Strategies for Atmospheric Impacts of Road Transport

Strategies for Atmospheric Impacts of Road Transport Consider the prospects for using alternative fuels to reduce the atmospheric impacts of road transport   As our world has globalised, our society has become increasingly interconnected through breakthroughs in our ability to travel from one area to another. This interconnectedness has been of economic and social benefit for people all over the world, so much so that we refer to our world as shrinking due to the ease and quickness of transport compared to that of the past. However, with this development and increase in transport our climate has been impacted. In the past exhaust gases from road traffic had, and still has, negative effects on air quality as road transport are major causes of nitrogen oxide pollution. Due to the introduction of U.S Clean Air Act of 1970 mass production of catalytic converters started in 1975 in the US and was introduced to Europe ten years later. Still, road transport became increasingly desirable for both private and business use. About 38% total fuel consumed is diesel, 60% is gasoline and 1% and 0.7% is gaseous fuels and biofuels. OECD countries are responsible for two thirds of the worlds fuel consumption (Uherek et al, 2010). Road transport vehicles produce a quantity of different harmful pollutants including nitrous oxides and particulate matter. These emission levels are particularly high in urban environments where the population is dense. The European union has set limits to the amount of pollution that populations should consume yet these limits are still breached in the densest areas where motor vehicles tend to accumulate. NOx comprises a mixture of nitric oxide (NO) and nitrogen dioxide (NO2). In the air NO is rapidly converted to NO2 which will also react in the air to form nitrate particles and ozone (O3). NO2 is a toxic gas harmful for health. NOx emissions also contribute to acidification and eutrophication, causing serious damage to ecosystems. Road transport accounts for a third of NOx emissions and is the dominant source in urban heavily trafficked areas. The average contribution of local traffic to urban NO2 and PM10 concentrations is estimated at 64% and 34%, respectively. It is estimated that around 10% of the EU urban population is exposed to NO2 levels above the EU limit value and that approximately 80% of the urban population is exposed to PM10 levels exceeding the WHO guideline value. https://www.transportenvironment.org/what-we-do/air-pollution/road-vehicles People know that road transport is harmful to the environment and yet they continue to use cars. The number of cars used is likely to only increase as third world countries develop and populations continue to rise, meaning that simply using less cars is an unrealistic solution. With this it is clear that if we are going to lower the pollution levels of cars we need to either improve their efficiency or stop using the harmful fuels they burn. Development of alternative fuels for road transport vary depending on the country and their economic standing. When oil prices went up in 1970 it promoted new interest in the idea of alternative fuels. Countries such as Brazil and the US began considering biofuels as a replacement but after a century of research and experiments alternative fuel sources still accounts for less than 2 percent of the worlds road transport fuel consumption. This 2 percent is limited to Brazil, the US and the European Union. The escape from traditional fuel sources ha s been found to be extremely difficult in the transport sector compared to others (Johnston and Silveira, 2014). One of the most commonly referred to of alternative fuels is ethanol, the most common biofuel. With the chemical formula C2H5OH it is the same alcohol found in alcoholic beverages. Used by blending it into gasoline so that it makes up 5 to 10 percent of the mixture. When looking at the characteristics of ethanol it has a lower energy content than gasoline. To reach the same distance you would require a third more ethanol than what you would need of gasoline. http://www.consumerenergycenter.org/transportation/afvs/ethanol.html Ethanol is renewable unlike our finite oil resource. Its the product of various plant materials, usually of corn, so there isnt a massive issue around being able to produce it. Ethanol works best when blended with gasoline as it has a high-octane number, fuel has a minimum octane number to ensure its drivability. http://www.afdc.energy.gov/fuels/ethanol_fuel_basics.html Figure 1 Global Ethanol Production http://www.afdc.energy.gov/data/10331 The above graph Figure 1 shows the production of ethanol in different countries over the years, what this graph is able to tell us is that production has been steadily growing with a few dips most likely down to times when other fuels were cheaper. We can also see that the USA and Brazil are consistently the greatest producers. Interest in biofuels has been growing and companys such as shell and BP are viewing them as a possible future replacement for gasoline. Ethanol made from corn creates 25 percent more energy than that which is required to grow the corn and distil into ethanol. Although ethanol creates a more effective fuel it doesnt resolve the problem that we are still heavily reliant on fossil fuels for road transport. Even though it may produce slightly lower greenhouse gas emissions its still not enough to be sustainable (Hordeski, 2009). Electric cars are more in production now than ever before with people owning and driving them, many electric cars claim zero emissions however it is argued that electric cars can be as damaging as regular gasoline powered cars. Electric cars rely on being charged to be powered. This electricity to do so comes from the local electricity network. The energy in this network has come power plants that arent emission free. In California in 2015 60 percent of electricity came from burning fossil fuels and wind and solar only accounted for and meagre 14 percent. If this is the case than does using an electric car really improve on how it impacts the atmosphere? One thing that electric cars do, however, is make air quality better in urban areas which would in turn lower pollution below the European Unions limit meaning healthier air for city residents. At night there is when electricity produced is cheapest, from natural gas, nuclear and hydroelectric dams however this is not the greenest op tion and people are more likely to charge their cars overnight, solar is of course only available during the day when theres sun meaning that its greener to charge cars during the day. Due to the grid, however, there is almost no capacity to store power created from solar and wind meaning energy is used as its produced. The only hope for this problem is future development of the grid to be able to store energy from renewables (Deb, 2016). https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2016/dec/08/electric-car-emissions-climate-change Natural gas is an odourless and colourless gaseous mixture of hydrocarbons. Liquefied natural gas and compressed natural gas is used for ease of transportation and both used as motor fuel. Natural gas is used for its availability, low cost and its benefits of emission. Vehicle that are designed to run on LNG and CNG drive as effectively as those using petroleum http://www.afdc.energy.gov/fuels/natural_gas_benefits.html In conclusion, it is clear that we must look towards alternative methods of fuel in the hopes of lowering our carbon footprint as without doing so we will only continue to produce more and more pollution. When it comes to using biofuels and natural gas they may undoubtedly provide certain benefits and improvements but in the long term they are also non-sustainable due to ethanol currently just being an additive to a finite petroleum and natural gas being a finite resource itself. Electric would be desirable especially if we were able to rely completely on renewable fuel sources such as solar and wind in the future. However, all have their flaws and only further development will create the fuel source of the future. Uherek, E et al. (2010). Transport impacts on atmosphere and climate: Land transport. 44th ed. Elsevier, pp.4772-4816.

