Climate Change Pertaining to Engineering

 Our Place in Nature has been making me contemplate how climate change will impact my future career, and for my particular field of work, the connection is easy to make. My field of study is aerospace engineering, where climate change not only is a concern, but it can be a primary objective for designs. Energy efficiency is a major focus for aerospace engineers when designing a new product, such as a rocket. A rocket requires an immense amount of initial thrust to leave the ground and escape the atmosphere, which, as recent studies have begun to show, could potentially be partially responsible for climate change. According to The Aerospace Corporation, hydrocarbon-fueled rockets release black carbon into the atmosphere, which efficiently absorbs the sun's visible light. An estimate shows that this black carbon could be a major problem as the industry continues to grow and transportation to space evolves. When all emission sources are considered, it may be second in heating the atmosphere only to carbon dioxide, which absorbs the sun's infrared light.

However, as I am beginning to learn in thermodynamics, this task may not be so simple. According to the second law of thermodynamics, a machine that does work, such as a heat engine or a heat pump, needs two thermal reservoirs in order to operate. One of them provides heat to the machine, and then the machine rejects a certain percentage in the form of waste energy to another reservoir. By this definition, energy will always be wasted, and many times, it is a large percentage that make it tough for many machines to crack above 50 percent efficiency. Even if all processes happening in the machine are reversible, meaning the engine is idealistic (Carnot engine), its efficiency depends on the quality of the thermal energy reservoirs that it is taking from and rejecting to. As ideas grow, people are trying to find smart ways to recycle or conserve much of the energy that is wasted from combustion engines.

Thompson & Stouffer, 2015

Engineers have to balance the energy that a system could provide with the costs that it would take to install it. For example, building a system in an ocean that connects the hot reservoir (surface) with a cold reservoir (deep water) to produce work would have extremely low efficiency, and the install costs would be too great to be practical. Luckily, the rise of large-scale computers that can calculate at high speeds and simulate relevant processes related to emissions has made costs decrease significantly for designers. Electric powered On-demand Aviation (ODA) sounds very promising with its environmentally clean and safe transportation powered by rechargeable batteries. When comparing its greenhouse gas (GHG) intensity with that of conventional jet fuel, ODA shows to be approximately equal to or slightly greater than that of conventional fuels, but if ODA energy intensities were greater than estimated, then the GHG intensity could be about 20% lower (Thompson & Stouffer, 2015). Looking at the sources themselves, nonrenewable sources are estimated to have a much higher GHG intensity than any other type, which is not shocking. Its ability to generate power is a hurdle that designers are still trying to overcome.

Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change

World Meteorological Organization Headquarters

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) is a global organization that organizes and analyses the science related to climate change. It was set up in 1988 by the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) and the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), and it's designed to give policymakers regular information on the scientific basis on climate change, it impacts, future risks, and options for adaptation. The IPCC works to collect a wide variety and balance of sources and interpret what the information means for the decision-makers. Thousands of scientists from all over the world contribute to the IPCC, and it aims to review materials extensively while reflecting a large range of views and expertise. When reports are analyzed, there are three different stipulations that the group looks at: approval, adoption, and acceptance. It does not conduct its own research. All countries who are a part of the WMO and the UN are open to membership, and there are currently 195 nations that are members.

IPCC Meeting 2014

The panel organizes many events and meetings with other groups every year in order to make sure that its members are all on the same page of the issue. For example, on December 7, 2015, the IPCC gathered with the United Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) at the UNIESCO Headquarters in Paris. The purpose of this event was to simply allocate methods of reaching out to the public and raising awareness on climate change.

As far as students who who may want to become involved with this organizations, it seems that all members who are involved with the IPCC are either scientists or policy-makers, so getting involved as a student may be difficult. Anybody who registers for the events are experts in the field, and I am not entirely sure that a simply concerned person would be able to involve themselves with the IPCC.

