Climate Solutions

Essential question: What technologies can we use to most quickly decrease greenhouse gas emissions?

Connection to texts: Many of our readings in class focused on worlds and cultures affected by climate change, but rarely addressed specific ways in which humans could address issues of climate change and actually find and create solutions. Without these solutions presented to us throughout the year, our group decided that we wanted to research for ourselves and discover new technologies currently being implemented around the world to combat climate change.

Question for reader: Which of these technologies, or others not mentioned here, would you most be willing to adapt into your day-to-day life? Why?

Battery Electric Vehicles

Battery electric vehicles are at the forefront of the fight against climate change. Electric cars offer a safe alternative to using fossil fuels as a mode of fuel. Studies conducted have shown that electric vehicles beneficially contribute to the environment by not using fossil fuels as a source of gas. Not only do electric vehicles offer an alternative to petroleum but they have been shown to improve the air quality around them. This simple fact should drive the human race to switch to electric cars in the near future. Although right now electric cars may not be the most efficient way of long distance transportation, technological advancements will make electric cars an easier mode of long distance travel. In the United States there has been a huge movement to switch to electric vehicles or at least make an attempt to cut down on gas emissions. If other large countries similar to the United States can commit to using electric vehicles we could see a massive change in toxic emissions into our earth’s atmosphere. Overall, electric vehicles offer a beneficial solution to climate change.

Liquid Thorium Fluoride Reactor

Currently every one of America's power plants run on Uranium based nuclear reactors. Recently, however, many environmentalists and scientists have begun proposing either to adapt existing power plants to using thorium as fuel or to replace these power plants entirely with a new kind of reactor: Liquid Fluoride Thorium Reactors (LFTR). Liquid Fluoride Thorium reactors employ fission to create heat which spins a turbine which generates electricity. More technically, LFTR operates by using a mixture of liquid salts to cool the reactor and to transfer the heat energy out of the fission chamber and into something that could power a turbine. The Liquid Fluoride Thorium Reactors establish numerous benefits for the future of eco-friendly power production. LFTR's are more efficient and safer than the pressurized and boiling water used to cool uranium fuel rods and to transfer energy they create. Furthermore, not only is thorium a radioactive element, meaning it emits alpha particles which are less biologically harmful than uranium’s gamma particles, but also, because LFTR does not use water for cooling there is no possibility of hydrogen explosion. Lastly, and perhaps most importantly, the waste of a LFTR is toxic for a much shorter amount of time than that of a Uranium Reactor (300 years to uranium's 10s of thousands of years). Still, despite the benefits of LFTR, many people remain very hesitant to shift the power production world as we know it to be basing our power plants solely in thorium. People believe that the biggest problem with converting to thorium-based reactors is the expense. Although neither the reactors nor the thorium itself is too expensive, because every existing power plant right now is uranium-based, people are skeptical if the expense to shift the existing plants would be worthwhile. People are predominantly skeptical because these reactors still do produce nuclear waste, just to a much lesser extent. As America remains hesitant to invest in this new technology, China is currently taking the lead on developing the liquid fluoride thorium reactors.

Solar, Wind, and Geothermal Energy

Energy can be harnessed in many sustainable and environmentally friendly ways. This energy can be derived from the wind, the sun, and the earth's surface itself. Wind energy is produced by turbines which are large, pinwheel type structures typically placed in large fields of an area that experiences a high volume of wind. The energy derived from the turbines converts the kinetic energy into mechanical power. The production of energy is dependent on not only the size of the turbine, but the wind of the given day. Solar energy is derived from the sun and stored in solar panels. There are three main ways to capture this solar energy: photovoltaics, solar heating & cooling, and concentrating solar power. A huge positive of solar energy is that it doesn't need to just be used immediately and on site; it can be stored for a later time, or even distributed to another location to be used. There is currently enough solar energy stored in the United States to power 17.7 million homes according to the Solar Energy Industries Association. Geothermal energy is the least well known form of sustainable energy derived from the earth. This energy comes from the heat of the sub-surface of the earth itself and is carried along sub-sections of earth by steam and water. Wind, solar, and geothermal energy are all sustainable courses of power that come directly from Earth.

Hydrogen Fuel Cells

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