CLEAN ENERGY IN TRANSPORTATION:
Cruising Down "Clean" Lane
Editors Note: This article by Zoe E. (’16) is an exploration of energy and climate change in the modern world, addressing how the world deals with these topics and specifically how transportation plays into climate change.
Effective transportation and the protection of the environment are things most people strive for, yet people often choose one at the cost of the other. The majority of people, including young children, are educated to a certain degree about the infamous “global warming” and although most don’t know the details, they are aware that it ends in one way only: poorly. Still, this predetermined doom does not seem to faze many who continue to follow in their energy inefficient ways that pollute the Earth in a startling way. For most, this “global warming” is just words on a page meant to frighten them with no explicit meaning. Global warming seems so distant that nobody feels the need to put in the effort to create a cleaner world, however this mentality, is specious.
In fact, United States citizens should be the most concerned. Even though they make up a mere 4 percent of the entire population, according to the Natural Resource Defense Council (NRDC), the country contributes to a prodigious 25 percent of carbon dioxide pollution ("Global Warming Basics," n.d.)! In fact, that is still more than China, India, and Japan combined ("Global Warming Basics")! For this reason alone, the United States has a responsibility to take a leadership role in attempting to attempt to improve this enormous and unfixable problem.
Each year for the past eight years, the United States Energy Information Administration (EIA) has recorded five to six billion metric tons of carbon dioxide being released into the air and those quantities are increasing (Antypas & Brown, 2014). From 2012, to 2013, carbon dioxide emissions increased by 2%. And for the years of 2014 and 2015, the numbers are predicted to increase by more (Antypas & Brown). Nevertheless, there has been a bit of progress. Carbon dioxide emissions in 2013 were still about 10% below the 2005 emissions, which was a “a significant contribution towards the goal of a 17% reduction in emissions from the 2005 level by 2020 that was adopted by the current Administration,” (Antypas & Brown). Still, the percentages being discussed are still relatively low in comparison to the magnitude of the problem.
So is there a solution? In the transportation industry, a high contributor to carbon dioxide emissions because of the burning of natural gasses as fuel, there have been many relatively successful vehicles that run on all sorts of different types of cleaner energies. But as journalist Jack Hitt said, “this is merely the beginning of a much larger change that’s needed,” (Hitt, 2014).
A newer discovery is the usage of what is called “an artificial leaf.” They essentially create motor fuel through a process that mimics photosynthesis. Exposure to sunlight activates photosynthesis and water is separated into oxygen and burnable hydrogen gas that could potentially release a lot of energy, but the question is not about “how” anymore, but about efficiency (Harris, 2013).
The “artificial leaf” must make some serious progressions to be effective as an invention . The system has about a 1% accuracy making the idea of powering any sort of vehicle a very distant (if at all) future and the process is cost and time consuming. If that weren’t enough, sun exposure is necessary and in order to generate any significant amount of energy, one would need around a “forest of trees”(Harris).
Additionally, access is a problem. In the fossil fuel riddled society that we live in today, having something as basic as an electric car could simply be economic mistake. The price of a gallon is almost double the cost of 1 kilowatt, however because the market is so small, the prices suffer from dramatic increases during certain times of the day (Chambers, 2010). Also, in urban places like New York City, places to charge are nearly impossible to come across.
But at the end of the day there is only one question that we need to ask ourselves: which is more important: the environment or transportation. And the only acceptable answer to that question is the environment. As scientist Heinz Frei explained, “If society refuses to accept this mode of making renewable fuel,” we will destroy the living world around us to the point that it becomes “intolerable” (Harris).
In fact, United States citizens should be the most concerned. Even though they make up a mere 4 percent of the entire population, according to the Natural Resource Defense Council (NRDC), the country contributes to a prodigious 25 percent of carbon dioxide pollution ("Global Warming Basics," n.d.)! In fact, that is still more than China, India, and Japan combined ("Global Warming Basics")! For this reason alone, the United States has a responsibility to take a leadership role in attempting to attempt to improve this enormous and unfixable problem.
