Project Mind Map

This trimester I had the chance to participate in a green engineering project, we name it Eco car, talks about trading gas cars to byfuel or natural gas combustible. it reduces in a great amount the emission of CO2. I was the Leader investigator of the project. Iwas interested in this subject because here in Venezuela the conversion is for free.

This is the mind map of our Project. Eco Car. you can find it at


http://engineeringsolutionstoagreenproblem.wetpaint.com/page/Sep-Dec09+Team+2

How to Stop Climate Change?

It takes more than one person to stop global warming and climate change. The nature can do A lot by herself, but we can help too. Find out what you can do. Hey It's your wold too!

*INDUSTRY EFFORT
Industrialised countries need to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions 25-40% by 2020 (compared to 1990 levels) and 80-95% by 2050 to have a 50:50 chance of limiting warming to 2° C and avoiding dangerous climate change, according to the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). This means taking action to reduce emissions now.
*USING ENERGY BETTER
The greatest potential for tackling the greenhouse gas emissions generated by our energy consumption (whether for electricity, heating and cooling, or transport) is offered by energy saving and efficiency: using energy better. As well as being the safest and most effective way to deliver emissions reductions, this demand-side approach would reduce our unhealthy dependence on imported fossil fuels and save money for consumers and businesses.
*GREEN POWER There is enormous potential to generate environmentally-friendly energy from renewable sources such as wind, solar power, hydro, geothermal and biomass. Many of the technologies have already proven to be economically viable and, in an era of high oil prices, more will become so. Ensuring that Europe realises its renewables potential will: reduce our dependence on imported energy and deliver much -needed jobs and growth, as well as playing a central role in our response to climate change.
*STOP THE USE OF FOSSIL FUEL Our insatiable appetite for energy from fossil fuels is the main cause for the current climate change crisis. The rapid growth in the extraction and burning of fossil fuels (like coal, oil and natural gas) has led to a massive increase in the release of climate change-causing greenhouse gases, notably CO2. We need to rapidly scale back our use of this dirty energy. To avoid dangerous effects of climate change, we need to transform the global energy system away from one dependent on fossil fuels to one that is based on new renewables, energy efficiency and energy conservation. This means finishing with outdated and dirty energy sources like coal and oil by 2050.
*NUCLEAR NO SOLUTION Nuclear power is not a solution for climate change. The nuclear industry is in global decline and any attempts to reverse this decline would be both overly costly and would not be realised in time to contribute to the urgently-needed greenhouse gas reductions. This is not to mention the massive risks associated with nuclear power and the unresolved question of how to safely deal with dangerous radioactive waste. Globally about one third of the greenhouse gases are caused by the production of electricity. The world's 339 operating nuclear reactors provide only 16% of global electricity, 6% of commercial primary energy and 2.5% of the final energy in the world. Nuclear power worldwide generates less electricity than its decentralised no- and low-carbon competitors (renewables and fossil-fueled combined heat and power).
*MOVE GREEN The climate change impact of transport is continuing to grow, undermining progress being made across other sectors of the economy in reducing greenhouse gas emissions. Tackling this climate impact must be a top priority if we are to prevent dangerous climate change. This means changing our approach to how we get around. The transport sector is almost completely dependent on petroleum-based fuels (like petrol and diesel), which are a major cause of greenhouse gas emissions, as well as other pollution. Weaning ourselves off our dirty gas-guzzling habits is a real challenge, as increasing the share of renewable fuels in transport is not a viable option in the short-term. The real potentials for reducing the climate impact of the transport sector lie in shifting to soft mobility options and improving the efficiency of existing fuel-powered transport modes. Developing hybrid-electric engines offers a more realistic prospect of reducing our damaging dependence on oil imports and the emissions this generates.

I found this intersting wep page. I invite you to check it out and find out a climate change glossary, and a lot more info about this subject.

http://www.stopclimatechange.net/index.php?id=76

Let's keep the world a place like this

Climate Change. Causes.

Climate Change is a change in the statistical distribution of weather over periods of time, that range from decades to millions of years. Climate change may be limited to a specific region or across the whole earth.

Climate Change Causes:
*Plate Tectonics

Over the course of million of years, the motion of tectonics plates reconfigures global land and ocean areas.
*Solar Output

The sus is the predomint source for energy to the earth. Both long and short term variation of solar intensity are known to affect global climate.

*Orbital Variations

Slight variations in earth's orbit lead to changes in the amount of sunlight reaching the earth surface and how it's distributed across the globe. This is similar to solar variations in that is a change to the power input from the sun to the earth system. The three types of orbital variations combine together produce Milankovitch cycles, which have a large impact on climate and are notable for their correlation to glacial and interglacial periods their correlation with the advance and retreat of the sahara and for the appearance in the statigraphic record.
*Volcanism

Is a process of conveying material from the crust and mantle of the earth to it's surface. Vulcanic eruptions, Geysers, and Hot springs are examples of volcanic processes which releases gases and/or particulates into the atmosphere.
*Ocean Variability

The ocean is a fundamental part of climate system. Short-term fluctuations (years to a few decades) such as the El Nino Southern oscillation,The Pacific decadal oscillation and the North Atlantic oscillation, represent climate variability. On longer time scales, alterations to ocean processes such as thermohaline circulation play a key role in redistributing heat by carrying out a very slow and extremely deep movement of water and the long-term redistribution of heat in the world's oceans.
*Human Influence

Anthropogenic factors are human activities that change the environment. Various hypotheses for human-induced climate change have been argued for many years. Presently the scientific consensus on climate change s that human activity is very likely the cause for the rapid increase in global average temperatures over the past several decades.Of most concern in these anthropogenic factors is the increase in CO2 levels due to emissions from fossil fuel due to combustion, followed by aerosols and cement manufacture Other factors, including land use, ozone depletion, animal agriculture and deforestation are also of concern in the roles they play (both separately and in conjunction with other factors) in affecting climate. An US GEOLOGICAL SURVEY, estimates are that human activities generate more than 130 times the amount of carbon dioxide emitted by volcanoes.
Here I wxposed the causes of climate change, what Do you think? What Did I leave out?

Images by: Wikimedia commons and Google Images.