Engineering and Construction: Energy Consumption and Efficiency - Assignment Example

MY ANSWER QUESTION ONE: United s of America is one of the countries very dependent in its way of energy consumption, it is dependent mainly on inexpensive energies i.e. coal and other petroleum products which are fossil fuels (Singer 2008). These energies are used in a number of fields ranging from transportation, agriculture to industrial application. Generally, it is estimated petroleum accounts for 40 percentage of the overall energy, coal 60% and natural gas forms 24 % of the country usage. It has also been found out that it requires 7 gallons of gasoline daily for each and every individual to maintain the country run at it normal pace. This figures alone reflect how the country rely on fossil fuel, it is true 90% of energy used in the country comes from fossil fuel; this is a very high percentage as compared to the rest of the world. Apart from the environmental effects associated with exploration and extraction of fossil fuels there are other forms of pollutions associated with fossil fuels. It notably they cause invisibility through smog, acid rain and at the same time leads to global warming across the world According to Singer (2004) through understanding of the causes of global warming has enabled United States set up preventive strategies. Scientists have referred the greenhouse gasses, in terms of the equivalent amount of carbon dioxide. The reason is to understand the gasses’ effects. The international panel of climate change (IPCC), formed by the United Nations initiated the process of preventing global warming through study on environment degradation. Scientists subscribed to this group, and gathered all the information on climate changes and its progress. The mitigation of climate change efforts has been done by enhancing the capacity of carbon that sinks to absorb green-house gasses within the atmosphere (Dessler & Parson 2010). This entailed enacting policies that would be adhered to by all states. Outside America, countries like Australia ratified the Kyoto protocol in 2005 to limit developed nations from vast emissions to the atmosphere. The major hindrance to measures for this reduction is the challenge received from the organization like competitive enterprise institute, conservative commentators and Exxon Mobil, who argue against humans’ involvement in global warming (Dessler & Parson 2010). On the other hand, the support from environmental organizations and public figures has initiated programs of adaptation to changes in infrastructural needs and emissions reduction, which has been efficient so far in handling global warming in America. The public is informed about these policies through media campaigns and social forums where individuals are allowed to air their personal views towards pollution and global warming. QUESTION TWO The energy efficiency and the economy of vehicles fuel produce too many environmental emissions that interfere with the atmosphere. Improvements of these factors, act as a major step to reduction of global warming on earth but with continued use of personal vehicles in America this will lead to increased pollution as a result of emission. Emissions from motor vehicles exhaust form the major component of smog which results in invisibility (Spencer 2008). In addition, motor vehicle emit carbon dioxides to the atmosphere, this is an anthropogenic contribution to the development of carbon dioxide accumulation in the environment which is considered by scientist to have major impact on climate change. It is estimated motor vehicles contributes about 22% of the United States artificial carbon dioxide emissions to the atmosphere with passengers cars contributing about 11% of the 22 % emissions. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency estimates of average passenger car emissions in the United States Component Emission Rate Annual pollution emitted Hydrocarbons 3.0  grams/mile 77.4 pounds Carbon Monoxide 21.9 grams/mile 578 pounds NOx 1.4 grams/mile 38.5 pounds Carbon Dioxide - Green house gas 0.938 pounds per mile (260 g/km) 11,460 pounds A study carried out by Dessler & Parson, (2010). concludes that although global warming will continue indefinitely, what we do makes a tremendous difference about tomorrow. GHG emissions from motor vehicles should be reduced through technological upgrading. According to two researchers Stephen Pacala and Robert Socolow, an approach called stabilization wedges, were convenient for this objectives (Houghton et al 2004). The wedges include ways that carbon dioxide emissions could be reduced and held at current levels for the next fifty years. With Reductions of motor vehicle emissions will be a significant step in environmental pollution control and global warming, there are some rationales that give room to think the pattern of fossil fuel will continue indefinitely, one of this is that other uses of fossil fuel will remain and still cause emission to the atmosphere. According to the second law of thermodynamics, which assumes (1) that global warming is as a result of failure of the natural mechanism to permit low-grade heat energy find its way to biosphere. Basing on the assumption (1) of the law, any given heat emitted to atmosphere will exceeds the level of heat the atmosphere is ready to radiate back (Spencer 2008). This has been proved to be true despite the heat energy involved including clean energy. As much as this assumption is based on there is no difference between clean energy and fossil fuels since both emits low –grade heats when consumed, and as much as the low grade heat is emitted the fossil fuel pattern will continue indefinitely QUESTION 3 United States is one of the countries all over the world who have embraced alternative sources of energy to reduce the emissions of carbon dioxide emitted through fossil fuels. The alternatives noted are the renewables which over the years have been embraced by the United States. Among the alternative energy sources which are currently being used comprises of; sun power, wind power, and water power which have over the years have been thought as being environmentally conscious (Houghton 2004). Although, conversation and nuclear energy are also thought of as fossil fuel substitutes they are not widely used. The other widely used alternative source of energy is hydroelectricity which actually accounts for nearly 4% of the United States energy, with solar and wind power making up less than 1%. Alternative sources of energy have become wide spread with many individuals advocating for these options since many of them are now capable of producing energy rates which are competitive with other sources of energy. Alternative sources of energy have become more common in the United States since their implementation is quick and relatively easy, technology being used is refined hence they have become more efficient in generating energy as well as reducing carbon dioxide emissions. Research indicates that renewable sources of energy produce no air or water pollution hence many countries today advocate for such sources primarily as a way of