Copyright (c) 2008 Simon Rosser
This article is taken from The A-Z of Global Warming and discusses fossil fuels. The generation of electricity from burning carbon rich coal has a greater impact on the atmosphere than any other single human activity. In 2003 the power industry created 44.5% of all manmade carbon dioxide (CO2) according to the World Resources Institute, Climate Analysis Indicators Tool (CAIT). If one looks at emissions of carbon dioxide alone (ignoring all other greenhouse gases), then for the year 2000, the figure is just under 33%, and the latest figure available from 2003, as mentioned above shows an increase for this sector to 44.5%. The latest figure however excludes CO2 from land use change.
So what are fossil fuels, and how are they formed? Well fossil fuels form deep in the earth's crust over millions of years from enormous pressure and heat which converts dead plant and animal matter into hydrocarbons in the form of coal, oil or natural gas, which can then be dug up and burnt as fuel.
As these fossil fuels have formed over millions of years they are no longer considered to be part of the natural carbon cycle as they have effectively been "locked up" within the earth's crust and rocks etc.
In 2005 alone some 28 billion tonnes of CO2 was released into the atmosphere, from burning fossil fuels, which is equivalent to about 800 tonnes a second!
Out of all the fossil fuels the worst culprit is coal, which is used as the fuel in coal fired electricity power stations for the production of electricity. Generating electricity through carbon rich coal however has a greater impact on the atmosphere than any other single human activity.
The power industry creates over twice the amount of CO2 as is produced by the transport sector.
Basically electricity generation hasn't changed much from the 19th century with large power plants burning fossil fuels for the creation of electricity, and this model looks set to continue for some time to come.
Within the rapidly expanding economies of India and China, coal fired electricity plants will dramatically increase. In fact China, the USA and India are the top three producers in the world.
Apart from carbon dioxide, burning coal produces a host of other chemicals, such as sulphur dioxide, which causes acid rain, Nitrous oxide and other heavy metals.
What makes matters worse is that coal is the world's most widely available fossil fuel and there is around 200 years of coal left, if it is used at its current rate. This will be pretty academic however as according to the latest report by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climatic Change, if the burning of fossil fuels continue unchanged, the Earth could warm by as much as 6 degrees Celsius (10.8 F) by 2100. This would mean almost certain extinction of most of life on the earth.
One only has to look at pictures from recent news stories showing industrial cities in these developing countries to see the pollution and clouds of smog hanging over the cities and blocking out the sunlight.
It is estimated that by the year 2030, 55% of all power stations built in the Asia pacific region will be coal fired.
The transport sector in 2000 accounted for around 14% of greenhouse gas emissions, or 20% of CO2 alone (ignoring other greenhouse gases), in 2003. The majority of these emissions are from road transport, with aviation second, followed by shipping and rail last. Emissions from the aviation sector are expected to grow the quickest however.
So whilst developed and especially developing nations continue to build power stations to gobble up the Earth's supply of fossil fuels, serious harm is being done to the atmosphere which will continue to elevate global temperatures as higher CO2 levels add to the greenhouse effect.
There are in fact enough fossil fuels left to take the world to levels of CO2 concentrations of around 750ppm and above, (around 330 ppm more than present) which would elevate temperatures to such an extent that it would be catastrophic for all of Earth's inhabitants. CO2 as a result of burning fossil fuels is only one of the many greenhouse gases, which is contributing to the warming of the atmosphere. In the next article we will look at Earth's greenhouse gases, which are essential to life on Earth, but which are now warming the planet as their levels steadily increase.
Showing posts with label carbon. Show all posts
Showing posts with label carbon. Show all posts
Thursday, 17 July 2008
Wednesday, 16 July 2008
How to Run Your Car On Water - You Can Do It Yourself: by Mark Myers
Have you ever wondered why physicists have not invented a device to run your car on water? This has already been invented and was patented over 9 decades ago. Modern science did, just a long time ago. This is nothing new, but has never made it to primetime because oil, gas, and energy was cheap.
