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The effects of carbon dioxide on the environment
Effects of using fossil fuels on our environment
Effects of using fossil fuels on our environment
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Recommended: The effects of carbon dioxide on the environment
Introduction
Carbon dioxide is a gas at standard temperature and pressure.It is a crucial trace gas consisting of 397 ppm of the atmosphere on a molar basis (Petty 2004).There are many sources of production of carbon dioxide.For example, combustion of coals or hydrocarbons,from volcanic eruptions and places where carbonate rocks are located in the thin Earth’s crust.Other sources are the deep seas, commingled with oil and gas deposits.Large amounts of CO2 are released from electricity generation and industrial processes.Coal and natural gas fueled electricity generation in 2011 accounted for 80% and 19% of CO2 emissions in the U.S. electricity sector.Concentration of CO2 in Earth’s atmosphere rapidly increased in the 21st century,at a rate of 2.0ppm/year during 2000-2009.It was 280ppm during the Industrial Revolution and has increased to 392 ppm in 2013.
CO2 is important as it is a greenhouse gas .However ,the excess production of carbon dioxide has led to many undesirable effects such as global warming. It also causes of .In order to reduce the concentration of CO2 in the atmposhere,Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) has been introduced..The government advisor of the Committee on Climate Change in the UK has stated that CCS is crucial to meet the country’s climate changes.According to a report by TUC,CCS is an effective method and should be encouraged in its usage.
Chemical Background
The entire process of Carbon Capture and Storage involves three processes: capturing, transporting and storing of the CO2. Since the smoke released from power plants only contain 10-12% of CO2 ,CO2 is segregated from other gaseous substances(Singh 2013).This is known as carbon capture.Capturing CO2 can be achieved with these 3 methods,post combus...
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...earthquakes will be triggered ,by leakage of large volumes of CO2 from the injection pipes into the brittle rocks found in continental interiors. Seismologists studied why a Texas oil field had 93 earthquakes occurring between March 2009 and December 2010 and it resulted from leakage of CO2 from underground pipes (Romm 2013).
Conclusion
In conclusion,CCS is a reliable method to reduce CO2 . CCS needs to be supported well..The Department for Energy and Climate Change (DECC) spokesperson says that if new CCS projects work, DECC has guaranteed it will sign a lucrative contract for difference with the companies for any power they generate - giving the projects a 'golden ticket' into the market.Governments of different countries should also start to set up CCS in industrial areas as not only will it reduce emission of CO2 , it will definitely improve the economy as well.
Carbon Dioxide (CO2) is a colorless gas, which was first discovered in 1577 by Van Helmont who detected it in the products of both fermentation and charcoal burning. CO2 is used in solid, liquid, and gas forms in a variety of industrial processes. These include: beverage carbonation, dry ice, welding and chemicals manufacturing. It is produced by the combustion of all carbonaceous fuels and can be recovered in an abundance of ways. It is widely used today as a by-product of synthetic ammonia production, fermentation, and from flue gases by absorption process. CO2 is also a product of animal metabolism and is important in the life cycles of plants and animals. It is present in the atmosphere only in small quantities (.03% by vol.)
Since measurements began in 1958 -- and it can be assumed to have been the case since the industrial revolution -- emission of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere has risen steadily as a result of the burning of fossil fuels (Quay, pp 2344). Although there is much argument over the implications of increasing carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere, there are several points that almost all scientists would agree on: firstly, carbon dioxide acts to absorb radiated heat; if present in our atmosphere will do just that to some extent. Second, the concentration of carbon dioxide in our atmosphere is rising. Third, the temperature of the planet is rising - although the amount of this increase and the causes of this rise are subject to disagreement (Philander, pp 193).
The issue presented in this paper is how one can aim to reduce the amounts released, and what the best ways to solve this problem are. This has been long debated amongst scientists, businessmen, Industry-owners, and politicians amongst many other eminent figures in society. The four major approaches to reducing carbon dioxide in the atmosphere include: subsidies of alternative energy, cap and trade, carbon taxes, and command and control regulation. We will examine and compare the effectiveness of two of these methods: The carb...
Fossil fuels, such as coal and oil, are Carbon rich compounds, the combustion of which produces Carbon Dioxide, a pollutant and a greenhouse gas. A large amount of energy is released during this process, which is why the pollutants off products are tolerated. This process occurs constantly throughout the world, in power stations, vehicles and cooking ovens, leading to an immense volume of CO2 being released every second, 50% of which is absorbed by oceans (Oce...
There are concerns that fracking could be the causation of earthquakes. In areas where fracking operations occur and earthquakes are not the norm, there has been instances of seismic activity. For example, before 2011, the last seismic activity experienced by small town in Ohio named Youngstown was in 1776, but in a span of months during 2011, more than 100 instances of seismic activity ranging from 2.7 to 3.9 on the Ric...
