Global warming and the enhanced greenhouse effect

Global warming and the enhanced greenhouse effect.

What is Global warming?

The increase in the earth’s temperature, both on land and in water, is global warming.

From 1901 to 2012, the surface of the earth’s average temperature has risen by 0.89 ºC . The global warming which is happening today is a result of the accumulation of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere that have been emitted by the activities of humans. In the past, rises and falls in the earth’s temperatures had been due to natural causes. This, however, is not the case in this day and age.

What causes global warming?

Global warming is caused by the increase in amounts of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases which results in the earth retaining this additional heat. Human activities such as the burning of fossil fuels and deforestation contribute to this. When fossil fuels such as coal and oil are burned, there is an increased concentration of the atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2). This occurs because the burning process, when combined with the oxygen in the air, makes CO2.

What is the Greenhouse effect?

The greenhouse effect is a natural process which helps to uphold the Earth’s temperature at a safe level for the survival of humans, among many other life forms. Greenhouse gases trap heat in the atmosphere as without them, the earth would be too cold for life to be sustained.

What is the enhanced greenhouse effect?

The enhanced greenhouse effect is causing the average temperature of the earth to increase by almost 1ºC. This began to happen after the Industrial Revolution which led to human activities releasing. The enhanced greenhouse effect is generating the global warming that we see and hear about today.

Why is this so bad?

If we put our temperature rising into perspective, during the last ice-age that occurred, the earth’s average temperature was only around 5ºC. Human activities are generating more greenhouse gases than any natural processes can work to remove. A stronger greenhouse effect results in the oceans warming and partially melting the glacier’s and other ice. This

results in an increase in sea level. The warmth will also expand ocean water, which will further contribute to the rise of the sea level.

Gases that contribute to the greenhouse effect: Water vapor works as a feedback to the climate (Nasa, 2017) Methane is a hydrocarbon gas which is created by humans through fossil fuel production, livestock, rice farming and landfills.

Nitrous oxide emissions are primarily caused by the practices of soil cultivation. This can be seen through the uses of synthetic fertilizers in agriculture, fossil fuel combustion, and livestock manure management, nitric acid production, as well as biomass burning.

Fluorinated gases are also used in application for refrigeration, cooling, and manufacturing.

Carbon dioxide is released through the natural processes including respiration and volcano eruption, as well as human activities such as deforestation, land use and the burning of fossil fuels, for example coal and oil. Our heavy fossil fuel use is due to our reliance on them to power vehicles and machinery, as well as keep us warm and create electricity.

Effects of Global warming Increased melting of snow and ice: in the arctic, glaciers, permafrost and sea ice are melting at a very rapid rate.

Sea levels rising Stronger hurricanes and cyclones.

Shortwave radiation is emitted by the sun and it passes through the earth’s atmosphere, where most of it is absorbed by the surface of the Earth, and some is reflected back into space. This makes the earth’s surface warm, allowing it to re-radiate a portion of its energy into the atmosphere again as longwave and infrared radiation. (Sherwood, 2017). The greenhouse gases work to trap an amount of this radiation in order to keep the Earth warm and habitable.

Our heavy reliance and use of fossil fuels such as coal and oil are one of the primary reason as to why the effects global warming and the enhanced greenhouse effect are so severe. A solution for this would have to stem from the use of renewable energy and would require us to change the system of our energy into one that is ‘clean’ and does not rely on fossil fuels and other non-renewable resources.

Some ways of reducing our excessive emission of greenhouse gases are solar energy, electric cars and wind turbines.

Geosequestration, otherwise known as Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS), is one way of reducing the gases and it works by ‘capturing and storing carbon dioxide from major energyrelated and industrial sources underground,’ (Dr Chris Riedy, 2006). This is secured in an industrial facility to be compressed for transportation to a site for injection. These sites are generally underground geological foundations such as porous rock which tend to be 800 meters underground. The rocks above (impermeable), stop the gas from escaping and ensures its storage for many years, (Richard Aldous, 2011).

As geosequestration reduces air pollution through the use of capture technologies such as pre-combustion capture, post-combustion capture and oxyfuel combustion, which separates the carbon dioxide from the other gases which are produced in industrial buildings. This is then moved through pipelines for its storage. NIST chemist, Adam Fleisher states that if gas emissions are reduced, it could result in the cut of carbon emission by up to 90% (2015). This may lead to the air being cleaner and eventually, and less damaged environment. This solution also results in the promotion of renewable energy and thus, in the long term would minimize the global warming and enhanced greenhouse effect. According to Nasab, however, this solution also creates an increase in direct emissions due to its requirement of 15-20% more energy. Because of this, power plants with the CCS technology would need more fuel. As this is technology is not used so much, it is not known if there is a risk of the CO2. leaking from its storage sites and it may create long term effects on the geological formations underneath the surface of the earth, which may have the potential to poison the land.

For this technology to be part of society, large industrial companies would have to invest in it which would be a large change for their systems. This kind of technology would also be much more expensive than regular fossil fuels, creating an economic factor, which many might not want to buy in to.

To conclude, whilst geosequestration creates its own set of problems, it is still much more energy efficient and less harmful for the environment. Therefore in the case of this solution, the good outweighs the bad, and thus it is an effective solution for global warming and the enhanced greenhouse effect.