...TYPES OF POLLUTION There are several types of pollution, and while they may come from different sources and have different consequences, understanding the basics about pollution can help environmentally conscious individuals minimize their contribution to these dangers. These sources of pollution don't simply have a negative impact on the natural world, but they can have a measurable effect on the health of human beings as well. Firstly, air pollution. Air pollution is defined as any contamination of the atmosphere that disturbs the natural composition and chemistry of the air. This can be in the form of particulate matter such as dust or excessive gases like carbon dioxide or other vapours that cannot be effectively removed through natural cycles, such as the carbon cycle or the nitrogen cycle. Next is water pollution. Water pollution involves any contaminated water, whether from chemical, particulate, or bacterial matter that degrades the water's quality and purity. Water pollution can occur in oceans, rivers, lakes, and underground reservoirs, and as different water sources flow together the pollution can spread. In addition, thermal pollution is excess heat that creates undesirable effects over long periods of time. The earth has a natural thermal cycle, but excessive temperature increases can be considered a rare type of pollution with long term effects. Many types of thermal pollution are confined to areas near their source, but...
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...energy source for The world? Solar Energy: The Eco-Friendly alternative energy source for The world? Solar energy is energy provided by the sun, it is in the form of solar radiation, it can be converted into electrical or thermal energy. Around the world a movement has begun, one started by environmentalist, this movement is known as the Go Green Movement. The goal of this movement is to make people aware of the damages that we are causing and effective measures to reverse them. The Go Green Movement focuses on creating alternative energy sources so that non-renewable energy resources such as: coal, petroleum and fossil fuel are not exhausted. Most fossil fuels are obtained through mining processes, which can damage the environment. They damage the environment by releasing acid, mercury and sulfates into the atmosphere. Christina Nunez, in her article for National Geographic states that fossil fuels such as coal should, “be left untouched in order to prevent global temperatures from rising more than 2°C.” (Nunez, 1) This indicates that the burning of fossil fuels such as: coal, oil and gas are factors which contribute to global warming. They contribute to global warming by releasing carbon dioxide into the earth’s atmosphere. In recent years the quandary of having alternate sources of energy has arisen. Solar energy is energy provided by the sun, it is in the form of solar radiation, it can be converted into electrical or thermal energy. It comes in two...
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...Technology has become so helpful to our lives in so many ways. Technology is convenient and efficient. It aids us to live life more conveniently by allowing us to do more in less effort. It, then, becomes rather difficult to undermine the importance in which technology plays within our lives. Many people have benefited from the invention of technology and would most often find it complicated to do without. Year after year, technologies become reinvented through new ideas and the betterment of equipment and tools. Thus, if an old technology does not suffice, a new one will easily come in favour shortly after. Because of the rather innovative current forms of technology, new and advanced technologies are forming at an impeccable pace. The expressions, “I would die without Internet” or “I could not ever live without my cell phone” imply that life would be hard to live from the lack of such technologies. However, such expressions become rather ironic because life is already in harm’s way due to technology itself. The relationship between technology within society and environmental grounds are problematic. Technology serves as an efficient function to our lives yet can become detrimental to our health which is demonstrated through Ronald Wright’s theory of the progress trap and theories of environmental degradation (Cameron, par. 5). However, the repair and reversal of a damaged environment depends largely on technology through means for better water, cleaner air and conserving energy;...
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...Sources of pollution and mitigation measures Pollution is the introduction of contaminants into the environment that cause harm or discomfort to humans or other living organisms, or that damage the environment. Pollution takes place because; we process, consume and throw away a high volume of material resources at a very high rate. Then the nature’s way of reabsorbing these resources back into its structure and effectively neutralizing them is much slower than our rates of production or consumption. Hence over production; also inefficient and dirty methods of production and consumptions; careless and thoughtless disposal of post consumption waste resources are the major causes of man-cause pollution. There are fundamental drivers of the pollution; these are the major forces behind the surge in levels of air, water and land pollution throughout the globe. These are Industrialization it set in the motion the widespread use of fossil fuels (oil, gas and coal) which are now the mail sources of pollution. Population growth with the exploding increase in the population around the world, the demand for goods and services goes up. This demand is met by expanded production and use of natural resources, which in turn lead to higher levels of pollution. Globalization. It has become an effective facilitator of environmental degradation. Developing countries tend to have loose regulations on pollution levels thus global bigger manufacturers tend to move to these areas rather than...
