterianoun; standards or rules used to make a decision or judgment“The energies that best meet these four criteria will be the energies that we choose to use in the future.”

Quiz & Cloze Notes

Instructions: Circle the correct answer based on what you learned in the Introduction to Energy Choices video then fill in the blanks using the word bank.

Q1. Some new technologies are currently affordable due to

  1. government subsidies bringing down the costs.
  2. the external cost of pollution being paid by the utilities.
  3. consumer demand for low-carbon alternatives.
  4. natural disasters affecting their reliability.

Q2. Improved transportation networks have made which energy source more widely available?

  1. nuclear
  2. geothermal
  3. oil
  4. hydropower

Q3. Reliable, on-demand energy sources must supplement the intermittent nature of which energy source?

  1. Oil, because hurricanes and war can disrupt production.
  2. Nuclear, because of public concern over safety.
  3. Hydropower, because of seasonal differences in river flow.
  4. Wind, because of daily fluctuations in amount and strength.

Q4. What are some of the criteria assessed when looking at the sustainability of an energy resource?

  1. water, land use, and financial gain
  2. water, land use, and atmospheric emissions
  3. water, geologic faults, and atmospheric emissions
  4. water, geologic faults, and financial gain

Word Bank

affordabilityavailabilityenvironmentalintermittent
pricereliabilitysustainabilitytransportation

We choose energy sources based on four key attributes: _________________________, _________________________ , _________________________, and _________________________. For better or worse, we make most energy decisions based on _________________________. Availability often depends on local resources and _________________________ networks, while reliability is a challenge for wind and solar due to their _________________________ nature. Long-term energy solutions must be sustainable to minimize _________________________ impacts. 

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