The Environment and Internal Combustion

The Problem with the Environment

Quite simply it stinks, or rather if we could smell CO2 it would. The general global view is that increasing CO2 is the major contributor to global warming. We are all aware of the effects of global warming on weather systems, sea levels and the such like. Why then would we want to create even more CO2?

The Problem with CO2

In any aerobic metabolic process the waste products are heat and CO2. This means any air or oxygen breathing creature will produce a lot of CO2 whereas our good friends the tress and plants take that CO2, do a bit of serious magic and use it to grow producing O2 as their waste product. This is the basis of our balanced ecological system.

The problem with CO2 is that there are two types (in the context of this article). The is current cycle CO2 which comes from currently living creatures and goes into currently living plants. Then there is previous cycle CO2 which is locked away in underground places such as coal, oil and gas. This is fossil fuel and is very much the environmental enemy. Yet we are totally dependent on it, our main source of energy one way or the other is fossil fuel. This is producing bucket loads of CO2 to add to the CO2 we humans are creating through uncontrolled population growth.

So Gaia is struggling with her environment, she will ultimately win of course unless our murderous intent drives to the extreme of becoming like her evil twin Venus with runaway greenhouse effects, surface temperatures of 400C and so on.

Back to the plot. . .

Bio-fuels – are they the future?

NO

There are two sides to this argument, one is that we are getting energy and not adding to the current CO2 build up – purely because bio-fuels are this CO2 cycle so the net effect is to not add CO2. the other side is that whilst bio-fuels don’t add CO2, by removing the tress they are not reducing CO2 by using arboreal magic to convert it back to O2.

Taking the latter point, Gaia’s headache will continue for some time.

One can’t help but question ten why running London buses on Coffee Beans (see this link) is seen as a good thing. It will still create CO2 and as it is generating carbon as a waste product then those nasty little particles which are killing city dwellers will still be produced. Other than an green gimmick what exactly is this cash-cow idea?

Surely it is easier to control the emissions from a few large waste gas producers than millions of low volume and probably badly polluting exhausts/central heating systems/boilers and so on.

This site supports Renewable and Nuclear Energy

As far as the environment is concerned, renewable natural non-combusting energy sources must therefore be the only way forward, wind, water, nuclear and of course chemical.

Look at what has been achieved recently:

Over 50% UK’s power sourced from renewable energy on several days this year so far.

Nuclear fusion research is rapidly heading towards sustainable nuclear energy with none of the toxic waste problems associated with current nuclear reactors.

Car manufacturers investing in NASA style hydrogen fuel cells to power electric vehicles with water as the only waste product.

We’re getting there so why run a bus on coffee beans?