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...MODULE - 4 Contemporary Environmental Issues Environmental Science Senior Secondary Course Notes 10 ENVIRONMENTAL POLLUTION Developmental activities such as construction, transportation and manufacturing not only deplete the natural resources but also produce large amount of wastes that leads to pollution of air, water, soil, and oceans; global warming and acid rains. Untreated or improperly treated waste is a major cause of pollution of rivers and environmental degradation causing ill health and loss of crop productivity. In this lesson you will study about the major causes of pollution, their effects on our environment and the various measures that can be taken to control such pollutions. OBJECTIVES After completing this lesson, you will be able to: • • • • • • • define the terms pollution and pollutants; list various kinds of pollution; describe types of pollution, sources, harmful effects on human health and control of air pollution, indoor air pollution, noise pollution; describe water pollution, its causes and control; describe thermal pollution; describe soil pollution, its causes and control; describe radiation pollution, sources and hazards. 10.1 POLLUTION AND POLLUTANTS Human activities directly or indirectly affect the environment adversely. A stone crusher adds a lot of suspended particulate matter and noise into the atmosphere. Automobiles emit from their tail pipes oxides of nitrogen, sulphur dioxide, carbon dioxide, carbon monoxide and a complex...
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...INTRODUCTION In August 2010, an MOU was signed between Bangladesh Power Development Board (BPDB) and India's state-owned company National Thermal Power Corporation (NTPC). The project situated in Rampal, Bangladesh was designated to be completed by 2016. Bangladesh and India shared the implementation cost on a 50:50 equity basis. The remainder cost of 1.5 billion US dollars will be taken as loans from the banks by the Indian based company. Therefore, India is the majority share holder of the power station and India is entitles to receive a major benefit of power supply. Though, the plant has been situated in Bangladesh, India is said to be a part owner of the power station. The proposed project, on an area of over 1834 acres of land, is situated 14 kilometres north of the world's largest mangrove forest Sundarbans which is a UNESCO world heritage site. A coal based power plant creates an alarming environmental pollution. The emission of toxic sulphur gases and nitrogen gases reduces the air quality in surrounding areas. It destroys the vegetation up to 50 kms from the place of the plant. Thus emission of hazardous gases will increase the local temperature. The result of the operation of the coal plant will give to a huge deposit of ash consisting of residue from heavy metals. Surely, the toxic heavy metals contained in this dumped ash will mixed with rain water and leached in to the ground and contaminated both ground and surface water the impact of which will not be limited...
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...Essay on Environmental Pollution: Causes, Effects and Solution On February 5, 2014 By Ankita MitraCategory: Environmental pollution refers to the introduction of harmful pollutants into the environment. The major types of environmental pollution are air pollution, water pollution, noise pollution, thermal pollution, soil pollution and light pollution. Deforestation and hazardous gaseous emissions also leads to environmental pollution. During the last 10 years, the world has witnessed severe rise in environmental pollution. We all live on planet earth, which is the only planet known to have an environment, where air and water are two basic things that sustain life. Without air and water, the earth would be like the other planets – no man, no animals, no plants. The biosphere in which living beings have their sustenance has oxygen, nitrogen, carbon dioxide, argon and water vapour. All these are well balanced to ensure and help a healthy growth of life in the animal world. This balance does not only help the life-cycles of animals and plants, but it also creates the perennial sources of minerals and energies without which the human civilization of to-day could not be built. It is for this balance that the human life and other forms of existence have flourished on earth for so many thousands of years. Also read: Short paragraph on Pollution But man, as the most intelligent animal, never stopped being inquisitive, nor was he content with the bounties of nature. His quest for...
