Environmental Health and Protection Commons^™

Fossil Fuel Capstone

Activities

In this capstone activity, we are going to try to look at our individual fossil fuel usage. It would be nice if we could actually calculate how much each on of us is responsible for using. However, a great deal of our personal fossil fuel usage is hidden from us and almost impossible to calculate. For instance, the food that we eat was produced using oil in the fertilizer spread on the crops, fuel in the tractors that plowed the field, and diesel in the trucks that brought the food to market, amongst other things. The newspaper you read in …

Natural Gas

Activities

In the world of fossil fuels, natural gas is often the overlooked ugly duckling. It gets lumped in with oil, as in “oil and gas industry”, even though the discussion usually centers upon oil. It does not help that gasoline, which is derived from oil, is shortened to “gas”. In many people’s mind, the “gas” in “oil and gas” refers to gasoline, and not natural gas. However, natural gas has much to offer as an energy source that makes it preferable to other forms of fossil fuels. It burns much cleaner than coal or oil, and it produces far less …

Coal

Activities

Coal has been a source of energy for almost as long as Homo sapiens have inhabited the planet. The earliest record for its use dates back more than 3000 years to China where it may have been used to smelt copper. In areas where coal seams intersected the surface, coal was a ready supply of energy just waiting to be exploited. It did have some drawbacks, though. Most of the coal near the surface burns dirty, requiring some form of chimney if it is to be used indoors. It is also heavy to transport, limiting its use to regions near …

Oil

Activities

We are a country that runs on oil. From the gasoline in our cars to the plastic in our computers to the detergents that we put in our dishwashers, we rely on oil for our modern way of life. It cannot be understated just how strong of a role it plays in our economy and politics. It is used in tractors that plow and harvest food. It is used to power manufacturing plants and as feedstock in commercial goods. It powers all the trains and trucks that bring goods to market. It runs our cars, heats and cools our homes, …

Nuclear Energy Capstone

Activities

The United States has a problem with energy independence. The problem has nothing to do with a lack of energy production or availability. We are the largest producer of energy in the world, and have centuries’ worth of fossil fuels, as well as an enormous supply of nuclear and alternative energies, at our disposal. Our energy dependence on other countries is a result of the fact that we are also the leading consumers of energy in the world, being second only to Canada (population 32 million, compared to the 283 million in the U.S.) in per capita consumption of energy. …

Radiation Exposure

Activities

Nuclear energy was going to make the world a much better place during the 1950’s. The promise of an almost limitless supply of cheap energy that did not produce any soot or atmospheric pollutants almost seemed to good to be true. During the 1960's and 1970's, the United States nuclear industry expanded, as fears of a looming end to oil and gas reserves fueled construction. But by the late 1970’s, though, the wheels had come off of the nuclear wagon. The cheapness of the energy never did pan out, as prices of electricity from nuclear energy rivaled those of fossil …

Nuclear Power Plants

Activities

As we discussed in the last activity, energy is released when isotopes decay. This energy can either be in the form of electromagnetic radiation or the kinetic energy of the nuclear fragments. The important question for us is, “How can this energy be converted into a useful form like electricity?” The most obvious thing to do is to allow either of these forms of energy to be absorbed by a substance in order to increase its internal energy and thus, increase its temperature. As the substance warms up above its surroundings, a temperature difference is created, and allows for any …

Nuclear Decay

Activities

Almost any phrase that has the word “nuclear” in it has a bad reputation. The term conjures up images of mushroom clouds and radioactive mutants. It is interesting to note that in the 1940’s and 50’s, the term that applied to energy derived from the decay radioactive material was atomic energy. This term was somewhat correct, since the energy was coming from the breakdown of the atom. It was not until later that the more appropriate term nuclear energy was used as more people began to understand that the energy was coming from the breakdown of the nucleus of the …

Home Energy Capstone

Activities

The other three weeks of the Home Energy Module study energy flow and usage in our homes. In the R-Factor activity, we observed that the material used in the construction of our homes has a tremendous impact on the rate at which heat flows through its exterior surfaces. In Home Audit and Home Analysis activities, we performed an energy audit of our homes to estimate the amount of money that it costs to power it. As you have seen during our studies, there are many factors that affect the cost of energy in our homes. The right choices of materials, …

Home Analysis

Activities

The average household spends over $1,300 a year for energy to run the many devices found in the home. In this week's lab, we are going to investigate ways to save both energy and money that will not seriously impact your current lifestyle, i.e. you can keep watching as much television as you like, but you might want to put on a sweater to do it. In order to do this, we are going to have to use the measurements of our homes that we made two weeks ago. Last week, we studied how different materials affect the amount of …

R-Factor Of Various Materials

Activities

Even though it has been over 150 years since the First Law of Thermodynamics was discovered, we still find that heat is misunderstood. For example, the many environmental science textbooks define heat as "the total kinetic energy of atoms or molecules in a substance not associated with bulk motion of the substance." THIS IS WRONG! What these books are describing is the thermal energy of a system. This is a common misconception. While heat is energy, it is not a containable form of energy since, by its very definition, heat is energy that is transferred. In particular, heat is the …

