The Relationship of Fossil Fuel and Global Warming

Ever wonder why fossil fuels are being blamed for the uprising global warming issues? Coal, oil and natural gas are the three different forms of fossil fuels that are widely used. Through the process of anaerobic decomposition of organic matter under the surface of the earth, they are formed for millions of years.

It is through the industrial era that fossil fuel was discovered to be helpful and from then on being used largely.

At the present, they are the cheapest sources of energy available for the use of both household as well as commercial purposes. Petroleum is used to fuel our vehicles while coal and natural gas are used to produce electricity for our homes and offices.

How does this impact to global warming? Let us find out the relationship between fossil fuels and global warming.

The main function of the carbon dioxide present in the atmosphere is to trap the heat obtained from sunlight and do not let it go beyond the atmosphere. It is because of the carbon dioxide in the atmosphere that our planet is warmer than any other planet of the solar system. When there is a rise in the percentage of carbon dioxide in the air, the amount of heat captured by the carbon dioxide also increases. This in turn contributes towards overall rise in the surface temperature of the earth which is also known as global warming.

But while we are burning fossil fuels as part of everyday life in both commercial and household, various types of gases like carbon dioxide, carbon monoxide, methane, nitrous oxide are released. A significant proportion of the carbon dioxide emitted into the atmosphere is by burning of the fossil fuels. Evidence obtained from various research studies suggest that since the middle of the nineteenth century, there have been at least 25 percent increase in the carbon dioxide content in the atmospheric air. This is all because of extensive use of fossil fuels across the globe.

As a result, in the last decades or so, temperatures rise and increased more than 1 degree Fahrenheit and scientists believes this could go up in the next hundred years or so. Thus our planet will be much hotter in the next century.

Thus, this will have a severe effect on our climate. The weather conditions of various places of the earth will change drastically. Droughts and floods which we are encountering now will occur more frequently in many inland areas that have extreme weather condition and will badly hit our agriculture. All the glaciers of the earth will be melting at a much faster pace. As a result, the areas nearby the water bodies like the coastal regions and the banks of the river will get submerged under water. Many deltas, islands, thickly populated cities are likely to go under water. Thus you can see that the issues of fossil fuels and global warming and climate change intertwined with each other.

Combustion of fossil fuels not only gives out carbon dioxide into the air, it also releases many other harmful acidic substances like sulfuric acid and carbonic acid and cause air pollution. When in air, these gases undergo some chemical changes and return to the surface of the earth in the form of an acid rain bringing in huge impact in the entire environment.

This affects our environment through the soil and plant life and causes pollution. Large areas of land surfaces are dug up for the purpose of extraction of fossil fuels from their deposits under the earth. After the removal, this land becomes unusable and thus causes a permanent damage to the land and causes frequent earthquakes. Fossil fuels are transported from one place to another by tankers and ships. Any leakage in these tankers causes oil spills which affects our sea and including the sea creatures and our natural resources. Our biodiversity and ecology is being affected leading to imbalance ecology.

These talks about global warming and fossil fuels have long been an overrated issue that the government, private sectors and businessmen are debating and some skeptics still believe that it has nothing to do with what we are experiencing now.

This issue just like religion issue is a very long, vague and deep issue that we need to focus on. We all have a role to play in contributing or avoiding this to happen in the future.

If we take a small step in resolving this, then we can find solution. For this, we have to reduce our huge demand for energy or find alternative ways. It is so ironic though with the way we are living now, saving energy by walking on short distances and not using vehicles helps and by simply planting some more trees and avoiding cutting trees is also a good way because trees absorb carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and trees absorb water from landslides and floods.

Those are some simple ways that we can do to help save our dying planet.

Green is In

What is greenhouse gas emission? According to Wikipedia, the term defines as a gas in an atmosphere that absorbs and emits radiation within the thermal infrared range. This process is the fundamental cause of the greenhouse effect. The primary greenhouse gases in the Earth’s atmosphere are water vapour, carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide and ozone.

In the Solar System, the atmospheres of Venus, Mars and Titan also contain gases that cause greenhouse effects. Greenhouse gases greatly affect the temperature of the Earth; without them, Earth's surface would be on average about 33 °C (59 °F) colder than at present.

In recent years, many large businesses have distanced themselves from those previous positions and some have even openly accepted climate change and global warming concerns, even asking for governments to provide regulation and guidance on the matter.

