Wednesday, December 10, 2008

The Role of Transportation and Extreme Events on Global Warming

By Elias Maseko

With the issue of transportation, it is predicted that Americans will continue to put gasoline-burning cars on the road at alarming rates over the next twenty years. The number estimated is around 300 million new cars. With this expectation, it is clear that cars should be made with energy efficiency in mind. Otherwise, they will cause extensive global warming.

Alternate fuels have been in the news for helping with reducing global warming as well. One of the most interesting fuels is bio-diesel. This type of fuel can be made from a variety of sources. Vegetable oils such as soybean and rapeseed oils have been used successfully in regular diesel vehicles.

Some cars are flex-fuel cars which can be run on different fuel sources. They can use alcohol, gasoline, or a combination. E85 is mostly ethanol with 15% of the fuel being gasoline. This fuel performs a little better than pure ethanol, but is more conducive to cutting down on global warming than gasoline.

The world, especially the US, can make some changes in the way they move about and transport their goods. If people do nothing, greenhouse gasses will surely increase drastically. However, if changes are made, global warming will be cut to a very large degree.

Effects of extreme events

When a hurricane becomes more intense because of global warming and wipes out a city, the effects are obvious. Yet, there are some results of extreme events that are less apparent. These situations can change life in many ways.

Farmers and ranchers will notice problems with their operations due to global warming. Crops will have a risk of being damaged by drought, flooding, or erosion. The uncertainty has always been a part of farming, but now, it will be even worse.

The effects of higher daytime lows are mostly good. There will be fewer deaths related to cold weather, less reliance on fuels for heat, and some crops will benefit. The bad news is that other crops will suffer, and pests and diseases will flourish due to global warming. - 15437

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