Here is how to run your car on water.
1.Create a source of renewable electrical power (read your cars battery and alternator) 2. Mix water with something that will enable it to conduct electricity better (Arm & Hammer baking soda) 3. Electrify current from battery to water mixture 4. Watch the bubbles (The bubbles are a mixture of hydrogen and oxygen gas) 5. Use the vacuum system from your car to extract the gas mixture you created (the bubbles) 6. The vacuum injects the hydrogen gas into the cars intake 7. Mix the HHO with gasoline (inside the piston of the car through the intake) 8. Ignite the mixture with a very powerful igniter (read spark plug) 9. Enjoy 50% better fuel mileage
Sound simple? It really is. Ihave deleted a lot due to space allotted, like how much of what, in what, apply current how, etc. I only intended to cover the minimums so you could envision how to your car on water. I know, this still uses gas, correct, just much less of it.
Last time I was at Wal-Mart, gas was $3.99 a gallon, distilled water was $0.69. One gallon of fuel without this system gets you 20 miles. The gallon of water expands to almost 2000 gallons of HHO and allows you to get 50 % further on the same gallon of gas. No brainer huh?
Is this free energy? No, there is no such thing (yet). Every machine whether living like plants and animals and non living like engines and sailboats use more energy than the produce. What is amazing, is this technology uses power that is simply wasted and unused.
You car is about 25% efficient, that means it wastes 75% of the gas it uses, it only take a small increase in efficiency (5-10 percent) to get 50% better mileage. Why not take advantage of the current cheap energy that we have, water.
Products on how to run your car on water are all over the internet. They range in price from $49-$97. What do they contain? For $49 you get the same instructions contained above, they just take 60 pages to say the same thing. The instructions will require a machine shop to produce, so the average person will not be able to duplicate the system. The more expensive products ($97) can be built with common items using only simple tools. The toughest tool to use is a soldering iron, and it can look crude and still work perfectly fine.
For such a small price difference compared to what you will save, it is no wonder the $97 instruction book is the best selling, and has been sold in over 50 countries. It is your choice. You could also choose to do nothing and keep paying crazy prices at the pump. I'll be sure and honk at you as I drive by the gas station, since I know how to run my car on water.
Here is how to run your car on water.
1.Create a source of renewable electrical power (read your cars battery and alternator) 2. Mix water with something that will enable it to conduct electricity better (Arm & Hammer baking soda) 3. Electrify current from battery to water mixture 4. Watch the bubbles (The bubbles are a mixture of hydrogen and oxygen gas) 5. Use the vacuum system from your car to extract the gas mixture you created (the bubbles) 6. The vacuum injects the hydrogen gas into the cars intake 7. Mix the HHO with gasoline (inside the piston of the car through the intake) 8. Ignite the mixture with a very powerful igniter (read spark plug) 9. Enjoy 50% better fuel mileage
Sound simple? It really is. Ihave deleted a lot due to space allotted, like how much of what, in what, apply current how, etc. I only intended to cover the minimums so you could envision how to your car on water. I know, this still uses gas, correct, just much less of it.
Last time I was at Wal-Mart, gas was $3.99 a gallon, distilled water was $0.69. One gallon of fuel without this system gets you 20 miles. The gallon of water expands to almost 2000 gallons of HHO and allows you to get 50 % further on the same gallon of gas. No brainer huh?
Is this free energy? No, there is no such thing (yet). Every machine whether living like plants and animals and non living like engines and sailboats use more energy than the produce. What is amazing, is this technology uses power that is simply wasted and unused.
You car is about 25% efficient, that means it wastes 75% of the gas it uses, it only take a small increase in efficiency (5-10 percent) to get 50% better mileage. Why not take advantage of the current cheap energy that we have, water.
Products on how to run your car on water are all over the internet. They range in price from $49-$97. What do they contain? For $49 you get the same instructions contained above, they just take 60 pages to say the same thing. The instructions will require a machine shop to produce, so the average person will not be able to duplicate the system. The more expensive products ($97) can be built with common items using only simple tools. The toughest tool to use is a soldering iron, and it can look crude and still work perfectly fine.
