Ch 7.5A How can we ease the problem? Flashcards
What are the mitigation measures to reduce the amount of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere?
- Replacing fossil fuels with renewable energy resources.
- Improving energy efficiency.
- Develop a low carbon transport system.
- Improve building designs.
- Recovering energy from solid waste.
- Capturing and storing carbon dioxide.
- Improving farm management.
- Protect forests and carry out large scale afforestation.
- Encourage sharing culture.
RIDI RCIPE
What are the renewable energy resources? 8
- Solar power.
- Wind power.
- Hydroelectric power.
- Geothermal power.
- Tidal and wave power.
- Biofuels - Ethanol.
- Biofuels - Biodiesel.
- Biofuels - Biogas.
What are the general benefits of renewable energy?
- Resources are inexhaustible and are environmentally friendly.
- Cause less pollution, nor do the GHGs.
What are the strengths or benefits of solar power? 4
- Clean as it does not produce GHGs when operating.
- Safe.
- Low operating and maintenance costs.
- Few location requirements as solar panels can be set up anywhere to produce solar power as long as the place receives sunlight.
What are the limitations of solar power? 6
- Higher installation cost for large-scale solar power plants than fossil fuel power plants, even though the cost has gone down in recent years.
- The price of electricity generated may be higher than by other means.
- Lower reliability as it cannot harness power during storms, cloudy days and at nights.
- Occupies a larger area than fossil fuel power plants to generate the same amount of electricity.
- Improper disposal of solar panels may lead to the leakage of toxic metals, leading to pollution.
- Causes visual pollution.
What are the three largest solar power plants in the world?
- Tengger Desert Solar Park, China
- Sweihan Photovoltaic Independent Power Project.
- Yanchi Ningxia Solar Park China
What is wind power?
Electricity is generated when wind turns the blades of a windmill, which then spin a turbine and drive a generator.
What are the strengths or benefits of wind power?
- Clean as it does not produce greenhouse gases when operating.
- The cost of electricity generation is low.
- Low operating costs and will not run out.
What are the limitations of wind power? 5
- High installation cost, especially offshore wind farms.
- Wind power can only be harnessed at certain location where speed is high and stable over a long period of time.
- Causes visual and noise pollution.
- Birds and bats may be killed by the blades.
- Can interfere with microwave transmissions.
What is hydroelectric power?
Energy is produced by falling water which spins the turbines and drives the generators.
What are the strengths of hydroelectric power? 6
- Clean as it does not produce greenhouse gases when operating.
- Safe.
- Low operating costs.
- The lake formed behind the dam can be used for recreational purpose.
- Long lifespans.
- More stable and reliable than solar and wind power as HEP is less affected by weather.
What are the limitations of hydroelectric power? 6
- Huge construction costs that involve dam and HEP plant construction, as well as the relocation of affected people.
- Requires a specific location where the river must have a large volume of water and a deep water valley for turning the turbine.
- Dam construction disrupts natural river environments and aquatic ecosystems.
- Cannot harness power when there is droughts.
- Dam construction may flood farmland in the upstream area and reduce soil fertility of farmland in the downstream area.
- Serious flooding may occur if the dam collapses.
What are the benefits of geothermal power? 4
- Clean as it emits 99% less carbon dioxide than burning fossil fuels.
- Low maintenance costs.
- Occupies a smaller area than fossil fuel power plants.
- Reliable as it is not weather-dependent like solar or wind power. Geothermal heat pumps work year-round
What are the limitations of geothermal power? 3
- There are geographical limitations because only a few sites in volcanic areas where hydrothermal resources such as hot springs, geysers are found to have the potential to develop this kind of energy.
- High construction costs.
- If geothermal drilling occurs on fractures and produces instability along faults or fracture lines, it can lead to earthquakes.
What is tidal and wave energy?
The energy of tide and waves is used to drive turbines and generate power.
What are the benefits of tidal and wave power? 4
- Clean as it does not produce GHGs when operating.
- Reliable and predictable and will not run out.
- Long lifespans make this kind of energy a cost-competitive resource.
- High energy efficiency compared to other energy resources.
What are the limitations of tidal and wave power? 4
- High construction and maintenance costs, as seawater can corrode tidal turbines.