Developing countries have become aware of its effects to our environment despite the fact that many of them did not expect it to happen in such a faster time. Climate changes have been really becoming one of the main issues that the whole world is facing right now and that first world countries like US, Australia and elsewhere are finding ways to prevent it to become worse eventually.

As further reports about climate change impacts reveal a gloomy future, there are also concerns that some business interests would take this for granted and would take advantage on the situation and that the word “green” would play a greater role in this era.

According to a US article, some feel global warming is one of the biggest frauds of our era, with some even believing it is designed to harm the US economy and make the UN more powerful. While others feel it is simpler than that, and instead, climate scientists are able to make a lot of money by using fear as a tool to earn more research grants and yes even government grants turning everything at home into a “green” thing.

For many years a lot of skepticism and denial of the problem and even did not bother to this situation. But now that it is happening, it seems that everyone from different government agencies mostly from the energy and transportation sectors, have been sensitive enough and are looking for alternative ways to reduce greenhouse gas emission.

In fact, government agencies are now giving out grants and loans to go green in support for the greenhouse gas emission. Why only now? There are lot of us who ignored that fact since year 2000. Some even ridiculed and pressured media into “false balancing.”

Those areas that are flood-free 20 years ago have become the target of rising rivers, creeks that turned into a disaster to many of us.

Now, we have learned our lessons and most of the seminars and global talks are tackling this scenario and government focuses on research and technologies that could help prevent worse effects of global warming in the future. Some are even asking for regulation to help reduce their economic uncertainty, to provide a level playing field.

First world countries like the US who have been skeptic and quiet on this matter 10 years ago are now actively participating on climate change concerns showing to the world that this is a serious issue that has a domino effect on each and everyone of us.

Although this is a relative issue and a very sensitive one, each of us should play a role in finding alternative ways to preserve mother Earth.

In saying this, supporting government programs and making an exemplary role in our community is the key. From small actions of separating waste (non-biodegradable and biodegradable) to being conscious on what we buy in the department store (appliances etc), it will make a difference somehow.

Yes to Energy Saving Light

Nowadays, we tend to look for alternative ways to save energy and find some more scientific breakthroughs regarding energy efficiency. One of these is the use and type of lamps we use in household, workplace, or even in commercial areas.

A compact fluorescent lamp (CFL), also known as a compact fluorescent light or energy saving light (or less commonly as a compact fluorescent tube), is a type of fluorescent lamp. Many CFLs are designed to replace an incandescent lamp and can fit into most existing light fixtures formerly used for incandescent (source: Wikipedia).

Compared to general service incandescent lamps giving the same amount of visible light, CFLs use less power and have a longer rated life. CFLs radiate a different light spectrum from that of incandescent lamps. Improved phosphor formulations have improved the perceived colour of the light emitted by CFLs such that some sources rate the best "soft white" CFLs as subjectively similar in color to standard incandescent lamps.

The ballast permanently installed in the luminaire have non-integrated CFLs, and only the lamp bulb is usually changed at its end of life. Since the ballasts are placed in the light fixture they are larger and last longer compared to the integrated ones. Non-integrated CFL housings can be both more expensive and sophisticated. They have two types of tubes: a bi-pin tube designed for a conventional ballast, and a quad-pin tube designed for an electronic ballast or a conventional ballast with an external starter. A bi-pin tube contains an integrated starter which obviates the need for external heating pins but causes incompatibility with electronic ballasts (source: Wikipedia).

Due to the eye's sensitivity changes with the wavelength, the output of lamps is commonly measured in lumens - a measure of the power of light perceived by the human eye. The luminous efficacy of lamps refers to the number of lumens produced for each watt of electrical power used. A theoretically 100% efficient electric light source producing light only at the wavelength the human eye is most sensitive to would produce 680 lumens per watt.

The typical luminous efficacy of CFL lamps is 60 to 72 lumens per watt, and that of normal domestic incandescent lamps is 13 to 18 lm/W. Compared to the theoretical 100% efficient lamp, these figures are equivalent to lighting efficiency ranges of 9 to 11% for CFLs (60/680 and 72/680) and 1.9 to 2.6% for incandescents (13/680 and 18/680) – (source: Wikipedia).

