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Global Warming, CO2, and You INTRODUCTION The economies of the industrialized world are dependent on fossil fuel. Coal, gas, and petroleum, formed hundreds of millions of years ago by decaying plants and animals, have provided modern people with a supply of stored energy from the sun. Fossil fuels have allowed us to move from a society based primarily on energy from people and living plants and animals to one based on fossil fuels. Special conditions that existed when coal, gas, and petroleum formed are not present now, so they can no longer form in significant amounts, if at all. Furthermore, formation of fossil fuels is a very slow process, too slow for replacement to keep step with current use. Limited supplies are, however, not the only concerns. When fossil fuels are burned they produce, among other pollutants, carbon dioxide, the principal contributor to the greenhouse effect. About three-quarters of the anthropogenic (human-produced) emissions of carbon dioxide (CO2;) to the atmosphere during the past 20 years is due to fossil fuel burning. The rest is predominantly due to land-use change, especially deforestation (IPCC, 2001). The average annual release of carbon from fossil fuels during the 1990s was 6.35 billion tons (Marland et al., 2003). As shown in Figure P6.1, the ambient concentration of CO2 in the atmosphere has increased about 29% since the beginning of the industrial revolution. The significance of this dramatic increase in ambient CO2, is global warming (climate change) as depicted in Figure P6.2 on the greenhouse effect. Many scientists believe that stabilizing the climate will require slashing worldwide CO2 emissions in half. Because the planet's population is now more than 6 billion people, each person's rightful share of CO2 emissions is about 1.3 metric tons annually. Experts estimate that Americans generate 20 metric tons of CO2 per capita each year, but the figure is misleading because it lumps together government, industrial, corporate, and personal production of CO2. 165 1958 .66 72 80 88 96 02 Figure P6.1—Atmospheric Concentration of Carbon Dioxide (CO;) from 1958 to 2001. This graph is based on data from the Mauna Loa Observatory in Hawaii—an ideal facility for measuring undisturbed air—constituting the longest continuous record of atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2) concentrations available in the world. Note the steady increase of CO2. The seasonal fluctuations correspond to winter (a high level of CO2) when plants are not actively growing and absorbing CO2, and summer (low CO2), when plants are more active. In 2002, the CO2 concentration increased to an average of 373.1 parts per million by volume (ppmv). Sources: Raven, P.H. and L.R. Berg. 2004. Environment. 4th ed. John Wiley & Sons, NY (p. 462) and Keeling, C.D. and T.P. Whorf. 2004. Atmospheric CO; records from sites in the SIO air sampling network. In Trends: A Compendium of Data on Global Change. Carbon Dioxide Information Analysis Center, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, U.S. Department of Energy, Oak Ridge, TN. Data from Carbon Dioxide Research Group, Scripps Institution of Oceanography, University of California (http://sio.ucsd.edu/). Figure P6.2—Enhanced Greenhouse Effect. Carbon dioxide (CO;) and other greenhouse gases accumulate, warming the atmosphere by absorbing some of the outgoing infrared (heat) radiation. Some of this heat is transferred back to Earth's surface, warming the land and ocean. Source: Raven, P.H. and L.R. Berg. 2004. Environment. 4th ed. John Wiley & Sons, NY (p. 463). How much CO2 do you contribute through your personal daily activities? To make a rough calculation of your emissions, follow the steps below. Be sure to keep track of your units. 1. Estimate the number of miles you drive per year and the average miles per gallon your car gets. .miles/year divided by. miles/gallon .gallons/year Burning a gallon of gas produces 9 kilograms of CO2, so multiply the above total by 9 to get your total CO2 emissions from driving. gallons/year multiplied by 9 kg/gallon .kg/year 2. Estimate the number of kilowatt-hours of electricity you used last year. Multiply the number on your last electric bill by 12 to get an estimate for the year. If you don't have an electric bill use the "Energy Requirements of Household Appliances" table and add the values for each appliance to find your annual energy consumption for electrical appliances in kilowatt-hours per year. One kilowatt-hour of electricity generated in a coal-fired power plant produces about 1 kg of CO2. Nuclear energy is effectively free of CO2, but produces only 20% of the nation's electricity. Assume 80% of your electricity comes from a coal-fired power plant. .kilowatt-hours/year multiplied by 0.8 = .kg/year 10. Using the Internet or library resources, what controversies exist concerning global warming? Energy Requirements of Household Electrical Appliances (kilowatt-hours TABLE P6.3 consumed annually) Air conditioner—860 (based on 1000 hours yr) Humidifier—163 Electric blanket—147 Iron—60 Blender—1 Microwave—100 Broiler—85 Mixer—2 Clock—17 Radio—86 Clothes dryer—993 Shaver—0.5 Radio + CD player—109 Toaster—39 Clothes washer—103 Range+oven 596 Coffee maker—140 Hair dryer—25 Refrigerator w/defrost—1591 Window fan- 200 Dehumidifier—377 water heater 4219 Dishwasher—165 TV—320 Sewing machine—11 Fan(furnace) 650 Fan (circulating)—43 Hot plate—90 Freezer, 16.5ft3 w/automatic defrost— 1820 Vacuum cleaner—46 Frying pan—100 Sources: Department of Energy, 2004. Heating pad—10 Waffle iron—20 Garbage disposal—7 WAYS TO REDUCE CARBON EMISSIONS What you can do Reduction* Tune up your car 120 kg Drive a car with 30mpg instead of 20mpg 330 kg Drive a car with 40 mpg 599 kg Drive a car with 50 mpg 717 kg Take a train rather than fly 4.5 kg/160 km *Estimation based on driving 10,000 miles/yr. WAYS TO SAVE ENERGY What you can do______________________________________Energy Savings* Improve insulation in your hot water heater 300 kW/yr Switch from typical refrigerator/freezer to more 2000 kW/yr energy-efficient model Substitute 18-watt compact fluorescent bulb for a 170 kW/yr regular 75-watt bulb for 8 hrs *Every kilowatt-hour saved reduces carbon emissions by 0.2 kg. References Department of Energy (DOE). 2004. Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy. Consumer information [Online]. Available at http://www.eere.energy.gov/consumerinfo/refbriefs/ec7.html (verified 9 lune 2004). Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). 2001. Climate Change 2001: The Scientific Basis—Summary for Policymakers Lyman, Francesca. 2001. The Greenhouse Trap by World Resources Institute: What We're Doing to the Atmosphere and How We Can Slow Global Warming. A World Resources Institute Guide to the Environment. WRI, Beacon Press. Marland.-G.-, T.A. Boden.and R.I. Andres. 2003. Global, Regional, and National CO;, Ernis-• .. sionsT-In Trends: A Compendium of Data on Global Change. Carbon Dioxide Information Analysts-Center, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, U.S. Department of Energy, Oak Ridge, TN.