Renewable Energy Research Help

Your two main resources for finding primary resources will be the County Library and Google Scholar. If you have a Multnomah County Library card (with a PIN #) you can also access Academic Search Premier (a giant database of scholarly articles).

Search the Multnomah County Library catalog HERE.
Search Google Scholar HERE.

Remember to record information about each source for your bibliography. See your reading logs for details about what information to record.

Renewable Energy Web Resources

Note: These are NOT necessarily objective sources of information. Some are made up of businesses that have a monetary stake in promoting and selling their energy resources. Because some are more objective than others, use your judgment and compare these with other sources (Books, Peer-Reviewed Articles, etc.) to verify their claims. The websites should have and "About Me" section that explains who maintains the website.

Government Sources

• United States Department of Energy (DOE)
• Oregon Department of Energy
• National Renewable Energy Laboratory

General Sources

• Renewable Energy World
• Renewable Energy Network Institute
  
• Center for Energy Efficiency and Renewable Technologies (CEERT)
• National Resource Defense Council (NRDC)
• Database of State Incentives for Renewables and Efficiency
• Renewable Energy (Business) Resource Guide
  

Local/Regional Sources

• Renewable Northwest Project
• Northwest Energy Coalition
• Oregon Institute of Technology: Geo-Heat Center
  

Renewable Energy Associations

• American Wind Energy Association
• Geothermal Resource Council
• National Biodiesel Board
• National Hydropower Association
• International Ethanol Trade Association
• United States Fuel Cell Council
• Solar Energy Power Association
• World Nuclear Association

Fossil Fuel and Renewable Resource Topics

Geothermal Energy

· Electrical

· Thermal

Solar Energy

· Electrical

· Thermal

Biomass Energy

· Electrical

· Thermal

Wind Energy (Electrical)

· Electrical

Nuclear Energy

· Electrical

Wave Power

· Electrical

Hydroelectric

· Electrical

Hydrogen Fuel Cell

· Fuel

Ethanol

· Fuel

Biodiesel

· Fuel

Earthquake quiz review

What are the three types of stress in the Earth's crust?

• What characteristics of rocks does stress affect?
  
• Which direction does the force take for each?
• What does each type of stress do to rocks in the crust?
• What type of plate boundary is associated with each?

What are the three types of faults?

• What is the definition of a fault?
• Which type of stress is related to each fault type?
  
• Identify the foot-wall and hanging-wall for normal and reverse faults.
• Identify the direction of movement along each type of fault.

What causes an earthquake?

In order to locate the epicenter of an earthquake:

• How many locations do you need information from?
• What information do you need from each location?
• How do you interpret this information to make it useful?

Earthquake waves:

• What types of waves are created in an earthquake?
• In which directions does each type of wave move?
• What are the relative speeds of P-waves, S-waves, and surface waves? (Which would you feel first, second, and third?)

Earthquake Scales:

• What two general ways can an earthquake be measured?
• Which two scales are currently used to measure earthquakes? (Hint: one of these scales has a predecessor that news anchors reference incorrectly all the time)
• What is the difference between magnitude and intensity?

Measuring Earthquakes

Geologists measure earthquakes in two general ways, quantitatively and qualitatively.

Quantitatively: measures the magnitude, or the energy released in an earthquake using a seismograph.

• Richter Scale*: (ML) developed in the 1930's to measure the magnitude of shallow earthquakes in California. This has been replaced by the moment magnitude scale.
• Moment Magnitude Scale*: (MW) developed in the 1970's, improving upon the Richter scale by considering the shaking measured by the seismograph and the area of the fault that slipped. This has replaced the Richter scale because it can easily by applied to earthquakes anywhere in the world.
  

*Note: these scales are logarithmic. That means every time you increase one scale degree, the energy released by the earthquake increases by a power of ten. For example, a MW 4.3 earthquake is ten times stronger than a MW 3.3 earthquake.

Qualitatively: measures the intensity of an earthquake by looking at the impact on people and infrastructure.

• Modified Mercalli Scale: (MMI) developed around 1900 to measure the intensity of earthquakes. The MMI degree for an earthquake will vary depending on the quality of infrastructure (i.e. roads, buildings, sewers, etc.). For example, a MW 4 earthquake may have a much greater MMI scale degree in a poor country where building standards are low than it would have in a wealthy country where building standards are high.

Follow Up:

• Visit this link to compare the Moment Magnitude scale with the Modified Mercalli scale: CLICK HERE!
• Compare the 2010 earthquakes in Haiti and Chile: CLICK HERE!
  1. What was the magnitude of each earthquake?
  2. How many people died in each earthquake?
  3. Look at the "shake maps" for each. How do the two earthquakes compare in intensity?
  4. What factors might explain the difference in mortality rates for the two earthquakes?
     

Portland: Earthquake and Fault Maps

Now that we have learned the science behind earthquakes, its time to consider how they affect us. Read the following excerpt from the Oregon Department of Geology and Mineral Industries (DOGAMI) and then check out the maps.

The Portland metropolitan area and surrounding vicinity have been the most seismically active region in Oregon in historical times. Based on the relatively brief 150-year historic record, six earthquakes of Richter magnitude (ML) 5 or greater have occurred within the greater Portland area including the damaging ML 5.5 Portland earthquake of 1962 and the ML 5.6 Scott Mills earthquake of 1993 (Bott and Wong, 1993). In contrast, recent geophysical studies indicate the presence of at least three crustal faults beneath the Portland metropolitan area (Blakely and others, 1995; Pratt and others, in preparation) which could generate much more damaging crustal earthquakes of ML 6.5 or larger. An evaluation of earthquake recurrence based on the historical record suggests that crustal earthquakes of ML 6.5 and larger occur somewhere in the Portland region on average about every 1,000 years (Bott and Wong, 1993). Additionally, a convincing case has now been made to indicate that Cascadia subduction zone earthquakes up to moment magnitude (MW) 9 have occurred in the prehistoric past, as recently as the year 1700, and will occur in the future (e.g., Atwater and others, 1995; Satake and others, 1996). Thus, although in its 150-year existence the Portland metropolitan area has gone relatively unscathed by damaging earthquakes, strong ground shaking generated by either a Cascadia subduction zone earthquake or a nearby crustal event will certainly have a major future impact on the Portland area.

Earthquake Scenario Maps

Note: the different colors on the maps indicate "spectral acceleration." This is a quantitative measure of how much an Earthquake shakes a building at a particular place. The magnitude of the earthquake, the soil conditions, and the design of the building affect the spectral acceleration. The higher the spectral acceleration, the greater the shaking experienced.

• MW 9 megathrust event along the Cascadia subduction zone
  
• Crustal earthquake of MW 6.8 on the Portland Hills fault

Map Limitations: the maps are limited by geologists' knowledge of rock and soil conditions below the Earth's surface. They do not know the exact size of the faults, nor do they know the exact soil structure below each location. Thus, the maps are meant as approximate guides.

Follow Up Questions

1. The excerpt references two magnitude scales for earthquakes, "ML" and "MW." What scales to these correspond to?
2. What are the two potential sources of major earthquakes in Portland?
3. What are the three main faults that exist under the city of Portland?
4. After reviewing the maps, which of the two earthquake events (the MW 9 megathrust or the MW 6.8 Portland Hills fault) is likely to cause more damage to the city of Portland? What data on the maps lead you to your conclusion?
5. Where in Portland would you build to avoid the highest amount of shaking (i.e. spectral acceleration)?