While CFLs require more energy in manufacturing than incandescent lamps, this embodied energy is then offset by their longer life and lower energy use than equivalent incandescent lamps because CFL require more energy in manufacturing of incandescent lamps. This is in replacement of kerosene lamps which causes so many sickness particularly chronic ling disorders in household and even workplaces in the third world countries.

According to the European Commission Scientific Committee on Emerging and Newly Identified Health Risks (SCENIHR) in 2008, the only property of compact fluorescent lamps that could pose an added health risk is the ultraviolet and blue light emitted by such devices. This radiation in return could impact worse and could aggravate symptoms in people who already suffer rare skin conditions that make them exceptionally sensitive to light. They also stated that more research is needed to establish whether compact fluorescent lamps constitute any higher risk than incandescent lamps.

If individuals are exposed to the light produced by some single-envelope compact fluorescent lamps for long periods of time at distances of less than 20 cm, it could lead to ultraviolet exposures approaching the current workplace limit set to protect workers from skin and retinal damage. Although CFLs, like all fluorescent lamps contain minimal amounts of mercury as vapor inside the glass tubing. Most CFLs contain 3–5 mg per bulb, with the eco-friendly bulbs containing as little as 1 mg. While mercury is being tagged as poisonous, even these small amounts are a concern for landfills and waste incinerators where the mercury from lamps may be released and contribute to air and water pollution.

In areas with coal-fired power stations, the use of CFLs saves on mercury emissions when compared to the use of incandescent bulbs. This is due to the reduced electrical power demand, reducing in turn the amount of mercury released by coal as it is burned (source: Wikipedia).

True enough, even the smallest thing such as bulb can give a deeper impact on energy efficiency and even contribute to our environment issues. And there will come a time that this will be focused on by the government and laws as this can give answer to our long quest in getting green and becoming energy efficient in our own way.

Can Salt Store Heat Energy?

Sustainable energy is the provision of energy that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their needs. Sustainable energy sources are most often regarded as including all renewable sources, such as plant matter, solar power, wind power, wave power, geothermal power and tidal power. It usually also includes technologies that improve energy efficiency (source: Wikipedia).

 In getting a sustainable energy, we question sometimes the availability of its sources, for example - solar power. How can we use solar when there is no sun? What do you do when the sun is not shining and what about during night?

The answer - store sunlight as heat energy for such a rainy day.

The salts known as one of our ingredients in food preparation help the facility light up the night. Salt, also known table salt or rock salt, is a mineral that is composed primarily of sodium chloride. Salt is one of the oldest, most ubiquitous food seasonings and salting is an important method of preserving food. Because most salts only melt at high temperatures (ie table salt which is a compound of high elements and you have to burn it at 1400 Fahrenheit or about 800 degrees Celsius) and do not turn to vapor until they get considerably hotter; they can be used to store a lot of the sun's energy as heat. Simply use the sunlight to heat up the salts and put those molten salts in proximity to water via a heat exchanger. Hot steam can then be made to turn turbines without losing too much of the original absorbed solar energy.

The salt, as we all know, is a mixture of sodium and potassium nitrate, otherwise used as fertilizers thus allowing enough of the sun's heat to be stored that the power plant can pump out electricity for nearly eight hours after the sun starts to set.

 "It's enough for 7.5 hours to produce energy with full capacity of 50 megawatts," says Sven Moormann, a spokesman for Solar Millennium AG - the German solar company that developed the Andasol plant. "The hours of production are nearly double [those of a solar-thermal] power plant without storage and we have the possibility to plan our electricity production." (source: Scientific American Article by David Biello).

There are a lot of ways that scientists tried to store the sun’s energy. Some tried batteries but it was too expensive. Water pumps or compressing air is possible but the resources are limited as well. Melting salts at temperatures above 435 degrees Fahrenheit (224 degrees Celsius), however, can deliver back as much as 93 percent of the energy, plus the salts are ubiquitous because of their application as fertilizers.

Thus renewable energy is achieved and a great alternative way in green energy.

This leads to scientists and researchers in quest for the utilization of salts instead of oil which is highly expensive in parabolic trough power plants, such as those that melt at lower temperatures and therefore would not freeze as readily during cold nights.

