Environmental and Energy Conservation - Coursework Example

Running head: ENERGY CONSERVATION Energy Conservation of Your ENERGY CONSERVATION The term environment defines what surrounds us. It is a set of natural, social, cultural values, which exists in a given place and point in time and has an influence on the material and psychological life of human beings. Humans require different environmental conditions than other animals in order to exist. The quality of an environment is measured in terms of its capacity to satisfy the needs of living nonliving individuals in an environment. Environmental quality to human beings depends on the degree to which both physiological and psychological needs are met. An environment is made up of resources. Resources refer to existing means of supplying what is needed or a stock that can be drawn on. Renewable resources are those that can be regenerated at a constant level. This is because they recycle rapidly, is alive or has the capacity to reproduce and grow. Examples are water which can be recycled, organisms because they can reproduce and many others. These resources will always keep on regenerating themselves as long as the rater of use is less than their rate of regeneration and the environments are kept suitable. Non renewable resources are not regenerated or reformed in nature at rates equivalent to the rate of use e.g. oil. There is a special category of non-renewable resources which are not affected by the way we use them e.g. metals which can be recycled. Environmental conservation is defined as the rational use of the environment to provide highest sustainable quality of living for humanity. With rapid development, there is stress on most resources including human resources in the developed countries which are registering negative population growth rate. According to World Commission on Environment and Development (WCED) (1987), sustainable development should be development that meets that need of the present without compromising the ability of future generation to meet their own needs. The biggest problem facing the world currently is environmental pollution. This has brought about global warming. Gorge Philander (1998), says that, global warming is the rise in world temperatures. This is caused by accumulation of carbon dioxide gas and other air polluting elements that collect in the atmosphere and forms a thickening blanket trapping the sun's heat and causing the planet to warm up. It is caused by several factors with coal burning alone producing about 2.5 billion tons of carbon dioxide every year. Several other human activities contribute to global warming. Growth of rice in rice pads has been attributed as one of the greatest cause of carbon dioxide and methane gas which a cause global warming. Animal feacal materials are also thought to contribute a substantial amount of methane gas that contribute to global warming. This emission of carbon dioxide gas, coupled with depletion of forest cover of the world is the main cause of the problem. Human activities like clearing of forest and burning of charcoal are also contributing to global warming. According to John Houghton (1997), global warming is being evidenced in many ways. Disappearance or reduction of ice caps on major mountains of the world especially those along the equatorial region. There has also been evidence of rise in sea level with fears expressed that some coastal towns and islands may be submerged in the near future if immediate measures are not taken to avert the situation. Continuing global warming has brought effects like increase in diseases incidences and pests challenging agriculture, changes in populations and plant and animal ranges shifts, coral leef bleaching and alpine meadows disrupting ecosystems, heavy downpours and flooding drought and fires. These are considered as early signs of global warming. Its effects has been felt on every corner of the world with famous elnino and lanina periods of heavy down pour and prolonged droughts respectively, the Katrina hurricane in America and other incidences. It is therefore good to realize that the fate of global warming lies in our hands. There are recorded attempt by human beings to save the world from the effects of global warming. With the understanding that there is no short cut to finding solution to global warming, several conventions have been in place to try tackling this problem. The Kyoto protocol was agreed on 1997 and came into force in 2005. It has an objective of "stabilization of green house gas concentrations in the atmosphere at a level that would prevent dangerous anthropogenic interferences with the climate system. It is waiting for ratification by world major emitters of the carbon dioxide gas. Apparently, United States of America which is the leading emitter of carbon dioxide gas has refused to ratify to the Kyoto protocol citing negative effects on its economy. This has been a great set back in the fight to revert the situation. However several efforts have also been made including increasing the forest cove of the world to plant more trees which absorb excess carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. As we have identified the burning of fuel as the major cause of pollution. It is evident that solution to global warming lies in using alternative sources of energy which cause less pollution. This call for using different means of energy conservation, as a means of conserving our environment. Energy conservation: Energy demand has been on the rising matching the rising technological development. United States of America remains the world number one country with high energy demand for its industries, although China and India are becoming industrialized, increasing the world's energy demand. The industrial sector remains the leading energy consumer. As per 2004 data from the US Department of Energy, the industrial sector led in energy demand by 33%, followed by transportation sector by 28%, then residential sector by 21%, and commercial sector by 17%. In all these sectors, energy is used in different ways. Energy conservation is putting into practice measures that ensure that less quantity of energy is used in achieving similar outcome. It has become a major concern in this development era with rising cost of energy. Energy consumers want to reduce amount of energy used in order to replicate the same in the cost. Energy conservation goes a long way in offsetting per capita energy demand which helps to keep up with the rising energy demand due to the growing population. Sources of energy There are various sources of energy. Renewable energies are self-sustaing and they come from sources that cannot be depleted. They play an important role in that they help in conservation of other energy sources that cannot be renewed. Professor Raymond Wrights, points out that sustainable energy is "flow of energy that are regenerative or virtually inexhaustible". Some forms of renewable energy include solar energy, wind energy, hydropower and biomass