Climate change & action required action

Climate change

1. EVM 801: CLIMATE CHANGE Module 3 Dr. Kanayo L. Oguzie FEDERAL UNIVERSITY OF TECHNOLOGY OWERRI

2. Course Summary Course outline: Discussions on recent technologies to combat global warming and abate climate change Course Objectives/Outcomes: This module introduces students to the concept, causes and effects of global warming and climate change. At the end of this module the participants will be able to understand safer ways to reduce global warming and climate change.

3. Global warming is the rise in temperature of the earth mostly due to the increase in the concentrations of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere. GLOBAL WARMING Recently, global warming is getting attention all over the world and emissions of greenhouse gases and anthropogenic activities are deliberated as the key causes of Global warming. Global warming warms the oceans which causes deterioration in pH, leading to coral bleaching Global warming can arise from a variety of sources, both natural and anthropogenic. Since the early 20 th century, the earth's average surface temperature has increased by about 0.8 °C (1.4°F), with about two thirds of the increase occurring since 1980 Global warming occurs when CO 2 and other greenhouse gases accumulates within the atmosphere and prevent reflection of solar radiation from the earth’s surface back into space, thereby keeping the earth surface warm. There is an increase in the average temperature of the planet by 0.8 o C (33.4° F) compared to the end of the 19th century.

4. GLOBAL WARMING Since the beginning of the statistical surveys in 1850, each last three decades has been warmer than all previous decades. By 2100 according to scientists expect, there will be an increase of between 1.5° and 5.3°C (34.7° to 41.5°F) in average temperature at the rate of which CO 2 emission is going on. If not properly taken care of, it would have harmful and adverse impacts to human race and the biosphere. Image credit: pghpapercity.com Greenhouse gases act like a blanket around Earth, trapping heat in the atmosphere and causing it to warm.

5. GREENHOUSE GASES AND THEIR ORIGINS Carbon dioxide Carbon dioxide is released during natural processes such as the decay of plant matter, deforestation, burning of fossil fuels, building, heating and cooling and the manufacture of cement Methane Methane is released during natural processes that occur, for example, in swamp. Human activities related to agriculture, natural gas distribution and landfills. Nitrous oxide Nitrous oxide is emitted in the atmosphere by human activities such as fertilizer application and burning fossil fuel. Nitrous oxide are also released during natural processes in soils and the oceans.

6. Aerosols They are present in the atmosphere with widely varying size, concentration and chemical composition. Aerosols are formed in the atmosphere through burning of fossil fuel and biomass, mineral dust, biogenic emissions, volcanic eruptions, surface mining etc. Ozone Chemical reactions destroys ozone in the atmosphere. Carbon monoxide, hydrocarbons and nitrogen oxide reacts chemically in the troposphere to form ozone. Water vapour Human activities also have effect water vapour through CH 4 emissions, because CH 4 undergoes chemical destruction in the stratosphere, producing a small amount of water vapour .

7. Global Warming Causes FOSSIL FUELS The extensive use of fossil fuels is the main source of global warming, as burning coal, oil and gas produces carbon dioxide - the most important greenhouse gas in the atmosphere - as well as nitrous oxide. The main cause of anthropogenic Global Warming DEFORESTATION Trees helps in absorbing CO 2 from the atmosphere. During tree cutting, carbon stored in the trees are released into the atmosphere. Approximately 20% of GHG emissions comes from deforestation. Deforestation leads to less CO 2 uptake and results in increased wildfires, producing even more CO 2. INTENSIVE FARMING During food digestion, Cattle and sheep produce large amounts of methane while plant fertilizers produce nitrous oxide emissions.

8. WASTE DISPOSAL During landfilling and incineration of waste, methane, greenhouse and toxic gases are emitted. These gases are released into the atmosphere, soil and waterways, contributing to the increase of the greenhouse effect. MINING In mining and metallurgical industries, metals and minerals are the major raw materials used in the construction, transportation and manufacturing of goods. About 5% of greenhouse gas emissions occurs during extraction. USE OF VEHICLES The use of vehicles, even for a very short distance results in various gaseous emissions. Vehicles burn fossil fuels which emit a large amount of carbon dioxide and other toxins into the atmosphere resulting in a temperature increase.

