CDB 3022 - Environmental Chemical Engineering

ENVIRONMENTAL ISSUES

DR. Noorfidza Yub Harun

Office : 04-03-021
Phone : +605-368 7628
Email : Noorfidza.yub@utp.edu.my

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LEARNING OUTCOMES
At the end of this session, you should be able to:

- Describe the environmental issues of global warming,

climate change and urbanization.
WHAT IS GLOBAL WARMING?
• Gradual increase in the overall temperature of the earth's atmosphere.
• Generally attributed to the greenhouse effect caused by increased
levels of carbon dioxide, CFCs, and other pollutants.

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THE ‘WHY?’

Global warming as we know had

become a major issues worldwide
but do we know what is the cause
of global warming?

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BEFORE THAT, HOW DOES EARTH STAY WARM?
LETS WATCH THE VIDEO…

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TO SUMMARIZE…

Greenhouse gases act like a blanket, trapping heat. This is known as the
‘Natural Greenhouse Effect’. Without it, the earth would be much colder.

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WHICH GASES IN THE ATMOSPHERE TRAP HEAT?
The atmosphere is made of 78% Nitrogen and 21% Oxygen.
But these gases don’t trap heat and cause warming of the
earth.
What % of the atmosphere is left?

The gases which trap heat make up less

than 1% of the atmosphere! They are
called the ‘greenhouse gases’.

The main greenhouse gases are:

Carbon dioxide
Water vapor
Methane
Nitrous oxide
Fluorocarbons (HFC, PFC, SF6, NF3)
(the atmosphere is really much
thinner than it looks above)
SO WHY IS GLOBAL WARMING HAPPENING?
 Some things that people do are
increasing the amounts of the
greenhouse gases (GHGs) in the
atmosphere, so more heat is trapped.
GHGs
 The heating of the earth through human GHGs
activities is called the ‘Enhanced
Greenhouse Effect’ and this is causing
the earth to heat up, or global warming. GHGs

GLOBAL WARMING

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WELL, IN OTHER WORDS..
Atmosphere has
Natural more greenhouse Enhanced
Greenhouse gases Greenhouse
Heat radiates from Heat radiates from
effect the earth the earth effect

Some heat goes Less heat

out to space goes out to
space

Atmosphere traps Atmosphere

some heat traps more heat

Quite a lot of heat is More heat is trapped

trapped and the earth is and causes global
warm enough for life. warming
HOW WE MEASURE GLOBAL WARMING?
Global Warming Potential (GWP).
 Each greenhouse gas has a unique atmospheric lifetime and heat-trapping potential.
 GWP is a measure developed to allow comparison of the ability of each greenhouse
gas to trap heat in the atmosphere relative to carbon dioxide (CO2) over a specified
time.
 The larger the GWP, the more that a given gas warms the Earth compared to CO2 over
that time period.
 It allows policy-makers to compare emissions-reductions opportunities across sectors
and gases.

Chemical
Species Lifetime (years) Global Warming Potential (kg CO2/kg gas)
formula
20 years 100 years 500 years
CO2 CO2 30-200 1 1 1
Methane CH4 12 56 21 6.5
Nitrous oxide N2O 120 280 310 170
HOW DO HUMANS INCREASE CO2 LEVEL IN
ATMOSPHERE? http://climate.nasa.gov/

Burning fossil fuels releases

the carbon dioxide stored
millions of years ago. Most of
the increased carbon dioxide
comes from fossil fuels

Deforestation releases the carbon

stored in trees. Less trees also means
less carbon dioxide can be removed
from the atmosphere.
HOW DO HUMANS INCREASE METHANE LEVEL
IN ATMOSPHERE?
Methane is produced when
bacteria rot organic matter
Livestock farming
Methane is also
released when fossil
fuels are extracted
Rice cultivation
Decomposition
of waste in
landfill
The amount of methane in the
atmosphere has increased by two
and a half times since the
Industrial Revolution.
EXAMPLE OF FINAL EXAM QUESTION

b. Global warming is the term used to describe a gradual increase

in the average temperature of the Earth's atmosphere due to the
expansion of greenhouse effect. Elaborate how the expansion of
the effect occur?
[14 marks]

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THE IMPACT OF GLOBAL WARMING

In pair, discuss what are the IMPACTS of global

warming to our environment?
Later, share with us! 5 min
THE IMPACT OF GLOBAL WARMING

Melting of ice / increase of sea level Wildfire season

Severe drought Extreme heat waves

CLIMATE
Heavier precipitation / flooding
CHANGES
INTRODUCTION TO CLIMATE CHANGE
 Climate is the average weather at a given point and time of year, over a
long period (typically 30 years)  climatological normal
 We expect the weather to change a lot from day to day, but we expect the
climate to remain relatively constant.
 If the climate doesn’t remain constant, we call it climate change.

