Term Paper on Carbon Dioxide Emissions | Greenhouse Gases | Geography

Here is a term paper on ‘Carbon Dioxide Emissions’ for class 11 and 12. Find paragraphs, long and short term paper on ‘Carbon Dioxide Emissions’ especially written for school and college students.

1. Term Paper on Emission of Carbon Dioxide from Transportation Sector:

The movement of men and materials by road-, rail-, air- and sea routes are carried out by automobiles, trains, planes and ships respectively. The industries responsible for these activities are known as transportation industries. All these industries use fossil fuels for running the engines. Large quantities of emissions not only pollute the atmosphere but also increase the GHGs concentrations.

The various measures adopted for reducing emission include, more efficient running of engine to get more mileage per unit of fuel used, improving combustion efficiency, less energy loss in the transmission chain, and partial replacement by alternative fuel. These measures to reduce GHGs emissions in different sectors of the transportation industries.

The figures for transport of carbon dioxide in EU have increased by about 33% in between 1995 and 2005, thus constituting 27% of total emission. Of the 27% of total carbon dioxide emission in transport sector, emissions by different transport modes, in 2005, are given in table 14.1.

In USA, transportation sector carbon dioxide emissions in 2008 were 95.6 MMT lower than in 2007 but still 343.2 MMT higher than in 1990, The transportation sector has led all U.S. end-use sectors in emissions of carbon dioxide since 1999; however, with higher fuel prices and slower economic growth in 2008, emissions from the transportation sector fell by 4.7 percent from their 2007 level.

Petroleum combustion is the largest source of carbon dioxide emissions in the transportation sector. Increases in ethanol fuel consumption in recent years have mitigated the growth to certain extent in transportation sector emissions. Reported emissions from energy inputs to ethanol production plants are counted in the industrial sector emission. In India, during 1997-2004, transport sector emissions grew 4.5 per cent to 142 million tonnes.

2. Term Paper on Emission Management in Transport Industries:

The steps adopted to manage emission include the followings:

i. More efficient running of engine,

ii. Improving combustion efficiency,

iii. Less energy loss in the transmission chain, and

iv. Full or partial replacement by alternative fuel. In transport systems using fossil fuel the emission reduction is assessed by achieving more mileage per unit of fuel used.

Road Transport–Automobile:

Calculation of CO₂ Emission by Vehicles:

Unleaded gasoline has 8.87 kg (19.56 1bs) of CO₂ per gallon. By dividing number of miles driven by miles per gallon, the figure for number of gallons of gasoline consumed annually is arrived. The multiplication of this figure by 8.87 and division by 1,000 would lead to metric tons of CO₂ emitted. The road transport has the largest share of carbon dioxide emission (72%) in the transport sector.

This translates to 19.44% or one fifth of global emissions. Automobiles—by which we mean personal motor vehicles, including light trucks such as pickups, SUVs and vans as well as sedans and wagons—emit roughly 10% to 13.5% of global CO₂ emissions. Rest 6 to 9.44% emissions are due to heavy vehicles.

Steps to the Reduction in Emission Loss in Automobile Sector:

In spite of emerging alternative propulsion technologies the internal combustion (IC) engine is likely to have a place in the automotive sector for the next 50 years, likely longer in the developing world. Improving the efficiency of the IC engine can therefore play an important role in reducing global CO₂ emissions and provide customers with greater fuel economy.

Some major steps to improve fuel efficiency include followings:

1. Reduction in Car Weight:

The yield stress of high strength microalloyed steel is around 33% higher than low carbon rimming steels. Therefore the convention rimming steel strips are replaced by thinner high strength microalloyed steels in making the car body. The reduction in dead load by 30% leads to correspondingly less fuel consumption for the same payload. The replacements of cast iron engine components by lighter aluminum alloys and metallic mud guard, dashboard by plastics etc., have led to further reduction in weight.

2. Tribo-Science-to Negate Part of 40% Energy Loss in Transmission:

Triboscience is the study of friction, wear and lubrication. Friction or resistance to motion by mating components {e.g. gears, cams) results in energy loss in transmission. Researchers in triboscience (study of friction, wear & lubrication) at EU Tribo Research Commission’s funded research have found that about 40% of the available energy in an automobile is lost due to friction and wear in the transmission, plus energy lost in cooling and exhaust, leaving only a minor portion of the energy transmitted to wheels.

