ENSC 102 Wyman Set 5
Solid waste
Any garbage or refuse, sludge from a wastewater treatment plant, water supply treatment plant, or air pollution control facility and other discarded material, resulting from industrial, commercial, mining, and agricultural operations, and from community activities. Includes solid, liquid, semi- solid, or contained gaseous material. Solid wastes are classed as hazardous or non hazardous
nonhazardous waste
Any waste not defined as hazardous by the methods discussed above: municipal solid waste may contain some waste that is actually hazardous (by EPA definition) but there is no requirement for domestic waste to be tested or classified; it is treated as
Respiration
Carbon dioxide enters the atmosphere through
The forms of carbon in the ocean
Carbonate and bicarbonate. In the ocean (mainly) the carbonate ions are used by marine life to make shells, combining calcium and magnesium ions with the carbonate to make calcium carbonate and magnesium carbonate. The shells from marine life eventually sink to the ocean bottom and are buried. This sequesters (out of the active cycle) carbon for a long time.
no threshold
Chemicals that are suspected of causing cancer are assumed to have _____Because the mechanism of cancer causation is only poorly understood and that, in theory, only one cell needs to be transformed (mutated) to start the growth of a tumor, the U.S. government regulatory agencies, e.g. the USEPA, assume that any dose of a carcinogen increases the lifetime risk of cancer
characteristics for waste
Corrosive, ignitabiilty, reactivity, toxicity
wastewater treatment
Primary, Secondary, tertiary stages. Most highly polluted wastewater is about 99.9% water. This means pollutants at most 0.1% = 1000 ppm
Intergovernmental plan on climate change
Produces periodic reports which have influenced the debate on global warming. at the climate conference, where it will present around 30 events showcasing the report on 1.5°C, the Sixth Assessment Report work programme, and other IPCC activities. in the context of strengthening the global response to the threat of climate change, sustainable development, and efforts to eradicate poverty.
Kyoto Protocol, Doha agreement, the Paris agreement
Recent international agreements addressing the issue of climate change
nonferrous metals. 34.7 percent was recycled or composted.
What kind of municipal waste has the highest recycling rate? What percent of all municipal solid waste was recycled or composted in the year 2015?
Recovered- 34.7%, Discarded- 52.5%, Incinerated- 12.8%
What percent of US municipal solid waste is recovered? What percent is discarded? What percent is incinerated?
99.3% recycling rate making them number 1 recycled consumer product in US
What percent of lead acid batteries are recycled?
Earths temp increased 0.5 C during 1880-1940, and -.2 C from 1940- 1880. 1979- now increase .3 C. Why did the increase occur only when the greenhouse gases increased slowly? Why did temp decrease when greenhouse gas were increasing?
What scientific uncertainties remain about global warming?
Feedback effects in the computer simulation models, how the model handles changes in its variables as time proceeds can greatly affect its long term prediction. The data set we are using to make predictions are limited. Are the results natural fluctuations or the result of human activity.
What scientific uncertainties remain about global warming?
Other pollutant gases are cooling the atmosphere sulfates formed from sulfur dioxide emissions exert a cooling effect on the atmosphere by blocking incoming solar energy. Volcano eruptions such as mount pinatubo.
What scientific uncertainties remain about global warming?
Temp record bias. Temps used for tracking global trends have come from urban areas. Urban areas are warmer than the countryside, and urban areas have more heat sources. Computer simulation models are primitive compared with the phenomenon they are trying to simulate.
What scientific uncertainties remain about global warming?
water vapor and carbon dioxide, Carbon Dioxide is the most important, Greenhouse gases are increasing in air concentration
Which infrared absorbing gases are natural and most important? How have human activities influence the concentrations of them?
Surface area scaling gives a lower allowable human dose and the USEPA errs on the side of caution in its standard setting.
Which of the two body size extrapolation methods is the most cautious (conservative in the sense of allowing a smaller dose)? The USEPA uses surface area scaling; why do you think they chose this method?
USEPA standard laboratory tests
Who is responsible for waste classification?
because incineration of municipal solid waste doesn't destroy it all, there's still a need to landfill the noncombustible items, as much as 20 percent of the total waste by weight.
