Feasibility, Essay Example

What is the air pollution problem from a public health employee stance?

Air pollution comes in many forms from methane gas emissions from landfills to agricultural sites, carbon emissions, refrigerants and aerosols and acid rain, amongst others.

Why should this issue be investigated?

These issues should be thoroughly investigated because each contributes largely to our atmospheric and water contamination pollution including climatic change through ozone layer depletion. Investigation of the issues helps to eliminate risk factors that cause the issues so that we can minimize and eliminate the sources of the pollutants.

What are the social determinants?

The social determinants are the social and economic conditions under which humans reside which determine their health and risk factors. The social determinants for the purposes of this study are comparisons of the attributes of low income on the influence of pollution.

What social groups will benefit from this study? Why?

All social groups will benefit from this study because all people are affected by air, water and climatic pollution problems. We live in a society that demands the use of various products to make our life more comfortable and with that comes increased risk of pollution if we are not careful to protect the environment. Of course there are some innate pollutants that we cannot prevent such as acid rain, but we can certainly take steps to control the negativity of which such subjects us to.

How will this study address what should be done to control or eliminate the pollution problem?

This study addresses the various options to control and minimize pollution in the air, water and climatic environments. Prevention will always be the best measure but when that is not accomplished there are always other alternatives to save our earth.

Which agencies would be best to study? Would this be at the local, state, national or federal levels?

I will study the Environmental Protection Agency, Occupational Safety and Health Agency and the Clean Air Act. I choose these three agencies because pollution control is mandated through strict legislation by all three of these agencies along with strict policies of safety thereto.

What can be done to amend or change the pollution problem?

People can be accountable for their contribution to the pollution problems across America. Landfills can convert methane gas to CO2 to help reduce emissions to the atmosphere. Farmers can convert methane gas to electricity to prevent pollution to the air and groundwater. This will also help them financially. People can reuse products, commute to work, keep their cars in good working condition, amongst other carbon foot printing ideas.

How much will it cost to do the research project?

Grants can come from the federal government or from private sectors. Professors normally ask for grants through private companies to fund their research. The federal government usually allocates a certain amount of money for pollution control research. “For example the Clean Water Act, Section 106 mandates a certain funding for all research to keep the drinking water clean and pollutant free.” (Water Pollution Control Program Grants 2010). A typical grant can range from $1 million to $25 million. The cost of this anticipated research will be approximately $15 million, hypothetically if done by a professional or governmental agency including private testing, because I am focusing on various pollutants and each will require thorough testing and validity.

Hypothesis

Methane gas (CH4) is abundant in landfill sites as well as agricultural sites in manure. This gas is a massive contributor to air pollution and puzzles public health employees because of the various legislative measures that are currently in transaction to convert the methane gas to electricity in order to eliminate such pollution from our atmosphere.  It is hypothesized that proper operation of such methane production plants has helped to reduce the impact of methane gas emissions as much as 80%.

Chlorofluorocarbons are associated with refrigerants and aerosol propellants. These are very dangerous in itself because people use them almost daily in everyday walks of life making the risk assessment of pollution to the atmosphere that much higher. The aerosols have been known to deplete the ozone layer and cause respiratory infection to the lungs of human beings. They possess a very high risk factor on the Material Safety Data Sheet (MSDS). It is postulated that a reduction in aerosol use can help to save our atmosphere and reduce pollution as much as 70%. Refrigerants have already been replaced with safer modes such as R12 freon and 134a conversions that are environmentally friendly. It is postulated these products will help to keep the depletion of the ozone layer at a minimum.

Scientists hypothesize SO2 and NOx in acid rain can be minimized by studying the effects of acid rain on the environment through a collection and testing process. “pH and chemical composition tests are routinely collected by the Environmental Protection Agency to understand the effects of SO2 and NOx on the air we breathe and water we drink.” (Reducing Acid Rain 2008). Scientists postulate cleaning up smoke stacks and exhaust pipes can really make a difference in SO2 and NOx emissions. Emissions are derived from the burning of fossil fuels, hence the reduction of fossil fuels or conversion to other alternative fuel sources can help the SO2 and NOx emissions to the environment.

What does one mean when he/she says, “Reduce your carbon footprint?” What this means is to stop, think and consider the decisions you make that influence changes in the climatic impact. You can do this by reducing your carbon footprint at home, at the office, in your car, whilst traveling on the plane, etc. Some examples are “keeping your car tuned up properly so the car does not give off improper pollutants, carpool instead of driving to work alone, take a train instead of a plane because planes give off more pollutants to the atmosphere and severely impact as such. It is postulated if every household would sit and think just for a minute a day of how they impact the climate we live in and make one simple change to their normal routine we could reduce the pollution impact up to 65% variably. A simple change might be to remove your name of junk mail list or donating old electronics to charities.

Literature Review

Methane is twenty-one more times dangerous a pollutant than carbon dioxide for two distinct reasons: the gas remains in the atmosphere for approximately fifteen years and “it is twenty times more effective in trapping heat in the atmosphere than CO2, respectively.” (Methane 2010). Over the past decade the methane concentrations have increased approximately to 1751 ppbv per year. This is a 150% increase since 1984.

Chlorofluorocarbons as refrigerants and propellants are man-made commercial products that are extremely volatile to our atmosphere. Chemically speaking they are “non-violent, non-reactive, inflammable and stable at atmospheric pressure.”(Google 2010). The problem lies when “intense radiation in the outer stratosphere decomposes CFC’s into molecules of atoms and chlorine. This initiates a chemical reaction shielding ozone (O2) in the lower stratosphere layer.” (Google 2010).