Researchers are finding ways and means to minimize these frictional losses in order to reduce carbon dioxide emission to the level committed by ACEA. Surface engineering and surface lubrication are used to minimize wear and frictional losses.

3. Improving Engine Efficiency:

Some of the measures adopted to improve engine efficiency include, improvement in combustion efficiency, minimizing heat lost by using insulating coating on piston crown & valve face, erosion resistant coating on valve seat etc. The insulating zirconia coating on piston crown can reduce 2% diesel consumption in heavy vehicles.

4. Use of Alternate Fuels:

Current practice is mostly to use 10% biofuel (bioethanol) mixed with petrol. Hybrid cars have been developed and introduced in the market.

EU and Emission Limits:

The European Association of Car Manufacturer (ACEA) has committed to reducing emission levels to 140g/Km in 2008 and to 120g/Km in 2010-2012. The current emission rate in the car is 160gm CO₂/Km (g/Km). Emission was reduced at a rate of 1.5% instead of required rate of 3% to achieve the voluntary target of 140g/Km set by automobile industry.

EU has a new norm for new cars to be on road in EU countries by 2012. The new proposed limit is 130g/Km. Another 10g less than present norm, expected to get from other sources than the existing practice, such as, low rolling resistance tyres, more efficient A/C, and greater use of biofuel.

Automobile industries’ responses to EU’s new norm, mostly positive barring few, as follows:

i. French, Italian, such as, PSA Peugeot, Citroen, Renault, and Fiat:

Their 2006 fleets are mostly fuel-efficient, small cars with average emission figure of 142-147g/Km. In order to conform to new norm, they may need to increase the price of the cheap, low -margin cars, which they are selling now.

ii. Germans:

Small cars made by Volkswagen, including Blue Motion Polo have already achieved a low emission figure of 99g/Km, less than 104g/Km of Toyota Prius hybrid. However the fleet average emissions of these cars have increased due to Audi brand.

Premium brand includes Audi, Mercedes-Benz, BMW are the one finding it difficult to cope with the EU’s norm. Mercedes in 2006, is in the top of emission league with fleet average of 188g/ Km, followed by BMW with fleet average figure of 184g/Km.

BMW achieved a figure of 128g/Km for their new 3-series cars of 2-litre, diesel, 177 brake horse power(bhp) by: 

(i) Reducing car weight and

(ii) Adopting new technologies, such as, in alternators and coolant pumps, automatic start-stop to shut engine in stationary traffic, and regenerative brake.

But for heavier premium brand cars, like Mercedes being the worst emitters, the commission would like to fine on $137(95 euro) per car per gram of emissions exceeding’ 130g/Km. However commission has also agreed to “weight dispensation” i.e., charging heavy cars according to slope of the weight/ CO₂ graph. Without weight concession Mercedes fleet would attract a penalty of about 5,500 euro per car.

Other countries are also tightening control of automobile emissions. China has imposed fuel economy regulations. American Congress has approved a bill tightening control and in California, all petrol sales shall require a low-carbon standard.

USA:

U.S. automobiles and light trucks are responsible for nearly half of all greenhouse gases emitted by automobiles globally. The Big three automakers—General Motors, Ford and Daimler Chrysler— accounted for nearly three-quarters of the carbon dioxide released by cars and pickup trucks on U.S. roads in 2004. Cars and trucks made by GM gave off 99 million metric tons of carbon dioxide or 31 percent of the total. Ford vehicles emitted 80 million metric tons or 25 percent. Daimler Chrysler vehicles emitted 51 million metric tons or 16 percent.

While Americans own only 30 percent of the 700 million vehicles that are in use worldwide, the authors of the report found that cars in the U.S. account for a disproportionate amount of greenhouse gas emissions because they are driven farther, have lower fuel economy standards, and burn fuel with higher levels of carbon than many of the cars in other countries.

Zero Pollution Motors—CAV Car:

A compressed air car, or CAV technology is based on compressed air to drive old-fashioned car engine pistons, can be used instead of combusting gas or diesel fuel. The air car can run at a top speed of 35 mph for some 60 miles on a tank of compressed air, a sufficient distance for 80% of urban commuters to complete daily chores. On highways, the CAV can cruise at interstate speeds for nearly 800 miles with a small motor that compresses outside air to keep the tank filled.

