- Global Warming
- Climate Change
- Greenhouse Effect
The global atmospheric and sea surface temperatures are rising at an alarming rate and can be strongly linked to human activities such as fossil fuel combustion.
On burning of fossil fuels, a vast amount of carbon dioxide gas is emitted into the atmosphere. Although CO2 is required to trap heat from the sun, an increase in the gas will lead to rapid warming of the Earth’s surfaces via the Greenhouse Effect that will seriously affect other global processes essential for life.
Fossil fuel combustion leading to global warming is coupled with severe climate change and many other environmental issues;
- Weather pattern changes leading to more frequent floods and droughts
- Glacier melt causing rising sea levels
- Ocean acidification
- Air pollution from the release of acidic substances such as sulphuric acid
- Acid rain
- Disturbed and damaged land from extraction processes
- Oil spills due to transportation of the fuel
The necessity for green technology is not only required to slow down the damage caused by burning of fossil fuels as mentioned above but also due to the fact that fossil fuels take millions of years to create and at the rate of our usage, they will run out in the not to distant future;Oil is estimated to run out between 2025 and 2070