Growing Sustainably

For the last blog post, I wanted to think about improving our world to combat climate change and a growing population. One of the biggest threats to humans in the next decade is global climate change. It can be seen that if we continue to follow the highest emission path of releasing CO2 into the atmosphere many parts of the world will become unlivable.

With the threats of the rising temperatures and natural disasters we as a society need to be able to counter this. One of the methods to do this is through building sustainable cities. Goal 11 “Sustainable cities” with the growing population the ability to accommodate this along with creating a sustainable development that will last. The goal states, “we need to build modern, sustainable cities. For all of us to survive and prosper, we need new, intelligent urban planning that creates safe, affordable and resilient cities with green and culturally inspiring living conditions” (Global Goals, n.d). 

This goal can be seen more locally within New York State. There is a push by the state to grow in a sustainable way. There is a state program called Climate Smart Communities (CSC) created by the NYSEC which provides a framework for local governments to guide their climate action plan. This program has been successful with 2,706 sustainable actions being completed across the state (New York State 2021). An off branch of this program of CSC was created by the Under the NYSERDA (New York State Energy Research and Development Authority) called Clean Energy communities. This program created a commission that focuses on the mitigation of climate change and energy use on a more local level. Schenectady has completed 7 actions adding up to 2100 points. Including implementing clean fleets, being a part of Climate Smart Communities, LED Street Lights, PACE financing, Unified Solar (NYSERDA n.d.). 

All these programs created by the state of New York work towards the goal of sustainable  cities. These programs combine state action, local municipalities, and the individual to work towards creating a greener and more sustainable place to live globally. 

Within the goal set up by the UN, it includes the target to  “affordable and sustainable transportation” which New York is doing by setting up grants that encourage individuals to buy electric cars but also encourage governments to implement electric fleets. Another target is “inclusive and sustainable urbanization” and “reduce environmental impact of cities”, these targets are something the ClimateSmart incentive is tacking step by step through their incentives program that it is getting more and more towns to implicate green incentives that will better the local community, the nation and in turn the world. 

Making the world a better place, is such a broad ask for anyone, if it’s a country of a single person. By breaking the statement down into parts and focusing on making small improvements, you are in turn helping everyone. By New York State and then Schenectady working to create a more sustainable place and developing or green initiatives it is, in turn, reducing the amount of fossil fuel emissions being released which is helping EVERYONE in the future. 

 

Living Sustainably- Buy Local!

Tidal Power, the future of energy!

As the threat of climate change grows each year, the need to harness renewable energy sources becomes more and more important. There has been much focus on harnessing wind and solar energy, but a lack of focus on the possibilities created by the ocean. Recent research explores the many ways to harness energy from the ocean, and its potential to be a reliable source of electrical energy that has the capacity to power thousands of households (Bahaj 2011). The unique dependability of tidal power is due to the Earth’s stable tide schedules; this is unlike wind and solar power generation, which is powered by unpredictable sources (Mackie et al. 2021). Tidal power farms have the potential to harness over 500 MW of energy, yet the scientific world has only just begun to research these large-scale projects (Yang et al. 2021). This lack of research is likely due to the need for the development of new technologies and proper funding to understand how these projects could be implemented on a more global scale. As of right now, many tidal power stations are battling ocean bed erosion caused by the strong flow of the turbine (Kim et al. 2021). With more research and development of technologies, the ecological and environmental damages can be limited, and in the end so much better than burning fossil fuels.  Currently, there are only a handful of large-scale farms, namely La Rance Tidal Power Station in France and Shihwa Tidal Power Plant in South Korea. In the South Korean plant, it has the capacity to power around 500,000 households along with having many positive environmental effects on the artificial lake in which it is based, such as reducing the levels of carbon dioxide in the water and revitalizing marine life in the surrounding area (Park and Lee 2021). Since the majority of our earth is covered in water, tidal energy once developed could be a reliable source of energy without using fossil fuels. 

