Global Warming Voicethread (Addition Post)

If you cant view this voicethread please click on this link>> http://voicethread.com/share/527550/

'Green' Plastics Could Help Reduce Carbon Footprint (Addition Post 2)

Results from a new University of Missouri study suggest that some of the largely petroleum-based plastic may soon be replaced by a nonpolluting, renewable plastic made from plants. Making plastics from plants is not a new idea," said Brian Mooney, research assistant professor of biochemistry with the MU Interdisciplinary Plant Group. "Plastics made from plant starch and soy proteins have been used as an alternative to petroleum-based plastics for a while. When combined with two enzymes from the plant, an organic polymer is produced. Metabolix has already successfully produced one form of biodegradable plastic in switch grass, but yield is too low.


My Opinion:

In my opinion of the idea is very good and contribute to the decline in the amount of waste in the world, as well as the decomposition of plastic materials contributed to a decline in the adverse environment (environment friendly), plus it reduces environmental pollution resulting from waste, and this alternative could provide an additional cash crop for farmers.

Bibliography

University of Missouri-Columbia. "'Green' Plastics Could Help Reduce Carbon Footprint." ScienceDaily 21 February 2009. 4 June 2009 http://www.sciencedaily.com­ /releases/2009/02/090211122145.htm.

Task 7 (powerpoint)

http://www.slideshare.net/secret/hhlwTp5TwPfAEj

Wave Power Facility Successful in Sweden (Addition Post1)

A wave energy plant located in the sea outside Lysekil, Sweden has been quite successful for nearly three years.

The generator in the wave power facility is very special. It is a so-called linear generator that generates electricity apace with the slow movements of the waves. An ordinary generator transforms rotation energy to electricity. It is then necessary somehow to convert the slow wave movement to a rapid rotating movement.

The generator has functioned without any trouble every time they started it up over the years. The designers are busy determining parameters such as power output and buoy size in order to attain the best results in the long term.
In the long term, wave energy should be able to supply Sweden with about 10TWh of electricity per year, comparable to 12 nuclear power plants.


My Opinion

In my opinion that this is a great source of energy, as we know Scientists are looking for new substitute renewable energy resources, which must be cheap, clean and renewable. This technique have all of this, it is cheap for Sweden because of the oceans that they have with the waves that contain the energy. Also, it is clean because it depends on the waves and finally it is renewable because waves do not stop.

Bibliography

Uppsala Universitet (2008, December 12). Wave Power Facility Successful in Sweden. ScienceDaily. Retrieved June 4, 2009, from http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/12/081209052145.htm

Global water crisis (Task 7)

The world’s population is growing at an alarming rate, since 1900 it has doubled and now stands at approximately 7 billion. According to reliable estimates, this figure is predicted to rise to around 9 billion by the year 2050(United Nations). An increased world population means that more and more of the world’s natural resources are being depleted, and freshwater is one of these, in fact, over the last century, the world has seen a six times increase in water consumption and this has led to water shortage in some areas, many government and international agencies are alarmed by this upward trend. This essay will first present an overview of the global water crisis, before looking at two possible solutions.


Although water is a renewable resource, the rapid increase in world water use in causing severe problem in many parts of the world, as the demand from agriculture, industry and urban users grows the amount of available freshwater decrease. Recent research by the United Nations, for example, shows that as many as 80 countries now have water shortages that threaten health and economies, (United Nations). A total of 1 billion people do not have access to safe and affordable drinking water; 24 billion people live in condition lacking adequate sanitation (WWAP). As a consequence of this water – born diseases now kill one child every eight seconds. Furthermore, the increasing use of water for irrigation in particular, is causing groundwater depletion, salinization and desertification in some places.


Since the Earth’s natural freshwater reserves are extremely limited, one way to help solve the water shortage problem would be to create more water, and we already have the technology to do Desalination is the process of removing salt and other minerals from sea water so that it can be used for drinking or watering crops, this is a extremely expensive process as desalination requires vast amount of energy, but it is gradually becoming more widespread. Desalination plants have been built in many parts of the world (11000 in 120 countries), and 60% of these are in the Middle East. In the UAE, for example, between 60% and 70% per cent of the water supply is desalinated and this figure is rising every year (AQUASTAT).


A less costly and more immediate to the water shortage problem, However, would be for us to start save and managing the water resources which we already have, the problem is not that water is running out, but that there are steadily more of us to share it (DeVilliers). Water Conservation would include such measures as repairing reservoirs, fixing pipes, increasing our use of recycled water and reducing pollution (see Fig1 below). In order to manage water resources better, government, particularly in developed countries, could encourage the public to reduce their consumption of water by means of public awareness campaigns and policy changes (UNEP). For example, suggests that municipal authorities should start charging people for the water they use.




In this essay, we have looked at the problems being caused by the rapid in global water consumption and have examined several ways in which these problems might be solved. To sum up, we will soon face a global water crisis unless we can increase the supply by desalination, better conservation and better management. I personally believe that sine 97% of the Earth's water reserves consist of seawater, this is where our future supply will have to come from, and I therefore feel that governments should invest more in desalination technology so as to make it cheaper and more effective. Water is a vital resource; without it, life on Earth would be impossible. Water will be more important than oil this century (Ghali). Water may become the cause of future wars.