Combination of salts including calcium nitrate and lithium nitrate that melt below 212 degrees F (100 degrees C) are what other solar companies are looking in to and the benefits of these as well as its availability. Long-term research projects are also being done in the case of thermal storage technologies. In finding ways to store heat in sand or creating storage for salts – all for the goal of sustainability and at the same time save a lot of money.

The answer of whether salt can store heat energy is a big yes. The only thing that we need to discover is how can we store this and use it as a salt fertilizer on the ground. Who knows, that smallest ingredient in the kitchen may be the key in finding alternative ways for a better, sustainable energy in the future.

The Benefits behind the Waste

Bioenergy is a renewable energy made available from materials derived from biological sources. In its most narrow sense it is a synonym to biofuel, which is fuel derived from biological sources. In its broader sense it includes biomass, the biological material used as a biofuel, as well as the social, economic, scientific and technical fields associated with using biological sources for energy. This is a common misconception, as bioenergy is the energy extracted from the biomass, as the biomass is the fuel and the bioenergy is the energy contained in the fuel (source: Wikipedia).

Any form of chemical energy from indirect or direct sunlight is called biomass. The one that includes agricultural products like woods, raw materials can be transform into biomass which leads to bioenergy.

Biomass also includes materials from biotic environment or living organisms which includes plants, animals and their by-products. Manure, garden waste and crop residues are all sources of biomass. Based from the carbon cycle, this is a very good source of renewable energy.

A good example of this is the waste that comes from animals also called as animal manure. This product can be used as fertilizers for plants and would help grow the crops.

There are also agricultural products being grown for biofuel production. These include corn and soybeans and to some extent willow and switchgrass on a pre-commercial research level, primarily in the United States; rapeseed, wheat, sugar beet and willow (15,000 ha in Sweden) primarily in Europe; sugar cane in Brazil;  palm oil and miscanthus in Southeast Asia; sorghum and cassava in China; and jatropha in India.  Hemp has also been proven to work as a biofuel (source: Wikipedia).

As mentioned from previous articles, biodegradable materials from industrial companies, forestry and agriculture and even through householders are beneficial either directly ir indirectly in producing bio gas or gasification to produce syngas or by direct combustion.

Biodegradable wastes materials as we all know includes manure, rice husks, sewage, straw and food waste (which is very rampant). These can contribute so much too on our waste management along with good source of fuel and helps in preserving our nature and climate change issues.

You can get bioenergy from almost everything, and yes, at the same time help save our environment. There are a lot more benefits that this bioenergy from waste materials can give us. All we need is an open-minded government to help develop this and if campaigns for information dissemination about the benefits of biomass are being distributed, even a simple householder can help save energy and our environment as well.

When Heat and Energy Collides

While everybody else is concerned about the rampant flooding that has been happening globally, it seems the never-ending quest to solve energy crisis is here to stay and stay for long. We are running the risk of exhausting fossil fuel reserves and different science and technology institutions are working hard to look for an answer for this problem. Scientists are banking heavily on properties of thermoelectric materials, which is of great importance for their practical application. This material turns heat into electricity more efficiently than anything available today.

It has been found that thermoelectric materials can be used for the development and utilization of new cooling methods. This improvement can help eradicate the use of greenhouse gas. The researchers are optimistic about thermoelectric materials in the group of clathrates, which create crystals full of ‘nano-cages’. Thermal conductivity of the nano-cages can be reduced if a heavy atom is placed inside those cages.

Recent advances using nanotechnology, however, have revived this moribund field, and have car makers such as General Motors and BMW taking notice, hoping to increase fuel efficiency and eventually replace alternators and possibly even internal combustion engines with thermoelectric generators (source: Free Power for Cars, Kevin Bullis).

According to General Motors senior analyst Francis Stablers, as much as 70 percent of the fuel energy burned up in car engines doesn't go toward moving the vehicle along or powering the CD player. Instead, it's dissipated as waste heat. Stabler says a new generation of thermoelectric materials can convert heat to electricity well enough to be used for taking the burden of electricity generation off the engine, thereby saving fuel. Researchers still need to find ways to make these materials cheaply and consistently, however, before they can be widely deployed. But certain niche uses could help the technology get established (source: Free Power for Cars, Kevin Bullis).

Thermoelectric materials are more environmentally friendly and can be used to build up vehicles that are more fuel-efficient. Thermoelectric materials have exceptional unique properties; these materials can be assembled into units, which can convert the thermal difference into electrical energy or vice versa – electrical current to cooling.

