Project

APES - AIESEC project on environmental sustainability

Climate change is becoming a major issue in the world today. Sri Lanka is a vulnerable island of its effects on the globe because the country is an island, hence is in a verge of getting drowned in the deep blue sea. It’s a proven fact that most of the causes of climate change are due to human activities that are harmful to the environment. This is because of the lack of the awareness among the people. This project will be a starting point of making a difference in a rather practical way. We plan to get closer to the society to make the society aware about the cause of Climate change and also its effects over the human kind.

The scope

The project addresses the issue of climate change and lack of sustainability in human activities on the environment. The project aims to create sufficient awareness among social entities regarding the negative effects of their harmful activities over the environment and the causes of climate change.

The target audience

Students in government and private schools of Sri Lanka University Undergraduates Students of other higher education institutes

How does the project work?

AIESEC’s global internship Program enables young undergraduates and recent graduates to go overseas and get a working experience. This Internship program facilitates the interns to get an International experience which will be a life changing point for them. The project will be run with the involvement of these interns who are willing to come to Sri Lanka and help us with the Project activities. The Interns will be trained to go to the planned target audiences and make them aware by conducting awareness sessions. In addition to this, the interns will involve in organizing some special activities to make this project much visible and interesting. source:www.aiesec.org/sri-lanka/

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The green house effect and global warming

Girl Who Silenced the UN For 5 Minutes

It can be so small.May be the people won't notice you.But future generations will experience the change you made.SO be the guiding stars.Challenge global warming.fight !!!!!.APES will make that change.We will achieve the impact...very soon.

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CLIMATE CHANGE AND RENEWABLE ENERGY

APES on Prezi

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APES promo video

When we have to face the reality ,do we stop and make a difference

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Carbon foot print

think

When you want to lose weight,
you count calories.
When you want to save money,
you count rupees.
Want to improve the atmosphere?
Count CO2 emissions.
Driving, flying, drinking coffee and even eating rice, all have a carbon footprint.

The term ‘carbon footprint’ has become tremendously popular over the last few years and is now in widespread use across the media.‘Carbon footprint’ has become a widely used term and concept in the public debate on responsibility and abatement action against the threat of global climate change. It had a tremendous increase in public appearance over the last few months and years and is now a buzzword widely used across the media, the government and in the business world.



A ‘carbon footprint’ is a measure of the greenhouse gas emissions associated with an activity,group of activities or a product. Nearly everything that we do produces greenhouse gas (GHG)emissions either directly or indirectly; whether it be getting to work, watching TV or buying our lunch. The most important greenhouse gas produced by human activities is carbon dioxide. Direct GHG emissions sources are often easy to identify – for example burning fossil fuels for electricity generation, heating and transport. It is sometimes less obvious that products and services also cause indirect emissions throughout their life-cycles. Energy is required for production and transport of products, and greenhouse gases are also released when products are disposed of at the end of their useful lives.




An individual, nation, or organization's carbon footprint can be measured by undertaking a GHG emissions assessment. Once the size of a carbon footprint is known, a strategy can be devised to reduce it, e.g. by technological developments, better process and product management, changed Green Public or Private Procurement (GPP), Carbon capture, consumption strategies, and others.The mitigation of carbon footprints through the development of alternative projects, such as solar or wind energy or reforestation, represents one way of reducing a carbon footprint and is often known as Carbon offsetting.




Questions that need to be asked are: Should the carbon footprint include just carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions or other greenhouse gas emissions as well, e.g. methane? Should it be restricted to carbon-based gases or can it include substances that don’t have carbon in their molecule, e.g. N2O, another powerful greenhouse gas? One could even go as far as asking whether the carbon footprint should be restricted to substances with a greenhouse warming potential at all. After all, there are gaseous emissions such as carbon monoxide (CO) that are based on carbon and relevant to the environment and health. What's more, CO can be converted into CO2 through
chemical processes in the atmosphere. Also, should the measure include all sources of
emissions, including those that do not stem from fossil fuels, e.g. CO2 emissions from soils?

Find the greenest way.................





references :

http://www.usgcrp.gov/usgcrp/nacc/background/scenarios/found/fig2.html

The Edinburgh Centre for Carbon Management
www.eccm.uk.com

ISAUK Research Report 07-01
Thomas Wiedmann and Jan Minx

APES

Climate includes patterns of temperature, precipitation, humidity, wind and seasons.
"Climate change" affects more than just a change in the weather, it refers to seasonal changes over a long period of time. These climate patterns play a fundamental role in shaping natural ecosystems, and the human economies and cultures that depend on them.