Home Energy Audit

Activities

In the 1800's, scientists found, empirically, that rules exist that determine how energy can be transferred. The first of these rules is called the First Law of Thermodynamics. This law is usually stated as, "Energy can neither be created nor destroyed; it can only be transferred from one form to another." This often leads to the re-titling of this law as the Conservation of Energy Principle since it says that energy must be conserved. This statement of the First Law does not say anything about how energy can be transferred, though. It turns out that there are only two ways. …

Basic Skills Capstone B

Activities

If you look at the leaves that fall off of the trees in autumn, you will notice that not all leaves of the same kind are alike. Some are larger than others, some are longer or wider, some have different stem lengths, and some may have slightly different shapes. This is not surprising if you consider that they may be from different trees. Just as two people have hands or feet of different sizes, so different trees may have leaves of different sizes. If you do further observations, however, separating out leaves found under one tree from leaves found under …

Basic Skills Capstone A

Activities

In the late spring and summer, many parts of the United States experience smog alert days - days when the concentration of pollutants in the air has been considered unhealthy. Many of these pollutants are produced by automobiles - particularly hydrocarbons, carbon monoxide, nitrogen oxides and, indirectly, ozone. Most discussion of the adverse effects of smog center on humans, and the effects on other forms of life, such as plants, are scarcely mentioned. So how does air pollution from automobiles affect plant growth? Let's think about how this hypothesis might be tested. Two problems must be addressed. The first is …

Measurement

Activities

In general, you are quite familiar with measurements, as almost any occupation requires measurements of some kind. Carpenters measure boards for cutting, nurses measure blood pressure in patients, tailors measure fabric for garments, and advertising executives measure the public's acceptance of their sales pitches. You will therefore undoubtedly be utilizing measurement in your chosen career, regardless of the field you enter. Measurement plays a particularly large role in science. In their studies, scientists gather data, and to do this they use measurements. Scientists measure the concentration of gases in the atmosphere, the growth of organisms under varying conditions, the rate …

Statistics And Graphing

Activities

Statistics - they're all around us, and we're exposed to them every day. They allow us to summarize large volumes of mathematical information, and so are found wherever there's data to be presented. Let's say you're watching your favorite college football team, and the game has come down to a last second thirty-five yard field goal attempt for the win. When describing the kicker's past performance in this range, the play-by-play announcer doesn't list all of the kicker's attempts one by one and their outcome, he simply states the percentage of kicks made in this yard range. If the kicker's …

Experimental Analysis

Activities

Central to good science are accurate observations, testable hypotheses, well-designed experiments or other tests, and reasonable data analyses. The purpose of Laboratory 1 is to introduce you to the basics of designing and analyzing experiments. The following two laboratory exercises will provide you with further steps in organizing and analyzing data. Many interesting experiments are impossible to do in a normal undergraduate science laboratory setting. For this reason, your introduction to designing an experiment that has relevance in “the real world” involves a computer simulation. The program involves a growing industry, that of farming fish. What is your favorite kind …

2017 Fall Engr333 Project Assignment, Matthew K. Heun

ENGR 333

The Fall 2017 ENGR333 project focused on campus energy cost savings.

I asked the students two questions:

• Section A: What would it take for Calvin to save $75k/year on natural gas costs?
• Section B: What would it take for Calvin to save $150k/year on energy costs (mostly electricity) using a new on-site co-gen plant?

Customer

The customer for this project was Phil Beezhold, Director of Calvin’s Physical Plant.

Physical Water Scarcity Metrics For Monitoring Progress Towards Sdg Target 6.4: An Evaluation Of Indicator 6.4.2 “Level Of Water Stress”, D. Vanhama, A. Y. Hoekstra, Y. Wada, F. Bouraoui, A. De Roo, Mesfin Mekonnen, W. J. Van De Bund, O. Batelaan, P. Pavelic, W. G.M. Bastiaanssen, M. Kummu, J. Rockström, J. Liu, B. Bisselink, P. Ronco, A. Pistocchi, G. Bidoglio

Daugherty Water for Food Global Institute: Faculty Publications

Target 6.4 of the recently adopted Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) dealswith the reduction ofwater scarcity. To monitor progress towards this target, two indicators are used: Indicator 6.4.1 measuring water use efficiency and 6.4.2 measuring the level of water stress (WS). This paper aims to identify whether the currently proposed indicator 6.4.2 considers the different elements that need to be accounted for in a WS indicator.WS indicators compare water use with water availability.We identify seven essential elements: 1) both gross and net water abstraction (or withdrawal) provide important information to understand WS; 2) WS indicators need to incorporate environmental flow requirements …

Trends In The Environmental Health Job Market For New Graduates, Jason W. Marion, Timothy J. Murphy Phd, Anne Marie Zimeri Phd

EKU Faculty and Staff Scholarship

The question of whether the job market can support future graduates of environmental health programs remains an important and difficult question for environmental health programs, current and prospective students, parents, and other stakeholders. Our previous report using 2014 data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics demonstrated anticipated growth and higher than average pay in the profession through at least 2022 for baccalaureate degree holders (Marion & Sinde, 2015). Growth in the profession does not necessarily translate into job availability if the market is saturated with job candidates. While university programs produce graduates, local health departments (LHDs) have suffered tremendous …