Acid rain penetrates deep into the core of an ecosystem interfering with the chemistry of the air, water and soils. This makes it very difficult for certain organisms such as aquatic life, plants and other animals to survive. When the natural balance of an ecosystem is thrown off so is the natural balance of the human presence in the world. “Lime is often added to smaller ponds and lakes to make them more alkaline or to take the acidity out of them after a large acid rain storm or a constant depletion from numerous acid rain storms.” (Reducing Acid Rain 2008). Liming allows for the natural habitats to survive instead of awaiting a ‘good rain’ to balance off the pond or lake. The downside of ‘liming’ is that it is very expensive. The United States does not use this process very often, but it is used in countries such as Denmark and Sweden in ‘select areas’ where fisheries are waning preservation.

We can measure our carbon footprint and how we impact the climatic change by selecting the number of household members and answering various questions about what products we use, how we heat and cool our homes, steps taken to reduce energy, amongst other important questions. Carbon foot printing is a proactive stance and full assessment of how you and your family can help to improve the impact pollution has on the environment by making certain changes in your life.

Methodology or Research Plan

Electricity from Manure

This is a two step anaerobic process where the manure bacteria are fed to a digester producing an excess of volatile acids. “The accumulated acids form an excess of volatile acids lowering the pH stopping the gas production.” (Fulhage & Fischer 1993). The alkalinity must be maintained in order to keep the production of more acids to the system. Lime is added to the system periodically. “Soluble heavy metals such as copper zinc and nickel may be toxic to the digester bacteria. The addition of sulfides will cause this problem to cease by precipitating out the heavy metals.” (Fulhage & Fischer 1993).  This is especially important when dealing with heavy metal concentrated livestock feed manure. The methane gas is produced when the solids are broken down and the obvious benefit is the production of energy from the methane gas.

“The air-tight anaerobic digester tank converts biomass waste to methane. Capping and channeling the methane into a productive use, instead of releasing it into the atmosphere, helps to mitigate global warming while producing a renewable energy that can be used for heating, electricity, or operation of an internal combustion engine.

Landfill Gas to Energy

People dispose their organic rich waste into the landfill areas. When the waste starts to decompose the methane gas starts to release from the waste. There are wells specifically drilled into the landfill that recover the gases for later use as energy sources. The wells are connected by transport systems that send them to compression vessels. The gas is compressed to volume, dried, filtered then sent through large turbines or engines to produce electricity. Landfill gas is then delivered off-site to be used as an alternative to electricity and in generators. “Waste management is further looking into converting methane gas into natural gas to use as a liquefied fuel for its own gas trucks.” (Landfill Gas to Energy 2010).

Methane gas from manure on agricultural sites is recovered and reused on-site to generate power on the farms. The material drawn from the anaerobic digester is called sludge, or effluent. It is rich in nutrients (ammonia, phosphorus, potassium, and more than a dozen trace elements) and is an excellent soil conditioner. It can also be used as a livestock feed additive when dried.” (Texas A & M 2010). The Huckabay Ridge facility in Texas currently produces 650 million Btu of natural gas per year which is enough to light 10,000 of the homes in Texas. This is produced from the manure from livestock in the Texas area. This is from the installation of manure to gas digester tanks which are composed of eight anaerobic digester tanks capable of producing fuel from 10,000 cows. Each tank has a total capacity of 916,000 gallons. The digesters produce pipeline graded methane which can be fed to Austin, Texas and pipelined to the lower Colorado River Authority to be used for electricity. A contract was met with Pacific Gas and Electric Company for ten years in 2008 which stands strong until 2018.

Methodology for acid rain collection will be through various port points laid out in substations across the United States. The pH and acidity will then be tested at various time frames throughout a 24 hour period to determine how the lakes and ponds need to be adjusted with lime. Sometimes addition of higher pH water will adjust the rainwater or simply waiting for a heavy rain will change the pH of the smaller ponds. This testing is conducted by laboratory/environmental technicians certified by the Environmental Protection Agency.

Testing on refrigerants and aerosols for the effects on the ozone layers have been conducted extensively. By use of a single toxic gas monitor in conjunction with a HPLC Gas Chromatograph scientists and laboratory technicians can monitor the effects of these chemicals on the ozone layers and make applicable changes where needed.

Scientist test carbon foot printing emissions through various quantitative and qualitative measures including laboratory procedures and subjective testing by questionnaires.

Works Cited

Environmental Protection Agency Reducing Acid Rain [Online] Retrieved 2008 May 20. 01 July 2010. <http://www.epa.gov/acidrain/reducing/index.html>

CarbonFund.org Reduce your Carbon Footprint [Online] Retrieved 11 May 2010. 01 July 2010<http://www.carbonfund.org/site/pages/save_energy

Environmental Protection Agency Methane [Online] Retrieved 22 June 2010.01 July 2010. < http://www.epa.gov/methane/>

Google Chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) – Cfcs And Ozone Destruction, Chemical Activity Of Cfcs, Ozone “hole” And Other Cfc Environmental Effects [Online] Retrieved 11 May 2010. 01 July 2010< http://science.jrank.org/pages/1445/Chlorofluorocarbons-CFCs.html>

Environmental Protection Agency Water Pollution Control Grants [Online] Retrieved 26 January 2010. 10 July 2010. http://www.epa.gov/owm/cwfinance/pollutioncontrol.htm>