Portfolio Task 3

On 30^th January 2008, 3 distinguished guests each gave a talk regarding the environmental issues facing the world and how we can mitigate this problem. The first lecturer Prof. Andrew Palmer talked about global warming. He mentioned that in every second, we are emitting 200 tonnes of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere and what we should aim to achieve in present time is to stabilise carbon dioxide concentration at 500 parts per million. To work towards that aim, we can look at increasing fuel efficiency and conservation, and switching to alternative energy sources.

He also brought out an interesting technology that researchers and engineers are looking into: carbon capture and storage. Carbon dioxide can be stored under the ground, in depleted oil fields. Since we already have the infrastructure and technology, this solution looks feasible. He also mentioned storing carbon dioxide above the ocean beds which raised a few questions in my mind. Without doubt, high concentrations of carbon dioxide in the oceans will turn the water acidic, and there will be serious biological and ecological consequences. Not only that, carbonate ions in the water may interact with the air, releasing carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. Hence this method may not be effective. Scientists and engineers have also come out with an idea of using a huge gigantic membrane to store carbon dioxide under water. However, calculations have shown that this method will not be very cost effective. A 10km length of membrane has the capacity to store only 2.2days of current global emission. Another problem that might arise is the possibility of leakage from the membrane. Platonic movements of the Earth, chemical and mechanical erosion of the membrane are considerations scientists and engineers ought to take before implementing this method.

The 2^nd guest speaker, Dr Sovacool, touched on using Science and Technology Studies (STS) to address the energy problem. Through case studies on renewable power source and the electric car, he argued that man’s inertia to change poised the greatest obstacle to overcome this problem. Hence he proposed using STS to evaluate societies’ response to new technologies aiming at mitigating the climate problem.

Last but not least, Prof. Bala briefly touched on the effects of global warming, of which some we are already facing today. Then, he proposed a few approaches that we can take to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. He also emphasised the importance of governments breaking the inertia and taking the first step to reduce the threat of climate change. Personally, I do not find his lecture interesting as what he has mentioned is similar to the documentary “An Inconvenient Truth”. On the other hand, I enjoyed the other 2 lectures as they have given me new insights into analysing and mitigating the climate problem.