Your Questions About Green Living

The Expert answers:

Methane, Water vapor and CO2 are greenhouse gases. Three Mile Island accident, Chernobyl accident and Fukushima nuclear plant explosion aided by earthquake and tsunami and the threat from terrorists and suicide bombers makes nuclear energy source riskiest. Better emit greenhouse gases than radioactive emissions that are capable of making 4000 sqkm area around Chernobyl unlivable for mankind till date. Land is required to sustain a huge population. Humans exhale CO2 so they are also a source of greenhouse gas. Countries like France whose 80% of electricity comes from nuclear stand a high risk for not only French but the whole European continent. France should be made to bring this 80% value to as low as 20% (contribution of nuclear in US power output) by using the alternatives that other European countries are using. France should be taxed for consistently keeping the danger of nuclear accident for Europe. Every source has its pros and cons but the sources whose cons will cause the most severe disaster have to be used minimally. Nuclear is such a source. Equally important are population control, control of power theft and saving of power which are totally sidelined in developing countries like India and China. Renewable energy sources are good for small capacities but for long capacities oil and gas and coal are good. Brazil has been using ethanol. But rest of the world has shortage of farming land and growing food price inflation which restricts use of foodcrops for energy usage. Ultimately all available energy sources have to be used and the one with most hazard should be the lowest contributor. A country has to consider its population and land area before selecting this mix of contributors. Dutch people use bicycles to travel even to their offices instead of vehicles needing oil or natural gas. Riding bicycles reduces energy consumption, keeps the people healthy and keeps the environment clean. Bicycle accident will be preferred over a car accident. U will see in the US a big car having only one person who is driving the long distances and that car still has place for atleast 4 people to sit. Office location and town planning has to be done in such a way that people dont have to travel long distances for their work-people should be able to come walking or using bicycle. Energy has to be used like a miser.

The Expert answers:

Alternative fuels, also known as non-conventional fuels, are any materials or substances that can be used as a fuel, other than conventional fuels. Conventional fuels include: fossil fuels (petroleum (oil), coal, propane, and natural gas), and nuclear materials such as uranium.

Some well known alternative fuels include biodiesel, bioalcohol (ethanol, butanol), chemically stored electricity (batteries and fuel cells), hydrogen, non-fossil methane, non-fossil natural gas, vegetable oil and other biomass sources.
Compressed natural gas (CNG) is a cleaner burning alternative to conventional petroleum automobile fuels. The energy efficiency is generally equal to that of gasoline engines, but lower compared with modern diesel engines. CNG vehicles require a greater amount of space for fuel storage than conventional gasoline power vehicles because CNG takes up more space for each GGE (Gallon of Gas Equivalent). Almost any existing gasoline car can be turned into a bi-fuel (gasoline/CNG) car. However, natural gas is a finite resource like all fossil fuels, and production is expected to peak soon after oil does.[11]

There are large but finite coal reserves which may increasingly be used as a fuel source during oil depletion. The Fischer-Tropsch process converts carbon dioxide, carbon monoxide into heavier hydrocarbons, including synthetic oil. It is used today in South Africa to produce most of that country’s diesel from coal. The Karrick process is an improved methodology for coal liquefaction, with higher efficiency. Since there are large but finite coal reserves in the world, this technology could be used as an interim transportation fuel if conventional oil were to become scarce. There are several companies developing the process to enable practical exploitation of so-called stranded gas reserves, those reserves which are impractical to exploit with conventional gas pipelines and LNG technology.

Methane hydrate is a form of natural gas. This substance consists of methane molecules trapped within the crystalline structure of water ice and is found in deposits under ocean sediments or within continental sedimentary rock formations. It is estimated that the global inventory of methane hydrate may equal as much as 10x the amount of natural gas. With current technology, most gas hydrate deposits are unlikely to be commercially exploited as an energy source. In addition, the combustion of methane results in the formation of carbon dioxide the production of carbon dioxide is no different to any conventional petrolium fuel. Methane itself is also a greenhouse gas, so if it is “spilled” or released it will contribute to global warming. In other respects methane hydrate has the same problems of fossil fuel.

The Expert answers:

Let me quote Obama himself:

“There are things you can do individually, though, to save energy,” Obama said. “Making sure your tires are properly inflated – simple thing. But we could save all the oil that they’re talking about getting off drilling – if everybody was just inflating their tires? And getting regular tune-ups? You’d actually save just as much!”

The Expert answers:

Currently most of the energy that we use has a side effect of pouring CO2 into our atmosphere which is probably contributing to global warming. We would like to find energy that doesn’t do this.

We can use nuclear energy but that also has waste harmful to humans that is tricky to deal with.

It would be nice to get away from them by using solar or something similar.

The Expert answers:

1. Lawrence technological University has an alternative energy engineering program.
2. The University of California, Berkley, offers a minor in Energy and Resources.

3. Graduate programs at UC Berkley offer specialisations in Energy and Resources.
4. Graduate programs at some engineering colleges offer specialisations in renewable energy.