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?@?@?@?@Investing in Greenhouse Gases
?@The movie Avatar is taking the world by storm. So is global warming. As is vividly depicted in the movie, the destruction of our globe is no longer far from impossible. Our globe is being threatened.
?@Let's calculate how much carbon dioxide we release a year. According to the scientists, our computer indirectly emits 10.5 kilograms of carbon dioxide a year , with television about 1.7 kilograms, the fridge 6.3 kilograms, the air-conditioner 600 kilograms, and the car, if we put its running distance at an average 15 thousand kilometers a year, will emit 4 tons of carbon. A tough estimate of the carbon emission for a three-member family reaches 11.59 tons a year!
?@It is horrible, isn't it?
?@Yes, people enjoy their life at the expense of destroying our earth. In an era when global warming is accelerating, the destiny of our earth becomes an urgent issue.
?@It is the best of times; It is the worst of times.
?@Human beings take pride in themselves, claiming they can invent and do whatever they want because they enjoy advanced science and technology. If it is true, why can't they prevent greenhouse effect by means of technology? Is it because the technology is not effective enough? I don't think so.
?@Among the many approaches to technology aimed to reduce greenhouse gases, I got fascinated by the following three that I would like to share with you. As far as I know, in Canada, the geothermal heating and cooling system is being installed in some newly-built apartments. It works by running an intricate system of water pipes so that you can heat or cool the water to a constant temperature. As a result, a large amount of carbon dioxide will be saved.
?@And also, the well-known hybrid cars, which are gaining popularity offer people another choice. Since the 2nd Industrial Revolution, automotive cars have been the culprit for the greenhouse gases. With the birth of hybrid cars, the monopoly of conventional cars came to an end. The hybrid cars can reduce the greenhouse gas emissions by as much as 50 percent.
?@What's more, the rising biological industry provides a new method of reducing greenhouse gases. It's the algae ?| a kind of sea plant. According to research, algae absorbs greenhouse gases thousands of times than trees do. The carbon dioxide "fed" to algae can be then used to make bio-fuel or animal food. The high-tech sounds exciting and seems to work.
?@However, barriers remain. Technology alone can not solve the problem because it will remain only a theory that is not applied to practice until people discover its economic value. In a money-oriented world, we are consciously or unconsciously led by profit. This principle applies in most cases. The government leaders at the Copenhagen Climate Change conference didn't reach an agreement because no country would like to sacrifice its economic development to reduce greenhouse gases.
?@Then I began to wonder why don't we combine technology with commercialization so that we can take advantage of technology to make money and meanwhile reduce greenhouse gases.
?@Let me take the three cases I mentioned above for example to explain how the combination could work. First, the geothermal system is surely very effective, but few families can afford its high installment expense. But it doesn't mean the geothermal system can't be popularized. Instead of aiming at individual customers, public institutions like schools, hospitals, shops and offices will be a better choice as they are the major producers of carbon dioxide and can afford the cost as well. So my conclusion is that consumers must be correctly targeted in order to commercialize technology.
?@Second, eco-friendly products should be developed and done better than rivals. For instance, Honda and Toyota have bested competitors by making their fleets more fuel efficient than other rivals and taking the lead in commercializing hybrid vehicles.
?@Last but not least, opening up markets in new potential areas should be encouraged. As I have just mentioned, algae is considered as an efficient carbon dioxide absorber. In my opinion, it is also commercially feasible because it is not unrealistic that coal plants around the world will one day be flanked by carbon-cleaning algae greenhouses or ponds.
?@The combination of technology and commercialization is a win-win choice. The development of history pushed people into a society where win-win situations are always preferred. By combining technology and commercialization, we are making an investment in the effect on greenhouse gases. Hopefully, our investment will benefit the whole of humankind.
?@As Dickens said, it was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness; we had everything before us, we had nothing before us, we were all going direct to heaven, we were all going direct the other way.
?@It is still a truth.
?@Now it is the very time for us to rethink, restructure, and recreate our earth.
?@This famous saying of Dickens will continue to go down in history ?| so will humankind's constant efforts to save the earth, I sincerely hope.
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