Cluster B

You will be asked 1 of the following questions

Use the steps of the environmental pollution system to describe the issue of air pollution.

Sources: Chemical process- combustion ( NO2, SC, CO), Wildfires

Reverses the photosynthesis process

Sector- energy

Use the steps of the environmental pollution system to describe the issue of municipal solid waste.

Sources: Households, construction waste, Ag. waste, Mining, and Industrial waste.

Agents:  Biological (Germs and Parasites) can come about from the waste if not taken care of properly. Also, chemical agents can be a problem. Ex. mine runoff from tailings or actual mining. 

Env. Media: Disease and toxic chemicals can get into the water (ground and surface) while fires can put pollutants into the air.

Transport Systems: In the air, the pollutants move fast and unpredictably. In the water, the pollutants move still fast but less fast than air and with some predictability. Also, insects and rodents can be vectors for the diseases.

Human Receptors: People can take in the agents through inhalation, ingestion, or in the case of some chemicals through their skin. The intensity and duration of the agent can vary from item to item such as a disease having a high concentration in a short time causing problems while lead generally causes problems in low concentrations over a long period. Some chemicals might be found in MSW that won’t produce any problem until they reach a certain level in people and then they do. This is called a threshold effect.

Social Process: If a dump or landfill (which are different) is created in an area where someone doesn’t want it, or there is a leak at a landfill that is causing health effects, then people may protest and organize together as a community to create a lawsuit against the MSW company that is creating the problem.

Pollution Control: Use landfills rather than dumps as they are more advanced and capture leachate, use liners, and capture methane gas so landfills are much safer. The best way to reduce pollution from MSW is to First Reduce (less is good), Reuse (Be creative), and Repair (buy to repair). Next is Recycling (usually down cycling)/composting, and last is landfilling or incinerating.

 Use the steps of the environmental pollution system to describe the issue of water pollution.

Point Source: Industrial + sewage treatment plant discharges

Area Sources: runoff which is hard to control both socially and technologically

Agents:

Biological “germs” biggest concern is human +animal waste

Chemicals:

Nutrients: P+N from ag. N from human waste

Algae blooms

Pharmaceuticals: Improper disposals and excretion

Endocrine Disruptors (Hormone): Flame retardants, plastic food packaging, and PFA’s “forever” chemicals

Oil

Industrial Chemicals releases well controlled in the U.S.

Water pollution: Media

Surface Water

Ground Water

Can transfer to food route

Transport

Receptors:

Biologic Agents: 2-5 billion cases of diarrhea worldwide annually which is 90% directly from water.

Societal Responses:

Public concern + outcry led to clean water act and safe drinking water act

Control:

Protect the “raw” water

Clean water before release

Clean water before drinking

Screening

Sand filtration

Describe the 6 facts that summarize the evidence that demonstrates climate change is a real problem.

1. Fact 1: Solar energy 

• Heats up the atmosphere and the earth’s surface 

• Earth’s surface re-radiates energy which heats the atmosphere more

• Some gas molecules absorb solar energy and heat up 

• When applied to the earth’s atmosphere there are good “green house effects”

• Fact 2: human activity has increased climate change

• Human activities that release these gases have increased tremendously in the last 150 years

• CO2 from combustion for energy 

• New Chemicals for energy 

• Fact 3: Carbon sinks 

• There has been a dramatic decrease in “carbon sinks” 

• Carbon sinks are natural systems—like forests, oceans, and soil—that absorb and store carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. Processes that remove these such as deforestation is a huge factor in climate change

• New chemicals have been invented

• Fact 4: The concentration of gases in the atmosphere are increasing

• Increasing much more rapidly than seen in earths history 

• Fact 5: we see temperatures around the globe increasing faster than throughout history 

• Fact 6: there are other indicators that the climate is changing.

Electricity can come from conventional or renewable sources. What are the advantages and disadvantages of the different sources of electrical energy we covered in class?

Coal Combustion

+ There is a lot of tech and coal to keep this going

- extraction is damaging to the earth

- there are impurities in the Earth.

Nuclear Power

+ No direct GHG emissions, well known tech

-  Mining of U is environmentally and culturally damaging

- mining is done near vulnerable populations

Natural Gas

+  Lots of Nat. gas available

- Extraction through fracking

Oil

+  Highly energy-dense

+ easily transported
+ broad infrastructure

-  Harder and harder to get to

• externalized costs

Wind Turbines

+ Developed and Improving tech

+ Low direct impact on environment

- Bird and bat pop. damage

- not always windy

Hydro Power

+ No direct carbon emissions

– Ecosystem damage

- sediment flow changes

- spawning fish disruption

- human displacement

Geo thermal

+ No direct GHG 

– Only in certain areas of world

Tidal

+No direct GHG 

– Developing tech

Solar Thermal

+No direct GHG 

– Developing tech

H-fuel cells

+ No direct GHG 

–Not much storage, expensive

How does municipal drinking water treatment work? How does it use processes similar to those that “naturally” treat water?

1. Setting by coagulation/flocculation: chemicals helps small particles stick together quickly

   1. Sedimentation to allow solids to settle

   2. Filtration (strain out remaining particles) → disinfection (kill bacteria): UV or chlorine but chlorine can keep things clean

2. Mirroring natural processes like sediment settling in a riverbed and exposure to sunlight which can kill some microorganisms; essentially, the treatment plant accelerates and enhances these natural processes to ensure safe drinking water

How does municipal wastewater treatment work? How does it use processes similar to those that “naturally” treat water?

1. Sewage → pretreat rubbish + grit → primary treatment setting → secondary treatment + acid bugs to eat waste → tertiary treatment filter (fabric or sand) → disinfect (UV or chlorine)

   1. Sewage gets turned into solids → land applied

   2. On site waste treatment: septic systems 

      1. Tank → drain soil and gravel → filter water through soil → groundwater

2. Mimics natural water purification processes by using physical filtration to remove large solids, followed by a biological stage where bacteria naturally consume organic matter in the wastewater, similar to how bacteria in a river or lake break down organic waste

3. Sometimes the final stage of disinfection is to kill harmful pathogens, mirroring the natural cleansing effects of sunlight and aeration in a body of waste

Describe the basic principles and processes behind almost all methods (except solar voltaic and hydrogen fuel cell) of creating electricity

1. Wind power

   1. Big fans high in the air that when turned from the wind, turn turbines. Converts mechanical energy into electrical power that can be distributed to the grid. Wind power output is directly proportional to the wind speed, so even a small increase in wind can significantly impact energy production. This is why placement of wind turbines is so important

   2. Conventional

      1. Clusters of large wind turbines spread across a wide area, feeding electricity to the gridHydropower

         1. Gravity + height + water

         2. Flowing water spins a turbine, which then turns a generator to produce electricity. Essentially, a dam or diversion structure alters the natural flow of a river, causing water to fall through a pipe and spin the turbine, converting the potential energy in water into electricity that can be fed into the grid

      2. Geothermal power

         1. High pressure steam, harnesses the Earth’s heat to produce electricity and power buildings

         2. Hot water and steam from underground reservoirs to generate electricity

            1. Hot water is pulled to surface, pressure changes causing steam, steam spins turbine that’s connected to a generator to produce electricity

      3. Solar thermal energy

         1. Uses sunlight to generate heat. Use mirrors to concentrate sunlight onto a receiver, which heats a fluid that produces steam. The steam is then converted into mechanical energy that powers a generator to produce electricity