The Clean of Green

Article Published: Saturday, October 24th, 2009 at 10:10 pm | Subscribe

We live in a day where being conscientious of all things that demand the use of energy in our everyday lives is a must. Whether it’s making sure all the lights are off in our homes and offices before we leave for the day, planning all errands for the week on a single day to preserve the use of gasoline, carpooling, and even completely removing some energy demanding items from within our lives all together.

Over the past few years we have experienced price hikes in all facets of energy sources and these hikes are only expected to increase. One researcher states that “Demand for electricity in the United States alone is predicted to increase by approximately 50% in the next 25 years” (Beyer 4).  Not only are we experiencing an increased demand from energy sources on our pocketbooks, we are experiencing an ever increasing taxation on our environment. The materials utilized to create energy like coal, gasoline and even natural gasses are contributing to the pollution in the Earth’s atmosphere causing global climate changes. The chemical contributions which have been detected in the atmosphere have been given the title “greenhouse gasses”.

“These gases allow sunlight to enter the atmosphere freely. When sunlight strikes the Earth’s surface, some of it is re-radiated back towards space as infrared radiation (heat). Greenhouse gases absorb this infrared radiation and trap the heat in the atmosphere. Many gases exhibit these “greenhouse” properties. Some of them occur in nature (water vapor, carbon dioxide, methane, and nitrous oxide), while others are exclusively human made (certain industrial gases).” (EIA)

The awareness of these threats motivated our world governments and scientists to develop and adapt new ideas and technologies to assist in creating more stable, efficient and clean energy sources.  The efforts of the contributors, combined with specific types of applied knowledge have assisted us in the adaptation of what is referred to as “Green Technology”. “The field of ‘green technology’ encompasses a continuously evolving group of methods and materials, from techniques for getting energy to non-toxic cleaning products” (Green). However, developing new technologies isn’t enough to motivate companies and governments to invest in and utilize them, there must be incentives in order to spur adaption. TechNet, which has been established as the “ preeminent bipartisan political network of Chief Executive Officers and Senior Executives of leading U.S. technology companies.” (TechNet)  has proposed an agenda for spurring the adaption of some of these incentives. These include, but are not limited to “Double federal funding for basic energy research, Increase consumer incentives to change patterns of demand, establish a minimum national Renewable Portfolio Standard and, Support public/private partnerships to support efficiency initiatives and education”. (Beyer 1-2)  All these incentives are appealing to governments and private organizations, but to understand how they are beneficial to world economy and the environment we must look at specific goals.

One fundamental goal of Green Technology is “Sustainability”, but what does that really mean in “Green” terms? “Sustainability is meeting the needs of society in ways that can continue indefinitely into the future without damaging or depleting natural resources.  In short, meeting present needs without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs”. (Green)  Historically, we have found ways to transfer oil into other forms of energy like gasoline and electric, but these sources are depleting and aren’t sustainable or reusable. The application of Green Technologies is the greater effort to change this pattern in history.

For about a century automobile manufacturers have relied on the use of oil refined into Gasoline to power their engines, but do to the depletion of these sources and the dangers of relying on foreign oil, the United States has looked to Green Technologies to revolutionize how we design automobiles.  Corn Ethanol “A fuel derived from the sugars in corn and other plants” (Newman) is helping engineers design newer engines that run off these fuels, but what makes this better than Gasoline? “It’s renewable, and corn is plentiful in the United States. Burning corn ethanol can cut greenhouse-gas emissions by as much as 20 percent, compared with gasoline.” (Newman) For the trucking and shipping industries that don’t run on Gasoline, there’s Biodiesel. “Biodiesel is renewable, from domestic sources, and can be used with any diesel engine. It also has more energy than gasoline, which raises mileage”. (Newman) So if these sources of energy are cleaner and more efficient economically and environmentally why aren’t they more dominant in industrial manufacturing? For Corn Ethanol, “It contains one third less energy than gas, which means mileage is 30 to 40 percent lower. Massive ethanol production could cause a shortage of corn available for food and destroy habitat. It could also increase smog in urban areas”. (Newman) The foreign automobile industry for decades now has focused much physical energy and engineering into Hybrid powered automobiles. Relying on a combination of battery power and gasoline as opposed to strictly oil based energy sources cuts on emissions and reliance on foreign oil, but how does this work?

“Hybrid mileage can be 25 to 30 percent higher than that of ordinary gas-powered cars. That’s because the electric motor, which requires no gas, does most of the work during driving conditions where the gas engine is least efficient-like stop-and-go urban driving. Since they burn less fuel, hybrids emit fewer greenhouse gases, too”. (Newman)

Hybrid engineering has surely played a role in discovering and adapting new clean technologies in the automobile industry, but why hasn’t it seemed to dominate over strict gasoline engines? Hybrid technology is expensive, “Big battery packs and other components can add $2,000 dollars or more, compared with conventional models, and it can take years to pay off the premium through lower gas bills”. (Newman) There are other, more practical reasons for the delay of a dominant Hybrid market “The batteries, usually lodged in the rear cargo area, also reduce storage space. And the batteries in today’s hybrids require nickel, which is costly”. (Newman)

Though the technologies currently applied to help decrease omissions, reliance on oil and other natural resources seem to have as many downfalls as they do advantages, they are cleaner and only seem to be gaining in efficiency as investments in Green Technology grow. This is not only important on a global scale, but even in our own back yards. “In 2004, the United States produced about 22 percent of global carbon dioxide emissions from burning fossil fuels, primarily because the U.S. economy is the largest in the world and it meets 85 percent of its energy needs through burning fossil fuels”. (EIA) The data compiled from these studies have influenced many organizations and groups like TechNet and EIA to inform governments and private businesses on the ever growing need for adapting Green Technologies.

“The 21st century has been called the ‘century of the environment.’ Governments —and individual citizens — can no longer assume that social challenges such as pollution, dwindling natural resources and climate change can be set aside for future generations”.(Green)

It is our responsibility to maintain an active role in preserving natural resources and environmental care not only under government, but as citizens. Green Technology isn’t a threat to past industries but a promise to create jobs and even future industries under cleaner skies.  As investments and adaptation into Green Technology grow we will see the percentages of emissions and fuel costs drop combined with more stable global temperatures.

Beyer, Gretchen. “Green Technologies: An Innovation Agenda For America”. TechNet.
<http://www.technet.org/resources/GreenTechReport.pdf>

EIA. “Greenhouse Gases, Climate Change, and Energy” DOE/EIA X012, May 2008

<http://www.eia.doe.gov/bookshelf/brochures/greenhouse/greenhouse.pdf>

Green.

<http://www.green-technology.org/what.htm>

<http://www.green-technology.org/about.htm>

Newman, Rick. “The Pros and Cons of 8 Green Fuels”. US News and World Report.

<http://www.usnews.com/articles/business/your-money/2008/01/11/the-pros-and-cons-of-8-green-fuels.html>

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