ESS Topic 7 Climate Change and Energy

Weather

Daily result of changes in temperature, pressure, and precipitation in the environment.

Climate

Long-term average of weather events.

Why do interior states have the climate they do?

Proximity to ocean, wind patterns, latitude influence drastic temperature swings in interior states not close to water, offshore currents affect nearby land areas.

Why do maritime states have the climate they do?

Maritime climate is moderated by the ocean's high specific heat capacity.

CO2 increases due to ________, preventing _______.

fossil fuel growth and deforestation, preventing carbon sequestration.

Reasons for methane level increase

agriculture, melting permafrost, rice production, and landfills.

Increasing average global temperature leads to…

lower pH, ocean acidification, biodiversity loss, and trophic cascades.

Climate change mitigation

Aims to reduce the effects by decreasing sources and increasing sinks of greenhouse gases.

Methods to mitigate climate change

• Carbon taxes 

• Lifestyle changes

• Co2 reduction

• Reduce chemical fertilizer

• Reduce intensive livestock

• Fossil fuels alternatives

• Increased efficiency in GHG’s usage

• Carbon capture (technocentric)

Kyoto Protocol

• 1997/2005: countries pledged to reduce GHG to 1990 levels within 15 years

  • No country met the target. Most saw increases in GHGs

  • US never ratified the treaty → doomed it from the start

Paris Agreement

• Pledged at most a 2 degrees Celsius increase in temperatures

  • Most projections predict a 3.2 degree increase

  • Most countries have made little progress

  • US withdrew then came back in 2021

Energy Security

Ensuring affordable, reliable, and sufficient energy supplies for a country.

Energy crisis

Bottleneck in energy supply due to increased demand, decreased supply, or political tensions.

Sustainability

Considering environmental impacts, energy usage, and renewable sources for long-term energy needs.

Fossil fuels

Coal, petroleum, and natural gas are non-renewable energy sources with environmental consequences like CO2 emissions.

Fracking

Oil/gas extraction method using high-pressure fluids to crack rocks underground, with negative impacts on water use and habitat.

Renewable Energy

Includes geothermal, nuclear, hydroelectric, solar, and wind power sources for sustainable energy production.

Energy Efficiency

make tasks require less energy

Energy efficient design

• Buildings that absorb sun depending on season to heat

• Green roofs

• Recycled materials (denim, fly ash, etc.)

• Energy efficient devices and appliances (light bulbs)

Energy conservation

decreasing how much energy is used overall

Examples of energy conservation

• Gov’t initiatives - taxes on fuels or rebates/tax credits

• Change your behavior

• Stem from energy efficiency

Factors in energy choice

• Availability 

• Technology

• Politics

• Economics

• Cultural attitudes (ex: love of cars here in the States)

• Sustainability

• Environmental considerations (is it dangerous?)

20th century energy trends

• Coal use dropped by half

• Oil increased

• Natural gas increased

• Nuclear increased

• Renewables decreased → LEDCs use biomass most

Energy Generation

• Regardless of source, all thermal power plants work in some basic way (combustion)

  • Water turned to steam

  • The energy released moves a turbine

  • Generates electricity

Fossil Fuels

• Made of decomposing plants/animals 

• Coal, petroleum, natural gas (C, H, N, O, S, minerals, except for natural gas)

• Swap from biomass/steam to fossil fuels over the last few years 

• We continue to use them because they’re transportable, in expensive, have infrastructure

• However, they lead to CO2 emissions

Coal

• Solid fuel formed of tree, fern, and plant remains from 280-360 million years ago

• Most abundant

• “Dirtiest” fossil fuel → most emissions when used or to obtain 

• Mining leads to poor working conditions

• Types ranked by age: older coal has more coal expunged (more processing required, I think)

• Largest reserves in the US, Russia, China, and Australia

Crude oil, petroleum

• Widely used fossil fuel occurring in underground deposits

  • Liquid mixture of hydrocarbons, water, and sulfur

• Extracted through ground wells

  • Mixture injected at high pressure → forces oil up

  • Not as bad as coal mining

  • Once extracted, it’s distilled to separate different products, each with different condensing point (Fuel oil, diesel, kerosene, gasoline, gas)

• US uses ~816 million gallons of oil/day

• Top oil producers are Saudi Arabia, Russia, US, Iran, China, Canada, and Iraq (50% of all oil produced comes from 7 countries)

Arctic National Wildlife Refuge

possibility of 378 billion gallons of oil, but may harm habitat

Natural gas

• Cleanest of the fossil fuels

• Associated w/ petroleum and is found within petroleum on deposits

• Mostly used in electricity or industrial processes

  • Used in fertilizer production, heat homes, dryers/heaters

  • Liquefied for BBQs

• Extracted in same way as oil

How are Egypt and Sudan adapting to climate change similarly?

Building physical infrastructure to cope with the problem

Egypt: building physical barriers to keep flooding at bay

Sudan: building shelter-belts and wind-breaks to protect rangeland from wind that affects drought

How are Egypt and Sudan adapting to climate change differently?

Egypt: taking a legislative approach to the problem. Adopted National Climate Change Plan that brings climate problems to national control, and Law 4/94 that requires EIAs for coastal infrastructure.

Sudan: taking an economic approach with revolving credit funds and monitoring/preventing factors that led to drought in the first place (ex: # of grazing animals and cut trees)

Examples of greenhouse gases

CO2, methane, CFCs, H2O vapor, HCFCs, nitrous oxides, ozone