Anthropogenic Factors of Global Warming - Research Paper Example

Environmental Issues: Air Pollution and Wind Power Introduction The concept of global warming refers to an increase in the earth’s mean temperature and it is a process that is estimated to continue rising temperatures into the future. It is entirely possible for the earth to warm to a point where it can no longer support life. Organizations such as the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change are now recognizing that mean global temperatures have risen dramatically during the past few decades and that this warming trend is having an impact upon the earth’s surface. Many of the side effects considered to be the direct result of global warming are a rise in sea water levels and in the warming temperature of the planet. Melting ice caps have contributed both to the quantity of water contained in the ocean basins and the slowing of ocean currents which affects water temperatures and rainfall. Scientists have long blamed global warming for significant changes in the form of global rainfall causing flooding in some areas and extreme drought in others. Increased temperature of the planet reduces the ability of some plants and animals to survive, which can have an effect on humans. Many of these changes are considered to be man-made as humans are directly responsible for air pollution, pumping large quantities of CO2 into the atmosphere. CO2 is a pollutant inducing global warming. Air pollution can be reduced and the detrimental effects mitigated by adopting widespread wind power instead of burning fossil fuels. Problem: Air Pollution The production of CO2 is a natural process. External respiration (breathing) is the exchange of oxygen and carbon dioxide between an animal and its environment. This natural gas exchange takes place through the process of diffusion. The term diffusion refers to the random movement of particles in space. This movement forces the transference of molecules from an area of high concentration to an area of low concentration. Oxygen is taken into the animal’s body because there is less oxygen inside the animal’s lungs than there is in the outer environment, while carbon dioxide, because of its higher inner concentration, gets pushed out. Thus, the simple process of respiration results in ‘air pollution.’ Once an animal or plant dies, more carbon is released as the material structure breaks down or is burned – as in the case of burning wood, coal or oil. The carbon cycle is the process by which CO2 moves through the atmosphere, oceans, biosphere and geosphere in some form. Biology obviously plays a key role in the apparent movement of carbon between land, ocean, and atmosphere through the processes of photosynthesis and respiration. Plants absorb CO2 from the environment during the process of photosynthesis as long as the sun is out, and then release CO2 back into the environment during respiration at night via the chemical reaction found in figure 1. Respiration is thus the reverse action of photosynthesis as plants release the energy held in sugars for metabolism and alter carbohydrate “fuel” back into carbon dioxide. This carbon dioxide is thus returned back into the atmosphere (Harrison, 2003). This chemical mixes with water vapor that comprises the clouds and hovers within the lower atmosphere. The presence of CO2 traps the heat of the sun from escaping back into space and thus acts as an insulator for the planet, allowing it to warm up enough to support life. However, man’s actions since the discovery of fossil fuels and their potential have significantly thrown off the natural balance. CO2 is also released into the atmosphere through the burning of fossil fuels. Fossil fuels are burned by factories, vehicles and electricity-producing power plants to name a few sources. The vast majority of this excessive fuel consumption and its poisonous, pollutant and greenhouse-enhancing byproducts are located in the U.S., Europe and Russia (Breuer, 1980). Other greenhouse gases include methane, which is released when vegetation is burned during land clearing, during oil exploration activities and the coal-mining process; chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs), which is the substance that cools refrigerators and provides the propulsion in aerosol cans and nitrous oxide (N2O) which is the lesser cause of CO2 (Breuer, 1980). It is estimated that man-made influences represent about half of the CO2 output as can be seen in the chart in figure 2. The additional trapped heat thus contributes to massive changes in the weather patterns of the planet, which can lead to devastating catastrophic events such as suddenly violent hurricanes developing just offshore reducing warning time, and large-scale flooding in previously flood-free areas. As a result, global warming is a trend that represents a significant threat to life and property on the planet surface. Even if climate change due to carbon monoxide emissions were proved a myth, reducing air pollution still makes sense. Solution: Wind Power Wind power has been a technology used by people for thousands of years. Although “the first historically well-documented windmill dates from 947 (AD), in Persia, close to the border with Afghanistan,” it is probable that the ancient Chinese and Japanese had knowledge of wind power as much as 3000 years ago (Wizelius, 2006). There are remnants of