Fig.1: Estimated Annual water

Bibliography

"AQUASTAT - FAO's Information System on Water and Agriculture." FAO: FAO Home. 27 May 2009 http://www.fao.org/nr/water/aquastat/countries/untd_arab_em/index.stm.

De Villiers, Marq. "Water: The Fate of Our Most Precious Resource. - Review - book review Business Economics Find Articles at BNET." Find Articles at BNET News Articles, Magazine Back Issues & Reference Articles on All Topics. 26 May 2009 http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1094/is_1_36/ai_71712045/.

Ghali, Boutros. "BBC NEWS Special Reports 2003 World Forum Water." BBC NEWS News Front Page. 27 May 2009 http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/in_depth/world/2003/world_forum/water/default.stm.

Kirby, Alex. "BBC NEWS Science/Nature Water scarcity: A looming crisis?" BBC NEWS News Front Page. 26 May 2009 http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/3747724.stm.

"The Crisis of Water Management Global Economic Symposium." Global Economic Symposium Global Economic Symposium. 27 May 2009 http://www.global-economic-symposium.org/ges-2008/themes/dealing-with-climate-change/the-crisis-of-water-managemant.

UNESCO Documents and Publications - Home Page - UNESDOC / UNESBIB. 26 May 2009 http://unesdoc.unesco.org/images/0012/001295/129556e.pdf.

"Waste not." -- United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) - Home page --. 27 May 2009 http://www.unep.org/OurPlanet/imgversn/141/ghazi.html.

"WORLD POPULATION TO INCREASE BY 2.6 BILLION OVER NEXT 45 YEARS, WITH ALLGROWTH OCCURRING IN LESS DEVELOPED REGIONS." Welcome to the United Nations: It's Your World. 26 May 2009 http://www.un.org/News/Press/docs/2005/pop918.doc.htm.

Cool cities

Today we are living in very fancy way, we are driving 4x4s and enjoying full air-conditioners on, we are traveling around the world, we are using too much energy, we are making too much of carbon dioxide. So we need solutions, we need to have cool cities and the earth must be a cool earth.

If we continue doing what we are doing now and continue living our fancy life, we will need another world. Cities are making too much carbon dioxide. The cities are making the world worse and worse by its factory, wasting energy, dumping waste, and taking the green life. In the UAE they are afraid that we are consuming the resources at an unsustainable rate, and we are living like we have 6.6 earths.

In Japan they have decreased the oil consumptions by 8% and the energy efficiency has increased 37% even though the GDP in the last 30 years has doubled. In the UAE they are building a new city, Masdar City. It is the first city that will be carbon free, it energy will be coming from solar system and from the wind, all the waste well be recycled, even the dumping water will be recycled and will go to the plants. In transportation they will be using bicycles and using the water. But they are saying that its life style will not fit everyone. There is also the SDCJ project, I think it will be very good for the UAE and for the Gulf, and it will decrease a big amount of the carbon in the cities.

I think that the ideas of Masdar City and the SDCJ project are very good, but I think if we started with the SDCJ project it will be much easier for the people to get used to it and then they can build the Masdar City with zero carbon.



Bibliography

"Building a green dream - The National Newspaper." Home Page - The National Newspaper. 10 May 2009 http://www.thenational.ae/article/20080506/BUSINESS/203459638.


"Cool ideas to beat the heat - The National Newspaper." Home Page - The National Newspaper. 10 May 2009 http://www.thenational.ae/article/20080505/BUSINESS/69195690.


"Masdar." Home Page - The National Newspaper. 10 May 2009 http://www.thenational.ae/article/20080424/BUSINESS/919451504.

CARBON FOOTPRINT

The carbon footprint is the measurement for the impact that the human activities have on the earth. It’s mostly the measurement of the carbon dioxide.

We could measure our carbon footprint from two sites, and we took the average from the both site, the first website (Heroes of the UAE), I need 0.5 planets according to four categories food, travel, home and stuff were classified. That means 10.0 tonnes of CO2 per year. In the second website (footprint.wwf), I needed to 6.71 the questions were first about your home and your family, then about what do you do to save energy, and about your food. The average I got was 5.6, so if everyone in the world uses as much as me, so they need five planets and a half.

Some of my classmate got lower than me and some got more than me, the ones who got less than me is Yasser. His footprint is 3.07 planet and the ones who got more than I got is Sami. His footprint is 6.1 and 9.17. The UAE is considered one of the highest rates of energy consumption per person in the world, if it not the highest.

So we have to do something to save the energy and to reduce our carbon footprint especially in the UAE. We can adjust the AC and turn it back up few degrees and turn it off when you leave home, you will save money and you will make your footprint less. You can use energy saving light bulbs, because they are more efficient and they last 10 times longer. So you will reduce your footprint and your money also!! So when ever you go out remember to turn everything off and try to make your carbon foot smaller and smaller.


BIBLIOGRAPHY


Heroes of the UAE. 30 Apr. 2009 http://www.heroesoftheuae.ae/en.

WWF Footprint Calculator. 30 Apr. 2009 http://footprint.wwf.org.uk/.