Impact of Fossil Fuels on the Environment - Assignment Example

Questionnaires and Interviewee Answers based on the Impact of Fossil Fuels on the Environment [Name] [Institutional Affiliation] [Date] 1. Have the fossil fuels supported international economic growth and in what ways have they supported? The world consists of many industries, and the essential element for them to operate is electricity. Most of the machines designed in the 18th century operate on fossil fuels, including the generators, vehicle engines, and some industrial operations (Fouquet, 2013). Thus, the fast economic growth experienced in the world all-over can be attributed to the energy supplied by fossil fuels. Further, fossil fuels are part of some food products such as the cooking oils. Further, the manufacturing and processing sectors associated with fossil fuels have created so many forms of employment as witnessed in energy sectors across the world, in the retail and wholesale centers for various petrol, diesel and paraffin outlets. 2. Are there alternative ways economy can thrive without the use of fossil fuels? Although the world economy largely depends on fossil fuel, it should be realized that there are other alternative forms of energy that can also support similar economic activities supported by the fossil fuels (Dell & Rand, 2004). However, the challenge is that those alternative forms have not been fully developed and in some areas, have not been accepted. The technology for green energy is still high and more research needs to be done. 3. Are fossil fuels sustainable with regard to the world’s future energy? The answer to this is “No” for reason that fossil fuels are a non-renewable form of energy. This means that at one point, this resource will be depleted, and the world may come to a standstill. However, at the moment they are not fully exploited. Curbed with the environmental challenges that come with the fossil fuels, it is obvious that the source cannot be sustainable unless the available technologies are developed to reduce the environmental carbon dioxide emissions. 4. What makes fossil fuels good as transportation fuels? Most transport vessels comprise of engines that require portable form of energy (Cook, 2012). Therefore, oil forms basis in this industry given its additional advantage of the availability, storage, high energy content for running engines, and stability. 5. Is the rate of fuel use in the world increasing or decreasing, and how can this be explained in practical terms? With the intensified campaign for green energy, the existence of policies such as the Kyoto Protocol, the need to reduce excess emission of carbon to the atmosphere and the overall understanding that fossil fuels are a non-renewable source of energy, most governments have shifted some of the resources to exploiting the green energy sources such as solar, wind, geothermal, hydro electricity and biogas (Cocks, 2009). Further, the world is gradually reducing the subsidized support for fossil fuels in a unified approach to growing other forms of energy. 6. What is the general policy trend with regard to fossil fuels? With the input of environmentalists and support from SEA and EIA for Strategic Impact Assessment and Environmental Impact Assessment respectively, the level of carbon emissions should be reduced. The aim of environmentalists is to restore the environment by planting more trees to utilize the available carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. The policies put in place ensure that fossil fuels are utilized within the lens of environmental protection. 7. In what ways do fossil fuels impact on climate change? The general understanding is that when we burn fossil fuels, they release some carbon dioxide into the atmosphere, which results in creating a greenhouse effect which in turn, contributes to global warming. 8. Are there environmental concerns with regard to technologies that use CO2? A lot of the CO2 used in technologies such as supercritical cleaning, dry ice blasting and painting is recoverable from processes such as fermentation (Hock, 2009). The technology ensures no additional production of CO2. 9. Is global warming largely due to the impact of fossil fuels? Fossil fuels are largely cited to cause a lot o global warming as compared to other sources of carbon emissions (Lovell, 2010). Most plants are run by fossil fuels as a source of energy and, therefore, contributing to the creation of a greenhouse effect which is responsible for global warming. Further, some industries encourage settlements that compete for forest lands whereas the use of wood fuel in boiler industries results in increased carbon dioxide due to decreased purification of air. 10. Is agricultural production affected by fossil fuels? When carbon is emitted into the atmosphere via burning of fossil fuels, the carbon combines with rain water resulting to acid rains. Such rains are known to increase the soil pH, thus making it unfavorable for farming. 11. Is it possible to reduce air pollution by minimizing the application of fossil fuels? Although it is easy to eliminate visible smoke from the air and which consists of large particles, the particles are not responsible for the adverse effects on health (Morris, 2007 and Woodward, 2008). There exists an expensive technology for reducing the amount of sulphur dioxide(SO2) in the air and yet not clear if this technology can reduce the effect of air pollution with regard to health. It is not clear on what is the greatest source of health problems out of the many sources of air pollution including the fossil fuels, and therefore, if it is not clear what to eliminate, so it is unascertainable. 12. What are some of the efforts by government and organizations is providing non-fossil fuels? Some governments such as Wales and England have developed Non-Fossil Fuel Obligations(NFFO) meant to support the growth of renewable energies (Muradov & VeziroğLu, 2012). Such laws are in place in the Wales and England whereby the initial objectives were to finance nuclear energy. Further, the Kyoto protocol has gained a lot of acceptance as guideline for reducing the emission of carbon into the atmosphere. 