ECOLOGY ASSIGNMENT

MOTILAL NEHRU NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF

TECHNOLOGY ALLAHABAD, PRAYAGRAJ

NAME – Pankaj Kumar Singh

REG NO. – 20200033
GROUP – j2
1. Discuss major environmental
challenges in the year 2021

The climate crisis is accelerating at an

unprecedented rate, and we are not ready for it.
While the crisis has many factors that play a role
in its exacerbation, there are some that warrant
more attention than others.

Here are some of the biggest environmental

problems of our lifetime.
CLIMATE CRISIS

According to economists like Nicholas Stern, the climate

crisis is a result of multiple market failures.

Economists and environmentalists have urged policymakers

for years to increase the price of activities that emit
greenhouse gases (one of our biggest environmental
problems), the lack of which constitutes the largest market
failure, for example through carbon taxes, which will
stimulate innovations in low-carbon technologies.

To cut emissions quickly and effectively enough,

governments must not only massively increase funding for
green innovation to bring down the costs of low-carbon
energy sources, but they also need to adopt a range of
other policies that address each of the other market
failures.

A national carbon tax is currently implemented in 25

countries around the world, including various countries in
the EU, Canada, Singapore, Japan, Ukraine and
Argentina. However, according to the 2019 OECD Tax
Energy Use report, current tax structures are not
adequately aligned with the pollution profile of energy
sources. For example, the OECD suggests that carbon taxes
are not harsh enough on coal production, although it has
proved to be effective for the electricity industry. A
carbon tax has been effectively implemented in Sweden;
the carbon tax is USD $127 per tonne and has reduced
emissions by 25% since 1995, while its economy has
expanded 75% in the same time period.

Deforestation

Every minute, forests the size of 20 football fields are cut

down. By the year 2030, the planet might have only 10% of
its forests; if deforestation isn’t stopped, they could all be
gone in less than 100 years.

Agriculture is the leading cause of deforestation, another

one of the biggest environmental problems appearing on this
list. Land is cleared to raise livestock or to plant other
crops that are sold, such as sugar cane and palm oil. Besides
for carbon sequestration, forests help to prevent soil
erosion, because the tree roots bind the soil and prevent it
from washing away, which also prevents landslides.

The three countries experiencing the highest levels of

deforestation are Brazil, the Democratic Republic of Congo
and Indonesia, however Indonesia is tackling deforestation,
now seeing the lowest rates since the beginning of the
century.
Plastic Pollution

In 1950, the world produced more than 2 million tons of

plastic per year. By 2015, this annual production swelled to
419 million tons and exacerbating plastic waste in the
environment.

A report by science journal, Nature, determined that

currently, roughly 11 million tons of plastic make its way into
the oceans every year, harming wildlife habitats and the
animals that live in them. The research found that if no
action is taken, the plastic crisis will grow to 29 million
metric tons per year by 2040. If we include microplastics
into this, the cumulative amount of plastic in the ocean
could reach 600 million tons by 2040.

Shockingly, National Geographic found that 91% of all

plastic that has ever been made is not recycled,
representing not only one of the biggest environmental
problems of our lifetime, but another massive market
failure. Considering that plastic takes 400 years to
decompose, it will be many generations until it ceases to
exist. There’s no telling what the irreversible effects of
plastic pollution will have on the environment in the long run.
Biodiversity Loss

The past 50 years have seen a rapid growth of human

consumption, population, global trade and urbanisation,
resulting in humanity using more of the Earth’s resources
than it can replenish naturally.

A recent WWF report found that the population sizes of

mammals, fish, birds, reptiles and amphibians have
experienced a decline of an average of 68% between 1970
and 2016. The report attributes this biodiversity loss to a
variety of factors, but mainly land-use change, particularly
the conversion of habitats, like forests, grasslands and
mangroves, into agricultural systems. Animals such as
pangolins, sharks and seahorses are significantly affected
by the illegal wildlife trade, and pangolins are critically
endangered because of it.

More broadly, a recent analysis has found that the sixth

mass extinction of wildlife on Earth is accelerating. More
than 500 species of land animals are on the brink of
extinction and are likely to be lost within 20 years; the
same number were lost over the whole of the last century.
The scientists say that without the human destruction of
nature, this rate of loss would have taken thousands of
years.
Melting Ice Caps and Sea Level Rise

The climate crisis is warming the Arctic more than twice as

fast as anywhere else on the planet. Seas are now rising an
average of 3.2 mm per year globally, and are predicted to
climb to a total of 0.2 to 2m by 2100. In the Arctic,
the Greenland Ice Sheet poses the greatest risk for sea
levels because melting land ice is the main cause of rising
sea levels.

Representing arguably the biggest of the environmental

problems, this is made all the more concerning considering
that last year’s summer triggered the loss of 60 billion tons
of ice from Greenland, enough to raise global sea levels
by 2.2mm in just two months. According to satellite data,
the Greenland ice sheet lost a record amount of ice in 2019:
an average of a million tons per minute throughout the
year, one of the biggest environmental problems that has
cascading effects.

