Reduce Gas Price

Carbon dioxide

Carbon dioxide is a colourless, odorless, tasteless, incombustible gas that is 1.5 times heavier than air. Its chemical formula is CO2 and is produced with complete oxidation of carbon containing compounds in processes like combustion, and in biological processes like, respiration, decomposition of organic materials and fermentation. It is mainly used by plants in the administer of photosynthesis to produce carbohydrates. It is also used in fire extinguishers, refrigerators and in carbonated beverages. Other uses include in metal industries everywhere it is used to enhance hardness in the manufacture of casting molds, used in oil wells for oil extraction and in maintaining pressure within a formation. When pumped into an oil well it dissolves partially in the oil and hence making it less viscous. Its concentration in air is approximately 0.038% or 380ppm. (Universal industrial Gases, Inc).

Carbon dioxide emissions are the amount of carbon dioxide released into the atmosphere. Its concentration has been increasing rapidly in the last few years and this has been a matter of interest and concern. This is especially due to its inter-relationship with global warming. There are many other useful uses of carbon dioxide but this paper will try to look at problems and solutions to Carbon Dioxide emissions. CO2 is a green house gas that traps earth’s heat and hence contributes to Global Warming. Fossil fuels combustion is the largest contributor of carbon dioxide emissions in the United States. The emissions mainly come from power generation stations whereby fossils fuel is used to produce electric power for industrial, commercial and residential use. Hence these sectors are the greatest contributors of carbon dioxide emissions, together with the transport sector. (US Department of Energy)

CO2 Emissions in Cars.

Automobiles can be said to be the single greatest polluter in the world since of the mere numbers of cars in our roads. A typical citizen’s contribution to the world wide problem of air pollution is by driving a private car (alpha online).The fantastic numbers of cars have contributed to traffic jams in our roads and this has lead to air pollution especially when one is wedged in a traffic jam and all the cars are idling. The main reason why cars use liquid hydrocarbons is since of their high volumetric energy density and convenience of use. The transport industry in the U.S uses 13.8 million barrels of oil per year chief to release of 0.53 gigatons of carbon per year (Agrawal et.al).

Problems

When the fuel and air mix in the car engine, the products produced are hydrocarbons, nitrogen oxides, carbon dioxide, carbon monoxide and water. Fuel combustion emits carbon dioxide which is a green house gas. The amount of gas produced is frankly related to amount of fuel used and more fuel is used when one drives for long.

Solutions

The long-term solution that needs to be implemented is for the reduction of emissions from motor vehicles. The more fuel efficient the car, the less CO2 it will produce. This can be achieved by use of alternative fuel in cars. The alternative fuel can be ethanol, biofuels, propane, hydrogen, electricity and natural gas methane. Hydrogen and electricity can be obtained from a carbon free primary energy source e.g. nuclear and solar or even wind or can it be obtained from a renewable source.eg.biomass.   But the problem with this is that the production of alternative fuel requires burning of fossils fuels and this pollutes the environment. Hence no alternative fuel is ideal. (Alpha online).Some alternative fuels e.g. ethanol still produce carbon dioxide on burning. Ethanol has been championed in the U.S as an alternative energy source but the main reason for this is not to reduce the emissions to our environment but instead to reduce dependency on oil producing countries. It is produced from corn but it is very expensive in its production since 75% of its energy value is spent on its production. Also the changing climatic conditions and extreme weather in U.S threaten corn production.Biofuels can be a excellent alternative but its use is being threatened by competition between food production and biofuels production. Hydrogen and electricity can be a better way or sinking the net carbon emissions in the transport sector. The main disadvantage to this is the storage density of this energy. Liquid hydrocarbon remains to be well loved since of its convenience. It is also easily accessible and is of low cost until recently. The use of H2CAR is the ultimate solution to reduction of emissions in the transport sector. (Agrawal et al, 6).this is a hybrid hydrogen-carbon whereby the hydrogen is produced by a carbon free energy source e.g. nuclear and the biomass is the carbon source.

The citizens must be informed on dangers and effects of car fuel emissions and also on ways of sinking them. One of the ways is to use hybrid cars. The intensity at which they use cars must be reduced as well. This is since there is no point in paying more money to buy a hybrid car and drive it more. This will have contributed small to solving air pollution problems unlike when one buys a fuel guzzler and drives it less evenly. This will have contributed to a better environment. The ultimate solution is for the American citizens to know the dangers of car emissions and in doing this they must avoid more driving and instead find an alternative means of transport e.g. train. Also public transport must be enhanced and made more efficient. This will reduce the number of private cars in the roads and hence contribute to low CO2 emissions.

Home appliances

There are various party home appliances that are powered by gas but most of the appliances that we use contribute indirectly to emissions especially those powered by electricity. The main sources of green house gas emissions from homes are electricity use, heating and wastes. Electricity contributes to emissions at the power generation plant. This occurs when coal and other fossil fuels are burned to produce electricity. Homes use electricity for various purposes e.g.heating, lighting, cooling and operating electric appliances. On average, house hold emissions are approximately 7.4 metric tons per year. (USEPA) .Power generation plant that use coal emits more carbon dioxide than the one uses natural gas.

Home heating occurs mostly during winter whereby different homes use different fossil fuels to heat up the furnaces or boilers. This emits green house gases. The amount emitted depends on the type of fuel used, type of furnace being used and the furnace or boiler efficiency. It will also depend on the temperature setting of the home.

Emissions from waste occur when trash and other wastes are thrown away. An average person in America throws away more than 1,130 pounds of waste each year and every pound thrown away emits approximately 0.94 pounds of carbon dioxide. (USEPA).when trash is thrown into land fills; it decomposes and produces Land Fill Gas (LFG) which contains 50% carbon dioxide. This occurs as a result of bacterial decomposition of organic material e.g. left over foods and papers.

Solution

The goods thrown away are made using energy. When these are recycled, energy can be saved and hence emissions minimized.basically, more energy is required to make a new product compared to the energy required to produce a product from recycled materials. Hence by recycling, the wastes can be minimized and this in turn may possibly lead to reduced greenhouse gas emissions. The average recycling rate for the United States is 30.6%. If the recycling rate increased to 35%, greenhouse gas emissions from waste may possibly be reduced by 67 pounds of CO2 equivalent per person. (USEPA).

Landfill gas can also be used as a source of energy to produce electricity or for heating. This can significantly reduce emissions of gases into the environment and hence reduce air pollution. This can also minimize the use of fossil fuels for the production of energy. There are around 365 landfills in the U.S. that use methane recovered from the land fills for production of electricity and heat. This has helped businesses and communities to protect their environment and hence erect a sustainable future.

Other events that can be used to minimize energy use at home include loft insulation, cavity wall insulation, installing of draught excluders and switching off appliances that are not in use. Leave-taking unused appliances on standby must be avoided. Also boil as much water  as you need and avoiding heating more water than you demand, switching on the washing apparatus only when you have a full load and hanging clothes out to dry when the weather is excellent, taking a quick shower and turning down the thermostat, avoid food wasting by  plotting a menu for the days ahead and making shopping lists and use of leftovers wisely, closing the curtains at dusk to prevent heat lose, switching to energy saving light bulbs and replacing them with the 100W light bulbs, fitting insulation jackets to hot water tank, fitting an energy efficient boiler, buying energy saving appliances, use sustainable wood, buy recycled paper, furniture and flooring, use of biogas from land fills, buying items and products that lasts since energy is used in producing new goods, buy and install water efficient shower heads, low flush or dual flush toilets, hiring or borrowing power tools instead of buying them, recycling and donating ancient and unused items e.g.