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...Solar Energy Technology Solar energy is a kind of renewable energy source, which depends on the sun's rays to generate heat and create electricity. As long as there is a sun shining on the earth, and the sun will never run out of energy; therefore, the solar energy always exist. Solar technology is not new. Its history spans from the 7th Century B.C. Greeks used passive solar which are direct solar gain and indirect solar gain to heat buildings (400 BC). Next, Romans improved it by using glass to absorb heat in the buildings and greenhouses (100 AD). And in 1700, Antoine LaVoisier built a solar heater. Later on, in 1839, French physicist Antoine-Cesar Becquerel observed that shining light on an electrode submerged in a conductive solution would create an electric current. Moreover, in 1860, the First Solar Motor, the heated water was used to drive a steam motor, Auguste Mouchout. Then, in 1883, American Charles Fritts described the first solar cells, which were made from selenium wafers. Almost a century, many scientists had been researching, exploring and keeping update more about solar energy. They had found photoelectric effect, the first use of solar energy at night, provided experimental proof of the photoelectric effect, solar cells developed for satellite, and so on. And nowadays, we have created many things by using the solar energy, such as solar-powered buildings to solar powered vehicles. Solar Energy is divided into five main categories. They are Photovoltaic, Solar...
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...Water pollution Water pollution is the contamination of water bodies (e.g. lakes, rivers, oceans, aquifers and groundwater). Water pollution occurs when pollutants are discharged directly or indirectly into water bodies without adequate treatment to remove harmful compounds. Water pollution affects plants and organisms living in these bodies of water. In almost all cases the effect is damaging not only to individual species and populations, but also to the natural biological communities. Introduction Water pollution is a major global problem which requires ongoing evaluation and revision of water resource policy at all levels (international down to individual aquifers and wells). It has been suggested that it is the leading worldwide cause of deaths and diseases, and that it accounts for the deaths of more than 14,000 people daily. An estimated 700 million Indians have no access to a proper toilet, and 1,000 Indian children die of diarrheal sickness every day. Some 90% of China's cities suffer from some degree of water pollution, and nearly 500 million people lack access to safe drinking water. In addition to the acute problems of water pollution in developing countries, developed countries continue to struggle with pollution problems as well. In the most recent national report on water quality in the United States, 45 percent of assessed stream miles, 47 percent of assessed lake acres, and 32 percent of assessed bays and estuarine square miles were classified as polluted...
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...Energy conservation has become one of the most hotly debated subjects in the world. Old power plants are struggling to keep up, sometimes causing power shortages or “brown outs”, and new power plants are being built, but most of the new plants still use the same technology as their predecessors. Some have even been ‘repackaged’ to appear cleaner in respect to exhaust, but they still pollute the atmosphere and use a dwindling source of fuel. Still others argue that fields of petroleum at deeper levels are more than sufficient to supply the world with oil1. The only real hope of the world is to either perfect some of the newer, greener power generation techniques such as wind, solar, or geothermal, or invent some new as-of-yet undiscovered method. Until that time, energy conservation is not just a good idea, it is a necessity. 1. The Population Explosion and Power Usage As the world’s population gets closer to the seven trillion mark (estimate as of April 2011 is 6,911,382,8582), the demand for power increases exponentially. The added strain on the generation facilities is causing rolling blackouts, or “brown outs”, in some cities. The situation is further strained in the summer time, when millions of people turn on their air conditioners to combat the hot weather. Modern electronic conveniences and luxuries also add to the problem. The power systems used in most countries of the world rely on coal, gas, oil, nuclear, and hydropower to turn generators and produce...
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... 1. Deep Geologic Disposal (difficult to build, 30-60 years) → few constructed storages for nuclear waste 2. Difficult to safely transport (e.g. Goiania) 2. Benefits C. Environmental friendly 1. Less carbon dioxide → mitigate greenhouse effect 2. No polluting gases → mitigate air pollution D. Cost-effective 1. Little nuclear fuel → much energy → effective 2. Lower unit price of nuclear power → economic III. Conclusion Benefits ( environmental friendly & cost-effective) ＞ concerns ( safety & waste disposal) → develop nuclear energy （1157 words） With the rapidly increasing population, human being’s demand for energy has become more urgent. Around the world, the finite fossil fuels are the main sources of energy. 85% of world energy are currently provided by fossil fuels which have the dominate position compared to other energy sources (Foris, 2005, p. 615). The author also states that 90% of carbon dioxide and 80% of polluting gases are generated by fossil fuels, causing dramatic greenhouse effect and air pollution. Thus, it is not wise for governments to continue using fossil fuels as the major energy sources. Countries in the world are attempting to seek various solutions to minimize the effects of energy shortage and climate changes. Some believe renewable sources, such as wind and...
