Conservation of Fuels

What is pollution?

      Pollution is the introduction of harmful materials into the environment. These harmful materials are called pollutants. Pollutants can be natural, such as volcanic ash. They can also be created by human activity, such as trash or runoff produced by factories. Pollutants damage the quality of air, water, and land.

Pollution over the years:-

      Pollution has not only been the concern of the modern society, but rather has been an issue since ancient times. There is strong historical and scientific evidence to back this statement. Ancient Rome shows some of the earliest evidences of pollution. Romans reared cattle like goat, sheep, and cow. These livestock excreted methane gas, a by-product of digestion. Wood was used for heating homes, bath houses, building ships, houses, the original Colosseum, and other structures Burning wood was their only source of heat. They would burn wood inside and outside the smoke that came from the fires made a lot of air pollution outside and in homes making people sick.

      There was sewage in the streets because people would dump it out of the windows. Ancient Rome mostly relied on fire from burning wood to run the city, this lead to mass deforestation as well as release of pollutants into the air. Though at that point of time it was not a concern of the Roman emperors. Over pollution in China has been a big concern not only in modern times but also during the reign of the Han dynasty. The Han dynasty expanded its rice fields, which harbour methane-producing bacteria. 

      Also, blacksmiths in both empires produced methane gas when they burned wood to fashion metal weapons. After those civilizations declined, emissions briefly decreased. In China, where a system was developed for waste salvage even in the ancient times, fertilization with faeces was an important element of the agriculture even many thousand years ago. Productivity of the alluvial plain in the eastern part of the country has been maintained in this way for over 4,000 years. In several regions of China this tradition has been followed even recently. Fertilization of rice-paddies with faeces contributed largely to pollution of ground water which, in this way, is unfit for drinking in the whole tropic Asia. Problems as such still exist, mostly in urban centers.

           Urban pollution has been the cause of respiratory diseases. Current scientific evidence, derived largely from studies in North America and Western Europe (NAWE), indicates that urban air pollution, which is derived largely from combustion sources, causes a spectrum of health effects ranging from eye irritation to death. Man-made urban air pollution is a complex mixture with many toxic components. Air pollution is clearly a pernicious problem and its health impacts are set to worsen as several regions of the world urbanise rapidly. A recent report by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) says that by the year 2050, outdoor air pollution is projected to be the world’s top environmental cause of mortality, ahead of dirty water and lack of sanitation. Air pollution typically refers to a set of common that have demonstrable impacts on human health and ecosystems. The main pollutants are lead (Pb), carbon monoxide (CO), sulphur dioxide (SO2), nitrogen dioxide (NO2), ozone (O3) and particulate matter (PM). 

        Particulate matter in the form of soot and other small particles floating in the air. The combustion of gasoline and other hydrocarbon fuels in automobiles, trucks, and jet airplanes produces several primary pollutants: nitrogen oxides, gaseous hydrocarbons, and carbon monoxide, as well as large quantities of particulates, chiefly lead. In the presence of sunlight, nitrogen oxides combine with hydrocarbons to form a secondary class of pollutants, the photochemical oxidants, among them ozone and the eye-stinging peroxyacetylnitrate (PAN). Nitrogen oxides also react with oxygen in the air to form nitrogen dioxide, a foul-smelling brown gas.

       Types of pollution:-
        Air pollution is the introduction of particulates, biological molecules, or other harmful materials into Earth's atmosphere, causing disease, death to humans, damage to other living organisms such as food crops, or the natural or built environment. Air pollution may come from anthropogenic or natural surfaces.​ The atmosphere is a complex natural gaseous system that is essential to support life on planet Earth. Stratospheric ozone depletion due to air pollution has been recognized as a threat to human health as well as to the Earth's ecosystems.​

·  Water pollution is the contamination of water bodies (e.g. lakes, rivers, oceans, aquifers and groundwater). This form of environmental degradation occurs when pollutants are directly or indirectly discharged into water bodies without adequate treatment to remove harmful compounds.​ Water pollution affects the entire biosphere – plants and organisms living in these bodies of water. In almost all cases the effect is damaging not only to individual species and population, but also to the natural biological communities.​

· Light pollution, also known as photo pollution or luminous pollution, is excessive, misdirected, or obtrusive artificial light. Pollution is the adding-of/added light itself, in analogy to added sound, carbon dioxide, etc. Adverse consequences are multiple; some of them may not be known yet. Scientific definitions thus include the following:​

-  -Degradation of phonic habitat by artificial light.​

-  -Alteration of natural light levels in the outdoor environment owing to artificial light sources.​

·    Noise pollution or noise disturbance is the disturbing or excessive noise that may harm the activity or balance of human or animal life. The source of most outdoor noise worldwide is mainly caused by machines and transportation systems, motor vehicles, aircraft, and trains. Outdoor noise is summarized by the word environmental noise. Poor urban planning may give rise to noise pollution, since side-by-side industrial and residential buildings can result in noise pollution in the residential areas.​

      Environmental Pollution and Its Effects

      The greatest problem that the world is facing currently is that of environmental pollution, increasing with every passing year and causing great damage to the earth. Environmental pollution consists of five basic types of pollution, namely, air, water, soil, noise and light.

    1.    Air pollution

        Air pollution is a harmful form of environmental pollution. Air pollution is caused by the emissions of vehicles such as Buses, motorcycles, bikes and from industrial emissions such as emission of sulphur dioxide, carbon monoxides and other harmful gases. Evidence of increasing air pollution is seen in lung cancer, asthma, allergies, and various breathing problems along with severe and irreparable damage to flora and fauna. Even the most natural phenomenon of migratory birds has been hampered, with severe air pollution preventing them from reaching their seasonal metropolitan destinations for centuries.

           In addition to that, Chlorofluorocarbons (CFC)’s released from refrigerator and air-conditioners cause severe damage to our environment. This gas has slowly damaged the atmosphere and depleted the ozone layer leading to global warming.