Science Thesis on SImple Physics

Throughout this trimester, we have completed several activities to help us answer our driving question of, â€Å"which Planets would be the most habitable and how can we determine this. † In order to organize our process of learning and how we can find these planets, we divided the question Into three learning units. Our units Included Nuclear Reactions and Star, Waves and light, Analyzing stars, and Circular motion and orbits. Our first unit was Nuclear Reactions and Stars.This unit was focused on teaching us the properties of nuclear reactions, where they occur, and how they help us find tars, relating directly to our driving unit. The main idea of this unit was that there are three types of nuclear reactions. Radioactive decay is the release of either an electron, a helium atom, or energy, In an unstable and large elements. Fission Is the process of when a neutron traveling at fast speeds strikes a large element, causing It to split into two elements and the release of usua lly around three neutrons. Finally, fusion occurs when two elements fuse together, producing a large amount of energy.This process requires extreme heat, like that of stars, In order to create an environment where all molecules move around at fast speeds, making them susceptible to fusion. Therefore, stars produce extreme amounts of energy through fusion. The heat produced by the sun makes fusion happen all the time. Next, through learning the equation E=mica, we realized that even a small amount of mass loss, which occurs In fusion, produces a large amount of energy. To sum up this unit, we learned about the evolutionary paths of stars and how they are affected by their mass.Basically, average mass stars go through a simple path of stellar nebula, prostate, average star, red giant, white dwarf. However, high mass stars go through a stellar nebula, high mass star, super red giant, supernova, then either a neutron star or black hole. It becomes a black hole only of its mass is incred ibly high. In order to understand why this happens, we watched an understanding stars video and did some helpful bookwork. Stars go through this cycle as the balance between gravity and the stars outward force (usually fusion) changes.As a star gets hot enough to start fusion and create a variety of new elements, it's outward force increases, causing the star to expand. As star then begins to run out of fuel, the star begins to use larger elements, cooling the gas and causing it to spread outwards. Finally, as the star begins to lose all of Its elements to fuse, gravity breaks the gravitational equilibrium It once had and collapses the star. Through this unit, we learned how stars work and how nuclear reactions are what cause the release of energy in nature. Our second unit consisted of waves and light.Now that we knew how stars work, we had to learn how we know so much about stars, how we find them, and how we find planets that orbit them. In order to accomplish this, we first inve stigated waves. I OFF eaves: transverse (electromagnetic) and longitudinal waves (sound). Then we learned that there are two speed equations for waves. One is the obvious s=d/t. The other equation, which is Just a derivative of this, is speed?wavelength * frequency. Through this, we could calculate the wavelength or frequency of any electromagnetic wave if we knew one or the other (because the speed is always a constant).Next we learned about the electromagnetic spectrum. This is basically a list of electromagnetic waves from least energy (longest wavelength) to most energy (shortest wavelength). This allowed us to see how much we can not see and the frequencies of these waves. Furthermore, we learned the importance of intensity, in my opinion, the most important part of this unit. Intensity is defined as the amount of energy in a given area. Basically, as we move away from the source, the area the source occupies increases, thus decreasing the energy we feel or see.Through the inte nsity lab, in which I did high tech, we figured that the relationship is an inverse square. Using our now known knowledge about intensity, waves, and luminosity(power output or dotage), we could now use the luminosity of the star to find the habitable zone. To do this, we used the equations given by the online activity, eventually allowing us to see if there was a habitable planet, usually fictional, in the stars zone. In unit three, we expanded on our star knowledge