- There are geographical limitations because only a few locations have potential to develop this kind of energy.
- Can only produce electricity during tidal surges, limiting electricity generation.
- Spinning turbines may kill animals and fish -> Disrupt ecosystem.
What are the benefits of biofuels - ethanol? 3
- Less expensive and more affordable.
- Lower GHG emissions compared to fossil fuels.
- More flexible as biofuels can be sourced from a variety of natural materials such corn and sugar cane.
What are the benefits of biofuels - biodiesel? 3
- Less expensive and more affordable.
- Lower GHG emissions compared to fossil fuels.
- Can make use of cooking oil collected from the community every day.
What are the benefits of biofuels - biogas?
- Less expensive and more affordable.
- Lower GHG emissions compared to fossil fuels.
- Can make use of the organic waste collected from the community every day.
What are the general limitations on biofuel?4
- High costs of initial investment.
- Requires a relatively large area of land.
- Farmers may grow more crops for biofuel production rather than staple food. This may reduce food supply and thus increase food prices.
- Lower energy efficiency as a large amount of crops is needed in order to generate the same amount of energy.
What are the limitations particularly on biofuel - biodiesel and ethanol? 5
- Cause deforestation to grow fuel crops.
- Reduce the size of carbon sink which intensify greenhouse effect.
- Energy is needed in form of machines, fertilizers and pesticides which contribute to global warming.
- GHGs may sill emit from the factories and farms.
- Destroy wildlife habitats and reduce biodiversity.
What are the aspects on improving energy efficiency?
- In thermal power plants by burning natural gas instead of coal -> Reduce the use of fossil fuels.
- Machines and electrical appliances -> Reduce energy consumption.
What is the measure to improve energy efficiency for electrical appliances?
Switching to energy-efficient electrical appliances.
What are the strengths of switching to energy efficient electrical appliances?
- Lower GHG emissions by reducing energy consumption.
- Reduces the cost of electricity bills.
What is the problems of switching to energy efficient electrical appliances?
Higher initial cost of purchasing energy-efficient electrical appliances.
What are the measures or developing a low carbon transport system?
- Promoting the use of electric vehicles.
- Promoting the use of hydrogen-powered vehicles.
- Promoting the use of public transport.
What are benefits of promoting the use of electric vehicles? 5
- Although electric vehicles produce more GHGs than petrol vehicles during manufacturing, they produce no GHGs when running as they are propelled by batteries and have no engines.
- Electric vehicles are more efficient in converting energy to power them, no matter if the electricity comes from fossil fuels or clean renewable energy. Therefore, can lower energy consumption and carbon emissions. This helps reduce the carbon footprint.
- Reduces the emission of air pollutants, therefore, lowers health and environmental costs caused by air pollutants and alleviates the heat island effect.
- The price of installed is lower than that of petrol in the long run.
- A charging station is relatively easy to be installed, so that electric cars can be recharged at home or at workplace, bring convenience to users.
What are limitations on promoting the use of electric vehicles? 7
- Higher prices of the vehicles.
- High costs in developing extensive charging network.
- Electric Vehicles produce more GHGs than average petrol vehicles during manufacturing as the large lithium ion batteries used by electric vehicles require a lot of materials and energy to produce.
- The way to produce the car batteries is often unsustainable like lithium mining in Chile caused by groundwater depletion and pollution.
- Retired electric car batteries need appropriate disposal to avoid pollution
- Lower performance of electric vehicles in extremely cold weather as it reduces the efficiency of lithium ion batteries.
- If electricity is mainly generated by burning fossil fuels, there are still GHG emissions.
What are the benefits of promoting the use of hydrogen powered vehicles? 3
- No emission of carbon dioxide and nitrous oxide when running.
- Reduce the emission of air pollutants, therefore lowers health and environmental costs caused by air pollutants, and alleviates the heat island effect.
- Refilling the hydrogen tank of the vehicles is quicker when compared to charging an electric vehicle, bringing convenience to users.
What are the limitations of hydrogen powered vehicles? 4
- Higher cost of extraction, transportation and storage than fossil fuels. The cost of green hydrogen, which is produced using renewable energy resources, is even higher. ETS
- High costs in developing extensive refueling network.