Computer Games: Power Up and Recycle This

I apologize for the late post, but I guess I missed the assignment. Anyway, I explored a few climate change related games that NASA has made on its website. Many of them are quite simple and not quite as in-depth as I was hoping, but I feel like the real draw of these mini games is their addictive quality and educational value. While they seem to target a younger demographic, I feel that this is a very smart choice to make; these kids who stumble upon or take part in these games may have the thought of the existing threat ingrained in their minds, and it may be more likely to stay there permanently. This is similar to learning a new language.

One of those games is called Power Up, and I would say that it is more reaction and reflex-based than most of the other ones, but it is quite addictive, and I could easily see younger kids getting hooked to it. In the game, the player controls a solar panel on the ground that can move left and right, as well as a wind turbine that can move up and down. Players use the arrow keys, to control these movements. Clouds appear to create patches of shadow that players have to avoid in order to collect the most amount of sunlight. Simultaneously, regions of wind will pass from left to right or vice versa, and players must move the turbine up and down accordingly to generate the most wind energy. A time limit helps determine if you get a bronze star, and silver star or a gold star. I loved how simple the controls and concept was. One of the problems with the game, in my opinion, is that it is not challenging enough to keep me engaged for long periods of time. There are simple mobile games that have become addictive addictive simply because of their challenging objectives or the monotony of how long they go on. Even on the hardest difficulty, I can complete the game with a gold star without hardly any practice.

The other game that I tried out was called Recycle This, which, as you probably guessed, has players operating recycle and trash bins. Random bits of trash will fall, and the player has four possible to which the food can be tossed to: paper, glass, plastic, and metal. What is great about this game is that it subconsciously teaches the players about which trash belongs in which bin. Now I suppose you could say that this is common knowledge, but not everyone pays attention to what gets thrown into its proper disposal. All of the games that I found have relatively simple objectives associated with them. They are a resource for teachers in middle schools, certainly. Here is the full games list.

Shackleton's Man Goes South

I chose the YA Cli-Fi book known as Shackleton's Man Goes South, written by Tony White. My first impressions were that the story would revolve around the journey of one man or a few people to the southern tip of Earth, Antarctica. Maybe the topic of climate change would serve in the background of the story; I feel like I had a loose idea of what to expect. However, my experience with it has been much different. In fact, the author occasionally abandons the fictional story and sets off telling a new one in the non-fictional world. Climate change is in the foreground of the reading, but I found Tony White's method of exploring its issues to be very strange and not very young-adult focused.

Most of the book is a flip-flop between a fictional story and a nonfictional account of scientists' opinions on the extent of climate change, and the first time that it happens will probably come across as a little jarring to the reader, because it certainly left me a little taken aback. In the fictional portion of the story, a woman and her daughter, Emily and Jenny, are fleeing as refugees to one of the only habitable and safe parts of the world, Antarctica. I really appreciated how the author can tell a fictional story with fictional events but in a believable way that feels grounded.

The science journalism aspect of the book is hitting the nail right on the head with what White wants to discuss with climate change, even if it disrupts the flow of the narrative a bit. Besides getting some interviews with contemporary scientists, the book also delves into some of the business with the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC).

White was inspired by some supposed stories of the real Earnest Shackleton, who tried to make it to the South Pole and failed, but saved some people in his open boat in sailing from Antarctica to South Georgia. He wanted to explore what would happen if the entire Antarctic ice sheet melted, which would be the last hope for refugees escaping the climate disasters all over the rest of the world. It has some parallels to stories of refugees who flee their countries due to political or economic turmoil, except in this this case people are leaving their homes for a more habitable area.

Here are a few quotes:

• "The travelers could smell the potent and unmistakable human cocktail carried to them across miles of ocean (10).
•  "It felt as if they were at the centre of some chaotic universe of sound created by so much humanity on the move and this vicious wind that whipped and tore and rattled at everything" (17).