from unit one and two. One of the main projects we did in this unit was the star evaluation sheet.We had to find a random star using the online planetarium given to us and then research it's characteristics. Once we found a star we liked, we used websites, such as wisped, o find out the basics of the star. Through the website, we were able to find distance from the earth, Surface temperature, the star's radius, the star's mass, and its Luminosity. Using this information, we were able to use our past knowledge and equati ons and new equations (wavelength of peak emission=b/T where b is Wine's displacement constant) in order to further our information about the star.Next, we used the equation of r=((1360*Lasts/Lulus)/ in order to find the outer and inner edge of the stars habitable zone (using 720 and 1500 as established intensities for habitable zone edges). Then using what we knew about that mass, luminosity, and temperature of the star, we could use the H-R diagrams, which we learned about this unit doing book work, to determine the stage the star was in. Sadly, my star was a massive star in its supernatant stage.Even though the star did have a useable habitable zone, the star's life span was way too short, leading to the conclusion that my star shouldn't be considered as a possibility for Project Cygnus colony ship. Furthermore, we also did an activity online in which we chose a star offered, figured out whether it had a planet orbiting it through the brightness dips in the graph), figured out th e period of the planet (again through the amount of time it took for the brightness dips to occur), and then through a series of equations, we found the habitable zone and saw whether the planet was inside of the zone.This unit helped expand our knowledge on stars and to fugue out how to find the habitable zones of stars and whether a planet is orbiting in that zone. Objects are able to travel in a circle and why two objects in orbit do not collide into each other. Through a series of readings and activities, such as the water demo, we earned that centripetal force is the force holding an object in circular motion and it points radically inward. However, this brought up a couple of questions. These included: â€Å"Why does the water in the cup during the water demo not fall out? ND Why do we not fall out of a reallocates when we are upside down. In order to answer both, we first looked at properties of an object traveling in a circular direction. First, we learned that centripetal equation is basically acceleration in a circular direction that points inward. In a object is traveling in a circular path, we can SE the equation centripetal acceleration=(tangential speed)AAA / the radius of the circle in meters. To find the tangential speed, the equation we used was speed?circumference of the circle/the period of the object.This is basically speed?distance/time. These equations helped us do our buggy lab in which we found the centripetal acceleration and used this to help us find the amount of centripetal force (in Newton's) by using the equation f=mass*acceleration. The mass was easily found via a scale and we used the equations given to help us find the acceleration. However, this still didn't totally answer the question of why we do not all out of a roller coaster when we are upside down.Through a presentation and a roller coaster Journal glasswork, we realized that the reason this happens is because there is a normal force caused by our speed and inertia that causes us to resist falling. Through all of this, I realized that this perfectly explained the driving question of this unit, which stated Why does the moon not crash into the planet it is orbiting, the earth? As a result of these activities, I understood that this is because the object is constantly accelerating towards the center, causing an elliptical like orbit where he planet never crashes.In conclusion, this unit taught me why objects stay in orbit and the forces involved in circular motion. With still more to go in this unit, I am quite excited to see where this leads us. Overall, all of the activities we have done have lead us closer to answering our driving question of the unit, â€Å"What planets are habitable and how can we determine this. † Through a series of activities, labs, and lectures, we have learned about the properties of stars and their orbiting planets, all of which have helped us determine information about stars and their orbiting planets.

