Your Questions: Carbon Power

article by David Malakoff

Our climate has always been changing, and humans have tried to cope with these changes over the last 2 million years.  Now, we are not only trying to deal with climate change, but we are trying to change the climate ourselves.  We are raising the global temperature every day just by flipping on a light or driving a car.  Once again, our species will have to adapt to a change in climate that we caused ourselves. 

More information on the greenhouse effect:

1. Solar radiation strikes the earth
2. atmosphere reflects some of it back into space
3. the rest is absorbed by land and sea
4. the heat that is reflected into space is in the form of infrared energy
5. some of this energy is trapped by transparent gases in the atmosphere
6. infrared energy heats gas molecules, which in turn heat the earth

4 major warming gases: water vapor, CO2, methane, nitrous oxide (humans mostly control CO2 emissions, but we also have a great effect on methane and nitrous oxide through farming and industrial practices)

There are some factors that add to global warming that cannot be controlled by humans.  The earth has been getting warming since the last ice age 12,000 years ago.  Other factors include changes in solar radiation and wobbles in the Earth’s orbit. 

 Scientists are working on several ways to stop CO2 from reaching the atmosphere.  One way could be to collect CO2 from the top of smokestacks and pump it underground, but this could add up to 50% of electricity plant costs and scientists do not know how long the CO2 would stay underground.  Also, it takes a lot of energy to do procedures like this, so it could end up emitting more CO2 trying to capture it.  Hopefully procedures like this will soon be worked out.

I liked this article because it gave me an overview of everything I have been researching but gave me more details and explained everything clearly.  I like how the article incorporated parts from all our groups and I definitely think this with help my segment on causes.