reducing carbon-dioxide emissions an issue which has raise concerns over the world. Due to the increasing rate of carbon-dioxide emissions and global warming many countries have raised concerns over this issue advocating for alternative energy fuel fossils which have less impact on the environment. Using the alternative sources of energy United States would at a greater level reduce carbon-dioxide emissions since these sources don’t pollute the environment as well as reduce at a greater extend emission of carbons to the environment (Houghton 2004). Despite the mere fact that very few individuals argue against the development of these alternative options with many of them arguing that sun, wind and rain cannot produce enough energy to meet the needs of the country, the unreliability of the sun and the wind can be met with highly guarded optimism. Though, many countries are adopting the alternative sources of energy, there some challenges associated with this options such as the amount of land needed to make solar or wind power viable and technological limitations. Though, over the years the hydroelectricity has been doing well, many environmentalists are against it with the damming effect on rivers and immediate surroundings. This therefore indicates that by United States adopting renewable sources of energy, it will at a greater extend reduce the extend of carbon-dioxide emissions as well as concentration .Reduction of this emissions will at a greater level reduce environmental impact caused by fossils as well as the effects of global warming and other environmental impacts. QUESTION4: Fuel cells can be termed to be self- contained power generation devices which are able to produce reliable electricity for residential, commercial, industrial and transportation applications. With the introduction of fuel cells there has been considerable increase and inventions in the technology as far as energy production is concerned. A fuel cell is able to convert hydrogen directly into electricity which can be used for various tasks and activities such as powering en electric car, providing light in various homes and streets among other activities (Dessler & Parson 2010). Fuel cell technology is one of the highly advanced technological innovations used to generate electricity which uses an electro-chemical process to convert hydrogen and oxygen into energy. The fuel cell itself runs on external fuel and during power generation it uses pure hydrogen which is later on converted to oxygen energy. Apart from using an external fuel, the cell also works with hydrogen-rich fuels like methanol, natural gas or gasoline. According to a research conducted by the United States Energy Department, the fuel cell can achieve double fuel economy of the current automobiles which can actually cut carbon-oxide emissions as well as other greenhouse gases by half. What Are the Benefits? Fuel cells uses hydrogen to produce energy hence it produces fewer greenhouse gases than does burning fossil fuels. Moreover, fuel cells convert energy efficiently compared to fossil fuels which at a greater extend helps to conserve energy resources. The by product of the electro-chemical process is pure water which is a clear benefit for the environment. Since hydrogen is a tasteless, odorless, colorless gas it’s not found freely in nature which implies that it must be extracted from other substances which is a complicated process as well as requires high technology (Houghton 2004). Though, fuel cells have become wide spread it is necessary that hydrogen as fuel become readily available on the markets before the fuel cells can achieve widespread use in vehicle or stationary-power. Since extraction of hydrogen is a complicated process as well as requires high technology, this cannot happen overnight which actually implies that hydrogen will become part of the world’s energy supply step by step as technical challenges are overcome and market forces create new opportunities. QUESTION 5 The grid is a relic as referred to from the ancient technology that consists of expensive centralized large plant generation, large transmission and distribution systems. It is known for its great efforts in the delivery of high quality power to its clients however much their need and therefore there is always demand towards its sizing so that it meets its aggregate demand at every distribution centre (Dessler & Parson 2010). The transmission of power is via line with high voltage that goes over a long distance characterized by inefficiencies, power loss and right of way costs and the local distribution through the step down transformers which are rather expensive in cost and efficiency. In addition to this, any single failure is a failure to the entire system kin the neighborhood. Another inefficiency character is the end to end synchronization where it lacks storage mechanisms of energy making it so complicated in the sharing in the grids or independent operations in an outage. The challenges in the grid system can be confirmed by the recent blackouts experienced by the clients using it. Sources confirm that the average consumption per user is basically 25kWhr/day on average that its service is assumed to be less by ten percent its 100-amp. Also, the consumption may vary due to the variance or the changes in the weather situations where sometimes it may demand the use of home appliances to stabilize the weather conditions in the house thus high demand for the supply (Dessler & Parson 2010) . This structure is also believed not to be stable enough to accommodate highly variable nature of the sources of energy that are renewable like the solar which does its generation during the day and the sun is on and the wind-power which does its generation when the winds are strong. Further challenges can be viewed from the perspective of inefficient communication where the companies do little to inform the consumers on their average usage and the amount they as a company can offer in some situations which should prepare the consumers on the usage of the power and know when to minimize the usage of the power. Recently, many people are believed to have put their trust behind the smart grid which is believed to be more distributed, it is adaptive and it is also market based infrastructure for the generation of and distribution. The approach is designed to produce more efficiency and resilience and on the other working on the reduction of the environmental impact in relation to the old systems (Dessler & Parson 2010). The meters installed are able to indicate real time consumption by the consumers which is a motivation to them thus helping them to reduce their consumption. Reference Dessler, Andrew, & Parson, Edward. (2010). The Science and politics of global energy. Cambridge Univ Pr. Singer, Siegfried, Avery, Dennis, Libraries, Association, (China), & Vandenberg, Maritz. (2008). An Inclusive environment and fossil fuels. Butterworth Heinemann. Weart, Spencer. (2008). The Discovery of global warming. Harvard Univ Pr. Houghton, John, Corporation, Marshall, Selverstone, Harriet, & Libraries, Association. (2004). Choice. Libraries Unltd Inc. Read More