✅ Checkpoint: Climate Foundations

By Better Wise

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Quiz

  1. Which statement best describes the greenhouse effect?
    • Greenhouse gases absorb incoming sunlight and block it from reaching the surface.
    • Greenhouse gases absorb outgoing infrared heat and re-radiate some of it back down, slowing heat loss to space.
    • Greenhouse gases create the ozone hole, which lets extra heat in.
    • Greenhouse gases form a solid lid that seals heat inside the atmosphere permanently.
  2. Why does CO2 dominate long-run warming even though methane is about 28 times more potent per tonne?
    • Because CO2 is emitted in far larger volumes and a large share stays in the atmosphere for centuries to millennia.
    • Because CO2 has a higher global warming potential than methane over 100 years.
    • Because methane is not actually a greenhouse gas and does not trap heat.
    • Because methane disappears from the atmosphere within a few days.
  3. A household burns natural gas in its own boiler and buys electricity from the grid. How do these two fit the scopes?
    • Gas is Scope 2 and electricity is Scope 3.
    • Both are Scope 3 because the utility supplies them.
    • Gas is Scope 1 (direct), electricity is Scope 2 (purchased energy).
    • Both are Scope 1 because they happen at home.
  4. One kilogram of methane leaks from a pipe. Using a 100-year global warming potential of about 28, how many kg CO2e is that?
    • About 7.8 kg CO2e
    • About 273 kg CO2e
    • About 28 kg CO2e
    • About 1 kg CO2e
  5. Two footprint figures for the same product disagree. What should you check first?
    • Which number has more decimal places.
    • Whether the company calls itself carbon neutral.
    • The boundary: what is counted, where it starts and stops, the factor year, and the unit of comparison.
    • Whether the product is recyclable.
  6. The unit that puts all greenhouse gases on one common scale, using global warming potential as the exchange rate, is called ____.
  7. A 12,000 km year in a petrol car at about 0.17 kg CO2e per km comes to roughly ____ kg CO2e (answer in kg).
  8. Explain in your own words why cutting methane is called a fast lever while cutting CO2 is the long-run control knob. Use the ideas of lifetime and cumulative stock in your answer.
  9. Take one week of your own household activity (home energy, driving, food, or a purchase) and sketch a rough CO2e estimate. Then label each item as Scope 1, 2, or 3 and state one boundary you had to assume.

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