Solving Environmental Problems through Engineering

Introduction

In April 2020, the oil barrel price was $14.28 in Oklahoma¹ creating an unprecedented economic crisis not only in the state but also in the world. The gasoline price at the gas station in Tulsa dropped below two dollars a gallon. During several months the oil companies were looking for places to store the oil. The capacity of the reservoir tanks was up to the limit. One of the world's storage locations with 91 million barrels of capacity is located in Cushing, Oklahoma, 50 miles Southwest of Tulsa. This place was already full of oil because of the lack of demand, and the stay at home implementation due to Corona Virus Pandemic (COVID-19).

The oil crisis revealed how vulnerable it is for the state and the city to extract oil to be used as one of the primary sources of energy. Many countries are looking for diversifying the way they produce energy in order to be more sustainable. At the same time, to impact less the environment, looking at other sources of energy different from fossil fuel.

Energy has been repeatedly addressed from different angles by different sciences such as Physics, Chemistry, Environment, and Economic. Energy has been studied systematically; because of the importance of its use and consumption of energy. Energy is something vital for the development of any country. There is no sphere of daily life where it is not reflected in the use of electricity.  That is not to mention the big factories that are the largest consumers of energy and that we could not enjoy the material goods we currently have.

The production and consumption of fossil energy have negative impacts on the environment; for instance, due to the combustion of fossil fuel, there is an increment of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, provoking the greenhouse effect (which is increasing the temperature of the Earth). Current concerns regarding the long-term availability of fossil fuels and global warming due to carbon dioxide (CO₂) emissions have led to a search for an alternative fuel that does not have these problems.² Other gases released in the combustion of hydrocarbons like NO₂ and SO₂ also contribute to the formation of acid rains that can decrease the pH of rainwater affecting crops, buildings, monuments, and any other solid structure with calcium carbonate in their composition.

The Energy Chemistry Unit is part of the Thermochemistry chapter included in the Chemistry curriculum. Students will study concepts and laws like Hess’s Law, exothermic and endothermic process, enthalpy, energy conservation, and different types of energy.

This Unit is mainly for students at High School, particularly those taking advanced Chemistry classes such as AP (Advanced Placement), IBSL (International Bachelorate Standard Level), and IBHL (International Bachelorate Advance Level). This Unit's main objective is to study the different ways of producing energy where chemical reactions are present, such as the combustion of fossil fuels, nuclear reactions, hydrogen, and oxygen reaction and the use of solar energy to produce electrical energy. While the study of this Unit will address not only the production of energy but also the advantages and disadvantages that bring production and consumption, the twelve principles of Green Chemistry will be used.