Fossil Fuels: Causing Climate Change

Fossil Fuels: Causing Climate Change The problems of all of humanity can only be solved by all humanity. -Swiss author Friedrich DÃ ¼rrenmatt Generally, the climate of our planet has always changed over the time since many years ago. However, Climate change has recently become a common issue in our daily lives. It has gained much attention from worldwide countries as it has affected many regions in the form of disasters. In most of the time, climate change is brought about by an increasing of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere especially CO2. NOAA whose measuring location is Mauna Loa Observatory in Hawaii shows that the level of atmospheric CO2 keeps increasing every year. For example, it rose from 387.74ppm to 390.09ppm between 2009 and 2010 (NOAA, 2010). And this is resulted from different kinds of human activities which released CO2 into atmosphere every day. As a result of that, it has brought up a question which remains debatable among the society; is the climate change mainly induced by human? Due to the greenhouse gas emissions by human activities such as burning fossil fuels, deforestation and growing world population, it is beyond doubt that climate change is mainly caused by human. This report will indicate the greenhouse gas emissions by human activities can induce the change in global climate. Furthermore, the research results are related to the United States of America, China and some European countries, because these countries are considered as worlds significant emitters of greenhouse gases. 2.0 BODY OF REPORT 2.1 Fossil fuels share a large proportion in greenhouse gas emissions Fossil fuels are materials of biological origin occurring within the Earths crust that can be used as a source of energy, such as coal, oil, natural gas etc (fossil fuel, 2010). The burning of fossil fuels emits greenhouse gases directly to the atmosphere and are mostly used for the purpose of energy production, transportation, manufacturing and home or buildings heating. In addition, fossil fuels are the key source for human to generate energy; it provides 80% of the commercial energy supply. It is also a significant anthropogenic factor of greenhouse gases emissions. Most of global greenhouse gases are emitted by fossil fuel production and consumption. For instance, fossil fuels account for 70% of carbon dioxide (CO2), 29% of methane (CH4) and 20% of nitrous oxide (N2O). (Dawson Spannagle2009, p.184) At the same time, industrial Revolution is known as a starting point for the fossil fuel era, it induces a rapid rise in greenhouse gases in the air. Some believe that climate change is not necessarily caused by fossil fuels because more than half of the current changes occurred before the Industrial Revolution. There is no doubt that most of the changes existed before the Industrial Revolution. However, by looking at the rate of greenhouse gas emissions over the years after the Industrial Revolution, it indicates that fossil fuels have to be responsible for the change in global climate. This can be proved by Archer and Rahmstorf (2010); they claimed that due to an increase in the fossil fuel consumption by human, there is a rise in the rate of atmospheric CO2 by 20% higher than the rate before the Industrial Revolution, so do the other greenhouse gases such as methane (CH4). Hence, fossil fuels share a large proportion in greenhouse gases emissions. For example, Chinas economy has grown quickly since 2000, and China has become one of the most noticeable emitters of C02 due to a persistent increase in fossil fuel consumption for energy production. The energy consumption in China increased by 14% in 2004, 15% in 2005 and 11% in 2006, therefore, fossil fuel consumption also increased which leads the amount of atmospheric CO2 to rise. (Dawson Spannagle2009, p.21) Similarly, according to Environmental Protection Agency (2010), the main source of greenhouse gases emissions especially CO2 is from fossil fuels combustion. The process of electricity generation accounts 41% of the CO2 emission in the United States, whereby the transportation is the second largest source. In addition, the industrial process and product uses can also produce the greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide (CO2), nitrous oxide (N20) and other gases in the form of by- product. Some have argued that fossil fuels would not be blamed for the climate change because the consumption of fossil fuels has improved our living standard and the development of the economy. However, as the fossil fuels continue releasing a vast amount of greenhouse gases into the air, it will eventually affect human society and economy earlier than what it is expected to be. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) stated that the fossil fuel consumption is expected to increase and the atmospheric CO2 concentrations will reach 550 ppm by 2035- 2040 which will result in serious climate change (Dawson Spannagle2009, p.186). In conclusion, fossil fuels are definitely a main cause of climate change by releasing a vast amount of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere. Clearly, humans are responsible for the climate change. Maglev trains: An analysis Maglev trains: An analysis MAGLEV trains are a form of transportation that includes science of magnets and implies the future of transportation technology. So what are MAGLEV trains? MAGLEV stands for magnetic levitation which means it uses magnetic forces to move and travel. Even though this technology might seem very futuristic, it has a history that goes back to 1900s! It didnt start at 1909 but an American rocket scientist by the name of Robert Goddard thought of transportation system vehicles that levitated for high speed transport. Also a French engineer, Bachelet, built a model train that levitated using similar designs today. Even though these early scientists thought of this idea, they couldnt find out a way to make this kind of transportation. It wasnt until at around 1960s MAGLEV transportation research resumed. This was when technology had been more modern. James Powell Gordon Danby developed designs for MAGLEV trains. By early 1970s, the States had began testing reduced scaled models of magnetic levitation. Finally, Stanford Research Institute had tested a half-ton vehicle for magnetic levitation, leading to construction of more advanced technology. This eventually lead to invention of a MAGLEV train that could aboard people safely. In 1984 the first commercialized Maglev train was officially open in England. In Japan, 2 trains were constructed and they held the fastest speeds yet, 581 km/h (2003). The maglev trains were and still are, built throughout the world and still they are being redesigned to make it faster and better. So, after reading about the long history of this fascinating technology one thing sticks in mind, 581 km/h?! Yes, this is not some false calculation or something of that sort. So if this train can go 581 km/h then what is it made out of? This technology can be simple or very complicated, remembering that scientists Robert Goddard and Bachelet couldnt find out the formula of this system. So how does it work? The title says it all, magnetic levitation, magnets that are repelling each other so that there can be levitation. It cant be any simpler than that, but this is what the title means. Lets see how the technology works throughout the process. If you ever played with magnet before, then you should know by now that opposites attract and alike repel. This is the basic principle of electromagnetic propulsion. This is what the train is using in basic terms. On the maglev track, there is a magnetized coil going along the track which repels the large magnets on the train. This allows the train to levitate from between 1 to 10cm above the coil or guideway. As the train is levitated, a unique system is created of magnetic fields that pull and push the train along the track as power is supplied to the guideway. The power or electric current that is supplied to the coils is constantly alternating to change the polarity, causing the magnetic field in front of the train to pull and the magnetic field begin to push. Maglev trains float on a thin layer of air which eliminates friction. This makes the trains speeds go more than 500 km/h. This brief explanation of how it works probably helped why it went so fast and also how the system works. This train might sound all very good and youre probably thinking why doesnt everybody get this? Well there are the negative sides to this too. The probably #1 for most problem is the cost. These trains can get very handy and also are very eco-friendly to the environment just that they are close to 4~5 billion dollars to build one train system in each section. So, that is probably why this train is not in every country. Also the maglev trains have other issues like no magnetic data storage- hard drives, credit cards, separation between train and guideway has to be monitored at all times because of instability of electromagnets, and etc. Even though the trains seem to be fine in the present right now, there are still more being built and more to come. There are many maglev systems being proposed in North America, Asia and Europe. Also there are at least 10 plans for separate U.S lines in the systems. The technology is slowly being developed everyday and so are maglev trains. There are many new theories and new developments being made and thought for the maglev systems still today.