The Increasing Emission of Carbon Dioxide - Lab Report Example

Research indicates that the earth’s atmosphere currently contains about 800 billion tons of carbon as carbon dioxide. The increasing emission of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases in the atmosphere is mainly attributed to the production of energy, which is required to run machinery, and the production of electricity. Our group resorted to cutting carbon emissions by half and hence building an energy wedge that shows how the significant reduction is likely to take place if endorsed by the whole world.    Results and Discussions Our energy wedge begins with efficiency in transport as the basis of reducing carbon emissions by 50%. The group believes that the current consumption of fuel by vehicles is likely to double from 30 mpg to 60 mpg in the next 50 years. For saving to be achieved, there is a need for the economy to shift from carbon energy sources to hybrid diesel engine technologies. Building efficiency comes second in the wedge. If technology is well utilized, buildings are supposed to reduce emissions of carbon by 25% (Levy, 2010). This can be done by using solar heaters and using good insulators in the construction of houses to reduce the demand for heat from electricity and other carbon sources. The next energy conservation strategy involves the use of conservative measures in transport. Reducing face-to-face communication and using more electronic sources of communication will reduce the rate at which people travel (Neuhoff). This will lead to the conservation of energy.    The next wedge of conservation is efficiently producing electricity. The use of coal as a source of energy leads to the production of about a fifth of the world's carbon. Reducing this b half in the next 50 years helps in solving this problem. The use of green sources as energy conservation forms the next four levels of our wedge. We realized that production is only likely to reduce by half so we opted for other means through which the remaining half of carbon emitted could be stored or reduced. This could be achieved by the use of forest storage. Conserving forests ensures that trees absorb carbon emitted and use it as a source of food production. Soil is also another form in which carbon products can be stored. This can be supported by planting cover crops and preventing soil erosion. The use of biofuels is believed to be cost-effective in but not as compared to wind and solar. However, it is expected to increase the efficiency of plant photosynthesis and the use of crop residues hence leading to the borrowing of carbon in the atmosphere (PWC).   The game also helped, as students were able to learn from each other. Read More