Aperiod
or condition of unusually dry weather within an
area where rainfall is normally present. it can take
decades to develop, thus difficult to predict. Its characteristics
vary significantly from one region to another. Droughts
are completely natural, but their devastation can be far-reaching and severe. Causes of Drought •A depletion
of precipitation over time.•Occurs in all climatic zones. •Prolonged
lack
of rain causing
regions around
the world to slowly dry out.•It is
one of
the top three threats to population in the world (along with famine and
flooding).•Atmospheric
conditions such as-climate
change-ocean
temperatures- changes in the jet stream- changes in the local landscape
Agriculture and Infrastructure
Other impediments to feeding Africa's
masses include the lack of good roads. points out that at thetime of
independence in 1947, India had a more dense road network than Africa has
today. Withoutgood roads and other infrastructure, bumper crops in one region
can't be transported to needy areas. Demand for water supply
In many underdeveloped countries, such as
India, people place a great demand on water supply. Its seriousness depends on
-the degree
of the water shortage
-size of
area affected.
- the duration
and warmth of the dry period.
However, Africa has
contributed less than any other region to greenhouse gas emissions that are
widely held responsible for global warming. Global warming is
contributing to a disastrous and unprecedented famine spreading across
the Sahel Region of West Africa and the Horn of Africa.
What is affected?
Depletion of farming lands
Depletion of natural habitat for
aquatic and land animals
Decline in biological diversity
(the variety of all life on earth, the complex relationships among living
things, and the relationships between living things and their environment)
Aquatic pollution, adversely
affecting the livelihood of fishing communities and destroying fish and other
water creatures (at the 2002 World Summit on sustainable Development (WSSD)
which was held in South Africa, the causes of water pollution were cited as:
oil transmission through shipping ports, poor water resources management,
absence of effective regional and basin development plans, and underestimation
of the groundwater potential to supplement irrigation and drinking water
supplies.)
Land pollution, adversely affecting
the livelihood of farming communities.
Life has been busy for quite a while Since I started school life, it has always
been busy busy busy, I barely remember when was the last time I had decent fun.
Asides from that, I have been doing several
presentations. I pondered my thoughts. This could be the new Era to save the
World! (apologise for my cheesiness)
As the title mentions = Algae Biofuel
These are the following objectives
- What is it?
- How it can be used?
- The advantages.
- Why use algae biofuel.
Starting off from my previous blog I mentioned Nuclear energy is used as due to the limited amount of Fossil fuels getting scarce, other methods of fuels have been researched into so some examples of alternative energy sources Wind Energy Solar Energy Biomass Energy from waste Hydrogen Energy Geothermal Fuel cell Tidal Algae Fuel Ethanol Fuel So we shall focus on our main topic Algae Fuel So what is it?
It is a biofuel deprieved from algae as its source of nature deposits. Algae is grown through the uses of the Sun, Carbon dioxide and nutrients to grow. Similar to plants but Algae is deprived of nutrients to produce more oil. Certain selected algae can produce up to 50% oil and 50% biomass which are converted to fuel products How it can be used? As shown this is will give a clearer picture of the process
The Process of Growth methods
•Vertical
growth/closed loop production has been developed by biofuel companies to
produce algae faster and more efficiently than open pond growth. •Increases
productivity rate by the use of exposed sunlight and place in clear plastic
bags to avoid contamination
Another simplified picture of the bioreactor process
The advantages
Closed-tank
bioreactor plants
to help increase oil rates even further. Indoor plants are built with large, round drums
that grow algae under ideal conditions, this also allows convenience of space control as well as to control it in a conducive environment. Space is able to use efficiently. The algae
are manipulated
can be
harvested every day even if different kinds of weathers. This
allows very high
output of algae, which in turn yields large amounts of oil for biodiesel. Note: Closed
bioreactor
plants can also be placed
near
energy plants to capture excess carbon dioxide that would otherwise pollute the
air.
Nuclear Vs Algae Biofuels Nuclear - Less pollution produce Algae Biofuel - Scalable - Small amounts of raw material needed - Inherently renewable - Transportation is easy - Can grow on unsuitable areas for agriculture - Waste produced - Higher energy Both are in a sense Reliable! Here is a overall Video to conclude this blog =P
Articles in concerns to Algae Biofuels
GREENHOUSE GAS EMISSIONS
It is said a main reason to use alternative fuels for transportation is to cut climate-warming greenhouse gas emissions created by burning fossil fuel. But estimates of greenhouse emissions from algae bio fuels cover a wide range, with some suggesting that over their life cycle, the fuels release more climate-warming gas than petroleum. Tim Zenk, vice president of a company named Sapphire, said that the company has worked for five years on the sustainability issues, He mentioned that the company recycles water and uses land that is not suitable for agriculture at its New Mexico site, where it hope to make 100 barrels of algae bio fuel a day by the year 2014. The U.S Navy used algae bio fuel along with fuel made from cooking oil waste as part of its "Green Fleet" military exercise demonstration this summer, drawing fire from Republican lawmakers for its nearly $27 per gallon cost. It was also unclear whether producing that much bio fuel from algae would actually lead to reduced greenhouse gas emissions. Reports says "Algae production poses a double-edged threat to our water resources, already strained by the drought,". However sustainability concerns are not definitive barrier to future growth.