The motor can use any fuel, such as, gasoline or diesel as well as biodiesel, ethanol or vegetable oil. This car leads the highest-mpg vehicles available right now. Even if it used only regular gasoline, the air car would average 106 mpg, more than double of today’s hybrid, the Toyota Prius. The air tank also can be refilled when it’s not in use by being plugged into a wall socket and recharged with electricity as the motor compresses air.

Indian car maker Tatas have already bought the rights to make the car for the huge Indian market. Tata doesn’t plan to produce the cars in the U.S. Instead, it plans to charge $15 million for the rights to produce and market the same.

Aircraft-Aviation Industry:

Air Travel – Commissions:

The carbon emissions in air travel vary by length of flight. Emission figures amount to 0.24 kg CO₂ per passenger mile for short flights down to 0.18 kg CO₂ per passenger mile for long flights. Boeing expects the number of commercial jetliners to nearly double, to 36,420, in the next 20 years.

The Federal Aviation Administration expects 1.2 billion passengers a year to travel on U.S. carriers by 2020, up from 741 million last year. By 2050, the industry is expected to contribute anywhere from 6 to 10 percent of the gases and particles tied to global warming, up from about 3 percent today.

European emissions-trading proposal would require all airlines flying through domestic routes to enter into an emissions-trading scheme by 2011. Carriers flying to and from Europe, including U.S. airlines would have to enter the system by the following year. The plan is based on one already in operation for other European industries that buy and sell credits to emit certain amounts of carbon dioxide. The United States and other nations plan to vigorously fight the proposal.

Airplane and engine makers have set a goal of reducing carbon emissions on the next generation of jets by 50 percent by 2020.

EU looks at greener air travel. A 1.6 billion Euro research programme that will investigate products and manufacturing processes to make air travel more sustainable has been launched by the European Commission. The seven year ‘Clean Sky’ project will involve 86 organizations from 16 countries, including, research centres and universities.

Its aim is to include 50% reduction in CO₂ emissions by reducing fuel consumption, an 80% reduction in nitrous oxide emissions, halving external noise, and a green design, manufacturing, maintenance and improvement in product life cycle. The use of advanced materials leads to lighter aircraft, better aerodynamics, improved systems and advanced engines result in lower fuel burn and less noise.

The recent summit on aviation and environment has stressed the need to use environmental technologies, including the use of biofuel and advanced traffic management systems to reduce carbon emission.

This would result in achieving 25% fuel efficiency target and more importantly shall lead towards the vision of a carbon emission free industry. Taking into account that the aviation sector represents only 2% of total man-made CO₂ emissions (responsible for climate change), reducing air traffic is not a solution to the sustainable development of our world.

Indeed, reducing air traffic by 50% would result in decreased CO₂ emissions of 1% while negatively impacting GDP by 4%. Flying shortest distances between possible destinations, reducing congestion around airports and increasing efficient use of aircraft are areas that the industry is working on jointly.

Asset Management:

Materials prognosis and the asset management practices have led to vast improvement in the useful life of the aircraft beyond the designed life in US military (fig 14).This step has improved reliability of the components combined with enormous financial, materials and energy gains, which would otherwise have been spent in acquiring new aircraft. The prognostics and asset management have resulted in prolonging the life of F-16 aircraft to 33 years from the design life of less than 10 years (Fig.14).

Increase in Combustion Temperature in Gas Turbines:

Another way of improving fuel efficiency is to increase the combustion temperature. This has been possible by improving the thermal properties of the metallic engine materials by ceramic thermal barrier coatings which can withstand high combustion temperature.

Maintain, Repair & Operate (MRO) Aircraft:

Repair and maintenance shops for the airlines are responsible for improving the life of the engine and reliability of operation. The regular maintenance schedules for overhauling, repair and refurbishing the engines and particularly the recoating of worn thermal barrier layer have led to improvement in operating energy efficiency in aero-engine.

Airlines Green Program:

Some airlines have initiated green program of afforestation in their carbon offset projects to reduce emission. For example, Northwest Airlines, apart from donating $1 million for land conservation projects around their domestic hubs and a carbon offset project in the Lower Mississippi River Valley.