windmills scattered throughout Europe proving they were widely used well into the 19th century. According to Wizelius (2006), by the middle 1800s, there were about 9000 windmills in the Netherlands, 18000 in Germany, 8000 in England, 3000 in Denmark and 20000 in France. There are even some traditional windmills still functioning today, although they are mostly used as historical landmarks. These windmills provided power whenever the wind blew and had no means of saving the power created. The power had to be used as it was generated. With the industrial age, fossil fuels emerged as a more predictable energy source and introduced a shift in technological focus for a century. When the oil crisis of the 1970s brought attention to the industrialized world’s dependence upon this substance for their way of life, many countries determined it was time to make a change. Today’s levels of air pollution should be providing another strong push for a change in technology. Wind power can be used in many parts of the country to largely replace the use of fossil fuels, particularly when augmented with solar power. As is illustrated in figure 3, wind power could significantly reduce or perhaps even replace factory and vehicle burning of fossil fuels, cutting out half of the CO2 gasses being released into the atmosphere while still remaining viable to a materially-conscious population. With improvements in the technology used to harness wind power and collect electricity, wind power was reported in 2003 to have dropped from the 30 cents per kWh in the 1980s to a more competitive 3 to 6 cents per kWh (GAO, 2004). “In the United States, a wind turbine with generating capacity of 2 megawatts, placed on a tower situated on a farm, ranch or other rural land, can generate enough electricity in a year – about 6 million kilowatt hours – to serve the needs of 500 to 600 average U.S. households” (GAO, 2004). Thus, enough wind turbines might be reasonably equipped to replace fossil-fuels as the country’s main source of energy. According to all reports, wind power is expected to see increasing attention in future years as the cost of natural gas and other fossil-fuels began to increase and as more wind farms are built, making it more available. Indeed, the table in figure 4 illustrates how the price of wind-generated energy has dropped to a highly competitive rate. Discussion As might have been expected, the decreases in wind energy costs were realized faster in the western portions of the country where there is a great capacity of wind to be used as opposed to the east where connections into the power grid were not so prevalent and wind not so reliable. This is one of the areas in which wind power must take a back seat to fossil fuels. Although coal-burning plants are capable of running day and night if necessary to produce the energy demanded by a given urban center, wind power is uncontrollable and unpredictable. There is no means by which technicians might quickly, easily and accurately determine the amount of energy that will be produced in a given day or force the energy output to be higher than normal due to unusual additional power demands. For this reason, many solutions suggest pairing wind power generation with solar power. One of the advantages of wind power is that it doesn’t produce the types of waste materials produced in the development of other energy sources. The turbines simply present a momentary obstacle to the winds blowing across them and energy is produced. However, this is not meant to indicate that there will no absolutely no environmental impacts upon installing wind turbines. To begin with, the towers are generally erected to at least 100 feet, which can have a significant impact upon the generally scenic areas that are most conducive to wind generation (cited in GAO, 2004). In addition, there have been a number of reports of bird deaths as they fly into the path of one of the turbines. This can be a significant issue when turbines are placed in nesting areas or along migratory routes of endangered species. These risks can be reduced through careful study of the area to determine which species use it or fly over it during various times of the year. Other means of addressing these concerns have included slight changes in the design of the towers to discourage bird nesting and slowing the speed of the turbines to a point at which birds can see them turning during daylight hours. References Breuer, Georg. (1980). Air in Danger: Ecological Perspectives of the Atmosphere. New York: Cambridge University Press. GAO. (September 2004). Renewable Energy: Wind Power’s Contribution to Electric Power Generation and Impact on Farms and Rural Communities. Report to the Ranking Democratic Member, Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry, U.S. Senate. Washington D.C.: United States Government Accountability Office. Harrison, J. (2003). The carbon cycle: What goes around comes around. Retrieved August 25, 2009, from http://www.visionlearning.com /library/module_viewer.php?mid=95 Wizelius, Tore. (2006). Developing Wind Power Projects: Theory and Practice. London: Earthscan Publishers. Figure 1 Respiration: C6H12O6 (organic matter) + 6O2 6CO2 + 6 H2O + energy Photosynthesis: energy (sunlight) + 6CO2 + H2O C6H12O6 + 6O2 Figure 2 Atmospheric Concentration of CO2 (1855-1996) Source: Whitehouse Initiative on Global Climate Change. Figure 3 Figure 4 Read More