Its been awhile now~ Time has really wrapped around my throat, its the first time I had lack of sleep for two weeks straight... Lesson learnt: You are a Leader, not a Hero~ @.@ but never the less, I still feel I could have done better in terms of letting them really understand the importance of their roles, and how it can make my life easier~ ANYWAYS Today is about NUCLEAR ENERGY!!! I kinda like this topic and I did a presentation on it during class and HERE WE GOO~~~ Energy there are so many forms of it so I shall talk about Nuclear energy How is it used? How did it came about? Advantages and Disadvantages Then after that I shall continue with what kinds of resources that we can use asides all these in the next blog! Nuclear Energy There are two kinds of Nuclear energy, the first one originates from the splitting of uranium atoms in a process called
fission this is man-made and the second one is sun and stars as they are inexhaustible sources which are the results of nuclear
reactions converted into energy. This is natural energy. So therefore, you have two kinds, man-made and natural Still the
energy is then harnessed and regularly use to generate power.
At the power plant, the fission process
is used to generate heat for producing steam, which is used by a turbine to
generate electricity. Still the energy is then harnessed and regularly use to generate power.
So lets see advantages To note, Nuclear
fission is used to
generate electricity
does not produce soot
or greenhouse gases. This
also helps prevent global warming as imagine if we were to use this for the entire world @.@?.
So as you can see in the diagram clearly stated it shows how nuclear energy are used in power plants, relatively pleasant rite? Cheap electricity for everyone. last but not least It
reduces the countries who are dependent on foreign oil. Still compared to fossil fuels and the fuels used to power nuclear energy is very compact to fossil fuels.
However, it is used because the fossil fuels are getting scarce. Still there are countries tat are relying too much on it. Resources are limited and fossil fuels are unsustainable. It will one day run out and thus the
longevity of the survival of the necessarily limited fossil’s era will be
affected. Many things that rely on such fuel will be unable to use, on
the one hand by the discovery of new, exploitable resources which for most case are still developing, will aid but also strongly dependent
on the price and on the other by the inevitable growth of the world’s population
and their standard of living.
The
fuel used
to also power of nuclear reactors is very compact compared to fossil
fuels. One
pound of
uranium can supply the same energy as 3 million pounds of coal. This
makes
it attractive for use in nuclear-powered vehicles like submarines, aircraft
carriers and spacecraft. Another point is that using fossil fuels The
World
Nuclear Association estimates that the electricity industry would add 2.6
billion tons of carbon dioxide to the atmosphere each year if it used coal
power instead of nuclear. Asides all the advantages, Nuclear energy is dangerous is many forms and it has been misused in its many ways in the history of nuclear energy
•December 2, 1942:
The Nuclear
Age began
at the University of Chicago when Enrico Fermi made a chain reaction in a pile
of uranium. •August 6, 1945: The
United States dropped an atomic bomb on Hiroshima, Japan, killing
over 100,000. •August 9, 1945: The
United States dropped an atomic bomb on Nagasaki, Japan, killing over
40,000. •November 1, 1952: The
first large version of the hydrogen bomb (thousands of times more
powerful than the atomic bomb) was exploded by the United States for
testing purposes. •February 21, 1956: The
first major nuclear power plant opened in England.
Disadvantages Continuing the reasons specifically there are three point I would like to impose the concerns about the safety of nuclear fission reactors includes
Radiation-releasing nuclear
accidents
•The
nuclear accident at Chernobyl was the worst nuclear accident to date,
spewing about 100 million
•The
accident at Three
Mile Island.
Health effects were
minimal, caused
irreparable damage •The
level of public confidence in nuclear reactors for electric power production in
the United States decreased.
Nuclear Waste disposal •Radioactive
waste can be in gas, liquid or solid form.
