Global warming
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1) Sea levels have risen 10-20 cm over the past century and the rate of rise has doubled over the past 20 years to 3.2 mm per year due to global warming. 2) There are three main factors contributing to sea level rise: thermal expansion as oceans warm, melting of glaciers and ice caps, and ice loss from Greenland and West Antarctica as warming causes increased melting. 3) For a low-lying coastal city experiencing problems from rising sea levels, the consultant's plan would include both mitigation efforts like improving energy efficiency and transitioning to renewable energy to reduce global warming, as well as local adaptation projects like building seawalls, restoring wetlands as buffers, and reloc
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Global warming
- 1. Kkkh4284 Sustainable urban planning Task 6: global warming NAME : RoshafizahBtRoslan MATRIC NUMBER : A133549 LECTURER : Prof. Ir. Dr. RizaAtiq Abdullah Bin O.K Rahmat Dr. Muhammad Nazri Bin Borhan PuanNorliza Bt. MohdAkhir
- 2. Task 7:Supposed you are living in a coastal city. The city administrator has noticed that the mean sea level has been rising for the past 50 years. The raising is small but over a long period of time it may cause problems in the city centre as the level of that part of the city is quite low. If you are hired as a consultant, write a plan of action on what can be done to reduce or mitigate the problems. 1.0 INTRODUCTION Core samples, tide gauge readings, and, most recently, satellite measurements tells that over the past century, the Global Mean Sea Level (GMSL) has risen by 10 to 20 centimeters. However, the annual rate of rise over the past 20 years has been 3.2 millimeters a year, roughly twice the average speed of the preceding 80 years. Over the past century, the burning of fossil fuels and other human and natural activities has released enormous amounts of heat-trapping gases into the atmosphere. These emissions have caused the Earth's surface temperature to rise, and the oceans absorb about 80 percent of this additional heat. The rise in sea levels is linked to three primary factors which are the thermal expansion, melting of glaciers and polar ice caps and also the ice loss from Greenland and West Antarctica, all induced by this ongoing global climate change. 1. Thermal expansion: When water heats up, it expands. About half of the past century's rise in sea level is attributable to warmer oceans simply occupying more space. 2. Melting of glaciers and polar ice caps: Large ice formations, like glaciers and the polar ice caps, naturally melt back a bit each summer. But in the winter, snows, made primarily from evaporated seawater, are generally sufficient to balance out the melting. Recently, though, persistently higher temperatures caused by global warming have led to greater- than-average summer melting as well as diminished snowfall due to later winters and earlier springs. This imbalance results in a significant net gain in runoff versus evaporation for the ocean, causing sea levels to rise.
- 3. 3. Ice loss from Greenland and West Antarctica: As with glaciers and the ice caps, increased heat is causing the massive ice sheets that cover Greenland and Antarctica to melt at an accelerated pace. Scientists also believe melt water from above and seawater from below is seeping beneath Greenland's and West Antarctica's ice sheets, effectively lubricating ice streams and causing them to move more quickly into the sea. Moreover, higher sea temperatures are causing the massive ice shelves that extend out from Antarctica to melt from below, weaken, and break off. 2.0 MITIGATION Mitigation of global warming involves taking actions to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and to enhance sinks aimed at reducing the extent of global warming. This is in distinction to adaptation to global warming, which involves taking action to minimise the effects of global warming. Scientific consensus on global warming, together with the precautionary principle and the fear of non-linear climate transitions, is leading to increased effort to develop new technologies and sciences and carefully manage others in an attempt to mitigate global warming. No single technology can provide all of the mitigation potential in any sector. The economic mitigation potential, which is generally greater than the market mitigation potential, can only be achieved when adequate policies are in place and barriers removed. There are several of the selected examples of key sectorial mitigation technologies such as: 1. Energy supply Improved supply and distribution efficiency, fuel switching from coal to gas, nuclear power; renewable heat and power (hydropower, solar, wind, geothermal and bioenergy), combined heat and power, early applications of carbon dioxide capture and storage, CCS for gas, biomass and coal-fired electricity generating facilities, advanced nuclear power, advanced renewable energy, including tidal and wave energy, concentrating solar, and solar photovoltaics. 2. Transport More fuel-efficient vehicles, hybrid vehicles, cleaner diesel vehicles, biofuels, modal shifts from road transport to rail and public transport systems. non-