Because so many systems are tied to climate, a change in climate can affect many related aspects of where and how people, plants and animals live, such as food production, availability and use of water, and health risks.And now when people talk about climate change they always talk about green house effect.

What is greenhouse effect?


There are two meanings of the term “greenhouse effect”. There is a “natural” greenhouse effect that keeps the Earth’s climate warm and habitable. There is also the “man-made” greenhouse effect, which is the enhancement of Earth’s natural greenhouse effect by the addition of greenhouse gases from the burning of fossil fuels. About 80-90% of the Earth’s natural greenhouse effect is due to water vapour, a strong greenhouse gas. The remainder is due to carbon dioxide, methane, and a few other minor gases.

In order to understand how the greenhouse effect operates, we need to first understand “infrared radiation”. Greenhouse gases trap some of the infrared radiation that escapes from the Earth, making the Earth warmer that it would otherwise be. You can think of greenhouse gases as sort of a “blanket” for infrared radiation, it keeps the lower layers of the atmosphere warmer, and the upper layers colder, than if the greenhouse gases were not there.

Natural greenhouse effect

Our atmosphere is relatively transparent to the wavelengths of sunlight, but not to the thermal radiation that is emitted from the Earth’s surface. This radiation
does pass through the primary gases in the atmosphere – nitrogen, oxygen and argon – but carbon dioxide, water vapour and some other so-called greenhouse gases absorb a large proportion of the thermal radiation.This means that when there is equilibrium between the incident radiation from the sun and the emitted radiation from the Earth
quite a lot of heat is stored in the atmosphere. One consequence of this is that the temperature on the Earth’s surface is higher than it would have been if the atmosphere had not contained greenhouse gases, in fact 33°C warmer.This is the natural greenhouse effect.

man made green house effect

Emissions of greenhouse gases mean that the natural greenhouse effect is reinforced. A larger quantity of heat is circulated (captured and re-radiated) in the lower regions of the atmosphere when the incident radiation and emitted radiation are in equilibrium, which means that the temperature on the Earth’s surface rises.


The harmful effects of presence of greenhouse gasses in atmosphere are global warming, climate change, ozone depletion, sea level rise, adverse effects on biodiversity etc.One way or another these adverse impacts are all directly or indirectly related to the presence of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere. A number of human activities, processes and consumptions produce waste gasses or greenhouse gasses that are harmful to the environment. They include:

(a) Fuel combustion
(b) Energy industries
(c) Manufacturing industries and construction
(d) Vehicle Transport and automobiles
(e) Fugitive emissions from fuels
(f) Burning of solid fuels
(g) Use of oil and natural gas
(h) Mineral products
(i) Chemical industry
(j) Metal production
(k) Production of halocarbons and sulfur hexafluoride
(l) Consumption of halocarbons and sulfur hexafluoride
(m) Solvent and other product use
(n) Enteric fermentation
(o) Manure management
(p) Rice cultivation
(q) Agricultural soils
(r) Prescribed burning of savannas
(s) Field burning of agricultural residues
(t) Solid waste disposal on land
(u) Wastewater handling
(v) Waste incineration



What are the Effects?



The Earth has warmed an average of 1.1ºF (0.6 ºC) since
the beginning of the Industrial Revolution in 1880.
Although this may seem like a small increase in temperature, it
is a dramatic change relative to the last several hundred years
or more. It is widely thought that the increase in temperature is
largely caused by the human-induced increase of greenhouse
gas concentrations in the atmosphere.

· Land and ocean temperatures rise
· North and South Poles (Arctic and Antarctic) melt
· Glaciers melt
· Ocean currents change
· Weather patterns change
· Sea levels rise (due to oceans warming the water ‘swells’ and there’s more water as polar regions melt )


Composition of the atmosphere

78% nitrogen

20.6% oxygen

< 1% argon

0.4% water vapor

0.036% carbon dioxide

traces gases:
Ne, He, Kr, H, O3
Methane, Nitrous Oxide

green house gases

Carbon Dioxide (CO2)
Source: Fossil fuel burning, deforestation
Anthropogenic increase: 30%
Average atmospheric residence time: 500 years

Methane (CH4)
Source: Rice cultivation, cattle & sheep ranching, decay from landfills, mining
Anthropogenic increase: 145%
Average atmospheric residence time: 7-10 years

Nitrous oxide (N2O)
Source: Industry and agriculture (fertilizers)
Anthropogenic increase: 15%
Average atmospheric residence time: 140-190 years



Greenhouse gases absorb infrared radiation and prevent it from escaping to space.
Carbon dioxide, methane, and nitrous oxide are very good at capturing energy at wavelengths that other compounds miss.