•The
waste
can remain radioactive and
hazardous for so
long. •Finding
suitable
disposal facilities for radioactive waste is difficult. Depending on the type of waste disposed, the disposal facility may need to contain radiation for a very long time
•Depending
on
the type of waste disposed, the disposal facility may need to contain radiation
for a very long time
Pollution also occur due to the fact companies handling nuclear waste are dumping them in rivers, seas affecting the living creatures and also humans safety and also the quality of the environment including air, soil and water supply etc. As the minor reason is due to the fact proper way of dumping cost money and this is something companies taking it into their own ways to save cost. Nuclear weapon proliferation
•The
fuel in Nuclear reactors could
be diverted for the production of nuclear weapons.
•The
fuel elements know as the Plutonium could be separated chemically and
diverted to nuclear weapons production. •Security
concerns
about the plutonium has thus far blocked any reprocessing of fuel from nuclear
power plants. •A
similar concern exists for fast breeder reactors, where the breeding
process produces plutonium-239 for future generations of reactors. Conclusion I always believed everything has a price to pay, u wan convenience u gotta offer something in return, simply analogy. U need a car, u pay for the petrol. But of coz we shld ask ours are this convenience really important to us?
After watching the show I noticed there were so many things that I didn't even realise. I read the news about Tsunami and all but such a feeling cannot be compared when you are watching the videos, as you can feel the agony and tension while watching the show. Tsunami is basically natural disaster as it is a huge wave causing floods and washes off many boats and cruises onto shore, also causes many injuries, casualties, deaths from drowning, and damages to home and properties and might cause some poorly built buildings to collapse, trapping the people living in them most those that are situated near to the sea. The waves will also cause fishes
to be washed onto shore eventually die this may affect fishermen who catches fishes for living.
Economically countries affected will face a financial problems as they have to spend a lot of money just to repair the damages, rebuild the house and restore their properties back to the way it was. This will affect them as the money they have to use could have been used for future developments as well as compensation for victim's families and due to the disasters happening, many foreigners will tend to avoid such countries resulting in a decrease in tourism.
The Causes of Tsunami
Tsunamis in general are mainly cause by Earthquakes, in the plate tectonic theory, the Earth's crust is broken up into many pieces known as plates, and these plates moves because they float on liquid within the mantle of the earth. When 2 crusts slide pass each other, no new plates are formed nor destroyed but because of the violent friction that causes when they pass each other, it will result in an earthquake to occur (the movement of these 2 plates is called the conservative plate movement.)
When the movement occurs underneath or near the ocean, a large
earthquake is produced and thus a tsunami. The deep ocean trenches off the coasts of Alaska, the Kuril Islands,
Russia,, and South America are well known for their violent underwater earthquakes
and as the source area for destructive Pacific-wide tsunamis.
However for Tsunami to occur, earthquakes
must occur underneath or near the ocean, be large and create movements in
the sea floor. The earthquake's magnitude and water depth in the region of tsunami generation, the amount of vertical
motion of the sea floor, the velocity of such motion, and this allow the energy transferred
from the earth's crust to ocean water creates the tsunami building it up and thus released.
After effect in Japan
As I was doing this blog and browsing facebook, I came across this interesting video which my friend posted and I felt its really interesting as I too am a fan of manga and anime (not really bout power rangers and kamen riders) but still the video showed a museum built by Shōtarō Ishinomori, Ishinomaki, Miyagi, honoring him and featured his works famous for his manga and anime legend which has done many popular anime such a Cyborg 009 which I remember watching on Kids central when I was young haha~
During the Tsunami, the city was badly hit by the March 11, 2011 tsunami, and the museum was not spared the devastating waters but fortunately it survived which was quite amazing as in the video you can see the the debris and the damage was left outside the building.
Interesting Solutions
I came across an interesting finding that during the cause of the Boxing Day Tsunami, scientific studies were released which claimed that the damage to
coastal communities had been less in places where there was a barrier of
trees or coastal vegetation. As one fact while watching the movie, the main character realise, why is it that the strong buildings are destroyed but the thin feeble palm trees still stand? It shows that as the waves hit the barrier of trees or mangroves etc, the vegetation actually absorbs the impact of the waves as it tries to pass the barrier in a result decrease and deduce in power of impact therefore protecting the livehood near it.
But there are certain important variables, like the distance of a
village from the shore, the height of the village above sea level or the
shape of the seabed in concentrating the tsunami’s power. All this factors may have to be put into consideration and thus cannot fully rely on trees though in a good sense this will help globally but realistically speaking maybe a difficult task as the world seem to be lacking space as more trees are cut down for logging, agriculture, food etc.
However there is a chinese martial art saying, in comparison to a solid building and a tree, using an analogy of a stick - "A strong stiff stick can break easily but a flexible stick is hard to break."