If the entire Greenland ice sheet melts, sea level would rise
by six metres.

Meanwhile, the Antarctic continent contributes about 1

millimetre per year to sea level rise, which is a third of the
annual global increase.

Additionally, the last fully intact ice shelf in Canada in the

Arctic recently collapsed, having lost about 80 sq. km, or
40%, of its area over a two-day period in late
July, according to the Canadian Ice Service.

The sea level rise will have a devastating impact on those

living in coastal regions: according to research and advocacy
group Climate Central, sea level rise this century could flood
coastal areas that are now home to 340 million to 480
million people, forcing them to migrate to safer areas and
contributing to overpopulation and strain of resources in
the areas they migrate to.

Take Shanghai’s megalopolis for example, which is built

around the low-lying Yangtze river delta. As the fourth
most populous city in the world, the flood risk in the area is
high due to its geographical position. Any flooding caused by
a higher rainfall can potentially be catastrophic in relation
to evacuation, water management and property damage.
 1. Explain a case study of use of a clean
energy alternative from outside India.

SOLAR ENERGY

In the present scenario of world (a growing world population

& developing countries), the increasing consumption
of electricity controls the progress of different forms of
energy (renewable or non-renewable energy) use around the
world.
Fossil fuels are non-renewable sources, and accounted for
81 % of total energy demand in 2017. However, there are
some
disadvantages associated with their use such as
environmental pollution, emissions of greenhouse gasses, and
they are
depleting at a faster rate. Therefore, researchers have to
work hard in order to find an alternative (such as solar
energy) way for
fossil fuel to generate energy. A large number of
investigations on the solar energy have been carried out by
many researchers
in order to improve the living conditions, to help reduce air
pollution and to go green. The purpose of work is to explore
the
current status, challenges, recent efforts and future
prospects of solar energy in different countries including
Malaysia,
Indonesia (Asia region), Nigeria (Africa region) and
Colombia (South America).
Sun delivers interminable electromagnetic power (solar
energy). Earth receives a fraction of what actually is formed
in the Sun as it emits 38 x 107 EW energy and earth relieves
0.17 EW which is felicitous for life existence. In fact, the
sustenance of life on earth is primarily dependent upon the
appropriate temperature delivered by the Sun. In terms of
solar radiation, Sun possesses 60 MW/m2 power whereas
earth receives 1325 MW/m2 to 1418 MW/m2 power with a
typical value of 1367 MW/m2, also called solar constant.
It is reported that Australia receives the highest amount of
solar radiation of 4–6 K W h/m2 among all continents.
Electricity demand is envisaged to face a sharp rise of 1.5-
3.0 times by 2050 hence, making it inevitable to look for
an everlasting resource of energy that must be environment
friendly
at the same time. Solar energy offers the best
possible solution in this regard. Although we are utilizing
the fraction of it, it is capable of fulfilling the world’s energy
demand to a large extent. As the growing monster of energy
poverty is a serious threat predominantly in underdeveloped
and developing countries.

Indonesia is a tropical country in the equator, so the

potential for solar energy is high enough with the average
shine of 6-7 hours per day with an ideal duration of
irradiation that can be utilized to generate electrical
energy
through solar panels for 5-6 hours per day. It is a country
rich of natural resources with a primary energy source that
can be managed and used to meet national energy needs,
especially the needs of electrical energy to remote
communities. But reliance on energy derived from fossil
thinned provided opportunities to develop environmentally
friendly energy sources (sources of energy derived from
new
and renewable energy sources). Based on ESDM data
(2016), Indonesian geothermal reserves amounted to 17,546
MW and its potential of about 29.543 MW. Installed
capacity of geothermal power plant (until 2018) is 1,438
MW. Electricity potency from large scale hydro power
amounted at 75.091 GW, while the potential of mini/micro
hydro was about 19,385 MW. The potential of wind energy
is 60,647 MW, while the potential of electricity from
bioenergy is about 32,653 MW.

Indonesia has a potential power from biomass of 49,810

MW is undeveloped and only 0.89 % have been
commercially developed. Based on Presidential decree, it has
target to install about 810 MW in 2025, an increase of 74
percent, a very small potential contribution. Table 1 shows
the potential and installed capacity of renewable energy
resources. The government has committed to develop and
build new
power plant from the renewable energy sources of and the
target energy mix with 23 percent of renewable energy in
2025 since the electricity demand rising with increasing
population. The potential of solar power is quite high in
Indonesia (as a tropical country) with an intensity of 4.8
kWh/m2/day and current installed capacity of solar power
plant is 224.5 MW (in the end of 2017), 6,500 MW (in
2025), and 45,000 (in 2050 or 21.65 percent of the total
potential energy). Indonesia offers significant solar
power resources, but the country has yet to develop a
strong
market. The use of solar energy in Indonesia is still very low
due to the cost of equipment (solar panels) is still
expensive.
With the growing market demand for solar panels in the
world, estimated future prices of solar panels will tend to
fall. Therefore, solar energy utilization in Indonesia should
be developed including the possible use of the integrated
scheme with grid.