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Science, technology, and the environment - Energy and power

8 important questions on Science, technology, and the environment - Energy and power

What was one of the principal motives for Japanese imperialism in the 1930s?

One of the principal motives for Japanese imperialism in the 1930s was the military government's desire to secure new, more reliable sources of energy for the country's dynamic industrial economy.

What is the indispensable foundation of the modern lifestyle?

Non-renewable energy has become an indispensable foundation of the modern lifestyle, and powerful states have used their diplomatic and military muscle repeatedly to ensure adequate supplies.

What is a problem about the economic growth in the developed North?

Since the end of the war, plans for economic growth in the developed North have been predicated on the unrestricted exploitation and use of non-renewable resources.

Why was it easy for political leaders to champion the virtues of conspicuous consumption?

Since the overall cost of energy dropped during the period 1945-1973, it was easy for political leaders in the developed states to champion the virtues of conspicuous consumption.
Many utilities encouraged customers to use as much electricity and natural gas as possible in return for generous rebates.

What was at the center of attention for Communist China's economy?

Communist China's march to throw off the shackles of Western imperialism was initially centered on a Maoist program of economic self-sufficiency. And for the first 30 years of communist rule the mandate of the Great Helmsman was carried out with resolve.

With whom did the China National Petroleum Company compete?

By the end of the twentieth century the state-owned oil company began making strategic investments in overseas oil projects.
The China National Petroleum Company competed with Western firms for oil concessions in Venezuela, Iraq, Sudan, and Kazakhstan.

What did Eisenhower say about nuclear weapons?

In December 1953, President Dwight Eisenhower addressed the UN on the subject of harnessing nuclear energy for peaceful purposes.
In an effort to arrest the growth of nuclear arsenals and to lessen the prospect of an all-out nuclear exchange between the US and the USSR, Eisenhower affirmed that "peaceful power from atomic energy is no dream of the future. That capability, already proved, is here today."

What did the meltdown of Chernobyl show?

The 1986 meltdown of a nuclear reactor at Chernobyl in the Ukraine - which killed 31 workers and forced the evacuation of 130,000 people living within a 20-mile radius of the plant - alerted the international community to the dangers of nuclear power production.
The WHO estimated that the Chernobyl reactor released 200 times more radiation than the two bombs dropped on Japan in 1945. The fact that the Gorbachev government hesitated to report the disaster, even as a cloud of radioactive dust was carried across Europe by prevailing winds, only strengthened calls for the abandonment of nuclear power.

The question on the page originate from the summary of the following study material:

A Concise History of the World Since 1945 | 9781352010206 | W M Spellman

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