13. In what forms do we have the fossil fuels? Fossil fuels exist in different forms such as natural gas, coal and oil. These are energy-rich substances obtained from dead organisms and wastes that were buried many years in the past and are non-renewable. At ambient temperature, oil exists in form of a liquid and can dissolve in organic solvents. Coal exists as a black sedimentary rock that normally occurs in the rocks’ strata. Natural gas is gaseous in nature. 14. How do fossil fuels contribute to global warming? When fossil fuels like coal and petroleum are extracted and burnt, they emit some carbon dioxide into the atmosphere that is responsible for trapping heat. The trapped heat leads to global warming due to the creation of a greenhouse effect. According to Roberts & Edwards (2010), the levels of carbon dioxide have increased in the world by about 4% in the past 800,000 years and are cited to originate mainly from oil and coal. Further, the cutting of trees makes matters worse. The growth of trees uses carbon dioxide and therefore, clearing them means having increased levels of carbon into the atmosphere. 15. In what ways can the global environmental impacts of fossil fuels be reduced? The reduction of the global effects of fossil fuels requires a collective responsibility of all the countries. If one country stops, the other will take advantage of the resource and grow its economy at the adverse effect on the environment that is for all. Therefore, a common legislation should be adopted and aim at imposing some penalties for excessive production of carbon into the atmosphere. Further, some technologies for carbon recapture should be adopted, and well as investing in alternative forms of energy such as the solar, wind, biogas, geothermal and nuclear. 16. In what ways has the use of fossil fuel evolved within the context of human activities? The use of fossil fuel has grown through the industrial sector and the transport industries. Different economies are competing through the use of fossil fuel as a source of energy. Although renewable energy is an alternative, it does not provide an immediate solution because it is expensive to implement in a new setup (Roberts & Edwards, 2010). Further, the existence of old technologies makes it hard to adopt the new ones that are expensive and hardly available. For example, wind energy is expensive to install as compared to use of fossil fuels to run generators. 17. What sources of energy can replace the use of fossil fuels in day to day life of a human? The demand for fossil fuels is high but can be replaced by use of different forms of energy. Some of the best alternatives for fossil fuels are the use of wind energy, solar energy, nuclear energy, geothermal energy, and biogas. Domestic lighting can be substituted by solar lighting in some countries where solar is reliable or during seasons of reliable solar. 18. The global demand for fossil fuels is high. What are the main reasons behind? The calorific value of fossil fuels is high as compared to other energy sources. Further, fossil fuels are easy to transport around, as in the case of vehicle engines. 19. Oil companies and the world at large are faced by several environmental challenges. What are these challenges and do they matter? Reducing carbon footprints is something that most policies are out to implement. Therefore, the oil companies and other global economies have to incur additional cost to develop technologies aimed at reducing carbon emissions into the atmosphere. Oil spillage is outlawed by the OSHA regulations (Woodward, 2008) and therefore, most oil producing companies have incurred a lot of fines as a result of non-compliance to the regulation. 20. Where does the International Community get in to level the ground for reducing environmental impacts of fossil fuels? The international community is concerned with elimination of subsidies associated with fossil fuels in developing countries (Woodward, 2008). This is achieved by use of institutions such as the World Bank, Expert Credit Agencies and Regional Development Banks. This has significantly attracted the attention towards subsidized renewable energies that are friendly to the environment. In other words, no way the fight against climate change can end if the global community continues to fund the use of coal and oil. Therefore, global leaders are all speaking against subsidized cost for fossil fuels by use of public funds. References Top of Form Bottom of Form Top of Form Bottom of Form Top of Form Bottom of Form Top of Form Bottom of Form Top of Form Bottom of Form Top of Form Bottom of Form Top of Form Bottom of Form Top of Form Bottom of Form Top of Form Bottom of Form Top of Form COCKS, F. H. (2009). Energy demand & climate change: issues and resolutions. Weinheim, Wiley-VCH. COOK, P. J. (2012). Clean energy, climate & carbon. Collingwood, Vic, CSIRO Pub. DELL, R., & RAND, D. A. J. (2004). Clean energy. Cambridge, Royal Society of Chemistry. http://dx.doi.org/10.1039/9781847550552. FOUQUET, R. (2013). Handbook on energy & climate change. Cheltenham, UK, Edward Elgar. HOCK, P. (2009). Our Earth: clean energy. New York, Children's Press. LOVELL, B. (2010). Challenged by carbon: the oil industry & climate change. Cambridge, UK, Cambridge University Press. MORRIS, N. (2007). Global warming. Milwaukee, WI, World Almanac Library. MURADOV, N. Z., & VEZIROĞLU, T. N. (2012). Carbon-neutral fuels and energy carriers. Boca Raton, FL, CRC Press. ROBERTS, I., & EDWARDS, P. (2010). The energy glut climate change & the politics of fatness. London, Zed Books. http://public.eblib.com/choice/publicfullrecord.aspx?p=619251. WOODWARD, J. (2008). Climate change. New York, N.Y., DK Publishing. Bottom of Form Read More