Mother: The Most Important Person in My Life Essay

The most important in my life is my mother because she is really all I have, she is my motivation, and she helps me live through all my struggles. I wouldn’t be able now to enjoy this minute of my life writing this essay without my mother. My mother has brought me to this wonderful world. For nine months she carried me, she felt very bad, but did not refuse, and gave birth to me. My mom is the most positive and important influence on my life. Another reason why my mother is the most important person in my life is because she is always with me, when I’m happy and when I’m sad. She helps me with hard problems in my life, and she is glad for some good things I do. She helped me from the first, day I was born. She fed me; she didn’t sleep for many nights, only to make me comfortable. see more:imagine the world in 2050 She went for walks with me, and was always with me. From the first grade of my school, she helped me with my homework; she taught me how to behave. In addition, my mother is the most important person in my life because I am who I am, because of my mom. She always tries to make me a better person. From childhood, she bought a lot of books for me to read. She bought some intellectual games and that kind of stuff; I study hard to make her happy. I want her to be proud of me. I want her to feel, as I am the best child in the world, and as she is the best mom. I do everything for that. I behave myself very good in school, I don’t fight and I obey the rules. Unquestionably, my mother is the most important person in my life because she always supports me for my goals and ambitions, and that’s the key in pursuing my dream. My mother the most important individual in my life in fact that even though how many times we fight, she always makes me feel that I am the best gift she ever received from God. If I would have a chance to be born again, I would have chosen to be again her child. Child of the most important person in my life.

Fidel Castro s Courtroom Defense Speech - 1317 Words

This speech history will absolve me was Fidel Castro’s courtroom defense speech, where he displayed exemplary oratory skills, which made him famous. He was on trial for initiating a revolution against Batista’s dictatorship in 1953; he was sentenced to a jail term of fifteen years. Fidel Castro was later released after twenty months due to public pressure, and within six years he walked into Havana at the head of the Cuban Revolution. History has it that this was a four hours speech at the Court of Appeals of Santiago de Cuba. History should absolve Fidel Castro. His speech was powerful, moving and addressed the issues that plagued the nation. This paper shall seek to defend most of his ideologies, explain the importance and relevance of the speech. Fidel Castro in his speech portrayed the government as a very corrupt institution, in his words, he said that the entire government comprised of wolves and individual that of coward countenance; this was because he had been denied any legal aids. His demands for justice fell entirely on deaf years. According to Fidel Castro the head of the Government ‘Batista’ was a man full of treachery because he had led a coup against the then president â€Å"Gerardo.† Why was he being condemned for doing the same, especially when all he was doing was defending the rights of the innocent? Fidel Castro portrayed a very brave nature and had lived as one of the most adored personalities in the history of mankind (Conceived, 2012). Fidel Castro hadShow MoreRelatedMarketing Mistakes and Successes175322 Words   |  702 PagesUniversity of Minnesota and George Washington University. His MBA and Ph.D. are from the University of Minnesota, with a BBA from Drake University. Before coming into academia, he spent thirteen years in retailing with the predecessor of Kmart (S. S. Kresge), JCPenney, and Dayton-Hudson and its Target subsidiary. He held positions in store management, central buying, and merchandise management. His first textbook, Marketing: Management and Social Change, was published in 1972. It was ahead