- 4. motorised transport (cycling, walking), land-use and transport planning, second generation biofuels, higher efficiency aircraft, advanced electric and hybrid vehicles with more powerful and reliable batteries. 3. Buildings Efficient lighting and daylighting, more efficient electrical appliances and heating and cooling devices, improved cook stoves, improved insulation, passive and active solar design for heating and cooling, alternative refrigeration fluids, recovery and recycling of fluorinated gases, integrated design of commercial buildings including technologies, such as intelligent meters that provide feedback and control and also solar photovoltaics integrated in buildings. 4. Industry More efficient end-use electrical equipment, heat and power recovery, material recycling and substitution, control of non-CO2 gas emissions, and a wide array of process-specific technologies, advanced energy efficiency; CCS for cement, ammonia, and iron manufacture and also inert electrodes for aluminum manufacture. 5. Agriculture Improved crop and grazing land management to increase soil carbon storage, restoration of cultivated peaty soils and degraded lands, improved rice cultivation techniques and livestock and manure management to reduce CH4 emissions, improved nitrogen fertilizer application techniques to reduce N2O emissions, dedicated energy crops to replace fossil fuel use, improved energy efficiency and also make improvements of crop yields. 6. Forestry Afforestation, reforestation, forest management, reduced deforestation, harvested wood product management, use of forestry products for bioenergy to replace fossil fuel use, tree species improvement to increase biomass productivity and carbon sequestration, improved remote sensing technologies for analysis of vegetation carbon sequestration potential and mapping land-use change.
- 5. 7. Waste Landfill CH4 recovery, waste incineration with energy recovery, composting of organic waste, controlled wastewater treatment, recycling and waste minimization, biocovers and biofilters to optimise CH4 oxidation. 3.0 ADAPTION Adaptation means anticipating the adverse effects of climate change and taking appropriate action to prevent or minimise the damage they can cause, or taking advantage of opportunities that may arise. It has been shown that well planned, early adaptation action saves money and lives later. Some planned adaptation to climate change is already occurring on a limited basis. Adaptation can reduce vulnerability, especially when it is embedded within broader sectoral initiatives. There is high confidence that there are viable adaptation options that can be implemented in some sectors at low cost, or with high benefit-cost ratios. However, comprehensive estimates of global costs and benefits of adaptation are limited. There are several selected examples of planned adaptation by sector such as: 1. Water Expanded rainwater harvesting, water storage and conservation techniques, water re-use, desalination and water-use and irrigation efficiency. 2. Agriculture Adjustment of planting dates and crop variety, crop relocation and improved land management as example erosion control and soil protection through tree planting. 3. Infrastructure/settlement (including coastal zones) Relocation, seawalls and storm surge barriers, dune reinforcement, land acquisition and creation of wetlands as buffer against sea level rise and flooding and also protection of existing natural barriers. 4. Human Health Heat-health action plans, emergency medical services,improved climate-sensitive disease surveillance and control and safe water and improved sanitation.
- 6. 5. Tourism Diversification of tourism attractions and revenues. 6. Transport Relocation, design standards and planning for roads, rail and other infrastructure to cope with warming and drainage. 7. Energy Strengthening of overhead transmission and distribution infrastructure;,underground cabling for utilities, energy efficiency, use of renewable sources and also reduced dependence on single sources of energy. Adaptive capacity is intimately connected to social and economic development but is unevenly distributed across and within societies. 4.0 CONCLUSION To conclude, mitigation and adaptation are vastly different strategies, however they both need to be used in order to not only save national economies from future recessions, but to save the natural and human world from physical disaster.