Energy Sciences

Rationale

Our modern civilization is extremely energy dependent. Higher GDP is strongly correlated with individual energy use. Since the Industrial Revolution, we, humans, have relied ever more intensely on burning fossil fuels for our energy. Fossil fuels are the result of biomass being trapped under the earth for long enough periods of time at high enough temperatures and pressures to convert them into concentrated energy sources. However, as the population and energy use increase dramatically our use of fossil fuels is going up exponentially. Within the past few decades, the case has been substantiated by scientists that the release of CO ₂ as a consequence of burning fossil fuels has resulted in global warming, which consequently will result in climate change. This global warming is the result of the phenomenon of our atmosphere known as the greenhouse gas effect. In effect, our atmosphere allows visible light in from the sun, which is a source of energy. The light energy is absorbed by the Earth, warming it, and the energy is reemitted as infrared (EM waves). If our atmosphere was transparent to infrared radiation, then the energy that came in would simply leave in this other form. That would be most unfortunate, because our average temperature without our atmosphere would be approximately -10 ºC which would make Earth uninhabitable. However, our atmosphere is not transparent to infrared radiation (heat) and the greenhouse gases trap in some of the energy maintaining an average global temperature around 20 ºC which enables us to be here. It is important to discuss the greenhouse gases and why they are called as such. The reason is that the atmosphere works just like a greenhouse, letting light in but trapping some of the heat energy from leaving. The problem with burning fossil fuels is that it is reversing the process that captured the CO ₂. Photosynthesis in plants on Earth turns light energy into stored sugar. O ₂, oxygen is released. The formula is 6 CO ₂ + 6 H ₂O + light —> C ₆H _{1 2}O ₆ + 6 O ₂. When the sugar, C ₆H _{1 2}O ₆, is burned in respiration, the CO ₂ is released in a perfect balance. The earth has maintained a remarkable balance that has enabled life to thrive on earth over billions of years. Over that time, photosynthesis released enough oxygen to produce 20.95% in the atmosphere and an equivalent amount of buried biomass that is the source of fossil fuels. Since the Industrial Revolution, only around 100 years ago, the CO ₂ level has been rising dramatically due to the burning of fossil fuels and will double within the next 20 years or so, beyond any point in human history. This will result in many devastating impacts some of which climatologists believe are likely to be catastrophic.(1)