Why is a landfill needed when a city is burning its waste?
Wien's Law
Why the sun's peak energy is in the visible and the earth's is in the infrared part of the electromagnetic spectrum is explained by
Standards
Written in terms of allowable ambient concentrations
litter, dust, odor controls
a daily cover of approved soil is applied to a minimum depth to the top of the buried waste.
Release of CFCs since their introduction in the 1940s
Human sources of CFCs
combustion of fossil fuels, deforestation
Human sources of carbon dioxide
Bacterial action from rice patties, natural gas wells
Human sources of methane
Nitrogen fertilizer use
Human sources of nitrous oxide
Formed from VOC + NO2 (ground level smog)
Human sources of ozone
1957
.The trends in carbon dioxide levels are found here. When did the measurements begin?
Mauana Loa
.Where is the measurement instrument located in Hawaii?
Kelvin
= Celsius plus 273
Adverse effects of global warming
A change in weather patterns. The current rainfall levels seen in the American Midwest could shift northward into Canada. Rising sea levels, due to the thermal expansion of the oceans and the melting of the polar ice caps and the Greenland ice sheet, flooding coastal areas. Heat waves, horrible hurricanes, higher sea levels and no arctic
treatment group and a control group
A scientific experiment has
EPA list (listed waste)
A waste is considered to be hazardous if it is on an _____ If a waste is determined to be hazardous because is on a list of chemicals or industrial processes that the EPA has defined being hazardous by nature, it is called a listed hazardous waste.
characteristics, listed
A waste is hazardous if it possesses certain __ or __. Wastes that exhibit certain characteristics may be regulated by RCRA.
Ignitable, corrosive, or reactive. Toxic Chemicals
A waste may be considered hazardous if it is ______, _______, or _______. Waste may also be considered hazardous if it contains certain amounts of _________. In addition to these characteristic wastes, EPA has also developed a list of over 500 specific hazardous wastes. Hazardous waste takes many physical forms and may be solid, semi-solid, or even liquid.
mutagen screening
A way to determine toxicity of a chemical, if carcinogenicity of a chemical is to be measured is _____
262.4
About how many million tons of municipal waste was generated in the US in 2015
the rate of 4.48 pounds per person per day
About how many pounds per day per capita is this?
500 gigatons of carbon in living organisms, 1,500 gigatons of carbon in soil
About how much of the carbon is in all living biota? How much of this is wood?
It's gone from 88 to 262
Describe the change in municipal solid waste generated, in pounds per capita in the US 1960-2015
conventional water treatment plants.
Detergents often have phosphates added to serve as water softeners (added to chemically reduce the effects of calcium and magnesium ions); the phosphates are not removed by
The ocean contains the largest active pool of carbon near the surface of the Earth
Excluding rocks, what is the largest reservoir of carbon in the carbon cycle?
carbonic acid
H2CO3 a very weak acid formed in solution when carbon dioxide dissolves in water.
Bicarbonate
HCO3-
The higher the frequency, the higher the energy content.
How are frequency and energy content related?
The greater the energy, the larger the frequency and the shorter (smaller) the wavelength
How are wavelength and energy content related?
They are inversely proportional. Wavelength increasing, frequency decreasing; frequency increasing, wavelength decreasing
How are wavelength and frequency related?
Clouds cool the Earth by reflecting incoming sunlight. Clouds warm the Earth by absorbing infrared radiation emitted from the surface and reradiating it back down.
How can clouds have both warming and cooling effects?
It is defined by a test that mimics how toxic materials might escape from waste and then measures whether too much of a toxic material is present in the escaping liquid.. This involves washing the waste with an acid solution and then testing the solution for the presence of various chemicals. If any of the chemicals are present in the acid solution at concentrations exceeding the USEPA thresholds, the waste is considered to possess the toxicity characteristic
How is toxicity defined in the tests for a hazardous waste?
The difference is based on a matter of regulatory definition, which is based on provisions of the key federal statute concerning waste management, the RCRA. If it is not hazardous then it is non hazardous.