Solar

My chosen Cli-Fi book is called Solar, written by Ian McEwan. So far, I have been really engaged in the story and the situations of the main character, Michael Beard, who is an overweight, balding, aged Nobel prize winning physicist. The book is broken into three sections, and each section jumps ahead a few years in time. Part one is set in 2000, part two in 2005, and part three in 2009. Beard is the head of a research center in England for investigating possible technological advancements in solar and wind installations, and his most accomplished days are behind him. The author seems to joke frequently about how his coworkers at the institution all look the same with their haircuts and clothing choices. However, Michael Beard seems to have his mind on other issues besides alternative energy, and he leads the project halfheartedly.

When trying to connect this book to the ideas of climate change. I have some difficulty. Even though the title itself , Solar, suggests that this issue may be at the forefront of the novel, the truth is that it really is not. Perhaps the dilemmas and decisions that Michael Beard takes help reveal humanity's attitude toward a heating Earth. There are themes there for sure, but the impending dangers of the issue are certainly not the focus, and the book is extremely grounded. Without spoiling anything, the ending does not have a very tight connection to climate change, but the novel thoroughly entertained me from start to finish.


I love the tone of the novel. There is a lot of humor sprinkled in, especially when the author decides to delve into Michael Beard's personal life and how it is in shambles. Yet, the humor contradicts with the heaviness of the background topic, which is climate change and the efforts being put forward to slow its process. The first entire scene covers how terrible Beard is at forming meaningful relationships with any woman that he marries, as he has divorced four times, and his fifth wife has started an affair with another guy. Of course, they are still together, and something about this story-line seems sort of satirical to me. Sure enough, after doing some research on McEwan and the novel, this novel certainly lies in the satire genre, and a lot of the descriptions in general are meant to amuse the readers. However, my description of the introduction does not seem to have much to do with global warming, does it? McEwan certainly takes his time with fleshing out the aspect of Beard's life regarding his impressive physicist background and his motives with global warming. As the story progresses, Beard finds himself in some amusing situations, and he also makes some shady decisions that will have you questioning his morality more and more. As I've stated before, maybe Michael Beard simply represents the decisions that humans have been taking thus far in response to this issue. In a way, we have been similar to Beard in terms of our willingness to commit to such a shift in energy. We are changing fairly slowly and without much urgency.

I thoroughly enjoyed what I read, and the story seems to be relatively simple, because Michael Beard is only trying to pursue some sort of solution to the climate change issue while also dealing with his dysfunctional personal life. For anyone, who is interested, I would highly recommend checking the book out. Click here for one review of Solar.

The Pioneers

My nature book of choice was The Pioneers by James Fenimore Cooper. Published in 1823, the story revolves around Nathaniel "Natty" Bumppo, a more elderly and seemingly heroic type of character than anyone else in the novel. At the beginning of the story, he is hunting a particular buck that happens to be same one that another man is also after, Judge Marmaduke. The two men have a conversation over who fired off the killing shot, due to the spread of Natty's buckshot, and who earns the right to the animal. The setting of the novel is in the frontier of New York, and it seems that Cooper was trying to display a lot of the conflict happening between human civilization and nature, and it is evident in his descriptions of the landscapes compared to the small towns that dot it. Particularly in the beginning chapter, Cooper describes the peaceful nature of the woods at great length, and by the time he introduces the human influence, it feels as though the humans have interrupted a little.

Apparently, this novel is the first in a series called the Leatherstocking Tales. The Pioneers is about 450 pages long, so I still have some more reading to do, but the basic messages of the book are already becoming clear to me. It becomes apparent that Cooper is speaking on the conflicts going on between humans and nature, though it is in a different way than how we might typically view the conflict nowadays. Most of the state of New York was snow ridden frontier land, but at this point in history, America was beginning its movement westward as part of Manifest Destiny; not all of it was glorious, and it depends on perspective. The Native Americans were certainly ones who seemed to embrace nature more than the approaching immigrants, who would seek to expand their influence on their newly discovered land. While the migration was great for America, it meant that much of the untapped wilderness had to pay a price.

