Carbon Pollution Pros And Cons

The U.S obtains more than 84% of its energy from fossil fuels including oil, coal and natural gas. This is because people rely on it to heat their homes, power industries, run vehicles, manufacturing, and provision of electricity. It is apparent that the country’s transportation industry highly depends on conventional petroleum oil, which is responsible for global warming, thus threatening economic opulence and national security. Apart from that, increasing consumption of fossil fuels have elevated health problems in the state, destroyed wild places, and polluted the environment. After conducting Environmental Impact Assessment, projections showed that the world energy consumption would increase by more than 56% between 2010 and 2040. However, fossil fuels will cater for more than 80% of the total energy used in 2040. Sadly, it will be a trajectory to alter the world’s climate, as well as, weaken the global security environment. Importantly, the rate at which the US relies on fossil fuels needs to reduce since it has adverse effects on the planet’s supplies. The society needs to realize that fossil fuels are nonrenewable, thus taking millions of years to form (Huebner, 2003). Notably, the country can reduce dependency on fossil fuels by practicing energy conservation and efficiency,

Thesis: If the United States is going to choose to conserve energy responsibly, then our government's energies should not be focused on developing oil in the ANWR, but rather on the topics of conservation through higher fuel efficiency standards in vehicles and by developing alternative energy sources. Conservation, fuel efficiency and alternative energy sources are the solutions that will lead us to a long term and sustainable energy future.

Carbon emissions are changing the planet for the worse. Energy production (mostly coal) is producing a one third of the US 's global warming emissions. Renewable sources produce little to zero percent. The balance of coal and renewable energy in the U.S. needs to be evened out with renewable techniques. Statistics from the Union of Concerned Scientist’s “Benefits of Renewable Energy Use” show that most renewable resources emit less than one pound of CO2E/kWh. These have significantly less of a carbon footprint than coal, which emits 1.4 to 3.6 lbs. CO2E/kWh or natural gas, which emits .6 to 2 lbs. CO2E/kWh. This impressive difference of carbon emissions between renewable and fossil fuel is the key to caring for our environment. A 2009 USC study found that if 25 percent of the US 's

The second largest source of greenhouse gas emissions in the United States is related to transportation, the burning of oil to produce energy in a combustion motor. The combustion process inside of engines is what produces the carbon matter that is emitted into the air through the exhaust system on gas-powered vehicles. Gas-powered transportation is accountable for 24 percent of the global carbon emissions; this should not come as much of a surprise given the amount of urban sprawl that is being seen in the United States and across the globe. In the past decade, the Environmental Protection Agency, the United States government, and major car manufacturers have been working in conjunction to find ways to provide a “greener” form of transportation (EPA, 2011). This has included testing the use of hydropower, ethanol, natural gas, biodiesel, and electricity as a means of powering vehicles, which has led to the introduction of hybrid vehicles. Hybrid vehicles run on electricity and gasoline, the byproduct of oil that is generally used in the engine combustion process of vehicles (U.S. Department of

Pursuant to energy efficiency policies, controversy swirls as climate changes are experienced in the U.S. and around the globe. When energy efficiency steps are put into place, economic outlooks turn positive. Obama’s policymaking in this arena makes “critical investments in advanced vehicle and fuel technologies, public transit, and high speed rail” (United Press International). With new fuel efficiency standards that will improve fuel economy by 2025, and other initiatives that he enacted, “12 billion barrels of oil will be saved and American consumers will save $1.7 trillion at the pump, and greenhouse gas emission standards for commercial trucks, vans, and buses for are projected to save over 500 million barrels of oil and save vehicle owners and operators an estimated $50 billion in fuel costs” (United Press

We have all heard statistics over how unmitigated global warming can lead to rising sea levels, increased temperatures, lower rates of precipitation. The Congressional Budget Office recently found that climate change, if unmitigated, would create costly damage not only to the United States’s economy, but also to the world as a whole (source). Despite a scientific and general consensus that climate change is real and a problem, actual committed action against climate change has been disappointingly slow, until recently. We also know the cause of climate change. The United States EPA finds that “Carbon dioxide accounts for most of the nation’s emissions and most of the increase since 1990” (EPA). What we don’t know is a solution.

Pollution is, without doubt, a serious global issue that needs attention and resolutions. As human technologies improve, water, land, air, noise, and light pollutions are all inevitable. Five and a half million deaths each year is caused by air pollution. More than a million sea birds and mammals are killed each year by water pollution. Hundreds of dolphins and whales are killed each year by noise . These shocking facts all shows the significance of enforcing laws to ensure all people are taking care of our environment by decreasing the amount of pollution.

Tremendous amounts of carbon dioxide are released into the atmosphere every day and the consequence is the destabilization of Earth’s climate and damage to existing and endangered ecosystems. In order to avoid these ramifications, carbon emissions must be reduced. Industrial nations like the United States rely heavily on the burning of billions of tons of fossil fuels, such as coal, oil and natural gas, as their primary source of energy generation. Unfortunately, this has led to the United States being one of the top leaders in carbon emissions in the world along with India and China (Woodard, 2007, pg. 27). A proposed solution that has already been implemented in several nations is the carbon tax (CO2 tax), which puts a price on and taxes the carbon dioxide emitted from the burning of fossil fuels and makes polluters pay the price for the emission of their negative externalities into the environment. As fuel follows through with the combustion process, carbon dioxide is released into the atmosphere where it remains. The carbon dioxide traps the heat in the Earth’s atmosphere leading to a rise in global warming and climate change (Carbon Tax Center, 2016a, What’s a Carbon Tax section, para. 2). A carbon tax can quickly and easily be implemented by the United States federal government and has the potential to conserve the environment by reducing carbon emissions,

Our modern world is one of busy streets, loud machines, and steaming factories. All three of these things, while necessary and important part of society, have some unintended effects on the world. We sometimes fail to realize the effect that we have on the world with every action that we take. The people of the world, in collaboration, are massive users of fossil fuels. The gas emissions that cars, busses, and even planes produce have a very profound effect on our atmosphere, and not many people take the initiative to reduce these harmful substances. However, there are some that are actively trying to find a solution to the problem to cleaner and renewable energy.