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...(Guo, 2006) Nuclear energy has many advantages compared with other kinds of energy. For instance, nuclear energy does not cause air pollution unlike fossil fuels, which release polluting substances into the atmosphere. Because nuclear power does not produce carbon dioxide to aggravate the greenhouse effect, it is very helpful and necessary for the environment. The cost of nuclear power generation is hardly affected by international economic situation, so the power generation cost is more stable than other power generation methods. What is more, nuclear energy has the lowest cost and produces the least carbon. Last but not least, there are very rich nuclear resources in the world, such as uranium, thorium, lithium, boron, and so on.The global uranium reserve is about 4 million and 170 thousand tons, so it is not necessary to worry that nuclear fuels cannot be supplied. The earth's available nuclear fuels’ resource is about one hundred thousand times as the fossil fuels.Although nuclear energy has abundant, safe, clean, efficient and obvious advantages, it can still cause serious pollution to the environment, such...
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...The issue I chose to my freshwater resource issue is water pollution. There is an astonishing seventy percent of water covering the earth’s surface. That is a very substantial amount of water with an equal amount of water pollution opportunity. The definition of water pollution is the contamination of water bodies. Any variation of lakes, oceans, rivers, and groundwater are vulnerable to various bacteria and chemical compounds. There are many origins that water pollution can derive from. Man made pollution practice are the most scrutinized and influential on human life. However, natural pollutants belonging to origins such as plant matter present the same harmful pollutants. The main components surrounding pollutants either direct or indirect vary. Pathogens, chemicals, and ocean thermal pollution are all issues associated with water pollution. Consider the seventy percent of earth that is water. Of that seventy percent, how much is drinkable, usable, or harmful? Natural water pollution presents itself in different circumstance. Storm water runoff from plants being poisonous or possessing bacteria infiltrates the water system of things. Ocean water, which is predominately salt water, is non drinkable or preferred for human use or consumption. Ocean water, as well as untreated water that are polluted offers harmful disease and health risks to humans and animals alike. Prevention of bacteria spreading and disease requires human water treating to remove harmful...
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...solid waste) (U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, 2014). Out of the 32 million tons of plastic waste that was created in 2012 only 9% was recycled (U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, 2014). Every year, about 100 billion tons of plastic are produced all over the world, less than 9% is recycled (REUSEIT, 2014). Plastic water bottles are lightweight, this makes them preferred over glass or aluminum bottles. Although, the weight difference may be only a couple of grams, it makes them easier to carry (PlasticsEurope, 2014). Because of the weight difference between plastic and glass or aluminum, plastic bottles are less expensive to transport. This saves us some natural resources and cuts down on gas emissions from the transporting vehicle (PlasticsEurope, 2014). Another benefit that manufactures’ get from using plastic bottle is clarity. The bottle is clear and this allows the end user to see any impurities that might be in the water and this acts as an assurance that the water is uncontaminated, even if it is (PlasticsEurope, 2014). Unlike glass bottles, plastic water bottles won’t shatter and this makes them safer to use because they won’t produce sharp edges (Andrady, 2009). Plastics bottles provide good thermal insulation and this lets the liquids inside the bottle keep their temperature better. This makes it easier to keep cold water cold and hot water hot. (PlasticsEurope, 2014). Another advantage of plastic bottles is that are less expensive to manufacture, this lets the...
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...becomes increasingly interesting both from a waste management perspective - to deal with increasing waste amounts while reducing the amount of waste deposited at landfills and from an energy system perspective to improve the flexibility of the energy system in order to increase the share of renewable energy and reduce greenhouse gas emissions. The object of analysis is waste which is not reused or recycled, but can be used for energy production. Different Waste-to-Energy technologies are analyzed through energy system analysis of the current Danish energy system with 13-14% renewable energy, as well as possible future Danish energy systems with 43% (2025) and 100% renewable energy (2050), respectively. The technologies include combustion, thermal gasification, anaerobic digestion, fermentation, and transesterification technologies producing electricity, heat, or transport fuel. In the USA, according to the US energy recovery council, there are 87 WTE plants producing 2,700 megawatts that results into 17 million of kwh per year which is enough to meet the needs for power for 2 million households. In the EU incineration is more popular. According to the confederation of European Waste to energy plants (CEWEP) the plants in Europe can supply annually about 13 million inhabitants with electricity and 12 million inhabitants with heat. Waste to energy is produced mainly by biological material and thus the energy produced is mainly biomass energy along with all its pros and cons. In addition...
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