From what I have read, the book has moved along at a fairly slow pace, and it mostly begins with the backstories of a few characters. Natty certainly receives the best treatment in terms of his development and dialogue. However, I have enjoyed it thus far, and I've always liked reading literature from long ago, even if the writing may not be all that familiar to me.

Fossil Free

My documentary is called Fossil Free. It focuses on a growing group of people who have lost their trust in politicians to tackle the challenge of climate change and are giving incentives to businesses to stop investing in fossil fuels. All of their goals are financial-oriented because they describe that as the heart of the stubbornness. All of these divestment organizations get their support from 350.org, which is at the forefront of much of the climate change activism. Pension funds, churches, and universities are all being asked to withdraw their investments in fossil fuels, and the movement is growing like wildfire. A few dozen countries are now running in the campaign, many of them being European.

One portion of the documentary that I thought was worth noting was the mayor of Berlin being convinced to divest public money in fossil fuel companies. He was not able to make it to a conference in which activists confronted the politicians on the issue. Instead, they asked someone else of higher authority what was being done to prevent these investments or if coal and nuclear power plants were being shut down. He gave an answer that implied that Berlin was not interested in the movement. Every politician in the mayor's place said that Germany is an industrial country and jobs depend on the affordability of energy. I understand this sentiment to an extent, but it would also help if they at least made some steps toward preparing for a warmer Earth.

I really enjoyed listening to some people in the investment business talk about why they would like funding for unsustainable fuels to stop. To keep climate change under control, carbon dioxide emissions cannot exceed 225 Gigatons. This would approximately equal the 2 degree limit that we face, and it also means that about 2/3 of found fossil fuel reserves must remain untouched. Assets are being put at risk as reserves are found and the price of oil drops. Stock prices for US coal companies have already started to drop significantly as investors realize that these are stranded assets. If a cap on carbon emissions happens, we will be left with a surplus of fossil fuels, because we cannot use them. People want to get to the cheap oil now, not later. Standing on a large reserve, you would not want to wait to use it; it would make more sense for you, economically, to use it now.

Companies seem to have an immoral compass; if there is money to be made, that is where their needle will point. If the demand for greener energy is apparent, then I think you would certainly see more of a push for its abundance. But since their is still oil, there doesn't seem to be much incentive, which is a shame for those currently suffering from global warming's effects. Luckily, these groups provide some beacons of light for those not fortunate enough to do anything about the changes.

The Great Transition

Due to my fascination with conserving energy and using renewable resources, I decided to read The Great Transition: Shifting From Fossil Fuels to Solar and Wind Energy, written by Lester R. Brown with Janet Larsen, J. Matthew Roney, and Emily E. Adams. It is extremely refreshing to be reading a more positive and hopeful side of our response to climate change, and the first portion of this book gives much promise to steps already being taken in regards to solar and wind energy. I love the idea of getting power from natural resources that are incredibly easy to obtain when the right installations are made in the right locations.

It seems as though oil and coal use is on the decline. According to Brown, "coal use dropped 18 percent from 2007 to 2013 as scores of coal-fired power plants closed" (7). A large portion of recently added (since 2010) coal plants are out of operation, about 35 percent. The United States in particular has also started to increase its reliance on natural gas, due to some recent significant discoveries that are contributing to the decline of coal use. Oil is becoming more difficult to obtain, as many reserves are having to look deeper for those rich deposits. As the book puts it, the "low-hanging fruit in the oil sector has already been picked," leaving a more problematic future for oil companies (11). Chevron, Exxon Mobil, and Shell have been putting forth billions of dollars trying to increase production, such as investing in oil resources in Alaska; despite these efforts, they are still projecting large drops in profits over the next few decades. They may have to reduce their scale and try to avoid growth from their already massive size. It looks like nuclear power plants may not be a great solution, either. "Electricity from new nuclear power plants can cost twice as much as solar- and wind-generated electricity" (13).