CLIMATE CHANGE
WEATHER CLIMATE VARIABILITY
Climate change is a long-
Short-term changes Fluctuation of climate
term continuous change
seen in temperature, over seasons or years.
to average weather
clouds, precipitation, Scientists think of
conditions (e.g. average
humidity and wind in a climate variability
temperature) OR the
region or a city. It can as the way climate
range of weather (e.g.
vary greatly from one fluctuates
more frequent and
day to the next, or yearly above or below a
severe extreme storms).
even within the same long-term average value
Long-term means at least
day
many decades
WEATHER, CLIMATE VARIABILITY & CHANGE
EXAMPLE OF WEATHER DATA
EXAMPLE OF CLIMATE VARIABILITY DATA
EXAMPLE OF CLIMATE CHANGE DATA
EXTREME EVENTS

When climate changes, the percentage changes in frequency are

always greatest for some extremes
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gAiA-_iQjdU
EVIDENCES OF CLIMATE CHANGE
EVIDENCES OF CLIMATE CHANGE
CAUSES OF CLIMATE CHANGE
 Natural changes in the Earth’s orbit which may occur over time scales of
thousands of years.
 Natural changes in the sun which affect the amount of incoming solar radiation.
 Natural, large-scale volcanic eruptions which eject large amounts of ash into the
atmosphere. The ash may remain in the atmosphere for several months or years
reflecting sunlight back into space and resulting in a drop of mean global surface
temperature.
 Changes in atmospheric chemistry (such as the quantity of greenhouse gases) –
both natural and caused by human activities.
IMPACTS OF CLIMATE CHANGE
It’s a threat to BIODIVERSITY!
Climate change is affecting the habitats of several species (including
Human), which must either adapt or migrate to areas with more favorable
conditions.

LOSS OF
HABITATS
IMPACTS OF CLIMATE CHANGE

Low in
nutrient

Low production

AGRICULTURAL
LOSS

Crop disease
Animal
disease
IMPACTS OF CLIMATE CHANGE
WATER RESOURCES
“This shifting balance would
challenge water managers
to simultaneously meet the
needs of growing
communities”
“Human depend on a reliable,
clean supply of drinking water
to sustain health”
“Water is also needed
for agriculture, energy
production,
manufacturing,
municipal”
“Climate change is likely to
“In some areas rainfall, increase water demand
hurricane, flooding, or sea while shrinking water
level rise can reduce supplies - drought”
the quality of water and
can damage the
infrastructure to treat,
transport and deliver
water”
IMPACTS OF CLIMATE CHANGE

Food
supply
shortage
Health
Insecure
issues

HUMAN
Costly
ACTIVITIES Social
imbalance

Interrupt
Problem in
energy
movement
supply
IMPACTS OF CLIMATE CHANGE
HOW CAN WE SLOW DOWN THE CHANGE OF CLIMATE?

In pair, discuss what can we do to slow down the

change of climate?
Later, share with us! 5 min
HOW CAN WE SLOW DOWN THE CHANGE OF CLIMATE?

STOP HEATING UP THE EARTH!

Grow your own food,
Be energy efficient
avoid processed food

Choose renewable power Recycle and Reuse

Green your commute Get informed

New policy
Treatment
INTRODUCTION TO URBAN SPRAWL /
URBANIZATION
 Migration of population from high density urban areas to low
density rural areas which results in spreading of city over more
and more rural land.
 People will move to try to find better areas to live.
URBAN POPULATION
CAUSES OF URBANIZATION
Improved Vast job
infrastructure: opportunities -
transportation, industrialization
housing
Vast education
Large extent of opportunities
resources:
electricity, clean
water, food Social &
Cultural

Population
growth
URBAN VS RURAL

Urban Rural
High population density Low population density

Diverse and professionalized Predominant jobs: cultivation

occupations & agricultural

Interaction and mobility is Interaction and mobility is

spread over large restricted to smaller
geographical, social and geographical, social and
economic area. economic area
IT COMES WITH PACKAGE

Urbanization

Economic Population
growth overgrowth

Industrialization
IMPACTS OF URBANIZATION TO
ENVIRONMENT
Increase in public
Poverty – services expenditure
are not adequate Increase traffic
for all

Existence of urban Social problem –

heat island uncontrolled
mixture of people
& cultural

Greater
environmental Increase in crime
pollution

Environmental Health problems

hazards – flood,
URBAN HEAT ISLAND (UHI)
 UHI a city or metropolitan area that is significantly warmer than its surrounding rural
areas due to human activities.
 Requires higher energy consumption (cooling) which later causes air pollution.
 Affect human health.