Other programs of Northwest Airlines include:

(i) Replacing old DC-10 by more fuel efficient A330 aircrafts, in trans-Atlantic route has resulted in 35 % more fuel efficiency compared to earlier aircrafts.

(ii) In 2007, NWA used 575 million fewer gallons of fuel than in 2000, the equivalent of more than 1 million passenger cars off of the road for a year, and

(iii) By introducing Boeing 787 Dreamliner, expected to save 20% more fuel than today’s aircraft of comparable size.

Rail Transport:

Rail Travel – Carbon Dioxide Emissions:

The CO₂ emissions for rail travel vary by distance of the trip. On average, commuter rail and subway trains emit 0.35 1bs CO₂ per passenger mile, and long distance trains emit 0.42 1bs CO₂ per passenger mile. Transportation conditions vary in real life beyond that can these estimated figures. To ensure that the rail calculators fully covers trip, 10% is added to the total mileage of the trip.

European Railway and Infrastructure Companies (CER) and the International Union of Railways (UIC) have made in-depth analysis of emissions in rail & other transport.

Some important points are as follows:

i. Traveling by rail is on average 3-10 times less CO₂ intensive compared to road or air transport. In comparison to other transport modes, Rail is the only one that has decreased its share of CO₂ emissions since 1990.

ii. With 7-10% of market share, rail still contributes less than 2% of the EU transport sector’s CO₂ emissions. The rail sector has committed itself to cut the specific emissions of rail transport by 30% over the period 1990-2020.

iii. About 80% of the European rail fleet runs on electric power, meaning most trains can switch to clean electricity when it becomes available.

Use of Biofuel:

Virgin Trains plans to run its fleet of diesel-powered Voyager trains, which operate on the Cross Country Penzance-to-Aberdeen franchise, on a blend of biofuel and diesel as part of an environmentally friendly scheme. Biodiesel, made from plants can be carbon-neutral if the carbon dioxide emitted in burning can get absorbed by growing plants from the atmosphere. However, the higher duty on blended biofuel and diesel has been a concern in using the same as alternative fuel. The Virgin fleet uses around 90m litres of diesel per year and generates 3.2kg of carbon per mile.

Indian Railways:

The rail network traverses the length and breadth of the country, covering a total length of 64,015 kilometres (39,777 miles). It is the 4th largest railway network in the world, transporting over 1050 million tonnes of freight annually. The most valuable asset is the huge railroad network, which is to be maintained over 24×7 periods.

The increase in, the axle load and speed over the decades have led to higher rates of wear of the rail road, specially the rail crossings or frogs, where the wheels change the track. The development of advanced maintenance and repair systems (M&R) have been responsible for prolonging the life of frogs (crossing) enabling them to carry higher GMT (gross million tons) at high speed over a longer period without replacement of the crossings.

The Indian Railways have used mixtures of diesel plus various proportions of the oil from the Jatropha plant to power its diesel engines. Currently the diesel locomotives that run from Thanjavur to Nagore section, Tiruchirapalli to Lalgudi, Dindigul and Karur sections use a blend of Jatropha and diesel oil.

India Railway have plans to implement a Siemens’ project involving use of special types of locomotives that utilise the momentum of trains running on electricity to regenerate the energy dissipated during braking. This energy can be utilized by another train in the section, running on the same overhead electric cables. The process results in 10-30 per cent savings in electricity consumption for the railways.

Ships and Marine Pollution:

In comparison to road and air, sea transport is an energy efficient means of moving huge volumes of freight across the globe. Normally low grade, heavy, poor quality oil powers much of the deep sea shipping fleets. Poor fuel burnt in marine diesel engines exhausts nasty emissions into the atmosphere including particulate matter, carbon oxides and volatile organic compounds.

Experts estimate that sea going ships exhausts now emit up to 2.8% of the world’s greenhouse gas emissions. New European Union legislation will require strict emission monitoring standards for ships in Port from 2010. Lloyds Register of Shipping has come up with a model for the accurate measurement of ship exhausts. A company in England has produced a ship’s exhaust scrubber which it claims removes up to 95% of the nastiest from ship exhausts.

A solution being developed by Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Japan, includes fuel water injection system for ships diesel engines and sea water electrolysis and scrubber units. A new generation of ocean going ships now on the drawing boards will burn a variety of heavy residual fuels with zero or next to zero emissions, as stated by MAN Diesel Company.