For such a small price difference compared to what you will save, it is no wonder the $97 instruction book is the best selling, and has been sold in over 50 countries. It is your choice. You could also choose to do nothing and keep paying crazy prices at the pump. I'll be sure and honk at you as I drive by the gas station, since I know how to run my car on water.
Biofuels Are A Potential Low Carbon Energy Source: by Christopher West
Biofuels were invented by Nazi Germany prior to WWII; check any book on history and you will see. Germany is land-locked country with no oil fields. Biofuel is a contentious subject. The amount of land needed is staggering. Biofuels are fuel components produced from renewable materials such as plants, straw or bio-mass waste products such as poultry litter. Is there merit to seeking innovative ways to meet our nation’s increasing energy needs in a world of limited fossil fuel production?
Biofuels production (Ethanol and Bio-Diesel) is on a fast-track in the USA today and we can provide the funding to get them built and online. Alternative Fuels Finance, LLC offers construction and permanent financing, mezzanine and equity funding.
Ethanol subsidies put livestock producers at a competitive disadvantage as relates to corn procurement. Hog prices will not increase on their own just because input costs have risen. Ethanol can be produced from a variety of materials, and other options are being explored now for production in the U.S. Although not yet in large-scale commercial production, cellulosic ethanol is an emerging technology to produce ethanol from agricultural waste and forestry residues such as corn stalks or rice husks, or from purposefullyâ€"grown crops such as switch grass or trees. Ethanol is made from corn and can be run in a Flex Fuel or converted gasoline vehicle. Biodiesel can run in any conventional diesel engine and is commonly made from soy beans.
Production and consumption of agricultural products in general will grow faster in the developing countries than in the developed economies - especially for beef, pork, butter, skimmed milk powder and sugar. OECD countries are expected to lose export shares for nearly all the main farm commodities. Producers get credit for a facility production rate of 25 million gallons annually, or 125 million gallons over the five-year lifespan of the 2005 incentive. Producing electricity from bagasse, a by-product from the sugar industry, harnessing wind and solar energy can prove to be more sensible options for our country. We also need to invest in research so that we produce vehicles that are more efficient in energy consumption and less polluting.
Biofuels are a potential low-carbon energy source, but whether biofuels offer carbon savings depends on how they are produced. Converting rainforests, peatlands, savannas, or grasslands to produce food-based biofuels in Brazil, Southeast Asia, and the United States creates a biofuel carbon debt’ by releasing 17 to 420 times more CO2 than the annual greenhouse gas reductions these biofuels provide by displacing fossil fuels. Biofuels like ethanol and biodiesel are often touted as a panacea for a host of environmental and energy-related problems. This hot topic has even become a centerpiece of high level geopolitics, as evidenced by President Bush's recent trip to Brazil , where ethanol was a principle area of discussion.
Biofuels production (Ethanol and Bio-Diesel) is on a fast-track in the USA today and we can provide the funding to get them built and online. Alternative Fuels Finance, LLC offers construction and permanent financing, mezzanine and equity funding.
Ethanol subsidies put livestock producers at a competitive disadvantage as relates to corn procurement. Hog prices will not increase on their own just because input costs have risen. Ethanol can be produced from a variety of materials, and other options are being explored now for production in the U.S. Although not yet in large-scale commercial production, cellulosic ethanol is an emerging technology to produce ethanol from agricultural waste and forestry residues such as corn stalks or rice husks, or from purposefullyâ€"grown crops such as switch grass or trees. Ethanol is made from corn and can be run in a Flex Fuel or converted gasoline vehicle. Biodiesel can run in any conventional diesel engine and is commonly made from soy beans.