 

Bahaj, A. S. (2011). Generating electricity from the oceans. Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, 15(7), 3399-3416.
Kim, J. W., Woo, S. B., Song, J. I., & Kwon, H. K. (2022). An observational study of hydrodynamic impact on water mass transport due to tidal power generation. Science of The Total Environment, 807, 151013.
Yang, Z., Ren, Z., Li, Z., Xu, Y., Li, H., Li, W., & Hu, X. (2022). A comprehensive analysis method for levelized cost of energy in tidal current power generation farms. Renewable Energy, 182, 982-991.

Recycling and composting trends (1960-2018)

I complied a bar graph that showed the percentage increase in the number of different materials that was increased from 1960 on. This shows that through the years the amount of things recycled has increased along with having more things being able to be recycled. This could be caused by the increase in education and the advancements in technology.

1960 1970 1980 1990 2000 2005 2010 2015 2017 2018
Paper and Paperboard 17% 15% 21% 28% 43% 50% 63% 67% 66% 68%
Glass 2% 1% 5% 20% 23% 21% 27% 28% 25% 25%
Plastics Neg. Neg. <1% 2% 6% 6% 8% 9% 9% 9%
Yard Trimmings Neg. Neg. Neg. 12% 52% 62% 58% 61% 69% 63%
Lead-acid Batteries Neg. 76% 70% 97% 93% 96% 99% 99% 99% 99%

Data from the United States Environmental Protection Agency.  National Overview: Facts and Figures on Materials, Wastes, and Recycling.

 

(sorry if the image is blurry- my laptop was being difficult)

Are rising temperatures dramatically effect people of color?

Environmental racism is a concept that often gets overlooked however it’s a big issue that is connected to many aspects of society. One way that you can look at this is through climate change and the demographics of where people live. According to NPR, in a study of 108 urban areas nationwide, the formerly redlined neighborhoods in nearly every city studied were hotter than those not subjected to redlining. The temperature difference in some areas was nearly 13 degrees. There has been a systematic disparity on who is getting affected by climate change the most. If you look at a global level “counties with large African American populations are exposed to extreme temperatures 2 to 3 more days per year than those counties with smaller African American populations.” In the next decades, this trend is only going to increase. If you look at the graph below it shows the different emission paths and the number of unlivable months out of a year a place will experience because of heat. This graph shows the many places that will become unlivable, with the ones most affected being around the equator which in many places has a high percentage of people of color. With temperature increase and the creation of unlivable zones will trigger a series of mass migrations which is both a social and humanitarian crisis that should be important to everyone.

 

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Sustainable Energy creating JOBS!

Sustainable/renewable energy is a fairly new infrastructure and is still being implemented on small scale. However, renewable energy is the industry of the future. Within New York State alone they are planning on using “Clean Energy and Offshore Wind, Projects Are Expected to Reduce the City’s Fossil Fuel Use for Electricity by More Than 80 Percent in 2030”. Through these many projects, there is a demand for labor where it is proposed that these projects are expected to directly create more jobs. According to the 2019 Clean Energy Report (2019), New York State has already created 160,000 clean energy jobs and has been increasing since. With a 10% growth in the industry from 2016 to 2019. This shows the opportunity that installing clean energy in our communities will have on improving job growth and together improving our communities economically and environmentally.

 

                                                

 

https://www.nyserda.ny.gov/About/Newsroom/2021-Announcements/2021-11-30-Clean-Path-NY-Champlain-Hudson-Power-Express-Renewable-Energy

 

 

US Energy Consumption

The US in 2018 had a record high energy consumption of 101.3 Quadrillion British thermal units (Btu) then when comparing this to the US consumption of energy in 2020 there was a decrease to 92.94 quadrillions British thermal units. When doing the math this was actually a decay factor of 0.0825. I found that this was interesting that our energy consumption in the US actually decreased during the Covid shutdown. However when I think about it a large part of energy consumption comes from office buildings, factories, and such which were shut down during this time. Reducing your energy consumption is important on an individual level and can have a large effect on your carbon footprint.