- As the technologies and market of green hydrogen are not yet mature, grey hydrogen is currently being utilised. However, grey hydrogen is produced from fossil fuels, which may results in the production and release of GHGs and air pollutants.
- Need large space to store the hydrogen.
What are the benefits of promoting the use of public transport? 4
- Lowers GHG emissions by reducing the use of private cars.
- Fuel-efficient as it transports a much higher average number of passengers than private cars.
- More affordable and can improve road congestion as well as
- Reduces the emission of pollutants, therefore, lowering the health and environmental costs caused by air pollutants and alleviating the heat island effect.
What are the limitations of promoting the use of public transport? 2
- Some public transport systems like mass transits, railway systems, have very high construction cost.
- Requires comprehensive planning and design during the development stage like setting up the bus only lanes.
What is the aim of improving building desings?
Adopt active and passive sustainable designs to enhance energy efficiency and thermal comfort.
What are the active approaches of improving building designs? 3
- Heating, ventilation and air conditioning systems and water efficient devices.
- Lightning systems.
- Renewable energy technologies.
What are the passive approaches of improving building designs? 6
- Mitigating heat island effect or elevated temperature.
- Day lighting.
- Reducing heat gain through building envelopes.
- Natural ventilation.
- Passive cooling.
- Air ventilation around buildings.
What are the strengths of adopting passive solar design?
- Reduces energy consumption for heating and cooling.
- Easy to implement.
- Low environmental impact, especially if the green materials are used.
- Requires relatively cheap materials.
- Reduces the cost of electricity bills.
- Large windows in houses with passive solar design allow sunlight to enter.
What are the limitations of adopting passive solar design?
- May be unreliable as it is affected by weather.
- Not all regions receive sufficient sunlight to initiate natural heating during winter.
- High cost of design and the installation of systems.
- Improper design can lead to an increased energy consumption
What are the strengths of rooftop greening?
- Green roofs reduce the temperature of the roof surface, and therefore act as insulator to lower the room temperature under the roof. This reduces the energy consumption of air conditioning for cooling.
- Transpiration and shading effect by plants provide additional cooling.
- Using green roofs in cities or other built environments with limited vegetation can moderate heat island effect.
- Reduces energy consumption from heating in winter, as green roofs help retain heat inside buildings.
- Green roofs reduce and filter storm water runoff, reducing the risk of flooding and the amount of pollutants in the water.
- Plants can absorb air pollutants and carbon dioxide.
- Green roofs provide natural habitats for wildlife and can serve as recreational green space.
What are the limitations of rooftop greening?
- Higher cost than traditional roofs.
- Difficult and expensive to implement greening designs in old existing buildings.
- If the roofs cannot withstand the additional weight load from plants and water, the roofs may crack or even collapse.
- Extra costs are needed for the regular maintenance of plants.
What is the aim of recovering energy from solid waste?
- Generate electricity from the heat produced from the burning of solid waste in incinerators -> reduce combustion of fossil fuels.
- Capture landfill gas to generate electricity -> reduce emissions of methane and reduce combustion of fossil fuels.
What are the benefits of recovering energy from solid waste?
- Reduces the need for fossil fuels.
- Clean, safe and provides a stable source of energy.
- Collecting landfill gas and reducing the amount of waste disposed of in landfills reduce GHG emissions from landfills.
- Promote recycling as materials such metals and glass can be extracted from waste.
What is capturing and storing carbon dioxide?
Carbon dioxide from sources such as power plants and oil refineries can be captured and stored deep underground in places such as depleted gas fields. This reduces the amount of carbon emitted into the atmosphere.
What are the strengths of capturing and storing carbon dioxide?
- Reduces carbon dioxide emissions at the source from power plants and industrial facilities.
- Fossil fuels can continue to be used to fulfil world’s energy consumption.
What are the limitations of capturing and storing carbon dioxide?
- Very high initial investment and operating costs.
- Mainly on a small scale so the amount of captured stored co2 is very small.
- Requires large amount of energy to power. This may increase carbon dioxide emissions if the energy is from fossil fuel power plants.
- The technology is not mature and may result in failure.
- Risk of gas leakage may cause health and environmental problems.
What are the strategies to improve farm management?
- Better nutrient management.
- Improve livestock feed.
- Composting.
