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Energy Pollution: Pollution is an extremely serious issue for the contemporary world which is rapidly embracing industrialization owing to the ever increasing needs of the growing population. Though somewhat controlled and within limits in the developed western world, pollution levels are exceeding the maximum threshold of acceptable levels in countries like India and China, where a drive to satisfy human needs is resulting into environmental pollution on a large scale (Kampa & Castanas, 2008). Pollution not only causes various health related problems for the human beings, it also disturbs the environmental balance. It is very important for all the species living on earth that the biological balance of earth’s environment remains balanced and is not affected by pollution so that all living forces can survive and propagate (Seinfeld & Pandis, 2012).
Properties of Common Pollutants | Energy Pollution
Pollutants are matter or energy, coming from one or more than one source and can affect our environment on both or either the long or short-term basis. Properties of common pollutants can be examined from multiple perspectives. First of all, the physical state of a pollutant can be liquid, solid or gas. For instance, the pollutants present in air include: Ozone (O3); material particles; Carbon Monoxide (CO); Oxides of Nitrogen (NOx = NO + NO2); lead and Sulphur Dioxide (SO2). These chemicals come mostly in gaseous form but also include liquid and solid aerosols (Shandilya, Khare & Gupta, 2009).
The density of pollutant can alter the degree of its adverse impact, Energy Pollution while the sources of pollution in terms of diffusion or point cannot be identified easily because pollutants do not always originate from one place. Similarly the persistence or degradability of pollutants varies based upon their ability to persist in environment; while the toxicity of pollutants depends upon their concentration and affects neurological and physiological processes of living organisms (Arias-Estévez Et al., 2008).
Other properties of common pollutants can be examined in terms of their chemical reactivity. For instance, the toxicity of pollutants is increased when these dissolve in water; mobility and reactivity; bio-accumulation capabilities; bio-magnification; synergistic action; mutagenic actions; carcinogenic actions, when mutagenic actions of pollutants cause cancer; and teratogenic actions, when pollutants alter DNA in reproductive cells (Rubes Et al., 2005). All pollutants can be distinguished and categorized based upon these common properties.
Strategies Related to Degradability and Control of Toxicity | Energy Pollution
It is highly important to control the toxic pollutants by means of various strategies which amalgamate cost-effective techniques with environmental management systems for remediation of contaminated sources, waste treatment and cleaner production of energy. These strategies include pollution prevention with reference to toxic pollutants; end-of-pipe treatment of toxic pollutants; and other control strategies (Patenaude & Hoare, 2012).
The prevention of pollution involves primarily the strategy of waste management as a means of source reduction. Two elements of waste management are involved in pollution prevention, namely the in-process recycling and source reduction. So all in all, pollution prevention (P2) control strategy involves eliminating and decreasing the toxicity or density of pollutants at their point source. This stops the pollutants from interacting with environmental components such as air or water (Sangle, 2010).
In slightly another dimension, other techniques of applying the Energy Pollution prevention strategies include: improved work practices aimed at the reduction of waste production and efficiency in waste disposal; enhanced resource efficiency in order to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and improve productivity; incorporation of a materials reuse policy by finding market for waste products; resorting to materials substitution in order to use less toxic materials; and introduction of process changes i.e. revising processes to reduce waste production) (Boudreau, Chen & Huber, 2008).
Yet another strategy related to degradability and control of toxicity is the end-of-pipe environmental disposal, control and remediation. Under this control strategy toxic pollutants are managed and their harmful effects are addressed after they are created (Berrone & Gomez-Mejia, 2009).
Impact of Pollutants on the Environment
Pollutants can exercise can exercise acute or chronic impacts upon the environment. The severity of this impact mainly depends upon the duration of exposure concentration of pollutant and also the type of pollutant as different types of pollutants have different sorts of impact upon the environment (Goudie, 2013). Some of these impacts are as under (Tabasová Et al., 2012):
• Air pollutants can cause various diseases in animals and human beings. These also cause acid rains which not only destroy plants but also make soil infertile. Pollutants in the form of poisonous gases like those used in refrigeration destroy Ozone, thereby enabling abnormal amounts of the ultraviolet radiation to reach earth causing damage to animals, plants and human beings.
• Water pollutants can cause waterborne diseases in human beings. These pollutants also have the capability to disturb the natural process of aquatic plants like photosynthesis, thereby leading to destruction of aquatic ecosystems. Similarly, when poisoned aquatic plants are consumed by human beings and animals, the adverse effects of the pollutants are passed on.
• Soil pollutants can lead to skin rashes, eye irritation, fatigue, nausea, headaches, neuromuscular blockages, kidney damage, lead induced damages and cancer in human beings. These also have the capability to disturb plant metabolism mechanisms and lead to drastically reduced crop yields. Similarly, when poisoned plants are consumed by human beings and animals as part of the herbivore food chain, the adverse effects of the pollutants are passed on.
Pollutants Behaviour in the Environment | Energy Pollution
Pollutants behave in the natural environment in both direct and indirect manners. The former encompasses the physical interaction between the pollutants and the living organisms including plants and animals. On the other hand, the latter includes pollutants causing alteration in the natural settings of an ecosystem, so that it becomes harder for the living organisms to survive in their natural ecological settings (Gavrilescu Et al., 2015).
All the pollutants regardless of their type and category have sinks, pathways and sources. Sink is the site of pollutant dispersal or accumulation; pathway is the particular methodology adopted by a pollutant to access the environment; and source is the particular area from which the pollutant originates. Every pollutant can rely on either one course or more than one course as they originate, can reach the environment by means of various pathways and can even alter their properties as they travel along a particular pathway (Periáñez, 2012).