energy. Non renewable sources Most energy used in modern world comes from fossil fuel. From the fossil fuel we get coal, oil and natural gas. It is estimated that about 85% of total energy used in the world comes from fossil fuel. These fuels are producing carbon that is disrupting the carbon cycle. Fossil fuel gives the following: - Coal - It accounts for 54% of total energy supply. It is the largest environment polluter. It is used for generation of electricity in industries. Oil - It is primarily used in the transport industry, for power production, heating and also as a feedstock for chemicals. Natural gas - It is a clean burning fuel used for heating in buildings and processing industries. It is also being used in turbines to produce electricity. Nuclear power- This uses the radio active materials to produce steam for power generation. It provides about 21% of total power supply in the United States. According to Energy Information Administration (2007), use of fuel as a source of energy continues to be the leading source of energy for most sectors of the world, followed by coal, natural gas, nuclear sources, non-hydro source and lastly hydropower. The following data shows energy consumption trend form 1980 to 2030 projections. Adopted from: Energy Information Administration. (2007) The graph shows an upward trend in use of petroleum fuel as a source of energy. Sources with less pollution are less used. This has been the cause of increasing environmental pollution. Renewable forms of Energy These are forms of energy that can be replenished. They also come with less impact on the environment, as compared to fossil fuels. Some of these energies include; Biomass energy - This is obtained from plants which are rich sources of carbon and hydrogen and can be used within the natural carbon cycle. His has given rise to "power crops" plants like Swithgrass, Willow, Poplar trees and others which are fast growing. Recently, controversy has dogged the use of Corn as a source of energy with activist arguing that it will deprive humans in the third world countries source of food as they use corn as food and may cause disruption in food cycle. Biomass wastes like forest residues, lumber and paper mill waste, crop wastes, garbage and land fill and sewage gas are all seen as alternative sources of energy. They can be used to generate heat, transport fuel or electricity will less impact on environmental pollution. Solar energy - This is a free and inexhaustible source of energy. It just needs to be converted to a useful source of energy. It has been used since ancient times to produce heat for drying foods and currently it is being converted to electricity. Wind power - This has been used since ancient times and is still in use today. Aerodynamic researches have developed turbines that produce electricity at a very lower cost. This has replaced the tradition wind mills that have been used mostly in water pumps or in production of electricity by driving generators. Geothermal energy - The hot earth's crust produces geysers with hot water or vapor which is successfully tapped to produce energy. The hot water or vapor is being used to drive turbines to produce electricity. Hydroelectric power - This uses the force of moving water to drive turbines that generate electricity. It the leading mean of generating electricity all over the world. Large dams are constructed which reserves water for use even on dry seasons. This has caused disruption of river flow and displacement of people. Nowadays, the 'run of the river' approach is being used as a more friendly hydroelectric power generating model. Sustainability According to Berger et al. (2005), sustainable Energy is energy which is replenishable within a human lifetime and causes no long-term damage to the environment. Sustainability refer to the essence of being self-sustaining which is 'limitless' if to mention. There are several measures for energy sustainability as we have seen above in the use of renewable energy sources. However these sources have not been optimally used. It is only recently with the rising concern about global warming and the rising cost of crude oil that alternative sources of energy like use of corn as a source of fuel has been explored. The rising cost of fuel and the fear of possible depletion of the reserves should be the factors driving us to planning more energy sustainable measures. Plan to reach sustainability As earlier mentioned, the plan to curb global warming is development of sustainable energy measure. This calls switching on to use of renewable resources and reducing the use of carbon fuels as source of energy. However, this is the responsibility of the international community to enforce rules and regulation governing the use of carbon fuels which will cut emission of carbon dioxide. It will be coupled with extending the current forest cover of the world. Plan of action 1. All countries of the world should be signatories to the Kyoto Protocol to cut emission of carbon dioxide gas in the world by 2010. 2. There should be a campaign in every country to plant at least 1 billion trees each year for the next ten years. 3. There should be a worldwide effort to increase use renewable energies as alternative to fuel energy. More money should be channeled in increasing generation of hydropower and acquisition of solar converters and wind energy harvesters. By 2020, renewable energy should be contributing more than half of each country's energy source. 4. Each country should have developed biofuel technology by 2030. By then, fuel energy should be contributing less that 15% of energy source in the world. Action Steps The Kyoto protocol is already in place and should be the guide to achievement of all this. Once all countries ratify to the protocol, it will reduce mistrust and suspicions that exists in modern world which has hindered cutting of carbon emission. This will create a mutual agreement and consent, with assured commitment to tackle the problem. Environmentalist should then convene a meeting to agree on the way forward to increase the forest cover. This should also come with ways of protecting the indigenous forest like the Amazon and the Congo forest which are being overexploited. World bodies should convene and in collaboration with local universities and research institutes, they should develop a time line to develop bio-fuel technology in all countries. References Berg, S. and E. Lindholm (2005).Energy use and Environmental Impacts of forest Operation in Sweden: Journal of cleaner Production 13(1): 33-42 Houghton, John. (1997). Global warming: The Complete Briefing. Cambridge University Press Philander, George. (1998). Is the temperature rising The Uncertain Science of Global Warming. Princeton University Press. Wrights, R. (2007). Canada Jamaica Green Fund: Sustainable Energy retrieved from, http://www.jsdnp.org.jm/susEnergy.htm on 17th November 2007 Energy information administration, (2007). Forecast and Analysis: Analysis and projections of energy information. Read More