On the other hand, wind and solar investments are becoming easier and easier. Many European countries get a significant portion of their electricity from these methods. While France uses much of its nuclear power, it is also in the process of installing 25000 megawatts worth of electricity-generating wind turbines. China is working to have about 90000 (15). Wind farms are quick to install (about 1 year) and simple solar panels on rooftops can be in place in a few days. Nuclear power plants take about a decade to install. Even China, which is now the largest source of greenhouse gas emissions, is currently adopting sustainable ways to produce energy for its people, and that is encouraging to me. As the green technology continues to decline in price, it will begin to take over. The rate of use is increasing fairly slow but steadily. What excites me is the fact that wind and solar energy is not going to die off (perhaps unless the sun dies, which won't be for a while). Hopefully, people can learn to save some energy in simple ways that aren't going to change their lifestyles.

Hurricanes

Earth sees dozens of hurricanes every year. They cause immense property and economic damage, as well as the loss of numerous lives. Climate change is evidently causing an increase in hurricane intensity and the percentage of intense hurricanes from the existing frequency that we have already.

Hurricanes (or typhoons/cyclones) are born via the circulation of warm air above with warm water below that creates very high wind speeds and needs moisture to survive. In the center lies the eye, a center of low pressure where winds are relatively low. Just outside the eye is known as the eye-wall, which is easily the strongest part of the storm, carrying the peak winds and rainfall. Moving out towards the edge gradually transitions wind speed from very strong winds to light winds.

The largest geographic hurricane ever recorded was Typhoon Tip (1979), a Category 5 storm which reached an astounding 1350 miles across. On the opposite end of the spectrum is Cyclone Tracy (1974), which reached a 60 mile diameter. However, this does not mean that the winds were also the mildest. It was still classified as Category 3 and caused $700 million in damage. The winner for the most costly hurricane belongs to Hurricane Katrina (2005). About 400 miles across, it struck the southeastern United Stats and caused $108 billion in damage, as well as millions of Americans to lose their homes.

Various studies have tried to account for necessary factors such as inflation, wealth, population and housing unit changes. They have found that hurricane damage is likely to increase over the years as more people move to the coastal regions, at least in the United States.

Anthropogenic Climate Change Index (ACCI) takes a look at potential global warming contribution. It is the difference in climate simulations with and without human made gases and aerosols, and evidence shows that it has been increasing since 1960, exponentially at first and then quasi-linear. Even though maximum hurricane wind speeds are assessed using different parameters around the globe, the idea that Category 4 and 5 hurricanes are becoming more common is very evident. Simultaneously, Category 1 and 2 hurricanes are becoming less prevalent.

Hurricane activity in general does not appear to be changing much, as supported by the Sugi and Yoshimura ensemble atmosphere general circulation model. Most of these changes are not due to internal natural processes, such as volcanoes or the 11 year sun cycle. Bill McKibben brings up some intense recent examples of early and uniquely forming hurricanes. Hurricane Emily (2005) is the earliest forming Category 5 hurricane (July). The most concerning to me is tropical cyclone Vince (2005), which hit Spain with a not-so-tropical climate. No matter how much the ACCI changes, Earth is likely to reach a limit in the number of Category 4 and 5 hurricanes of about 50%.

Click here for interesting facts and statistics. 

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Response: High Tides

Chapter 2 of Eaarth appeared to put a slightly greater emphasis on the world’s economic stance in the midst of climate change and how it may be in greater trouble in the future. McKibben talks a lot about economic growth and the idea that a “temporary halt to growth that we call a recession has-in an economy geared only toward expansion-wrecked many lives” (48).

