Category Archives: Sustainability

The Greenhouse Effect Lab

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One of the experiments my group participated in last Friday demonstrated the greenhouse effect. To better understand the experiment and the results, we first have to know about the greenhouse effect. The earth has a natural greenhouse effect when the sun releases energy to the Earth in the form of light. That is then absorbed and reflected in the form of heat. Although carbon dioxide is a naturally occurring greenhouse gas, we are producing an excess amount of it by our activities like industrial production and transportation. We are making more radiation be caught in our atmosphere, which in turn is raising the earth’s temperature.

Set up for us were three mason jars with plastic covering to exemplify the earth’s atmosphere that is trapping greenhouse gases and raising the earth’s natural temperature. The jars were placed under a heat lamp, demonstrating the sun. One jar had air, one had water(or water vapor), and the third had carbon dioxide made from combining baking soda and vinegar. In the covered jar were thermometers. Every 5 minute interval, for 15 minutes, we read and recorded the temperatures of the jars. Below is our records, all temperatures are in Celsius:

 

Time in Minutes Air Temp

 

 Water Vapor Temp Carbon Dioxide Temp
0  

25

  

25

  

25
5  

39

  

19

  

27
10  

44

  

23

  

28
15  

49

  

24

  

31

 

We expected the temperatures all to rise because of the heat lamp, however our results with the carbon dioxide didn’t result in what we thought. Perhaps there was a human error in getting the correct balance or quantity of CO2. All other gases behaved how we anticipated them to.

 

 

 

Natural Gas Hydraulic Fracturing

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Hydrofracking is an extremely controversial issue. It is a process used to extract natural gas from shale formations, and it has been around for some time but only has suddenly gotten attention in the past decade. The process consists mostly of water and sand which are injected into the formations and they are cracked in order for natural gas resources to be captured on the surface. Natural gas burns cleaner than coal, and it has provided the US with plentiful and cheap fuel. Many key shale formations are in the Appalachian region of the US. However, chemicals can be released into the environment and often times drinking water is contaminated.

The NRDC opposes the increase in fracking until better precautions are in effect. Fracking utilizes a significant amount of water, and in many cases it could take millions of gallons of water to frack just one well. Much of this water eventually is contaminated with sand and harmful chemicals. Disposal of this water is when it can make a negative environmental impact. This waste water has been disposed improperly like dumping it into sewer systems or into local streams. The methane gas and other chemicals are said to have in some cases moved into water tables.

The environmental threat from hydrofracking is quite present, but the EPA has done extensive research and has only come across one case of fracking water migration at a site in Wyoming. So is it possible that hydrofracking has the potential to be done safely? That can only occur when the fracking industry has a widespread understanding of the safety measures necessary.

Hydrofracking-by-ProPublica

 

http://www.energyfromshale.org/hydraulic-fracturing/how-hydraulic-fracturing-works?gclid=CJ7S2qOa7bUCFYtxOgodjX4A6Q

http://www.nrdc.org/energy/gasdrilling/?gclid=CPCGhaWa7bUCFYWo4Aod_S0AfA

http://www.policymic.com/articles/10408/hydrofracking-fact-and-fiction-what-you-need-to-know-about-the-controversial-practice

Germany’s Green Energy Policy

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“It is estimated that by 2030, Germany will have spent more than 300 billion Euros on green electricity. And consumer groups are complaining that about 800,000 German households can no longer pay for their energy bills.” (Institute for Energy Research). Germany has essentially ruled out nuclear power, and is moving in the direction of only using renewable energy. This, of course means that everything will be electric, and electricity bills in Germany are becoming hard for households to pay. (Some bills even surpassing rent costs!)

However, there is a toss up between having to pay maybe too much for electricity and reducing a whole country’s carbon footprint. By 2050, the German Government wants the country to be running on 80% green energy, and completely ruling out nuclear energy by 2022. “Germany has agreed to a 21% reduction from 1990 levels by 2012 as part of the European Union’s Kyoto Protocol commitment. Under a new EU-sponsored proposal for greenhouse gas emissions reduction in the post-2012 period, Germany may be asked to adopt a 40% reduction target (from 1990 levels) by 2020“(Renewable Energy Policy in Germany- http://www.globalchange.umd.edu/). Germany has ambitious goals, but is excelling every year with less and less recorded greenhouse gas emissions.

Germany is the world’s third largest user of wind power. Wind power plants in Germany in 2008 were counted at 870, and by the end of 2009 there were about 21,600 wind power plants. Germany also uses photovoltaic solar power, which generates electric power from solar radiation. “Germany has nearly as much installed solar power generation capacity as the rest of the world combined and gets about four percent of its overall annual electricity needs from the sun alone“( Reuters-http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/05/26/us-climate-germany-solar-idUSBRE84P0FI20120526).They also put hydroelectricity and biofuels to work. In 2010, around 70% of renewable energy was biomass, mainly from wood. (International Energy Agency)

Along with the sustainability, clean air, and the elimination of depending on imported fuel, Germany is also fostering jobs and helping other European countries team up for research with their Renewable Energy Act. Nearly 800,000 people work in German environment technology with about 214,000 people in renewables.