9. Natural Causes of Global Warming VOLCANOES During volcanic eruptions, ash and smoke emitted goes out into the atmosphere and adds to global warming. WATER VAPOUR Water vapour is a kind of greenhouse gas. Due to the increase in the earth’s temperature more water gets evaporated from the water bodies and stays in the atmosphere adding to global warming. MELTING PERMAFROST Permafrost occurs where glaciers are present. It is frozen soil that has environmental gases trapped in it for several years. As the permafrost melts, it releases the gases back into the atmosphere increasing the earth’s temperature. FOREST FIRES Forest blazes or forest fires emit a large amount of carbon-containing smoke. These gases are released into the atmosphere and increase the earth’s temperature resulting in global warming.

10. Rise in Temperature Since 1880, the earth’s temperature has increased by ~1 degrees due to global warming which has resulted to an increase in the melting of glaciers and led to an increase in the sea level. This could have distressing effects on coastal regions. Threats to the Ecosystem Global warming affects the coral banks that can lead to a loss of plant and animal lives. Increase in global temperatures has effect on instability of coral banks. Global warming is a burning issue as it also affects the ecological imbalance. Due to the rise in temperature in ocean water, some aquatic species die off while others become extinct. Spread of Diseases There are change in the patterns of heat and humidity which affects the movement of mosquitoes that carry and spread diseases. EFFECTS OF GLOBAL WARMING

11. High Mortality Rates Due to an increase in floods, tsunamis and other natural calamities, the average death toll usually increases. Also, such events can bring about the spread of diseases that can harm human life. Loss of Natural Habitat Loss of habitats of several plants and animals occurs due to global shift. In this case, the animals need to migrate from their natural habitat and many of them even become extinct. This is as a result of global warming on biodiversity. Less freshwater will be available , since glaciers store about three-quarters of the world's freshwater. Climate Change This refers to climatic imbalance as a result of global warming. The effects include floods, droughts, ice cap melting, stronger storms and winter freezes like cyclones, tornadoes and hurricanes.

12. Renewable energies By using alternative renewable energies like solar, wind, biomass and geothermal in place of fossil fuels. GLOBAL WARMING CONTROL STRATEGIES Energy efficiency appliances Clean energy helps in reducing our consumption of energy. The use of efficient devices like LED lightbulbs should be encouraged. LED lightbulbs saves up to 80 percent less energy. A 10-watt LED that replaces our traditional 60-watt bulb will save us $125 over the lightbulb’s life. Sustainable transportation By encouraging public transportation, carpooling, electric and hydrogen mobility helps in reducing CO 2 emissions and thus fight global warming. Reduce water usage The amount of energy involved during pumping, heating and treatment of water can be reduce by taking shorter showers, turn off the tap while brushing your teeth, and switch to WaterSense -labeled fixtures and appliances. The EPA estimates that if just one out of every 100 American homes were retrofitted with water-efficient fixtures, about 100 million kilowatt-hours of electricity per year would be saved—avoiding 80,000 tons of global warming pollution.

13. Sustainable agriculture & forest management Encouraging trees planting, the use of natural resources and discourage deforestation helps to reduce the CO 2 pollution. Responsible consumption & recycling Adopting responsible consumption habits is crucial, be it food (particularly meat), clothing, cosmetics or cleaning products helps in   cutting down on energy consumption Sustainable infrastructure The CO 2 emissions that comes from buildings through heating, air conditioning, hot water or lighting can be reduced by building a new low energy buildings and to renovate the existing constructions. Make your house more energy efficient by sealing drafts and ensuring it’s adequately insulated. Approximately 10 percent of U.S. energy use goes into growing, processing, packaging, and shipping food about 40 percent of which just winds up in the landfill.

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15. CLIMATE CHANGE Climate change refers to a shift in average weather conditions, including measures such as temperature, humidity, rainfall, cloudiness and wind patterns – and changes in the occurrence of these conditions. Climate change is the long-term changes in the climate that occur over decades, centuries or longer. It is instigated by rapidly increase in greenhouse gases in the Earth’s atmosphere, mainly by burning fossil fuels (e.g., coal, oil, and natural gas). Climate change affects the social and environmental bases of health – clean air, safe drinking water, sufficient food and secure shelter. CLIMATE CHANGE

16. Climate change may cause weather patterns to be more unpredictable. These unanticipated weather patterns can make it difficult to maintain and grow crops in regions that depend on farming because anticipated temperature and rainfall levels can no longer be relied on. Climate change has also been connected with other damaging weather events such as more frequent and more intense hurricanes, floods, downpours, and winter storms. Between 2030 and 2050, climate change is expected to cause approximately 250,000 additional deaths per year, from malnutrition, malaria, diarrhoea and heat stress by WHO.

