We are basically emitting way too much CO2 into our atmosphere and energy is one of the top CO2 producers. Energy used in our house is one of the major producers as well as transportation. The more we keep living our lives not taking action about our energy consumption, then we are going to destroy our earth.
Where our energy currently comes from
Energy contributes to global warming by the burning of fossil fuels. Fossil fuels come from remains of prehistoric plankton and algae that has taken very long to settle to the bottom of the ocean. These are then burned up and used to power multiple things through out the world.
(Image taken from, http://www.thehcf.org/emaila5.html)
As you can see in the graph above a majority of our C02 emissions are being emitted from cars and other types of transportation. I think if we find alternative fuel to power our transportation we can significantly reduce the amount of C02 thats being emitted into the air.
Finding Alternatives
Scientist have conducted many test and came up with a list of alternative fuel options. Bio-Diesel, Bio-Alcohol, Hydrogen, Liquid Nitrogen, and the most famous alternative Vegetable oil. Another alternative would be filtering out harmful emissions that come from major power plants.
-Bio-Diesel can also be known as Biofuel. This fuel and comes from 100% renewable source, and consist of vegetable oil and animal fat. The process that the oil goes through is called, transesterfication. During this process glycerin is removed from both the vegetable oil and animal fat. There are then many byproducts left behind like, methyl esters. What makes Bio-Diesel so environmental friendly is that it's free from sulfur and aromatics that can be found in the tradition gasoline.
-Bio-Alcohol. Ethanol, Butanol, Methanol and Propanol are all major alcohol alternatives that can be used as an alternative source. All these alcohols can be created from plant and biological resources. It's said that Butanol is very similar to our traditional gasoline due to the comparable energy density.
-Hydrogen. The hydrogen fuel cell can actually convert the chemical energy found in a hydrogen molecule to electrical energy. Hydrogen and gasoline are very similar like both masses are 2.8. Although this is a great alternative it has not been taken action of very much because the cost of all the technology.
-Liquid Nitrogen. There has been some cars produced to run on liquid nitrogen, those cars contain a nitrogen powered internal combustion engine. Also uses liquid nitrogen as the breaking fluid.
-Vegetable Oil is blended with normal diesel and used in a diesel engine.
Senior Project
After reading about possible alternative sources for replacing fossil fuels, it kind of inspired me to create a project where i can predict what the world would be like if we did take action and change our use of energy. Or i can talk about our current situation and predict how long before it's too late to switch to alternative sources. While doing research I see that a majority of the articles side with finding newer technologies to help solve our problems. I think the big idea with newer technology and producing energy would be finding something that would actually burn cleaner.I plan on doing more research on these newer technology ideas and seeing what I find maybe it can inspire me for a Senior Project.
Sources
"Renewable Energy Standards--Mitigating Global Warming | Union of Concerned Scientists." Homepage | Union of Concerned Scientists. N.p., n.d. Web. 11 Feb. 2010.
( This website talks about the American energy consumption. It talks a lot about weather issues that would uprise due to our extremely large energy consumption. In this article they also include information about certain standards in different states, and how they are required standards through out the community)
SERVATIUS, TARA. "Global Warming: It's About Energy | Environment | AlterNet." Home | AlterNet. N.p., n.d. Web. 11 Feb. 2010.
(This article claims that global warming is not a, "environmental" issue but a energy issue. It also includes some information about how some political people deny global warming saying that it doesn't exist. If we don't change our energy ways then the fight against global warming wouldn't be possible. One thing i disagree with in this article is buying excess carbon in hollowed-out coalmines and oil wells to store C02, it just doesn't make any sense to me)
"Report 5: How Do We Contribute to Global Warming?." Hinkle Charitable Foundation: Advocating for Environmental and Musical Education. N.p., n.d. Web. 11 Feb. 2010.
(This is the coolest article it shows really cool detailed graphs on how we, individually, contribute to global warming. It talks a lot about gasoline, and electricity and how its emitted into our atmosphere. This article also talks about What the major sources of our individual emissions are and divides everything up into a pie chart. Household electricity is the first major one and so is transportation. It also talks about how the United States greenhouse emissions are compared to other nations)
3 comments:
The articles sound very interesting. I'm wondering however if there are positive ways that energy can help global warming.
I like your introduction because it gives an idea how energy contributes to global warming. The only thing I suggest is to write more on each source you have and be specific about what each is about and what you think is interesting.
The articles seem interesting and there are alternative sources besides fossil fuels.. i think yo could go more in depth about how we could change our ways about burning fossil fuels
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