Amongst all the common categories of pollutants, the Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs) are the most significant owing to their adverse impact upon human beings, animal and plant ecosystems. The direct consumption or contact with these pollutants through water or air is of little consequence owing to the effect of dilution. However, POPs propagate through the food chains, thereby affecting the human beings in concentrated forms. These pollutants (Energy Pollution) are also considered robust enough to sustain atmospheric transportation over long distances thereby posing a serious cross-boundary issue (Farrington & Takada, 2014).
Critical Pathway Analysis, Biological Indicators, BOD & Air, Water and Soil Pollution Controls
Critical pathway analysis can be used to forecast the pollutant’s movement and to devise action plan for the monitoring programmes. This analysis is carried out considering the possibility that a pollutant may change its characteristics while progressing through a particular pathway. The analysis may be carried out to trace the movement of poisonous chemicals or radioactive materials released from an industrial facility or a nuclear power station or waste processing site (Freeman Iii, Herriges & Kling, 2014).
Monitoring of the biological indicators can be done in order to comprehend the knowledge about levels of pollution. Three important biological indicators which can be used are Biological Monitoring Working Part (BMWP), Chandler Score (based on profusion of invertebrates), and Trent Biotic Index (TBI) (based on absence and presence of invertebrate) (Uherek & Pinto Gouveia, 2014).
Biochemical Oxygen Demand (BOD) is used to measure the discharge of pollutants in organic water, which mainly depicts the level of oxygen consumed by the bacteria in order to break waste. BOD can be used as a gauge of the effectiveness of wastewater treatment plants. It is listed as a conventional pollutant in the US (Latif & Dickert, 2015).
Water and soil pollution controls are the strategies which are employed to control the level of pollutants in atmosphere. These strategies can include various legislations such as Montreal Protocol (Signed in 1985 by 24 countries, which called for the involved countries to significantly reduce the use of man-made ODCs, halons and CEFs in their regions); Clean Air Act; and the Environmental protection Act. Moreover, there are also various international conventions such as the Kyoto Protocol, which is an international agreement on emission control targets and it also places the burden of environment pollution on developed nations (Wu, Polvani & Seager, 2013).
Legislations & Interventions on National & Global Levels
There are various legislative and interventional policies based on incentives or regulations to control pollution. For instance the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in the US has introduced numerous policies including: imposition of emission charges on dumping of waste; limiting the categories and amounts of pollutants by implementing emission standards; control and command regulations on sources of pollution; defining pollution rights for example Michigan’s Air Emissions Trading Program; emission offsets subject to approval from EPA; Bubble Policy in which a firm can increase emission of one pollutant by decreasing emission of another; and Banking of Emissions (Revesz, 2015).
Similarly on a global level much stronger and wide-ranging initiatives have been taken to control pollution. For instance, the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change requires its members states to use comparable methodologies for depicting how human activity is resulting in emissions of green house gases; communication and development of COP programs; integrating consideration for climatic change policies in national strategies; cooperation for adapting to climatic changes; sustaining the management of greenhouse gas emissions; and sharing contemporary technology for the efficient control of these emissions (Rogelj Et al., 2013).
In addition to the above, the Kyoto Protocol on Climate Change and the CoP-4 have the overall objective of setting binding emissions targets for synthetic substitutes, nitrous oxide, methane, carbon dioxide and ozone-depleting CFCs. Moreover, member states also indulge in international emission trading, while the program for Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) will be launched through which countries will use certified emissions reductions (De Bellis, 2012).
Ionization Processes
In order to understand the radiation from particles and their harmful effects on us, we need to focus on the process of ionisation. The process in which a charged atom is formed is known as ionization. Ionization is the physical process of converting an atom or molecule into an ion by adding or removing charged particles such as electrons or other ions. This process works slightly differently depending on whether an ion with a positive or a negative electric charge is being produced. A positive electric charge is produced when an electron bond to an atom or molecule absorbs enough energy from an external source to escape from the electric potential barrier that originally confined it, where the amount of energy required is called the ionization potential. A negative electric charge is produced when a free electron collides with an atom and is subsequently caught inside the electric potential barrier, releasing any excess energy (Attix & Tochilin, 2013).
There are three different types of ionizing radiations i.e. Alpha (α) particles, Beta (β) particles and Gamma (γ) rays. These three radiations are powerful enough to displace the electrons within an atom thereby changing their status to ions. This specific characteristic differentiates these radiations from other forms like radio waves and infra-red. Leaving aside Beta particles, the other two radiations i.e. Alpha particles and Gamma rays have very little powers of ionization, while Beta particles do have a large ionization power but are not considered very harmful as compared to the other two (Khan & Gibbons, 2014).
Impacts of Ionization
The crucial point of reference for ionization is that it results in formation of radicals (charged ions) that are highly reactive and can: cause tissue damage in the living things by reacting with proteins; alter DNA information by reacting with nucleotides in the cells; result in deformation and destruction of the reproductive issues and even cancer. The impact of ionization upon the living organisms is visible in the fact that when atoms are ionized, three consequences can take place: the incorrect mutation of cell results into cancer; the cell repairs itself; or the cell dies. Cells that are highly prone to the effects of ionization effects are the reproductive cells. On the other hand, radicals can also be used for the betterment of human beings. For instance, for killing cancer cells, using TomoTherapy technology and Brachytherapy (internal radiation treatment) are slowly gaining popularity. Both these technologies are based on the principle of ionization (Azzam, Jay-Gerin & Pain, 2012).
Along with human beings, plants are also equally affected by ionisation especially by the gamma rays and beta particles. The adverse effects can range from distortion or deformation of normal growth patterns or death based upon the exposure of plant or seeds to…
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