Each year for the past eight years, the United States Energy Information Administration (EIA) has recorded five to six billion metric tons of carbon dioxide being released into the air and those quantities are increasing (Antypas & Brown, 2014). From 2012, to 2013, carbon dioxide emissions increased by 2%. And for the years of 2014 and 2015, the numbers are predicted to increase by more (Antypas & Brown). Nevertheless, there has been a bit of progress. Carbon dioxide emissions in 2013 were still about 10% below the 2005 emissions, which was a “a significant contribution towards the goal of a 17% reduction in emissions from the 2005 level by 2020 that was adopted by the current Administration,” (Antypas & Brown). Still, the percentages being discussed are still relatively low in comparison to the magnitude of the problem.
So is there a solution? In the transportation industry, a high contributor to carbon dioxide emissions because of the burning of natural gasses as fuel, there have been many relatively successful vehicles that run on all sorts of different types of cleaner energies. But as journalist Jack Hitt said, “this is merely the beginning of a much larger change that’s needed,” (Hitt, 2014).
A newer discovery is the usage of what is called “an artificial leaf.” They essentially create motor fuel through a process that mimics photosynthesis. Exposure to sunlight activates photosynthesis and water is separated into oxygen and burnable hydrogen gas that could potentially release a lot of energy, but the question is not about “how” anymore, but about efficiency (Harris, 2013).
The “artificial leaf” must make some serious progressions to be effective as an invention . The system has about a 1% accuracy making the idea of powering any sort of vehicle a very distant (if at all) future and the process is cost and time consuming. If that weren’t enough, sun exposure is necessary and in order to generate any significant amount of energy, one would need around a “forest of trees”(Harris).
Additionally, access is a problem. In the fossil fuel riddled society that we live in today, having something as basic as an electric car could simply be economic mistake. The price of a gallon is almost double the cost of 1 kilowatt, however because the market is so small, the prices suffer from dramatic increases during certain times of the day (Chambers, 2010). Also, in urban places like New York City, places to charge are nearly impossible to come across.
But at the end of the day there is only one question that we need to ask ourselves: which is more important: the environment or transportation. And the only acceptable answer to that question is the environment. As scientist Heinz Frei explained, “If society refuses to accept this mode of making renewable fuel,” we will destroy the living world around us to the point that it becomes “intolerable” (Harris).
Antypas, Y., & Brown, T. (2014, January 13). U.S. Energy Information Administration - EIA - Independent Statistics and Analysis. Retrieved April 7, 2014, from http://www.eia.gov/todayinenergy/detail.cfm?id=14571&src=Environment-b1
Chambers, N. (2010). How Much Will Driving an Electric Car Save You? Experimenting With Flat-Fee Charging Rates. Retrieved April 9, 2014, from http://www.plugincars.com/how-much-will-driving-electric-car-save-you-experimenting-flat-fee-charging-rates-53613.html
Global Warming Basics. (n.d.). Retrieved April 9, 2014, from http://www.nrdc.org/globalwarming/f101.asp#3
Harris, R. (2013, April 10). Could An 'Artificial Leaf' Fuel Your Car? Retrieved April 9, 2014, from http://www.npr.org/2013/04/23/176790800/could-an-artificial-leaf-fuel-your-car
Hitt, J. (2014, March 29). The Artificial Leaf Is Here. Again. Retrieved from http://www.nytimes.com/2014/03/30/technology/the-artificial-leaf-is-here-again.html
Chambers, N. (2010). How Much Will Driving an Electric Car Save You? Experimenting With Flat-Fee Charging Rates. Retrieved April 9, 2014, from http://www.plugincars.com/how-much-will-driving-electric-car-save-you-experimenting-flat-fee-charging-rates-53613.html
Global Warming Basics. (n.d.). Retrieved April 9, 2014, from http://www.nrdc.org/globalwarming/f101.asp#3
Harris, R. (2013, April 10). Could An 'Artificial Leaf' Fuel Your Car? Retrieved April 9, 2014, from http://www.npr.org/2013/04/23/176790800/could-an-artificial-leaf-fuel-your-car
Hitt, J. (2014, March 29). The Artificial Leaf Is Here. Again. Retrieved from http://www.nytimes.com/2014/03/30/technology/the-artificial-leaf-is-here-again.html
