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How Can We Best Reduce Global Warming?
Background
Global warming is described as a complex phenomenon. Global warming is wrought by a series of greenhouse gases i.e. hydrofluorocarbons, carbon dioxide, sulfur hexafluoride, chlorofluorocarbon, ozone, methane, and water vapors. These gases come from a wide variety of sources. In industrialized countries, the major proportion of carbon dioxide comes from carbon-based fossil fuel burning. In the past, CFCs have been used as a propellant and refrigerant in aerosol sprays. Methane is produced during organic waste decomposition. Anthropogenic nitrous oxide is produced by different agriculture activitiesCITATION Seb16 \l 1033 (Weller, Janz and Lena).
Rationale
Carbon dioxide is a major contributing gas to the greenhouse effect. It accounts for 80% of the total impact. It is demonstrated that global warming will affect the world even if we dramatically reduce the emission of greenhouse gases. People must understand how global warming is going to affect them and what strategies are necessary to reduce the impact of global warming. Education about global warming from school to university level is very important to raise environmental consciousness among different nations. Children are among the major victims of a warming world, but they are also powerful protagonists for change. Therefore, it is important to explore children’s ideas about the causes, consequences, and cure of global warming ADDIN EN.CITE <EndNote><Cite><Author>Karpudewan</Author><Year>2015</Year><RecNum>1322</RecNum><DisplayText>(Karpudewan, Roth and Abdullah)</DisplayText><record><rec-number>1322</rec-number><foreign-keys><key app="EN" db-id="axzrwpxxqvwtw5evsf3xrer2arfwsa5f0e5d" timestamp="1575054473">1322</key></foreign-keys><ref-type name="Journal Article">17</ref-type><contributors><authors><author>Karpudewan, Mageswary</author><author>Roth, Wolff-Michael</author><author>Abdullah, Mohd Nor Syahrir Bin</author></authors></contributors><titles><title>Enhancing primary school students' knowledge about global warming and environmental attitude using climate change activities</title><secondary-title>International Journal of Science Education</secondary-title></titles><periodical><full-title>International Journal of Science Education</full-title></periodical><pages>31-54</pages><volume>37</volume><number>1</number><dates><year>2015</year></dates><isbn>0950-0693</isbn><urls></urls></record></Cite></EndNote>(Karpudewan, Roth and Abdullah). This will be a question-based survey to explore the ideas of children about the extent to which different strategies can contribute towards reducing global warming.
Methodology
The questionnaire will be distributed to students of grades 7 and 9. Both open-ended and close-ended questions will be used. The younger (8 year old) students will be asked to write about “What we can do to stop global warming?” The older (10 year old) students will be asked to mention “steps which people can do themselves to prevent global warming” and “steps which industries and the government can take to reduce global warming” CITATION Mag15 \l 1033 (Karpudewan, Roth and Abdullah). Data will be entered into an excel sheet and results will be presented in graphical form.
There are several methods which can be used by people to solve the global warming problem.
Solar Photovoltaic
These cells can be used to convert solar energy into direct current. Various forms of silicon are used to make these materials. Materials are charged with positive or negative carriers as required. The semiconductors are then joined together to form junctions which produce electricity when passed through light. Care has to be exercised about the temperature of cells which should not increase beyond 45 degrees Celsius. This method can be used on rooftops and in farms, making 10-60 MW of electricity.
Concentrated Solar Power
In this method, solar power is reflected through some special equipment to heat up a liquid at high temperature. A portion of this fluid goes to a heat engine so that heat energy can be converted to electricity. A long U-shaped mirror is used to reflect solar rays to a pipe taking oil to a chamber where water is heated to make steam. This steam is then used to run a generator to make electricity. Another form of this design is a central tower with a number of mirrors surrounding it. There is an option to store heat in some specialized materials and then use it to produce electricity at night as well. The last form of this method is a big dish that changes the direction to track the sun and reflects light to a receiver. Expansion of hydrogen against some turbine produces mechanical energy necessary to run a generator which produces electricity.
Wind
Kinetic energy of wind is converted to electricity with the help of wind turbines. There is a gear box which turns slow rotors into faster ones so that mechanical energy is converted to electricity in a generator. There is a higher efficiency shown by turbines which are placed at a higher point because wind speed is greater. Larger turbines are used on sea shores or on large land areas covered with mountains.
Geothermal
This method allows extraction of energy with the help of hot water under the earth’s surface. This process is undertaken with the help of geothermal power plants. Dry steam, flush steam, and binary variants of geothermal plants are used. Dry and flush systems are used where underground water temperature is 180-370 degrees Celsius. There are two holes made in the ground: one for steam only and the other for liquid water and steam. The pressure of steam formed in the first hole powers a turbine which is used to generate electricity. Some gases do not condense so they are released in the air. In flash steam system, water and steam enters a flash tank which is kept at low pressure causing vaporization of water. These vapors drive a turbine to produce electricity.
Hydroelectric
This is the biggest source of electricity around the world providing 17.4% of total electricity in 2005 CITATION Mae08 \l 1033 (Jacobson). Water moving due to gravitational force moves turbines and runs generator. This form of electricity is used for both base load and peaking power when required.
People can play an important role in adoption of these alternative ways of producing energy. Firstly, they will have to be educated regarding the negative impact of current sources of energy on the global warming issue. It will be more appropriate if awareness is provided to the younger generation. All the above mentioned options can be implemented by the governments of countries. Dependence on hydroelectric power should be minimized especially in the third world countries. People should be encouraged to plant more and more trees so that the impact of gases is reduced in the atmosphere. People should also avoid burning anything in the open air that can produce hazardous gases. There should be a fine on any person who is found cutting trees without permission.
Works Cited
BIBLIOGRAPHY Jacobson, Maek Z. "Review of solutions to global warming, air pollution, and energy security." Royal Society of Chemistry (2008): 148-173.
Karpudewan, Mageswary, Wolff-Michael Roth and Mohd Nor Syahrir Bin Abdullah. "Enhancing Primary School Students' Knowledge about Global Warming and Environmental Attitude Using Climate Change Activities." International Journal of Science Education (2015): 31-54.
Weller, Sebastian, et al. "Greenhouse gas emissions and global warming potential of traditional and diversified tropical rice rotation systems." Global Change Biology (2016): 432-448.
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