Research Questions
What causes and contributes to climate change?
Fossil fuels detrimentally harm the environment. By releasing greenhouse gases like Carbon Dioxide, Methane (CH4), and Nitrous Oxide (N20) after being burned, they increase earth’s temperature by preventing the outgoing heat from leaving - resulting in many environmental problems. These problems include rising sea levels (meaning a loss of coastal land), changes in rain and its patterns, a raise in overall temperature, and harmful effects on biodiversity. Considering the threat global warming faces to earth, the source of global warming (the burning of fossil fuels) needs to be found and replaced with an environmentally safe option.
What makes an energy source renewable? Why is that important?
A renewable energy source is an energy source that, even after a 1,000 years of use, we will still be able to create energy using that process. Fossil fuels are a non-renewable energy source, which means that we’ll eventually run out of it (coal, for example, takes millions of years to create) and will no longer be able to produce energy using that source. Hydropower, on the other hand, is renewable, meaning we will be able to use it to create energy forever.
Overview
In our world today, about 100 million metric tons of carbon are released into the atmosphere daily (According to the National Oceanic Atmosphere Association). This is because of the burning of fossil fuels - every time energy sources like coal, oil, or gas are burned, harmful pollutants called greenhouse gases are released into the environment. These greenhouse gases have many detrimental environmental impacts - one being raising the global temperature by trapping the earth’s outgoing heat in the atmosphere, hence the name “Global Warming”. This is why I chose to research Hydropower - Hydropower is one of the many alternatives to Fossil Fuels that do not destroy our world, and due to the worsening of climate change that occurs everyday, Hydropower is becoming more and more relevant. My product aims to teach people about the need for using Hydropower as a worldwide used energy source - my product is a model, and during the presentation day I will be able to explain each part of a Hydropower Plant and showcase how it is environmentally friendly. Hopefully this will build support - which is the first step in using Hydropower as the world’s power source.