How is waste classified as hazardous or non hazardous?
characteristic hazardous waste
If a waste is defined as hazardous by one of these four tests, which include corrosivity, ignitability, reactivity, or toxicity it is called ____
eutrophication
If a wastewater treatment plant discharges into a water body where ______ is a problem, then tertiary treatment to remove nitrogen and/or phosphorus more completely may be used.
Greenhouse warming
If greenhouse gases absorb outgoing infrared energy and this causes the greenhouse effect, then additional greenhouse gases should absorb more infrared energy and increase the greenhouse effect beyond its normal bounds
greenhouse effect.
If it were not for the IR absorption by water vapor and carbon dioxide, the earth's average temperature would be much lower, about zero degrees Celsius. This natural absorption of outgoing IR energy and the consequent warming of the planet is the
polluted
If measurements of area air or water quality indicate concentrations over the standard, then the area is labeled as
C David Keeling
In 1957, the first to make accurate measurements of CO2 in the atmosphere, chose the site high up on the slopes of the Mauna Loa volcano because he wanted to measure CO2 in air masses that would be representative of much of the Northern Hemisphere, and, hopefully, the globe.
The Earth's radiation balance
Incoming radiation is from the sun. The primary types of electromagnetic energy in solar radiation are ultraviolet, visible, and infrared (heat), with the sun's peak wavelength in the visible part of the spectrum. In percentage terms, about nine percent of incoming sunlight is ultraviolet, and the rest in split between visible and infrared energy. The peak energy,Eart is in the visible.
leak detection systems
Landfills install _________ and incorporate leachate controls. A leachate collection systems, installed on the bottom of the landfill, is a layer of sand or gravel into which are sunk pipes connected to the surface. Any leachate that seeps to the bottom of the landfill (and could, over a long time, get through the liner) is pumped up to the surface, keeping the bottom of the landfill relatively free of liquid.
the lengthened growing seasons and added precipitation implied by the most widely cited global climate change models will modestly increase agricultural yields and thereby enhance the profitability of American agriculture.
List several good consequences of higher carbon dioxide levels for agriculture.
urban heat island
Local heat buildup in an area of high population density
Resource Conservation and Recovery Act
Management of non-hazardous and hazardous solid waste including landfills and storage tanks. Set minimal standards for all waste disposal facilities and for hazardous wastes.. controls hazardous waste with a cradle to grave system
Solutions put forward against global warming
Mostly focus on CO2. Lower fossil fuel consumption which will lower carbon dioxide emissions. Reforestation, USEPA regulations against greenhouse gases 2012 issued the first national greenhouse gas emission standards and fuel economy standards for cars and light trucks. preconstruction permits that limit greenhouse gas emissions, Clean Power Plan
Groundwater contamination by leachate- any liquid that extracts soluble or suspended liquid. Gas Migration (methane, an explosive gas, and hydrogen sulfide) litter, dust, odors.
Name three potential environmental problems with the use of landfills.
wastewater treatment
Note that more treatment means more sludge, so the great increase in
Leachate controls
Solutions to landfill environmental problems. Impermeable liner on the bottom of landfills prevent escape. Liner materials include compressed clay and various synthetics. The rate of permeability required by government regulations is quite slow, however: 1 ten-millionth of one centimeter per second. rainwater runoff is diverted away from the landfill to minimize the water that might seep into the waste, producing leachate. Also, the completed parts of the landfill are capped with an impermeable material to prevent water infiltration from the top.
Problems with animal toxicology data
Species extrapolation. Animals not humans. Dose extrapolation. Animal doses high. Dose extrapolation to much lower doses experienced by humans. Body size extrapolation. Rodent mass v. human mass, or use relative surface areas.
generator
The ___ is responsible for determining whether a waste is hazardous or not.
15-45
The computer models project a ——- degree Celsius increase in global temp if the carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere double. According to mid-range projections by the models, carbon dioxide levels will reach 700 ppm by the year 2100
greenhouse effect and global warming
The greenhouse effect is the natural, normal phenomenon by which the earth is as warm as it is. "Life as we know it" needs the greenhouse effect. Global warming is an exaggeration of the greenhouse effect, a warming far more than normal. Normal warming, called the greenhouse effect, involves the absorption of outgoing infrared (heat) energy from the earth's surface by two gases in the atmosphere: water vapor and carbon dioxide.
toxic
The liver is the main site in the body where metabolism of potentially ____ chemicals takes place.
