Green Technology Essay Example

Green Technology Essay Example Green Technology Essay Green Technology Essay GREEN TECHNOLOGY Green Technology Abstract For the past 10 years global warming has become an increased issue throughout the world. With the help of advances in green technology our world can slowly reach towards becoming not only healthier and more live able it also will help diminish global warming as we know it. Whether at home, in our workplace or at school we all can do our part in ensuring that this will happen. Scientist and the government have made it possible to use many green technologies to aid us in the process. Green technology is said to become one of the biggest movements that there is. Even with being off to a slow start, many see that there are forward advancements made during the process. Some of these technologies are; recycling, water purification, renewable energy and solid waste management just to name a few. Green Technology is the future of our society. Green Technology What is Green Technology? Green technology is the application of the environmental science and green chemistry to conserve the natural environment and resources, and to curb the negative impacts of human involvement. ( wikipedia. org) The goals of green technology are: ( reen-technology. org/what. htm) * Sustainability meeting the needs of society in ways that can continue indefinitely into the future without damaging or depleting natural resources. In short, meeting present needs without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs. * Cradle to cradle design ending the cradle to grave cycle of manufactured products, by creating products that can be fully reclaime d or re-used. * Source reduction reducing waste and pollution by changing patterns of production and consumption. Innovation developing alternatives to technologies whether fossil fuel or chemical intensive agriculture that have been demonstrated to damage health and the environment. * Viability creating a center of economic activity around technologies and products that benefit the environment, speeding their implementation and creating new careers that truly protect the planet. Though these are the four major goals to green technology, one of the primary goals of the United States is that we are able to preserve natural resources. By doing so people will see a major change in the world pollution, status and overall wellbeing. : There are many types of green technology but below are four major types: * Energy: a supply or source of electrical, mechanical, or other form of power * Building: a structure and using process that is environmentally responsible and resource-efficient throughout a buildings life-cycle: from siting to design, construction, operation, maintenance, renovation, and demolition. * Preferred purchasing: the use of a variety of techniques that enable a consumer to fund products and a manufacturer to find methods of production that have the least negative impact to the environment. General conduct of environmentally preferred purchases will prompt producers and sellers to shift to the green side of the market. * Chemistry: Green chemistry is the application of chemical products that eliminates harm to the environment. * Nanotechnology: the study of manipulating matter on an atomic and molecular scale. The United States is one of world’s largest producers of trash. Trash is calculated out to be 1,609 pounds of trash per person, per year. Recycling is a green technology that takes old materials to make new products. Since recycling opened its doors in 1896 more and more households have taken to the trend to recycle, even though the U. S. only recycles 28 percent of its waste. From 1980-2005, the amount of waste increased 60 percent. From 2007 to 2009, the amount of waste decreased from 255 million tons to 243 million tons. (EPA, 2009) Though still a lot of waste we are on our way to a new recycle trend. Not only does recycling help save raw materials and energy, it frees up a lot of space in our landfills. Old paper is being used for computer paper, books, paper plates, paper towels and toilet paper. According to The Public Recycling Officials of Pennsylvania, for every ton of paper that is recycled, the following are saved: 17 trees 275 pounds of sulfur 350 pounds of limestone 9,000 pounds of steam 60,000 gallons of water 225 kilowatt hours 3. 3 cubic yards of landfill space Practically every hour, nearly 250,000 plastic bottles are thrown out, and takes up to 700 years to decompose. (EPA, 2009) Plastic contributes close to 50 percent of recyclable waste in the dumps. Glass is one of the few products that can be recycled again and again. But when it does end up in landfills it will never decompose. (EPA, 2009) Those facts were just a few to a million that are available and shocking to read. Waste management was created to help save our planet and encourage everyone to be smart and recycle to help do so. With the threat of global warming more households and businesses are turning to geothermal and solar power. Solar power is the conversion of sunlight into electricity, either directly using photovoltaic (PV), or indirectly using concentrated solar power (CSP). Concentrated solar power systems use lenses or mirrors and tracking systems to focus a large area of sunlight into a small beam. Photovoltaic convert light into electric current using the photoelectric effect. (Department of Energy. ) With the sun being the largest power plant solar power statistics show that we only use 0. 01 percent of it for our electrical functions. Solar power being a renewable source we will never have to worry about it ever running out. The daily energy that we could get from the sun is around 700 times greater per day than other source that generates electricity combined. Using solar power along with other methods will make a drastic change in pollution levels. Wind Power is the conversion of wind energy into a useful form of energy, such as using wind turbines to make electricity, windmills for mechanical power, wind pumps for water pumping or drainage, or sails to propel ships. (Gwec. net) The top ten wind power countries and their wind power capacity as of February 2011 are as follows: 1. United States 40,180 2. United Kingdom 5,204 3. Spain 20,676 4. Italy 5,797 5. India 13,066 6. Germany 27,215 7. France 5,660 8. Denmark 3,734 9. China 44,733 10. Canada 4,008 Since the wind depends on the sun wind power is a type of solar energy. As long as the sun is shining wind power is an unlimited source of energy. Wind energy is one of the lowest priced energy sources, costing 4 to 6 U. S. cents per kilowatt hour. This price has drastically dropped since the 1980’s due to technological advances. The only downside to wind power is that you need constant wind to blow to get constant power from it. No wind no power. Hydroelectricity is the production of electrical power through the use of the gravitational force of falling or flowing water. (Energy Information Administration international statistics database) It is the most widely used form of renewable energy. According to the most recent statistics from the Energy Information Administration (EIA), in 2006 hydroelectricity contributed 2,997 billion kilowatt-hours of electricity to states around the world. All other renewable energy sources such as geothermal, solar, wind, contributed 414. 31 billion kilowatt-hours of electricity. Water is in the lead for the most used renewable resource. Top Ten Hydroelectricity Producing States in 2006 (Billion Kilowatt hours) China 431. 43 Canada 351. 85 Brazil 345. 32 United States 289. 25 Russia 173. 65 Norway 118. 21 India 112. 46 Japan 84. 90 Venezuela 81. 29 Sweden 61. 11 If people took the time to think of their actions, the Earth would not have to struggle so much. We are losing rain forests, wetlands, coral reefs, and much more, at substantial rates and have no way to get them back to normal again. Once they are gone, they’re gone for good. In closing go green, don’t just sit back and watch our world die. References www. eia. doe. gov/cneaf/electricity/epa/epates. html www. statcan. gc. ca/pub/57-001-x/57-001-x2003001-eng. pdf environment-green. com/Green_Technology. html green-technology. org/what. htm americanelements. com/AEgreentechnology. html http://whitney05. hubpages. com/hub/Green-Technology brighthub. com/environment/green-computing/articles/112553. aspx Ashford Writing Center Ashford Online Library