I also noticed that McKibben addresses some possible methods of slowing down carbon dioxide emissions, such as utilizing fuel-cell cars, solar energy, wind power, and biofuels. However, it is a little disheartening that these technologies are slow to integrate with the rest of the world. A major problem is simply figuring out how to design the technology practically. Solar energy and fuel-cell cars certainly are not energy dense methods. I enjoyed reading about the roles of power plants for these large fossil fuel companies. Hear

ing the large economic pay-off that companies want associated the costs of the infrastructures was a bit discouraging, though.

Another interesting example that I read was McKibben’s example of potential nuclear power. He uses it to show why diverging from our current path is so difficult. Again, the economic costs would seem to greatly outweigh the benefits. They are somewhere around “seventeen to twenty-two cents per kilowatt hour-which is two or three times what Americans currently pay for electricity” (57).

After reading about the spread of dengue fever from the Aedes aegypti, I realized that rising temperatures, drought, and rising sea levels did not simply harm the environment and our economic well-being; it seems to contribute directly to the loss of human lives. Insects are the one downside that I have toward the summer season, though the outbreak of dengue fever and malaria is surely going to scare me away from ever traveling to these third world countries. Hopefully, humans will find a way to reverse a lot of the damage that has been done relatively quickly.

Response: A New World

To be honest, my initial response after reading chapter 1 of Bill McKibben's Eaarth is that McKibben certainly seems like he would be among some of the most involved climate change activists out there who has no doubt that the future is bleak for us. Chapter 1 primarily gives numerous statistics and scientific evidence to show that global warming is not only happening, but that it will take immense effort to get back to the original Earth as we knew it. Though I never did much research on climate change before reading this, I always assumed that it was not a very big deal as a consequence of humans. After reading, I'm not quite sure how I feel about its proposals. It certainly has a sense of urgency: "'It's pretty outrageous what we've done.' Which is as objective a scientific statement as you're likely to hear" (10). Personally, I do not think that we live on a very different planet than we did fifty years ago.


The reading helped me understand some of the concerns that environmental activists have for future generations. I looked at this issue in a similar way that I do to our country's deficit spending when it comes to looking after who comes after us. I have always wanted the government to make some steps to reduce the deficit so that future generations do not have to cope with the consequences. However, this perspective with global warming hardly crossed my mind before. While reading, I kept thinking that the reason we keep using the nonrenewable resources is because they are easy to extract, energy dense, and do not currently force us to research other energy alternatives. Even though hydrogen fuel cells and hybrid cars have progressed in recent years, our supply of oil will eventually run dry. It could be a long time from now, but it's still disconcerting. There are lots of ideas out there, but most of the problem comes with the practicality of executing these ideas. Solar panels are great, but they cannot replace natural gas, etc. They are more of a supplement right now.

I do think that the world could turn around if caught in a desperate situation, but I'm not sure how long it would take. The Earth seems to change in cycles, but I think we can still call this place Earth, not Eaarth.

Introduction

Hello, everyone! I'm Ryan Powers, and I major in aerospace engineering at Western Michigan University. I have always had a very analytical mind, and solving problems is what I enjoy. Back when I was a little kid, I actually had a great passion for art and writing; I thought that at some point, I would become a writer, and telling stories was a hobby for me at an early age. During high school, however, I began to develop more interest in math and science than in history, English, or the arts. Those were also my discovered strengths.

I have two siblings, a brother and a sister who are both younger than me. However, I did have have an older sister who passed away when I was a one year old baby due to a rare skin condition that covered most of her body. Although I do not remember that event, I still think about it quite often.
One of my current hobbies is going to the gym. Being active and fit did not really appeal to me back in high school, and my athletic ability was quite abysmal. Senior year was finally when I began attending the weight room on a regular basis, and I have been able to keep that consistency for the past two years.

Another hobby that I have is watching movies. There was a time when I would watch movies for the pure sake of enjoyment, but I have recently discovered that they can be much more than that, much like any other art form. Some of my all-time favorite films are the original Star Wars movies, the Lord of the Rings trilogy, Stand By Me, and Toy Story.