The emission of carbon dioxide has contributed to 80% to the heating of the earth atmosphere. Carbon dioxide is produced due the burning of fossil fuels such as natural gas, coal and oil. The burning of fossil fuel is very important in our society today, because it is used for cooking, used to produce electricity, for heating, for cooling and also for transportation. The industrialization has led to the use of fossil fuel for running machines and driving cars. The building of fossil fuel contributes towards 80-90% of the carbon dioxide we find in our atmosphere today. When the ecosystems are altered and vegetation is either burned or took out, the carbon stored in them is relinquished to the atmosphere as carbon dioxide (What causes global climate change, 2005). Methane is another gas being produced in the process which all have served to increase the greenhouse effect in our atmosphere. Methane is produced from the cultivation of rice, from the burning of coal and from cattle, it has increased by 145% due to human
We humans cannot help but feel a twinge of regret when we contemplate how we brought forth the plague of global warming by our own hands in the passing years. Aside from rising sea levels as deluging coastal cities and depleting ozone layers as increasing cancer rates, we inevitably come face to face with one simple realization: it’s getting too hot in here. Moreover, we have been devastated by various extremes of nature, with spring frost storms and summer hurricanes arriving with increasing frequency. However, numerous though the causes of global warming may be, the general consensus is that carbon dioxide, which results from the burning of fuels such as coal, is the main culprit; this gas has now formed a high concentration blockade in the atmosphere, preventing heat from escaping and thus increasing the temperatures of our planet. Therefore, after assessing all facts of the problem, I humbly propose that we collect the CO2¬, compress it, and then place it into soda cans. Then, we shall store the soda cans underground, whence the CO2 originally came.
Carbon dioxide or CO2 is known to be one of a number of gases that are astonishingly transparent to the visible light that falls on the Earth from the Sun, but it absorb the infra-red radiation that emitted by the warm surface of our Earth, to prevents its loss into space. Moreover, CO2 has varied considerably and this affected the Earth’s temperature. Most common source of this CO2 is known as the fossil fuel. Fossil fuels are primarily coal, hydrocarbons, natural gas, or fuel oil that formed from the remains of the dead plants and also animals. The burning fossil fuel that has been created by humans is the largest source of emissions of the carbon dioxide.
One of the most compelling and difficult environmental problems society is facing today is climate change. People do not realize how much the environment has changed for the worse in the last ten years, until they are told that the last two decades of the 20th century have been the hottest in the last 400 years, according to climate studies (Conserve Energy Future). Today the carbon dioxide levels have reached 396.81 parts per million (ppm). “Carbon dioxide (CO2) has also increased over the last 100 years-- from about 300 ppm to 370 ppm. Interestingly, the majority of these additions have occurred in the last 50 years, when temperature increases have been slowest” (geocraft). There are no known solutions yet to reverse these effects in the environment, however there are many things people can do to prevent it from increasing. By implementing a carbon tax the government can tax corporations on how much carbon they emit into the atmosphere. With the extra money from the tax, scientist can invest in alternative ways to reduce how much carbon is emitted. Reducing climate change is going to take years and so nothing is going to get fixed anytime soon, but meanwhile we can use that extra money to begin cleaning up the atmosphere. There are many ways to explain climate change, some say its due to the emission of carbon dioxide (CO2) into the atmosphere, others say it is the burning of the fossils fuels, some even say it’s the greenhouse gases. All of these sayings mean the exact same thing, no matter how one says it. I believe there are more convenient ways to solve climate change; and if the government would to implement a carbon tax on companies they will then be forced to re-evaluate all the carbon they emit to the environment and red...
...ology, but presumably they can indeed not offset the cost incurred in carbon storage. Hence overall the economics are negatively contributed (36). Although this doesn’t factor-in significantly in the growth or fall of CO2-EOR projects still it has reasonable contribution in putting a foundation for the future of such a technology.
Carbon Dioxide Removal is a blanket term to cover a variety of activities that remove CO2 from the atmosphere. The most commonly cited type of CDR is direct air capture and sequestration, or DACS. This method includes removing carbon dioxide from ambient air, separating it chemically in a process called ‘scrubbing’ and then storing it in holding facilities (Klusinske).
Humans and animals breathe out Carbon Dioxide, often referred to as the greenhouse gas, as a waste product. Plants take in this CO2 and use it to make food. This is called photosynthesis. During this process oxygen is released which is then breathed in by humans and animals. This procedure is repeated over and over and a natural balance is obtained. However this natural balance is disrupted by human activity. People of the world are putting more than 5.5 billion tons of CO2 into the atmosphere every year. 75% of this is caused from the burning of fossil fuels. These fuels are burnt all the time to run factories, power plants and vehicles. The main sources of CO2 emissions are electric utilities, residential buildings, industry and transportation. The other 25% is induced by the destruction of the world's forests. The reason for this is that there are less trees and plants to take in the CO2 but there is just as many, if not more, humans and animals to breathe it out.
The emission of green house gasses due to human activity contributes the most in increasing global warming. Today, fossil fuels are used as a source of energy for transportation, electricity, industrial process and to increase human comfort in this era. Over the last decade humans have created mass amount of industries. These industries have been burning fossil fuels such as coal, which release carbon dioxide and carbon monoxide; carbon dioxide absorbs heat that raises the temperature of the earth. More than 80% of carbon dioxide comes from tr...
III. Recycling and composting currently prevent 86.6 million tons of material from being disposed of. This prevented the release of approximately 168 million metric tons of CO2 into the air. This is equivalent to taking 33 million cars off the road for a year.
The burning of fossil fuels has greatly harmed our environment and is a leading cause as to why climate change has become such a threat to our way of living. In May of 2013, the carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere reached 400 parts per million, an increase of more than 40 percent since the beginning of the Industrial Revolution. This could cause the Arctic Ocean to be nearly ice-free during the summer by 2020(Overland and Wang, 2013).