17. IMPACTS OF CLIMATE CHANGE Changes in extreme heat When an average high temperatures callous heatwaves occurs, the heatwaves tends to be hotter. The increase temperatures makes forest fires and droughts more extreme due to climate change. Increased rainfall As temperature increases, heavy downpours occurs since the warmer the air, the more water it holds. This increased heavy rainfall can lead to increased flooding, damaging property and threatening lives. Image Credit: Left - Mellimage /Shutterstock.com, center - Montree Hanlue /Shutterstock.com.

18. Rising sea levels The increase in melting of huge ‘ice sheets‘ on land in Antarctica and Greenland, which run off into the oceans is caused by higher air temperatures. The rise in sea level that occurs during intense storms is more likely to exceed existing sea defenses which causes flooding. Loss of biodiversity and nature There is also evidence of climate change affecting nature on land, with many species of plants and animals shifting to new areas due to warming Loss of biodiversity due to limited adaptability and adaptability speed of flora and fauna Changes in the availability of food and freshwater The change in weather conditions affects quantity of crop yields either for good or bad. Farms are more likely to face attacks from weeds, diseases and pests, which affect yield. The freshwater availability for drinking and agriculture in some places is also affected, particularly downstream from melting glaciers, which is one-third source of drinking water of the global population.

19. On Businesses Some businesses are affected by climate change such as damaged crops, the loss of infrastructures and livestocks . Infrastructure and transportation are at risk. Hot weather, flooding and other extreme weather events damage infrastructure, put heavy burdens on electrical supplies and disrupt how we travel and commute. Infrastructure and transportation A warm atmosphere escalates the formation of ground level ozone which is also known as smog in polluted areas. Smog aggravates lungs and triggers asthma attacks. Extreme heat causes deaths from cardiovascular and respiratory disease, particularly among elderly people Human health

20. CLIMATE CHANGE MITIGATION Climate change mitigation discusses the efforts to reduce or prevent emission of greenhouse gases. Mitigation can mean using new technologies and renewable energies, making older equipment more energy efficient, or changing management practices or consumer behavior. An anthropogenic intervention to reduce the sources or enhance the sinks of greenhouse gases. Climate mitigation is any action taken to permanently eliminate or reduce the long term risk and hazard of climate change to human life. The mitigation technologies are able to reduce or absorb the greenhouse gases (GHG) and, in particular, the CO 2 present in the atmosphere. The CO 2 is a persistent atmospheric gas.

21. For suitable environmental protection, climate change mitigation can be achieved by means of pollution prevention techniques and by means of control techniques. Pollution prevention techniques are measures taken before the pollutant is formed while pollution control technologies occurs after the pollutant is formed. These technologies provide specific techniques or processes for the removal of the pollutant generated.

22. Eco-efficiency technology, the aim of this technology is reducing pollution by reducing the amount of required power and material in input to the process maintaining the same level of production; The purpose can be achieved by installing more energy efficient equipment, by modifying the process, etc. The main advantages are related to the environmental and economic benefits: in fact, thanks to the use of eco-efficient technologies, significant economic savings are possible. Low-carbon energy technology, the aim of these kind of technologies is to operate a transition to Low-carbon energy technology (biofuel, wind, solar, etc.) from the conventional energy sources (coal, oil, and so on). Using these technologies, it is expected to protect the climate thanks to the lowest carbon emission quotas. However, there are two main problems: 1. Highercostsofprocuringorgeneratinglowcarbonenergythan conventional energy ; 2. Integrating low-carbon energy into existing energy supply systems can disrupt the current operational process.

23. Green design technology, the aim of these kind of technologies is to reduce the pollutant contents of the products modifying, in particular, the design of the products (generally using more environmentally sustainable materials). Pollution control technology, these kind of technologies (call also end of pipe) aims to eliminate the pollution at the end of the process with appropriate instruments. Pollution control technology usually involves burning, recycling, filtering, and catalyzing pollutants. Typical pollution control technologies include electro-filters, bag filters, scrubbers (dry and wet), use of activated carbon. Management system technology, these kind of technologies try to reduce pollutants upstream, before their formation, adapting the way operations are handled. This is generally achieved through monitoring, reporting of pollution events and through employee training programs to raise awareness of climate change issues.