For efficient use, the material should supply a high voltage and have good electrical conductivity. But the thermal conductivity of the material should be low. This low thermal conductivity is very important because it will lessen the “electrical” wear and tear of a device. Car manufacturers are finding the thermoelectric materials very attractive for the conversion of wasted heat into electrical energy (source: Alternative Energy article, 2008).

In summary, if the majority of heat coming from vehicles is wasted, by using thermoelectric materials, it can turn into a very useful tool in developing power. This material transforms heat into electricity by using the difference in temperature across the different sides of a device. If we attach a thermoelectric device into a car’s exhaust pipe, it can produce electricity which can be used for driving the car or charging a battery.

If the technology proves to be reliable, Stabler says, it could eventually replace alternators altogether and run electrical water and oil pumps, relieving the extra work for the engine, boosting performance, and saving fuel. John Fairbanks, technology development manager at the U.S. Department of Energy, suggests that if all GM cars alone used this technology, it would save roughly 100 million gallons of gas per year (source: Free Power for Cars, Kevin Bullis).

The N Cycle

Did you know that the reason why carbon was built on soils was due to the synthetic nitrogen? That’s what scientists have assumed for decades.

The nitrogen cycle is the set of biogeochemical processes by which nitrogen undergoes chemical reactions, changes form, and moves through difference reservoirs on earth, including living organisms.

This would guarantee as a major environmental benefit of synthetic N use. At a time of climate chaos and ever-growing global greenhouse gas emissions, anything that helps vast swaths of farmland sponge up carbon would be a stabilizing force. Moreover, carbon-rich soils store nutrients and have the potential to remain fertile over time— a boon for future generations.

The case for synthetic N as a climate stabilizer goes like this. Nitrogen (N) is an essential component of DNA, RNA, and proteins the building blocks of life. All organisms require nitrogen to live and grow. Although the majority of the air we breathe is N₂, most of the nitrogen in the atmosphere is unavailable for use by organisms. This is because the strong triple bond between the N atoms in N₂ molecules makes it relatively inert. In fact, in order for plants and animals to be able to use nitrogen, N₂gas must first be converted to more a chemically available form such as ammonium (NH₄⁺), nitrate (NO₃^-), or organic nitrogen (e.g. urea - (NH₂)₂CO). The inert nature of N₂ means that biologically available nitrogen is often in short supply in natural ecosystems, limiting plant growth and biomass accumulation (source: John Arthur Harrison, Ph.D.).

Synthetic nitrogen makes plants grow bigger and faster. As plants grow, they pull carbon dioxide from the air. Thus producing crops and the rest – the residue, stays in the field and becomes soil.

These studies lead to sound so alarming. Synthetic nitrogen use, they argue, creates a kind of treadmill effect. As organic matter dissipates, soil’s ability to store organic nitrogen declines. A large amount of nitrogen then leeches away, fouling ground water in the form of nitrates, and entering the atmosphere as nitrous oxide (N2O), a greenhouse gas with some 300 times the heat-trapping power of carbon dioxide. In turn, with its ability to store organic nitrogen compromised, only one thing can help heavily fertilized farmland keep cranking out monster yields: more additions of synthetic N.

Researchers also argue that the loss of organic matter has other ill effects. Injured soil becomes prone to compaction, which makes it easy to runoff and erosion and limits the growth of stabilizing plant roots. Worse yet, soil have harder time holding water, making it rely more on irrigation. As water becomes scarcer, this consequence of widespread synthetic N use will become more and more challenging.

Nitrogen is an incredibly versatile element, existing in both inorganic and organic forms as well as many different oxidation states. The movement of nitrogen between the atmosphere, biosphere and geosphere in different forms is described by the nitrogen cycle. 

It is therefore important to balance both the advantages and disadvantages of it, the human alteration of the N cycle and its effects on the environment.

  

Currently, there are too many researches that scientists are exploring in understanding the effects of nitrogen enrichment in the air, groundwater and surface water.

Scientists are also exploring alternative agricultural practices that will sustain high productivity while decreasing the negative impacts caused by fertilizer use. These studies not only help us quantify how humans have altered the natural world, but increase our understanding of the processes involved in the nitrogen cycle as a whole (source: Of Microbes and Men article).