Academic Essay FinalDraft

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EG1471 Academic Essay (Q5) Lim Fang Jeng (U076372R)

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Writing Processes

Brainstorm

Climate change Problems

- Irregular seasons - Snows in China

- Depletion of the glacial region of Arctic - Caused by human activities

 Lack of awareness

 Energy consumption - Solution

 Keep 2 degree Celsius mark

 Obtain renewable energy sources

 Live a climate-friendly lifestyle

 Reduce Energy consumption effectively

 Greenfreeze Technology

 Attitude, awareness, willingness

Outline

Being filled with happiness and anticipation, people in China were commencing their journey back to their hometown for the long-expected big holiday in the Chinese calendar: The Chinese New Year. However, this long-anticipated journey has been ruined with a terrible disaster. A big snow storm which fell upon the region of Guangzhou during the end of January has ruined the festive mood of all. Train and aircraft stations are forced to shut down due to the storm, which limits the number of people from going back to their hometown for the festival. Most unfortunately, this terrible snow storm took away the precious lives of many (Times Online, 2008), this is a consequence of the climate change in the world nowadays. Climate change has been a severe problem in our world. This change in Mother Nature has caused abnormal disaster upon disaster, threat upon threat to all of us. Apart from the recent snowstorm incident, the ice in the Arctic continent is getting less and less due to the greenhouse effect. To counter this change of our earth, engineering solutions such as using renewable and alternative energy sources, reducing the

consumption of energy and living a climate-friendly lifestyle should be carried out immediately to counter this undesirable change of the Earth.

- Using renewable energy sources and obtaining alternative energy sources

 Wind, Solar, Biomass

 Harmless to environment

 Decrease emission of Greenhouse gases, particularly CO²

 Environmental-friendly electrical appliances

 Green Engine

- Reducing energy consumption

 Shocking statistics

 Use electrical appliance with lower energy consumption - Having a climate friendly lifestyle

 Attitude

 Awareness

 Willingness

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Climate Change in the World:

Greenhouse Effect

Being filled with happiness and anticipation, people in China were commencing their journey back to their hometown for the long-expected big holiday in the Chinese calendar: The Chinese New Year. However, this long-anticipated journey has been ruined with a terrible disaster. A big snow storm which fell upon the region of Guangzhou during the end of January has ruined the festive mood of all. Train and aircraft stations are forced to shut down due to the storm, which limits the number of people from going back to their hometown for the festival. Most unfortunately, this terrible snow storm took away the precious lives of many (Times Online, 2008), this is a consequence of the climate change in the world nowadays. Climate change has been a severe problem in our world. This change in Mother Nature has caused abnormal disaster upon disaster, threat upon threat to all of us. Apart from the recent snowstorm incident, the ice in the Arctic continent is getting less and less due to the greenhouse effect. To counter this change of our earth, engineering solutions such as using renewable and alternative energy sources, reducing the consumption of energy and living a climate-friendly lifestyle should be carried out

immediately to counter this undesirable change of the Earth.

First of all, using and obtaining renewable and alternative energy sources plays an important role in diminishing the consequences of climate change. According the Greenpeace (n.d.), the content of CO2

in the atmosphere has risen to a shocking factor of 3 since the commencement of the Industrial Revolution, which includes the starting of non-renewable energy-sourced power plants. Hence,

renewable and alternative energy resources are much more demanding nowadays in order to keep the global warming below 2^oC. By this fact, renewable energy sources such as solar, wind, hydro, biomass, etc start to be demanded by most of the countries as these renewable energy sources not only do no harm to the environment in terms of pollution, but they also greatly reduce the emission of greenhouse gases, particularly CO2. Furthermore, the Greenfreeze technology (Lohbeck, 2004) which is currently well-known all over the world should be widely used as it makes a great impact on achieving the freezing effect of refrigerator without emitting CFC (Chlorofluorocarbons), a compound which is being emitted by cooling devices such as refrigerators, air-conditioners which will cause the greenhouse effect. Green Engine, a type of engine which possesses double efficiency, near-zero emissions of harmful gases, and is quiet, light-weight and with a low manufacture cost should be applied to vehicles and machines (Green Engine Technologies, n.d.). Therefore, using and obtaining renewable and alternative energy sources does contribute to the reduction of the Greenhouse gases.