24. Use of de-carbonization technologies and techniques in order to reduce CO 2 emissions. These include the use of renewable energy instead of fossil fuels, the use of nuclear energy, the storage and use of carbon capture. These are, in the first case, well established technologies. Technologies based on the principle of altering the balance of terrestrial radiation through the management of solar and terrestrial radiation. Such techniques are deducted forced radiative geoengineering technologies, and the main objective is stabilization or temperature reduction. Use of negative emissions technologies. These are recent technologies, which have not yet been studied in detail. These technologies are able to absorb CO 2 present in the atmosphere. These include bioenergy carbon capture and storage, biochar, enhanced weathering, direct air carbon capture and storage, ocean fertilization

25. NEGATIVE EMISSIONS TECHNOLOGIES Forestation, afforestation and reforestation would involve planting forests on unused land. • Biochar, biochar involves the production of enriched carbon material by the slow pyrolysis process. • Soil Carbon Management, agricultural land management practices such as reduced tilling, cover crops and certain grazing practices increase organic carbon levels in soils. • Ocean Fertilization, involves adding nutrients to the ocean in order to stimulate the growth of planktonic algae and other microscopic plants that take up CO 2 . • Augmented Ocean Disposal (“ocean liming”), uses lime in oceans to trap CO 2 in a stable, dissolved inorganic form. Enhanced Weathering and Mineral Carbonation, implies the application of finely ground silicate or carbonate minerals to seawater or soils;

26. Bio-energy with Carbon Capture and Storage (BECCS), is the combination of two mitigation options: biomass combustion to generate energy and Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS). The BECCS process achieve negative emissions by storing the carbon dioxide resulting from the combustion of plants, which have previously removed CO 2 from the air through photosynthesis. • Direct Air Capture, refers to industrial methods for removing carbon dioxide from the air by putting the air in contact with a chemical sorbent that are able to absorb the carbon dioxide. An example of this are the “Artificial Trees” technology: this is a technology that mimics the processes by plant life to withdraw CO 2 from the atmosphere. • Lime–Soda Process, this process is similar to artificial trees, but uses a chemical scrubbing method to enhance CO 2 capture. Carbon Storage and CO 2 utilization, both BECCS and Direct Air Capture need carbon storage to achieve permanent removal of the carbon from the atmosphere. The most common method is geological storage in depleted oil and gas fields, coal beds, and saline aquifers; however total storage capacity is uncertain and requires further geological studies.

27. WAYS TO REDUCE CAUSES OF CLIMATE CHANGE Carbon capture Innovations being used to reduce CO 2 emissions include carbon capture, utilisation , and storage technologies - with the Net Zero Teesside (NZT). NZT aims to capture CO 2 produced in industrial processes and power plants and transport these emissions by pipeline to offshore storage sites several kilometers beneath the Sea. Image: BioCarbon Engineering Drones that plant Trees Drones planting of seeds makes it easier, faster and matches the pace of industrial deforestation. UK-based company BioCarbon is using drones to spray tree seeds throughout ravaged forests and claims the can plant 1 billion trees per year.

28. Satellites that spot Methane Leaks Recently, a team of scientists is working towards sending a satellite into space that can detect when and where methane leaks from the oil and gas industries. These will help reduce about 50% methane emission. Solar panels and wind turbines With the use of solar panels and wind turbines, sun and wind are turned into electricity without the release of greenhouse gases. These technologies are more efficient in energy consumption and cheaper than fossil fuels globally. Batteries for electric vehicles The use of lithium batteries as an alterative storage system for wind turbines and solar panel is a welcome development. Lithium batteries plays a key role in decarbonizing the transport sector by making electric vehicles cheaper. They are fast in charging and can be charged more often.

29. Direct air capture (DAC) technology helps giant vacuum cleaners to remove CO 2 from the atmosphere, which goes underground and supplies it back to specific industries, like fertilizer for farmers or bubbles for drinks companies to carbonate their products in some cases. Vacuuming gas from the atmosphere Be More Conservative with Energy Usage Make sure to turn off lights and unplug devices that are not in use anymore. Replace your light bulbs with energy-efficient light bulbs to help you save electricity too. These exercise helps to prevent pollution. Recycle Recycling process is a cost-effective and eco-friendly which gets rid of waste and does not release greenhouse gasses into the environment. Educate Yourself and Others We can help protect the planet by educating others about the dangers of climate change and how to act against it.

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32. ASSINGMENT How does human activities have increased greenhouse gas concentrations in the atmosphere?

33. Kanayo Oguzie is a Senior lecturer in the Department of Environmental Management at the Federal University of Technology Owerri (FUTO). She obtained her B.Sc. in Industrial Chemistry from the Federal University of Technology Owerri , M.Sc. in Pollution Control from the Federal University of Technology Owerri . She received her Ph.D in Environmental Chemistry from Imo State University. Her research interest are Green Chemistry – development of non toxic chemicals from plant biomass, Pollution control for metal and coating applications; Pollution & climate change; Biosorption & Bioremediation; Water purification techniques; Photocatalysis .