Coal and natural gas are the United States’ main fossil fuels used as energy sources. These fossil fuels both contain mixtures of hydrocarbons, which is a chemical compound of carbon and hydrogen (Olah, 2005). Currently, fossil fuels provide eighty-five percent of commercial energy, such as businesses, worldwide and this eighty-five percent does not even account for residential use. Imagine if the residential energy use was accounted for in that eighty-five percent (Davison, 2007). According to Goodell (2006), “Between 1950 and 2000, the world population increased by 140 percent and fossil fuel consumption increased by 400 percent. By 2030, the world’s demand for energy is expected to more than double,” with most of the electricity

With the U.S. and other major emitters continuing to rely heavily on fossil fuels, it is clear that technology that addresses this dependence will be needed in order to meet emissions reduction targets. These technologies may include renewables (primarily wind and solar), increased energy efficiency, hydroelectric power generation, or carbon capture and sequestration technologies (CCS). While technological advances have continued and investment for both development and

Introduction Increasing carbon emissions are becoming a large problem when considering global warming. The high energy intensity transportation sector contributes substantially to global greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and primary energy consumption, with emissions and energy use steadily increasing as the population grows (IEA 2013; Pollet et al. 2012; World Energy Council 2007). More than half of these vehicles are personal vehicles (EPA 2014; Li & Shimamoto 2011) with a substantial percentage (> 90%) of transport energy coming from fossil fuels, which is inherently coupled with GHG emissions and air pollutants (Avci et al. 2015; Ribeiro et al. 2007). Environmental damage, stricter emissions regulations and depleting oil resources causing economic issues have all motivated research on energy transition away from fossil fuels seeing many automotive manufacturers adopting new technologies (Chiara & Canova 2013; Dings, T&E 2011; US EPA 2013). Therefore, a revolution in the automotive and fuel industries will prevail in years to come. It is essential to alter society’s current reliance on fossil fuel based transportation to decrease the large carbon footprint of the transportation sector, therefore the development of alternative sustainable fuels is imperative not only for the protection of the environment, but for the maintenance of energy security. Environmental and economic issues can be addressed by substituting current fossil fuel based transportation with low-carbon,

Automobiles have since evolved and become almost a necessity for people. While they have become of major importance, they also hold many drawbacks to our environment. They are the leading cause of transportation emissions and they generate a majority of America’s global warming emissions. Even though air pollution emissions from motor vehicles have dropped considerably since 1950, Automobiles still produce about 60% of US transportation emissions and generate nearly 30% of America’s global warming emissions (Car Emissions and Global Warming). The average conventional automobile can be seen as fairly gas inefficient. Compared to a hybrid electric vehicle, conventional cars produce about 1.5 times more greenhouse gas emissions and costs more in fuel costs. Within a 100-mile trip, conventional vehicles produce about 87 lb CO2, hybrid electric vehicles produce 57 lb CO2, plug-in hybrid electric vehicles produce 62 lb CO2, and all-electric vehicles produce 54 lb CO2 (see table 1). This shows that hybrid and electric cars produce less greenhouse gas emissions and costs less for fuel, compared to a conventional pure gas powered vehicle.

The essential arrangement is the end of the smoldering of coal, oil and, over the long haul, normal gas (Wagner). This is perhaps the most overpowering test as locals of wealthier nations really eat, wear, work, play and even consider the things created utilizing such fossilized sunlight. Oil is the oil of the overall economy, concealed inside such pervasive things as plastic and corn, and significant to the transportation of both customers and items. Coal is the substrate, supplying by and large half of the force used as a piece of the U.S. besides, about that much around the globe—a rate that is inclined to create, as showed by the Global Vitality Office. There are no flawless responses for reducing dependence on fossil fills (for occurrence, carbon unbiased biofuels can drive up the expense of support and prompt timberland pulverization, remembering nuclear power does not release nursery gasses, it produces radioactive waste), yet every piece checks. So endeavor to use choices when possible—plant-decided plastics, biodiesel, wind power—and to place assets into the change, be it by stripping from oil stocks or placing assets into associations sharpening carbon catch and top.

Truck transportation has been the backbone of freight movements in the United States and across the globe for decades. While utilizing trucks is an economical way to move freight for short hauls of less than a 1,000 miles, there are high environmental and infrastructure costs for utilizing this mode of transportation. According to Lowe, road transportation’s use of energy resources rose 103 per cent in the period since 1970 (2005). Additionally, Lowe points out that road transportation’s emission of green house gasses, “increased by 76% between 1971 and 1989” (Lowe, 2005, p. 112). Furthermore, road transportation is the largest polluter in the industry. It utilizes “over 80% of the total energy used in the transport sector and contributes over 75% of its total CO2 output (Lowe, 2005, p. 113). Finally, freight transportation by heavy vehicles causes pavement damage at significantly higher rates than passenger traffic (SSTI, 2011).