Why you should use a renewable water bottle

Single-use plastic water bottles have gotten more and more popular since the mid-90s. Currently “around 380 million metric tons of plastic are being produced yearly” which is “ roughly the same as the entire weight of humanity.”  The “average person uses 156 plastic bottles per year” which is around 13 bottles a month. When looking at Union College has a population (staff and students) of around 2,500. To see how much plastic Union College uses in a year, I multiplied the amount an average person uses in a year subtract by a month to make up the loss of students in the summer to the school’s population, which gave me 357,500 plastic water bottles a year. This is an issue because 90% of plastic water bottles do not get recycled and a lot of the time they end up in landfills or oceans for up to 450 lifespans. An average water bottle has a greenhouse gas emission of 58.22 g of CO2. If we compare that to the number of water bottles used at Union college yearly that’s 20,813,630 grams of CO2. In addition, “plastic water bottles are petroleum-based. In the U.S alone, it takes 1.5 million barrels of oil to meet the demands” and globally we use around “17 million barrels of oil to make plastic water bottles every year”. In the end, we should limit the amount of single-use plastic, it has a large impact on the environment, so get yourself a reusable bottle knowing that you are reducing your carbon footprint.

Work Cited:

http://www.watercooler-dispenser.com/articles/How-Much-Oil-Is-Used-For-Bottled-Water.html

https://www.theworldcounts.com/stories/Bottled_Water_Waste_Facts

https://www.earthday.org/fact-sheet-single-use-plastics/

 

Are they worth it? Electric cars and individual carbon emissions

Globally the temperature of the earth is increasing, these rising temperatures have been mainly caused by the emissions of greenhouse gasses into the atmosphere. Changes need to be made both on a government and individual level to hinder the effects of climate change. More than 30% of carbon emissions come from transportation via, car, bus, and airplane one of the best ways that an individual can combat this is to purchase an electric car (EPA, 2021). The New York State Energy Research and Development Agency has out a free estimation survey, where one can put in the type of electric car and it will give you the cost and benefits of purchasing the car. When looking at an average 30,000 dollar electric car in Central New York, within the first year one would save $966 this was found by calculating the cost of gasoline ($1,243) that you would save minus the increase in your electric bill which would be around $277 to charge your car. In New York, you also get a minimum of 8,500 dollars in incentives which includes a $7,500 Plug-in vehicle federal tax credit plus a $1,000 with the Drive Clean Rebate. When looking at the cost and benefits in the future, within the first 5 years it shows that an electric car would save up to $7,867 and you would break even with the cost of the car within two years. Along with having long-term financial benefits owning an electric car reduces an individual carbon footprint by 58% per year which is equivalent to 5,977 lb of CO2. This survey is a great day to find a car that fits your budget and lifestyle while also helping you lower your carbon footprint. Cost benefits analysts are an important factor when it comes to the effectiveness of environmental action.

Survey: https://nyserda.wattplan.com/ev/

 

Work Cited:

EPA (2021) Carbon Pollution from Transportation

https://www.epa.gov/transportation-air-pollution-and-climate-change/carbon-pollution-transportation

NYSERDA (n.d) Watt Plan, Access on 4/3

https://nyserda.wattplan.com/ev/Results

 

Intro-Stella

Hello, My name is Stella I am a sophomore. I am currently a Geoscience and Anthropology ID major and minoring in Environmental policy. I am from Salem Ma and work as a lifeguard on Cape Cod. I have always been a person who loved the outdoors, I’ve camped my whole life and in recent years I’ve started to backpack sections of the AT. By being outdoors and exposed to nature I’ve been drawn to environmental issues that force me to think about sustainability. In the next decade, the effects of climate change will be so drastic, the areas where I live now will become underwater along with many places around the equator becoming unlivable due to a global increase in temperature. I feel like an important aspect of sustainability is education. Educating yourself about the situation that the world is in and how it’s going to affect you and the people around you, it can help push people to become more aware of their actions. Individual actions can go a long way, if everyone makes small sustainable changes to their daily routine then the community will become a lot greener as a whole.