Problems and Solutions

Global warming has become a big political issue and the most threat of our time. The burning of fossil fuels such as coal and oil has caused the global warming. However, there are some solutions for this problem and one of them is solar energy. I will explain how coal-burning power stations cause global warming, discuss solar energy, and give my opinion about this alternative to fossil fuels.

For many centuries, coal was the main source of energy for all people. It burned to produce heat in homes and factories. Today, the largest consumer of coal as a fuel is the electrical power industry. The combustion of coal in power generating plants is used to make steam which, in turn, operates turbines and generators. Furthermore, coal use in steel and cement manufacturing. However, coal is one of the main reasons of global warming. Burning a tone of coal typically releases more than 3 tones of carbon dioxide to the atmosphere. The problem with coal is two fold, it produces a lot of carbon dioxide, among other materials into the air, and the world has a lot of it (Kanellos). In addition, it causes health problems and releases toxic mercury in atmosphere.

All government around the world concern about this issue and try to use clean source power such as solar power. Solar Energy is one of the renewable sources in life and that energy comes from the sun heat. There are some advantages of this energy. The price of this energy can’t be change in the future, unlike other prices for oil or gas. Solar power also leads to pollution prevention if it's a point source (Garris). Furthermore, it provides safer and cheaper energy for all our needs in life. However, this power is very useful, it has some disadvantages. It requires quite a large area for installation to achieve a good level of efficiency. The efficiency of the system also relies on the location of the sun, although this problem can be overcome with the installation of certain components (Wyk).

In conclusion, CO2 level is increasing and that affects the ozone layer too. Therefore, governments must consider the renewable sources as the source for the next generation. Another solution could be cool cities and limits the vehicles by using public transportation in big cities. Furthermore, every one should reconsider about his lifestyle and try to change it to help reducing the global warming.

Bibliography:

Kanellos, Michael. "Stop coal, stop global warming, says architect News Blog - CNET News." Technology News - CNET News. 28 May 2009 http://news.cnet.com/8301-10784_3-9782715-7.html



Leah, Garris. "What solar power has to offer: when it comes to renewable energy, solar power is definitely picking up speed. With more and more buildings taking on this new technology, solar power is becoming realizable for mafacilities professionals.(ENGINEERED SYSTny." Buildings Aug. 2008.


Wyk, Anita Van. "Advantages and Disadvantages of SOLAR ENERGY - Environment articles, articles from Environment.” 28 May 2009 http://articles.smashits.com/articles/environment/63040/advantages-and-disadvantages-of-solar-energy.html

Cool Cities

Now days, many cities in the world are modern and have basics needs to live, however, these cities consume more energy that produce more CO2 and heat. Therefore, the developers found out a basic strategy to deal with heat and CO2 by building Cool Cities. These cities have the ability to reduce heat and CO2 to the zero level. However, Cool cities are not practical for two main reasons. This essay will describe my research on cool cities and my recommendation.

The first reason is the size of the world population. For example, Masdar City is designed to be free from cars and any other polluting machines, but this city will serve only 50,000 citizens (Morrison). The world population rate is increasing year after another and by 2050 the rate will be approximately 9 billion (Aziakou). Therefore, we need many cool cities in each county which is impossible

Another reason is the cost of building this type of city. Masdar City cost around $ 22 billion. Many countries around the world are poor and to have this type of city in them would be very impossible. This huge amount of many can be used to reduce CO2 level by developing the old factories and replace them with new one. Furthermore, this amount of budget can help to find many projects which have to be available and that are including poor countries.

In conclusion, having cool cities is a brilliant idea; however, most people can’t live in it. Therefore, I recommend that we should change our lifestyle and I believe that this is the solution for global warming.

Bibliography:

Aziakou, Gerard. "France 24 World population to reach nine billion by 2050: UN projections France 24." France 24 Latest world news report, find the events that make international headlines France 24. 10 May 2009
http://www.france24.com/en/20090311-world-population-reach-nine-billion-2050-un-projections.

Morrsion, Chris. "Personal rapid transit gets another chance at life �." VentureBeat. 10 May 2009 http://venturebeat.com/2009/01/23/personal-rapid-transit-gets-another-chance-at-life/.

