User:Evancurran850/sandbox

Title: Biological implication in renewable energy

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Biol 2120 wikipedia

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Title; Biological implications in renewable energy

Author: Evan Curran #201928934

= Biological implications in renewable energy = Biology has always played a large role in the production of different kinds of energy throughou t the history of humans. We have been able to transform the energy absorbed by some biological implications in the world, into harvestable energy, suitable for increasing the livelihood of humans.

== Early uses of biology for energy         == Whales have been harvested for hundreds of years to extract their oily rich blubber. It was common in the 18th and 19th century, before the invention of the lightbulb that people would light their house with oil lamps, which most commonly burned whale oil. Whales were in abundant population in those days, so the environmental impact the whaling industry has not been seen till more recently. It has caused most whale species to become in danger of becoming extinct. These whalers have caused a massif decline in whale numbers globally over the last several hundred years due to whaling still being a problem in some areas of the world.

Wood was also commonly burned for thousands of years, and common even today. It provides a generous amount of heat provided by the years of absorbed energy by trees, and in most parts of the past world, can regenerate at a rate that is stable for it to be a renewable resource, however today we see that our demand for wood, is pushing the limits of the regeneration rate of trees and other plants due to extremely high population numbers. as well as wood being used for more than just burning. it is also used to make paper products, lumber for creating houses in many areas of the world, and many other every day applications.

For at least hundreds of years, commonly in Europe, yeast has been used for its fermentation properties to create alcohol. This is still very common today but now serves more purposes then creating bread dough and alcoholic drinks. Alcohol is now used for many important purposes like disinfecting agents and cleaning supplies, with the ongoing pandemic world wide, one of the most important uses of alcohol right now is hand sanitizer, with a very high purity of alcohol it kills bacteria very effectively.

== How biology is being applied in the production of energy right now == Today, one of the most common burning fuels are diesel and petrol. These are fossil fuels, which derived from the decomposition of organic matter with underground buried pressure over millions of years to form hydrocarbon rich petroleum oils. It’s a wonderfully abundant resource for the time being, but has a very negative effect on our planet as it releases tones of carbon into the atmosphere each day, which strongly contributes to our global warming.

Alcohol can be used in gasoline engines but is impractical due to the high price and low quantities available to run machinery.

Currently many of our energy demands are met by harmful processes to our biological world. Fossils fuels and other greenhouse gases are causing our world to warm to a dangerously irreversible temperature. other energy sources like nuclear reactors have been revolutionary in providing very clean energy, however are extremely dangerous due to the radioactive elements used for nuclear fission. some reactors like Chernobyl and Fukushima have had catastrophic damage, causing their radioactive elements to be spilled into the surrounding areas, having devastating effects on all living things. Other sources of energy such as wind power, solar power and hydro power have so far been proven to be the safest, least impactful sources of energy for humans. they do however have some impacts, wind mills have been know to kill some migrating birds, hydro dams cause complications for migrating fish, and cause release a dangerous amount of mercury into the water, which then gets passed throughout the food chain. Solar power seems to me to be the best and most green source of energy production. Solar panels do however require a large amount of mined materials such as silicon/ quartz and lithium, but can also help reduce the albedo of our earth, causing more of the suns rays to bounce back into space, instead of contributing to the warming of our planet.

== Possible ways of creating green energy with the use of biology == Alcohol is a fuel and could be harnessed and used for fuel if the economics were viable. Future scientific breakthroughs may provide a cheaper, better fuel through some sort of fermentation process. the down side is that to produce enough fuel through fermentation an extreme amount of sugar and yeast like catalyst would have to be used, to meet global demands.

Gas exchange is very common in the biological world and could be harnessed in the future. Our agricultural market has millions and millions of cows to provide for our food, however these cows expel millions of tones of methane into our atmosphere, and is just as damaging towards our global warming crisis as the carbon from our fossil fuels. This is because, even though not as much methane is being expelled, its properties are 25 times stronger and holding heat with its green house effect. If we were able to harvest this methane from our cattle, it would provide a use for this methane instead of it contributing farther to our global warming. Methane is a flammable gas so its stored energy would definitely have some viable applications as a burning gas

We may be able to create green biofuels for our engines in our lives that require fuel. Biofuels are great but have many implications which are talked about below

== Possible ways in the future that biology can help create a green planet with cleaner more renewable energy resources == Use bacteria and other microorganisms to harvest usable gas that we can use in society while still preserving our planets delicate atmosphere

It may also be possible to farm certain animals or plants renewably to extract oils in which may be used in substitution of fossil fuels, such as vegetable oils being used instead of motor oil of hydraulic fluids.

== Possible challenges and difficulties facing biofuels and trying to replace it over petrol fuels == Biofuels are inherently expensive to make, this means that it is not profitable to create, and if its too expensive, or more expensive then fossil fuels, then no one will buy it.

At this time, its not possible to create enough bio fuel, even if you disregard the economics, so there wouldn’t be enough created to sell to everyone, thus you will still need to burn fossil fuels

The public may not trust it, and may not want to buy it in fear it doesn’t work as good as fossil fuels, or may damage their machines/engines.

At this time, any economically viable biofuels are not as efficient as fossil fuels, and if they are less efficient then fossil fuels the public will not want to buy it.