Energy Assignment Part 3

Coal in New Zealand would work really and they do already use a lot of coal, but since they already use a lot of coal and it isn't renewable and isn't that healthy for the environment, I don't believe it is that great to use. With tidal energy, I would work very well, but they don't have a lot of space to create a dam and they don't have somewhere that provides enough water to create a very functional dam. It would work really well, but it's expensive and they don't have much space or anywhere at all to put a usable dam. Wind would work really well and they do have some areas that use wind energy, but again they don't have a lot of space to put the amount of wind turbines they need. Also, some residents have complained about the turbines they already have saying they're annoying and ugly which is typical for wind turbines. New Zealand can afford it and they do get enough wind so I believe what they're doing right now with balancing renewable and un-renewable sources of energy is what they should keep doing, but they should try to get more wind turbines since it's good for the environment and will keep there beautiful country healthy. People will have to live with the look of the turbines and one other thing is that they do have a lot of wind in some parts of the country making it more reliable than in other parts of the world.

Energy Assignment Part 2

In New Zealand, they use many different sources of energy, they try to split the amount of renewable and un-renewable energy used, but the type of energy they use the most is oil. The highest renewable form of energy they use is geothermal. Oil and gas is produced from 21 petroleum licenses / permits, all in the Taranaki basin. The most important fields are Kapuni, Maui, Pohokura and Kupe. Exploration for oil and gas reserves includes the Great South Basin and offshore areas near Canterbury and Gisborne. New Zealand uses most of the oil they get for international travels with commercial boats and planes. There have been quite a number of oil spills and especially in New Zealand's tropical unique land scape, the oil spills have really affect the beautiful coral reefs off the coasts. The current cost is about 67.129 cents per litre.

Energy Assignment Part 1

Coal:
Pros - There's huge amounts and easy access to it. Also, it's not expensive and has a substantial existing infrastructure. It can be converted to a liquid or gas.

Cons - You can't renew coal and contains the most CO2 per BTU, the largest contributor to global warming. Also, costs a lot of money to transport it and mine it. It can emit large amounts of radiation.

Uses - The main use of coal is in the production of electricity. About half of the electricity in the United States, and two-thirds of that in the world, is supplied by coal-burning power plants. Coke, a product left after heating coal, is used to manufacture iron and steel.

Benefits - It is very easy to get a hold of and is very cheap to buy for your energy.

Drawbacks - It contaminates everything it comes in contact with and comes from unhealthy and unsafe mines.

Tidal:
Pros - It is renewable energy and requires no fuel. Also, it doesn't emit anything and can last a long time. It is capable of providing a storm surge barrier with energy.

Cons - The cost of building it is way to expensive and its limited to only certain areas in the world. They're usually in remote locations and it can restrict access to open water. Also, it can change the tidal level in the area.

Uses - Tidal is a form of hydropower that converts the energy of tides into useful forms of power, mainly electricity. Although not yet widely used, tidal power has potential for future electricity generation. Tides are more predictable than wind energy and solar power.

Benefits - Tidal energy is great for having renewable energy and can provide energy for a long time.

Drawbacks - It can affect a lot of animals such as fish and birds by ruining mud flats and tidal cycles in the area.

Wind:
Pros - Wind energy is very healthy and doesn't create pollution. Also, there is no way to run out of energy because the Earth is going to always  blow wind making it renewable energy. The price of wind energy has also dropped a ton.

Cons - It takes a lot of windmills to create enough energy and if there is no wind you wont have energy making it unreliable. Also, they can be a threat to animals especially birds. Its been reported that the noise gets very annoying and loud too.

Uses - Wind turbines can convert the energy in the wind into mechanical power that can be used for a variety of activities like pumping water. Wind turbines can also use generators to convert wind energy into electricity.

Benefits - It does not cost a lot to set up and buy, also protects the possibility of power outages.

Drawbacks - Wind energy is just to unpredictable and can't be relied on and lots of people seem them as to big and a waste of space and ugly too.

Case Study: Waikiki Beach

1) Tons of sand has disappeared off of Waikiki beach because of erosion. The salt water flowing in has done a lot to cement slabs that lay under what use to be a lot of sand, but with it all going away lots of the cement and other dangers have been exposed. Sand mining has been its own cause of erosion, by adding new sand it has caused it to mix and erode.