Carbon Footprint

In the past, people used simple equipments which have no effect to our environment to do work. However, nowadays most people use many natural resources without thinking about the consequences, or footprints, they will leave behind Carbon footprint is the amount of green house measured in CO2 units. This essay will describe my research on carbon footprints and make recommendation to reduce them.

The consumption of energy can be measured by different categories and it’s depending on person lifestyle. I went through 2 different websites that calculate carbon footprint. However these websites have their own questions to calculate carbon footprint, the main idea is the same. I calculated my carbon footprint by answering different question in food, travel, home and stuff (WWF) and my result was 2.28 plants. I used another website (Heroes of the UAE) and I got an average of 3.81 plants. My most consumption was in cooling, water heating and IT. The average was 3.045 and that’s mean if every one has the same lifestyle, we need 3 plants to survive.

I compared my result to the 3 of my classmate and I found out some similarities in energy consumption. The first classmate Nasser got 2.5 planets. His main energy consumption was in cooling and IT. The second classmate Abdul Rahman 2.17 plants and his main energy consumption were in cooling and water heating. The third classmate Mohammed Al Attas got 2.68 plants and his main consumption was in cooling and water heating. In the UAE, the weather mostly hot, therefore we see people consume more cooling energy and we have the highest carbon footprints in the world.

I recommend that we should look for another source power that has less effect on our environment. Furthermore, lifestyle is very important to reduce carbon foot print, therefore I should try to change it and be good to the environment by using less energy at home and outside.

Bibliography:

Heroes of the UAE. 16 Apr. 2009 http://www.heroesoftheuae.ae/en.

WWF Footprint Calculator. 16 Apr. 2009 http://footprint.wwf.org.uk/.

30 Apr. 2009 http://www.zawya.com/Story.cfm/sidGN_31102008_10255824/UAE%20tops%20world%20on%20per%20capita%20carbon%20footprint.

An Inconvenient Truth Argument

Mr. Al Gore who used to be the next president of the USA introduced the movie An Inconvenient Truth. This movie shows us how the Global Warming effected our environment in the past years and in the next 50 year where the effects will be. Although in my opinion, this issue is not one of the popularity but based on simple fact. Now I’ll outline the argument between negative and positive reviews.



At first I will deal with the negative review. Some scientists disagree with Mr. Al Gore in the rise of temperature because of CO. Scientist Patterson said that in 450 million years ago, the C level was 10 times higher than now however the Earth was in coldest period. Mr. Al Gore linked between the hurricanes and the global warming and Dr. William Gray said that is not true. At the end of the movie, more scare pictures and scenarios had come over therefore the movie lost the trustiness. (Behreandt)



On the other hand is the positive review. Global warming is true and this movie convinced million of people who don’t believe this issue to believe it. Melting of the glaciers and the movement of polar bars are the sign that the climate is getting warm year after another and many of scientists and environmentalists proof the reality of global warming. This documentary movie warns us and if we didn’t take a real action, many things in the world will change forever. (Sherman)



In conclusion I think that this movie is excellent because it shows us lot of things that we don’t know and how the global warming will affect our life if we didn’t take serious action. We must look for another source powers which will reduce the atmospheric temperature.



Bibliography:

Behreandt, Dennis. "Hot air." Hot air. 18 Oct. 2007. http://www.accessmylibrary.com/coms2/summary_0286-21140267_ITM>.



Sherman, Ted. "Movie reviews: An Inconvenient Truth." http://www.helium.com/items/249578-movie-reviews-an-inconvenient-truth.

Global Warming

Global Warming is one of the most controversial scientific issues of the twenty-first century. This is a problem that has serious economic, sociological, geopolitical, political, and personal implications. This very short introduction is an informative , up to date, and readable book about the predicate impacts to global warming and the surprises that could be in store for us in the near future. Increasing the amount of carbon dioxide (co2) can be observed in increasing the average surface temperature of the earth. The amount of carbon dioxide (co2) also increasr when we burn fossil fuels, like coal, oil and gas for electricity, transportation and heat. Cutting down forests and other industrial processes also cause atmospheric carbon dioxide to increase.
This Global Warming will cause serious damages like rise in sea level, longer period of drougth, melting of glaciers and increase in the number of storms.

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