An increase in the concentration of greenhouse gases leads to an increase in the the
magnitude of the greenhouse effect.This is Called enhanced greenhouse effect. This is
what we should be afraid of.Because this causes global warming!!!!!

AIESEC Project on Sustainable Energy (Renewable Energy)
Introduction to Sustainable Energy.







WHAT IS RENEWABLE ENERGY?

A natural resource is called an energy resource if it can be converted to a usable form of energy. An energy resource is known as an ‘indigenous energy resource’ when it originates within the country. It is known as non-indigenous if it originates outside the country. Renewable Energy is a form of energy resource that is replaced by a natural process at a rate that is equal to or faster than the rate at which that resource is being consumed.

RENEWABLE ENERGY RESOURCES IN SRI LANKA

Due to the geo-climatic conditions, Sri Lanka is blessed with several forms of energy resources.Some of these RE resources are widely used and developed to supply the energy requirements of the country. Others have the potential for development when the technologies become mature and economically feasible for use. Following are the main RE resources available in Sri Lanka.
- Biomass
- Hydro Power
- Solar
- Wind

Hydro Power



The geo-climatic settings in Sri Lanka are particularly conducive to harnessing hydro resources.

Sri Lanka is characterized by a highland mass situated in the south-centre, surrounded by an intermediate zone of upland ridges and valleys lying at lower elevation. The climate of Sri Lanka is largely determined by the meteorological conditions caused in the Indian sub continent due to the tropical circulation. A major phenomenon caused by these conditions is the formation of two contrasting wind regimes, the Asian Monsoons. They are referred to as the southwest (SW) monsoon – prevailing from May to October – and the northeast (NE) monsoon – prevailing from December to February. These are responsible for distinct seasonal rains in Sri Lanka. Given the humid conditions and the hilly terrain, the highlands of Sri Lanka offer excellent opportunities to harness hydropower to generate electricity.




Wind Power

Sri Lanka is an island nation with substantial wind energy resources.Conventionally, wind as an energy resource was used only in power generation, and agricultural water pumping, that too in small quantities. Activities concerning the development of wind energy resources were first initiated by the CEB on small scale technologies, primarily, for water pumping and electrification of remote areas.





Solar Power



Sri Lanka is situated close to the equator, therefore receives an abundant supply solar radiation year around. Solar radiation over the island does not show a marked seasonal variation, though significant spatial differentiation could be observed between the lowlands and mountain regions. As estimated in the solar resource map developed by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) of the USA, over most parts of the flat dry zone, which accounts for two-thirds of the land area, solar radiation varies from 4.0 – 4.5 kWh/m2/day. Solar radiation levels remain as low as 2.0 – 3.5 kWh/m2/day over the high plains of Nuwara Eliya due to the significant cloud cover over most parts of the day. Thus, a substantial potential exists in the dry zone of Sri Lanka for harnessing solar energy.

Bio-Mass




Biomass is the most common source of energy supply in the country, with the majority usage coming from the domestic sector for cooking purposes. Due to the abundant availability, only a limited portion of the total biomass usage is channelled through a market and hence the value of the energy sourced by biomass is not properly accounted. Biomass comes in different forms. The most common forms in Sri Lanka are, fuel wood, municipal waste, industrial waste and agricultural waste.

Sri Lanka - A land like no other

Sri Lanka ,perl of the Indian ocean cannot be compared to any of the countries of the
world.That is because of its people,natural environmrnt,bio diversity and etc.. which is unique to the country.


Since This is an island it has abeautiful coastal region which attracts thousands of thousands of tourists every year.















Sri Lanka is still a green country. Sinharaja forest has been named as a world heritage and Sigiriya is the eightth world wonder.The bio diversity of the Sinharaja forest is unique since it is full of endemic species such as birds mamels and various kinds of fish.

Not only that the forests and national parka situated all over the island adds a lot of beauty to the country. Kumana bird sanctuary in kumana,Yala,minneriya and wasgamuwa national parks are few of them.

Sri lanka