2) They have added sand many times in attempt to make the beach bigger and safer. When I was in Hawaii a couple years ago I remember being told that they had been shipping sand over from Australia and that's why Waikiki beach was a lot whiter in color than other parts of the island. I didn't know why they were doing that I just new that I liked the way the sand felt. Now that I have read about why they were doing it, I don't see the same beauty in the beach as I did before because I remember seeing the cement slabs and other eroded parts, but didn't think it was a huge issue especially causing the sand to erode and disappear. I believe it hasn't been very effective since they have had to replenish the sand many times over many years, I believe they need to try new ways of stopping the erosion. 

3) Economic impacts could result in tourists depleting and causing income of local stores around Waikiki beach to drop. Also, to replenish the sand every time it costs around two point two million every time and if the eroded cement slabs were to break away it would cost a lot to fix and clean away the floating debris. Socially people would not be very attracted to Waikiki beach anymore and people who live in the area would loose interest in visiting the beach and its near attractions. This could also cause people to loose much income if they own businesses near the beach and considering how expensive Hawaii is to live in, especially Waikiki, it will be very hard to remain financially stable there and people could become homeless. Which is another thing I remember about Waikiki, there is a lot of homeless people throughout the city. The environment could be greatly effected, if the cement slabs were to break away it could make it very unsafe in the water off the beach and the parts of buildings and side walk they protect could also start to erode. People could exposed to many dangers if the eroding increases and chemicals start to spread throughout the sand and water along the beach. The plants along the beach and sea life in the water could start to die away if the erosion gets really bad. 

Case Study: Glacial Retreat

Part A: 1) In the Himalayas the glaciers are melting a lot faster than in other places on Earth because the rise in temperature is a lot more than anywhere else. Since the Himalayas help feed some of Asia's major rivers and other water sources, the melting is helping with that a lot more, but at the same time could cause potential overflow and flooding if they start melting at faster rates. Glacier National Park is also experiencing the melting of glaciers and here it is very clear, since they aren't huge glacier packs and it is very easy to see where they are you can see how much over the years they've melted away. GNP is mainly being affected by less snow in the winters and warmer summers. In Antarctica there's a peninsula made up of mountainous glaciers which home to many breeding grounds for animals. If the warming continues all year long it will be pretty devastating because there will be major impacts and new rock and permafrost will become visible and the ability to breed for the animals will be harder since there won't be as much surface area for all the animals and less places to be safe.

2) Social impacts could consist of a loss of tourists wanting to visit the area and therefore meaning that locals who live near the glacier may miss out on extra income from tourism. Other factors are unreliable snowfall which could result in there not being enough snow for winter sports such as skiing and snowboarding. That would also mean a loss of tourists for those winter sports as well. This could cause a sharp increase of unemployment would arise in these areas and locals may be forced to move away to look for work in more residential areas.  Environmental impacts at a global scale could contribute to sea-level rise, a change with significant consequences in coastal areas around the globe. That being said, some small areas near mountains with melting glaciers could have small rivers and other water resources overflow and flood. In a long term stand point most regions of the world, glaciers are now providing less water than before to the rivers immediately below them, reducing the availability of an economically important resource. Economy would be really impacted and have lots of tourism and water resources shut down which means losses of businesses causing unemployment, like I mentioned earlier. Also, damages could happen if floods are to happen and if it gets really bad there could also be people who become homeless, but that is very unlikely to happen. 

Part B: Lots of the tourist attractions involving glaciers will be greatly affected as they melt and retreat away. Less tourists would come to see the area and money would become harder to come by with business depleting. Also, with less snow falling because of warmer weather and the melting ice off the glaciers flushing it away will make it less likely to have huge snowfalls meaning harder to run winter sports such as snowboarding and skiing. This in the far future could be a major impact on the winter olympics. We have already seen examples of this with our past winters having a lot less snow and back in 2010 when we had to get snow for the mountains for the winter olympics. I personally have been to Jasper to the ice fields and been out on the glaciers and you could see where the ice had gotten soft and melted away and also they had pictures of what it use to look like. 