Elaborate on better nutrient management to reduce the greenhouse gases in the atmosphere.
To reduce emission of nitrous oxide by reducing the use of nitrogen fertilizers.
1. Precision farming: Adjust the timing and amount of nitrogen fertilizers applied to crops and precisely place nitrogen fertilizers into the soil.
2. Crop Rotation: Grown different crops in the same field in sequential seasons to avoid depletion of certain nutrients.
3. Intercropping: Grow an additional crop in the spaces between the main crop to avoid depletion of certain nutrients.
4. Growing legumes: Increase soil fertility. TO dix nitrogen in the air by their nitrogen fixing bacteria in their roots.
To reduce emission of methane.
1. Draining the field at specific times to avoid waterlogging.
Elaborate on improve livestock feed to reduce the greenhouse gases in the atmosphere.
Feed livestock with improved forage. To speed up the digestion process -> Reduce methane emissions per unit of meat produced.
Elaborate on composting to reduce the greenhouse gases in the atmosphere.
- Collect farm waste and place it in composting plants for decomposition -> Reduce and prevent the release of methane as there is more oxygen for waste to decompose.
- Use the compost to enrich the soil -> Reduce the use of nitrogen fertilizers -> Reduce the release nitrous oxide.
What are strengths of improving farm management?
- Lowers nitrous oxide emissions by reducing the nitrogen fertilizer use.
- More cost-effective as the resources used are reduced.
What are the limitations of improving farm management?
- Expensive to set up/ Require relatively big investment.
- Requires advanced technology.
What is protect forests and carry out large scale afforestation?
- Protecting forests through forbidding deforestation -> Reduce carbon dioxide emitted through burning.
- Carrying out large scale afforestation -> Increase the number of trees that absorb carbon dioxide in the atmosphere.
What are the benefits of afforestation?
- More trees can absorb carbon dioxide through photosynthesis.
- Reduce the amount of co2 in the atmosphere in the long run.
- Increase in the number of trees reduces soil erosion.
- Provides more wildlife habitats
What are the limitations of afforestation?
- Large scale afforestation requires large investment.
- Takes time for trees to grow.
- Local people may rather earn a living from deforestation than growing trees.
- Needs to be of large scale to have the desired effect, but not all places have large areas for afforestation.
What is encouraging sharing culture?
Usage of goods is maximized.
-> Consume less and produce less waste (Reduce the amount of GHGs produced by landfills and incinerators)
-> Less energy is needed for the transport and production of goods.
What are the negative impacts of climate change?
- Disruption of natural ecosystems
- Rising sea levels and increased coastal flooding and erosion.
- Shortages of food.
- Shortages of freshwater supply.
What are the adaptation measures for disruption of natural ecosystems?
Build buffer zones or corridors to aid species migration and conserve species population.
What are the adaptation measures for rising sea levels and increase coastal flooding and erosion?
- Build barriers or coastal protection structures such as dykes to protect coastal areas from flooding.
- Adopt careful land-use planning in flood-prone areas.
- Strengthen the structure of buildings and infrastructure.
What are the adaptation measures for shortages of food?
- Adopt better farming practices to increase crop yields.
- Change the type of crops to be grown and breed new crop species which are more tolerant to changing climatic conditions.
What are the adaptation measures for shortages of freshwater supply?
- Improve efficiency of water use.
- Plan for alternative water sources.
- Discourage wastage of water by introducing water charge and sewage treatment charge.
What are the benefits of building coastal protection measures?
- Prevents coastal areas from flooding to protect infrastructure along the coast.
- Many coastal protection structures, such as dykes and flood gates are strong and durable.
- Some coastal protection structures are used for recreational purpose.
What are the limitations of building coastal protection measures?
- High construction and maintenance costs, and may require advanced technologies.
- Continuous coastal erosion may wear away the structures.
- May be destroyed by large storm surges.
- Visually unattractive.
- May restrict access to beaches.
What are the benefits of better farming practices?
- Increase crop yields.
- Help sustain or even increase biodiversity.
- Reduce the need for deforestation because the farmland also provides wood products.
What are the limitations of better farming practices?
- Some conservation methods like precision farming may require high capital inputs and advanced technology.
- If temperatures keep rising, the increasing pest problem may offset the efforts of soil and water conservation.
