Tag Archives: carbon

Bottles Need To Go

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First off there needs to be a global awareness by humans for their consumption, use, and waste of resources that affect the environment. Global awareness with sustainability is how humans will survive in all regions of the world. Awareness has to do with initiative where if people are aware of their actions, they can be held accountable and have an initiative to either fix their harmful actions or to continue practicing beneficial actions. One way that awareness correlates to mathematics is being aware of the ways that each human is polluting the environment. This can be through using plastic bottles, driving efficiently, not recycling, and using an excess of energy. For example, millions of people use plastic bottles for beverages instead of using reusable bottles which in return affects the atmosphere and environment by releasing Carbon Dioxide into the atmosphere. For every water bottle, 1.6 ounces of carbon dioxide is released into the atmosphere. Think about the millions of water bottles used per year, that is thousands of ounces of carbon being released into the atmosphere. If each human can use reusable water bottles, this will immensely help the environment. A simple switch to reusable water containers can extremely benefit the environment, and this can be accomplished through global awareness. If humans can become educated and aware of their actions with plastic bottles, even though they are very convenient, the earth takes the punishment. Awareness is a key to any change on earth, which is in return through education and knowledge.

iPhones are not necessarily green

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For this project, my group members and I were studying ways in which iPhones may not be exactly the most environmentally friendly option when it comes to technology.  In fact, according to Apple itself about 79% of the carbon emissions from the iPhone are emitted during the production phase, which should not come to a surprise since the manufacturing of products in factories is already polluting the air whether or not its Apple.  Now a days, apple tries very often to persuade consumers to buy new phones, even when their current one is completely usable, refusing basic repair documentation for users. 45% of iPhone users have claimed that they would rather buy a new iPhone instead of fixing their current one, so the fact that over half of the consumers want to fix their current iPhones and are frequently denied the opportunity says a lot about the company prioritizing the environment. The recycling industry has even mentioned on numerous occasions the amount of times perfectly reusable phones have been recycled.  The graph above shows the amount of carbon emission is released when it comes to transportation, mining raw materials, as well other causes.

Solar Saves Hard Earned Money

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One innovative idea that has been growing in popularity all over the world is the use of solar panels. Solar panels offer a variety of ways to help people’s lives financially and protect the environment, a key of sustainability. Solar is a natural resource and the human population should take advantage of renewable energy sources. The use of solar panels creates zero pollution and zero greenhouse gasses to be emitted into the atmosphere. With solar energy, there is an increase in moving away from importing and exporting oil and fossil fuels that harm the environment. Then in regards to financially, solar panels are a future return on one’s investment. Although they can be expensive to install, eventually there will be a return on investment to the point where some households even create a surplus of energy. This will minimize electricity bills in the future for many people. With the use of solar panels, people can receive the electricity to power their homes and more importantly shift toward electric vehicles. If the sun is paying for the electric vehicle batteries, people will save money on their homes and cars. How can anyone be against saving money while also saving the environment? In the future there will be minimized costs of installing solar panels which will benefit all classes of people.

References:

https://news.energysage.com/advantages-and-disadvantages-of-solar-energy/

Electric Mobility

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Electric cars are new and interesting with technology that has never been seen before. In our lifetimes, we have seen the rise of electric cars as well as the adoption of many motor companies producing hybrid cars. Even our college has electric car charging stations. The use of electric cars has been gradual and patient over time. With the current price of gasoline, many individuals are considering alternate modes of transportation that are more eco-friendly than traditional gas cars. In 2012 there were only 130,000 electric cars sold worldwide. While this is a number larger than I expected for that year, this number is nowhere near what it is modern-day. In 2019, comparatively, 2.2 million electric cars were sold. This represented 2.5% of global car sales. In 2020, the number of electric car rose to three million and represented 4.1% of total car sales. This trend continues with 6.6 million electric cars being sold in 2021 accounting for 9% of the global car market. The change from 2012 to 2021 is a staggering 4976% change. The global adoption of alternative fuel sources is leading to new technologies for human transportation. Those numbers alone from 2012 to 2021 show how popular and promising electric vehicles can continue to be moving into the future. Some food fo thought is although we are moving in a cleaner car direction… if 6.6 million electric cars were sold last year, how much carbon emissions were emitted in the production of so many cars? (Although these cars are better for the environment and reduce an individual’s carbon footprint, it is inevitable for carbon emissions to be attached to the production and transportation of electric vehicles before they are purchased and driven off the lot). It has been estimated that there are now around 16,000,000 electric cars on the road worldwide, but while electric car’s are being consumed at a higher rate, this is being offset by a parallel increase in the sale of SUV’s. It will be interesting to see what the automotive industries do in the coming years and how the auto-market will react and balance. Stay tuned.

Sources:
https://www.iea.org/commentaries/electric-cars-fend-off-supply-challenges-to-more-than-double-global-sales