Production and consumption of agricultural products in general will grow faster in the developing countries than in the developed economies - especially for beef, pork, butter, skimmed milk powder and sugar. OECD countries are expected to lose export shares for nearly all the main farm commodities. Producers get credit for a facility production rate of 25 million gallons annually, or 125 million gallons over the five-year lifespan of the 2005 incentive. Producing electricity from bagasse, a by-product from the sugar industry, harnessing wind and solar energy can prove to be more sensible options for our country. We also need to invest in research so that we produce vehicles that are more efficient in energy consumption and less polluting.
Biofuels are a potential low-carbon energy source, but whether biofuels offer carbon savings depends on how they are produced. Converting rainforests, peatlands, savannas, or grasslands to produce food-based biofuels in Brazil, Southeast Asia, and the United States creates a biofuel carbon debt’ by releasing 17 to 420 times more CO2 than the annual greenhouse gas reductions these biofuels provide by displacing fossil fuels. Biofuels like ethanol and biodiesel are often touted as a panacea for a host of environmental and energy-related problems. This hot topic has even become a centerpiece of high level geopolitics, as evidenced by President Bush's recent trip to Brazil , where ethanol was a principle area of discussion.
Find Your Own Diamond Mine: by David Cowley
Apply around 58,000 atmospheres of pressure to pure carbon and then heat to about 2,600 degrees Fahrenheit and you will have a diamond. For millions of years microscopic plants and animals lived and died in the ancient oceans and after time these bodies turned into carbon. When tectonic plates collided with one and another, one of the tectonic plates was pushed under the other and the bodies of the microorganism, now carbon are buried under tons of rock.
With the extrema pressure and heat the molecules of the carbon are aligned forming a diamond. This process arranges the atoms in a unique Crystal structure that cause diamonds to have tighter atoms than any other substance in the world which makes them the hardest natural material known.
These diamonds were later pushed to the surface of the earths crust by volcanic action. A volcano is an opening, or rupture, in the earths crust that allows hot molten rock to escape to the earths surface and if the conditions are right, diamonds as well. Volcano's fall into three different types.
The first type is when the tectonic plates pull apart from one another. These linear features volcano's can form in the middle of continents but also occur in the oceans. It produces rift valleys that is filled when the two opposing plates move away from each other. Since carbon has not been forced into the molten rock diamonds are usually not found. An example of rift valleys are the Great Rift Valley located in the Middle East and Africa, the Mid-Atlantic Rift, and the Rio Grand Rift in North America.
The second type of volcanic action occurs when the tectonic plates stretch as they move over a hot spot or mantle plumes. The crust of the earth is melted allowing the hot magma to move to the earths surface. An example of this type of volcano's is the Hawaiian Islands. The Hawaiian Islands consists of hundreds of island and atolls that extend for 1,500 miles or 2,300 KM. As the tectonic plates moved across the hot spot volcanoes erupted and created islands. The oldest to the newest island extend from the northwest to the southeast ending with Hawaii or the big island. Prime Diamond hunting areas is found where two opposing tectonic plates collide and one is forced under the other. This will cause carbon to be pushed into the hot magma and with tons of rock on top the pressure will be extreme. As the collisions take place large mountain ranges may be formed by the wrinkling of the earths crust such as the Rockey Mountains and the Himalayan Mountain range. As cracks and fissures is formed in the mountain ranges the magma will find its way to the surface and a volcano is formed. The Volcano eruption can be quite violent such as the Mount St. Helen's explosion in North America in 1980. The Pacific Ring of Fire is a 24,850 mile or 40,000 km horseshoe shaped ring of volcanoes. It extends from Java to Sumatra to the Himalayas to the Mediterranean and into the Mid Atlantic Ridge. The San Andreas Fault in California is another example of an active collision of tectonic plates.
Named after the town of Kimberley in South Africa in 1870s, diamonds are found in a type of rock called Kimberley pipes. Kimberley pipes are formed from the cooling volcano core of magma that has found its way to the earths surface. It is believed that they are formed deep within the earths mantle between 93 to 290 miles or 150 to 450 kilometers deep and contain exotic compositions that are erupted rapidly and violently to the surface.