The Kyoto protocol
The maximum amount of emissions (measured as the equivalent in carbon dioxide) that a Party may emit over a commitment period in order to comply with its emissions target is known as a Party's assigned amount.. Carbon dioxide (CO2); • Methane (CH4); • Nitrous oxide (N2O); • Hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs); • Perfluorocarbons (PFCs); and • Sulphur hexafluoride
Solar energy
The sun's temperature is about 6000 K; its peak wavelength is 2,898,000/6000 or about 480 nanometers. This is in the visible part of the spectrum, which runs from about 400 nanometers to about 750 nanometers. The earth's radiating temperature is about 300 K; therefore its peak wavelength is 2,898,000/300=10,000 nanometers. This is in the infrared part of the spectrum. Therefore the earth absorbs ________ (combination of ultraviolet, visible, and infrared) and reradiates it as infrared energy (only).
The largest human impact on the carbon cycle is through direct emissions from burning fossil fuels, Subtraction- Air pollution, erosion
There are natural and human annual additions and subtractions of carbon to and from the atmosphere. What is the source of the largest addition per year? What is the main source of removal (subtraction)?
Human actions
There is strong evidence that this is the cause of increased carbon dioxide levels. Combustion of fossil fuels produces carbon dioxide. Deforestation results in less carbon being held as part of trees
one
There should be _ independent variable changed in each trial.
Incineration
This method's biggest advantage is volume reduction. For municipal solid waste, the reduction is 80 to 90%. For specialized, homogeneous waste streams, well over 99.9% of the waste will be gasified. Remember, matter can't be destroyed, so we are changing its form. Also note: because incineration of municipal solid waste doesn't destroy it all, there's still a need to landfill the noncombustible items, as much as 20 percent of the total waste by weight.
Landfill, incineration, recycling
Waste management, treatment, and disposal methods
Positive radiative forcing means Earth receives more incoming energy from sunlight than it radiates to space. This net gain of energy will cause warming
What is the effect of an increase in radiative forcing?
paper and paperboard
What is the largest category, by weight, of municipal solid waste?
Made from retired currency, denim scraps and newsprint
What are the mugs made of?
As customers enter the site, their trucks are weighed at the scale house. Customers are charged tipping fees for using the site. The tipping fees vary from $10 to $40 per ton.
What are the tipping fees at landfills?
greenhouse gases
What atmospheric gases absorb infrared radiation?
Global climate change will affect the physical, biological, and biogeochemical characteristics of the oceans and coasts, modifying their ecological structure, their functions, and the goods and services they provide. Large-scale impacts of global warming on the oceans will include: Increases in sea level and sea-surface temperature Decreases in sea-ice cover Changes in salinity, alkalinity, wave climate, and ocean circulation
What climate impacts on coastal areas are possible from climate change
Malaria and Dengue. climate change has already altered the distribution of some disease vectors. There is evidence that the geographic range of ticks and mosquitoes that carry disease has changed in response to climate change.
What climate-sensitive diseases might be a consequence of global warming? What is the connection?
Incoming- ultraviolet, Outgoing- infrared
What electromagnetic radiation comes in and what goes out?
Quantitative
What is more useful quantitative or qualitative?
the difference between insolation (sunlight) absorbed by the Earth and energy radiated back to space
What is radiative forcing?
volume reduction
What is the biggest advantage of waste incineration?
Determining toxicity
animal, human data; acute, chronic data
Cancer
as an older-age disease. Risk increases with age for almost all types. This fits the theory of it being caused by the accumulation of genetic damage over time
The Paris agreement
builds upon the Convention and for the first time brings all nations into a common cause to undertake ambitious efforts to combat climate change and adapt to its effects, with enhanced support to assist developing countries to do so. United States pulled out of this agreement. The Paris Agreement was costly and ineffective. agreement wasted taxpayer money. Withdrawal is a demonstration of leadership. Withdrawal is good for American energy competitiveness.