Part C: New Zealand glaciers have been retreating since 1890, with an acceleration of this retreat since 1920. Most of the glaciers have thinned measurably and have reduced in size, and the snow accumulation zones have risen in elevation during the 20th century. These large, rapidly flowing glaciers situated on steep slopes have been very reactive to small mass-balance changes. A few years of conditions favorable to glacier advance, such as more westerly winds and a resulting increase in snowfall, are rapidly echoed in a corresponding advance, followed by equally rapid retreat when those favorable conditions end.

Case Study: Flooding in Brisbane Australia

1) Queensland’s devastating floods are the result of heavy rains caused by two normal weather storms. The trade winds were also a cause, because the prevailing pattern of easterly winds in the tropics, forcing warm water to build up in the western Pacific. In the Pacific that warm water helps strengthen rainfall and build more clouds. To the northwest of Australia, the annual monsoonal low pressure trough brought wet weather and heavy rain to the region causing more rainfall. One of the dams built also had an impact since the people who built didn't expect many major rainfalls in the future it helped provided even more water for the floods.

2) Social Impact: The floods have held up many peoples lives and made people homeless with no wheres to go. They have put a strain on the resources of Queensland's health services. These floods have also blocked air and land access to affected areas at various times, they delayed the redeployment of many capable first-responders to the areas where they were needed most. There is not much access to safe drinking water, medicine and hygienic food. There are lots of diarrhoeal diseases, the most deadly are staphylococcal endotoxins, which can lead to severe food poisoning, toxic shock or lung disease if inspired.

Economic Impact: Tourism had been impacted as well since there was no access in and out of the area and tourists stuck there wouldn't be able to get home. There was also tons of damage done to homes, infrastructures and many buildings. Also, lots of people lost their homes and things they owned due to either water damage or things being swept away. In a grand total Queensland could run into hundreds of millions of dollars in damage.

Environmental Impact: Luckily some of the great tourists attractions were unscathed such as the Great Barrier Reef, but lots of the agriculture got damaged. Lots of crops got ruined and the water supplies got contaminated and made it unsafe to drink in some areas and use on crops. A number of its Queensland construction and contract mining operations were affected, but some mines weren't greatly affected and were able to run, but they couldn't make much money off of them since nobody else could buy off them or aren't running.

3) This assistance is provided through the joint Australian and State Government's Natural Disaster Relief and Recovery Arrangements (NDRRA) and applies to the natural disaster declared areas in each state. The recovery was a very slow and complex process and they were bringing in lots of volunteers to help the process.

Case Study: Desertification in Botswana

1) Desertification is when fertile ground becomes a desert and all dried out, usually caused by deforestation and droughts.

2) Botswana lies right across the Tropic of Capricorn and the majority of the land surface in Botswana is constituted for by the desert which does not hold surface water for longer periods of time and this has lead to an over reliance on underground water. The total geographical extension of Botswana is around 600.370 square kilometer. The Kalahari Desert occupies a 70% part of the country. With the affect of droughts in the country it makes it really hard for the water stay up on the land and since its really flat it can't flow very well through the country making it absorb into the ground really fast.

3) The desertification problems in Botswana mostly come from the severe times of drought. The drought caused 75% of the country’s human and animal populations to be dependent on groundwater which has eased the effects of the drought, but has left a greater impact on the land. Groundwater is retrieved through drilling deep holes, which causes erosion of the land. Surface water is very rare in Botswana and less than 5% of the agriculture in the country is sustainable by rainfall. Due to this 95% of the country raises cattle and livestock as a means for an income. Therefore only 71% of the country’s land is used for communal grazing, which has been a major cause for the desertification of the country. Mostly the factors such as deforestation, overgrazing, poor cropping methods and improper soil conservation techniques also have a significant contribution to desertification in the country.

4) The government has made new policies to the land use in Botswana. There are large scale and long-term action programmes such as the Second Livestock Development Programme, the Tribal Grazing Lands Policy (TGLP), the Arable Lands Development Programme (ALDEP), and the Remote Area Resettlement Scheme. These are some of the many projects on going to help the desertification in Botswana, they are aimed to achieve and help soil conservation, livestock production, rangelands and wildlife management, water and land management. Some of their goals are to keep it as cheap as possible and introduce ecologically sound to make it socially acceptable.