Red garnets are usually found in Kimberley pipes that contain diamonds. Since these minerals are in greater in quantities than diamonds, geologists look for these indicator in the regions where they suspect diamonds to occur. Most Kimberley pipes were formed between 70 to 150 million years ago but several have been found in Southern Africa that are believed to be 1600 million years old. Only 1 in 200 Kimberley pipes contain gem-quality diamonds.
In a nut shell look for the areas that tectonic plates are converging. Next find areas that have had volcanic activity in the distant past, the older the better. Find the Kimberley rock formations that the volcanoes have produced. If the Kimberley pipes have evidence of red garnets and other crystals then the possibility of diamonds is highly possible. Please remember the author and give him several handfuls of rough diamonds as a reward for the information provided here.
Happy diamond hunting.
With the extrema pressure and heat the molecules of the carbon are aligned forming a diamond. This process arranges the atoms in a unique Crystal structure that cause diamonds to have tighter atoms than any other substance in the world which makes them the hardest natural material known.
These diamonds were later pushed to the surface of the earths crust by volcanic action. A volcano is an opening, or rupture, in the earths crust that allows hot molten rock to escape to the earths surface and if the conditions are right, diamonds as well. Volcano's fall into three different types.
The first type is when the tectonic plates pull apart from one another. These linear features volcano's can form in the middle of continents but also occur in the oceans. It produces rift valleys that is filled when the two opposing plates move away from each other. Since carbon has not been forced into the molten rock diamonds are usually not found. An example of rift valleys are the Great Rift Valley located in the Middle East and Africa, the Mid-Atlantic Rift, and the Rio Grand Rift in North America.
The second type of volcanic action occurs when the tectonic plates stretch as they move over a hot spot or mantle plumes. The crust of the earth is melted allowing the hot magma to move to the earths surface. An example of this type of volcano's is the Hawaiian Islands. The Hawaiian Islands consists of hundreds of island and atolls that extend for 1,500 miles or 2,300 KM. As the tectonic plates moved across the hot spot volcanoes erupted and created islands. The oldest to the newest island extend from the northwest to the southeast ending with Hawaii or the big island. Prime Diamond hunting areas is found where two opposing tectonic plates collide and one is forced under the other. This will cause carbon to be pushed into the hot magma and with tons of rock on top the pressure will be extreme. As the collisions take place large mountain ranges may be formed by the wrinkling of the earths crust such as the Rockey Mountains and the Himalayan Mountain range. As cracks and fissures is formed in the mountain ranges the magma will find its way to the surface and a volcano is formed. The Volcano eruption can be quite violent such as the Mount St. Helen's explosion in North America in 1980. The Pacific Ring of Fire is a 24,850 mile or 40,000 km horseshoe shaped ring of volcanoes. It extends from Java to Sumatra to the Himalayas to the Mediterranean and into the Mid Atlantic Ridge. The San Andreas Fault in California is another example of an active collision of tectonic plates.
Named after the town of Kimberley in South Africa in 1870s, diamonds are found in a type of rock called Kimberley pipes. Kimberley pipes are formed from the cooling volcano core of magma that has found its way to the earths surface. It is believed that they are formed deep within the earths mantle between 93 to 290 miles or 150 to 450 kilometers deep and contain exotic compositions that are erupted rapidly and violently to the surface.
Red garnets are usually found in Kimberley pipes that contain diamonds. Since these minerals are in greater in quantities than diamonds, geologists look for these indicator in the regions where they suspect diamonds to occur. Most Kimberley pipes were formed between 70 to 150 million years ago but several have been found in Southern Africa that are believed to be 1600 million years old. Only 1 in 200 Kimberley pipes contain gem-quality diamonds.
In a nut shell look for the areas that tectonic plates are converging. Next find areas that have had volcanic activity in the distant past, the older the better. Find the Kimberley rock formations that the volcanoes have produced. If the Kimberley pipes have evidence of red garnets and other crystals then the possibility of diamonds is highly possible. Please remember the author and give him several handfuls of rough diamonds as a reward for the information provided here.
Happy diamond hunting.
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