Combustion
carbon compounds with the production of carbon dioxide. This is the same reaction as respiration.
steps in standard setting
define endpoint, determine threshold, set ambient concentration to avoid harmful dose,
carbon dioxide gas
dissolves in rainfall and in surface waters: streams, lakes, and, especially because of their size, the oceans. Now the carbonic acid will break apart somewhat to yield H+ and HCO3-1(bicarbonate ion). The bicarbonate will also break apart somewhat to yield H+and CO3-2(carbonate ion). In the ocean (mainly) the carbonate ions are used by marine life to make shells, combining calcium and magnesium ions with the carbonate to make calcium carbonate and magnesium carbonate (solids). The shells from marine life eventually sink to the ocean bottom and are buried. This sequesters (out of the active cycle) carbon for a long time.
Photosynthesis
how carbon dioxide exits the atmosphere
Approximately 25% of leaks are introduced during installation of the geomembrane itself and 75% are introduced as the geomembrane is covered.
how far leachate could penetrate at that rate in 30 years
Carbon Dioxide
in the atmosphere is a key component of the greenhouse effect and is also strongly implicated in the possible global warming
atmospheric sink
is a natural or artificial reservoir that accumulates and stores some carbon-containing chemical compound for an indefinite period. The process by which carbon sinks remove carbon dioxide (CO2) from the atmosphere is known as carbon sequestration.
Global warming potential
is a relative measure of how much heat a greenhouse gas traps in the atmosphere. It compares the amount of heat trapped by a certain mass of the gas in question to the amount of heat trapped by a similar mass of carbon dioxide.
carcinogens
it is possible that metabolism will "activate" a chemical first to a more toxic form, and then further metabolism will lower the toxicity. This happens often with
anaerobic decomposition
occurs with little or no air Deep lakes, swamps Produces fossil fuels
human sewage
small or large water treatment plants do not remove a significant amount nitrogen and phosphorus in human waste.
Wien's Law
states that the peak wavelength of a radiating body is equal to a constant divided by the absolute temperature of the body.( In equation form: peak wavelength (nanometers) = 2,898,000 / K (2.8 million divided by the absolute temperature, in K), where K is the absolute temperature in kelvins. )
Storage depots for carbon
stored in the biosphere through the atmosphere, in the bodies of living creatures (animals and plants, with forests being much longer term storage reservoirs), and in the water (especially the ocean, the single largest carbon storage area).
Changes in greenhouse gas concentrations
the amount of water vapor in the earth's atmosphere is not changing. The other greenhouse gases are increasing in air concentration. Carbon dioxide has been increasing during the last century. Accurate long term measurements have been collected in Hawaii for the last 40 years. Methane, nitrous oxides, and CFCs have increased also
carcinogenicity
the cancer-causing property of a substance
Paracelsus
the founder of toxicology. "The does makes the poison"
carbon cycle
the movement of carbon from the atmosphere to the surface, as part of the living world and through the food chain or dissolving in surface water
Respiration
the oxidation of carbon compounds with the production of carbon dioxide. This is photosynthesis run backwards. All animal life that use oxygen produces carbon dioxide via respiration. This includes humans, microorganisms (biodegradation), and vegetation. Respiration in reaction form: carbon compound + oxygen --> carbon dioxide and water vapor.
Albedo
the percentage of incoming sunlight reflected from a surface
Photosynthesis
the production of carbon compounds and oxygen by green plants using chlorophyll, carbon dioxide, and water. In reaction form: carbon dioxide + water --> carbon compounds + oxygen
toxicology
the science of poisons
Cancer theory
tumors start with a mutated cell. The cell mutation causes the cell to lose its growth control, becoming a mass of dividing cells (a tumor). Several parts of the DNA may need to mutate to actually cause a tumor.
the recycler's exchange, recyclers directory
two industrial goods recycling pages
Gas Migration Controls
usually is a network of plastic pipes sunk into the landfill to provide a path for the gas produced underground to get to the surface. The gas is either just allowed to mix into the atmosphere or, at times, the methane is collected and used as an energy source.
laws of nature are unchanging, Sensory input and reason can be relied upon
when using scientific method we assume that
Acute animal LD50
which is lethal dose for 50 percent of the test organisms. LD50 data are useful in a relative sense; i.e., comparing LD50s for chemicals can show their relative toxicity. The lower the LD50 the more toxic