Secondly, the reduction of consumption of energy is a crucial act to counter the climate change. According to Greenpeace (n.d.), the energy consumption in the United States is 11,209 kWh and in Japan 5,945 kWh per annum. This really makes a great impact on our environments as more CO₂ will be

produced due to any increase of the consumption of energy. Hence, solutions to reduce the consumption should be carried out immediately. Interestingly, the invention of wind-solar energy hybrid street lamp by EGL Energy has made a great impact in reducing the energy consumption (YouTube, 2007). Besides, on the individual level, low energy consumption electrical appliances should be used instead of the high consumption rates one. This can be done by using more efficient lighting which uses less amount of energy such as using fluorescent light instead of tungsten light bulb, using electric heat pump clothes dryers and gas-fires clothes dryers instead of the conventional energy-consuming one, etc. To reiterate, the trimming down of the consumption of the energy does really make a great influence in saving the Earth from Global Warming.

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Most of all, living a climate-friendly lifestyle is primarily the vital solution. Regardless of the wonderful engineering solutions to reduce the effect of global warming as mentioned earlier, if the cooperation from individuals is not obtained, all those solutions are done in vain. The way to have a climate-friendly lifestyle is to have a good awareness towards the environment and the willingness to contribute oneself in it. One can play a part in reducing the energy consumption by having the attitude of saving energy such as developing a good habit to turn off electrical appliances when they are not in use. For computer users, a good practice to turn off the computers after use instead of letting them on or in standby mode for all day long is greatly encouraging. By doing so, 72.5 tones of CO₂ can be reduced annually (Loney, n.d.) and it does a great aid in reducing the effect of climate change. To sum up, for the action to counteract the Greenhouse effect to be effective, living a climate-friendly lifestyle is the most important solution initiation of all.

In conclusion, we know that energy really contributes to the climate change at a great extent, so the solutions which involve using renewable and alternative energy sources, reducing energy

consumption and having a climate-friendly lifestyle can really play a role in lessen the effect of the climate change. On top of all, we should somehow be feeling lucky because the main factor of the starting of climate change is human. As a result, there would be a day at which it will be overcome by human, we ourselves.

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References

Green Engine Technologies. (n.d.). Green Engine Technologies: Frequently asked questions and answers. Retrieved on March 8, 2008, from http://www.greenengtech.com/faq.htm#faq6

Greenpeace. (n.d.). How to save the climate: Join the Energy [R]evolution (p. 5). Retrieved March 8, 2008, from http://www.greenpeace.org/raw/content/international/press/reports/how-to-save-the- climate-pers.pdf?MM_URL=your-enrgy-page

Greenpeace. (n.d.). Your energy savings. Retrieved March 8, 2008, from

http://www.greenpeace.org/international/campaigns/climate-change/take_action/your-energy

Lohbeck, W.. (2004, June 6). Greenfreeze: from snowball to industrial avalanche. Retrieved March 8, 2008, from http://www.greenpeace.org/international/press/reports/greenfreeze-from-snowball-to Loney, R.. (n.d.). Sleeping computers make Trent green. Retrieved March 20, 2008, from

http://www.trentu.ca/admin/eab/computerenergy.shtml

Times Online. (2008, January 29). Chinese snow storms strand 200,000 at station in new year exodus. Retrieved February 20, 2008, from

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/asia/article3264827.ece

Youtube. (2007, October 21). EGL celebration 3D. Retrieved March 8, 2008, from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K9ClaYroxi8