Environmental Issues

Question: Provide the range of environmental issues potentially arising from electricity supply and use, and methods for assessing them. Answer: As per the research, there have been different environmental issues that are erupting due to the supply of the electricity. The water usage has been increasing as the population increase with the major concern of drought all over the world. There have been steam cycle plants which need a higher water supply for the cooling and the increased boiler temperature. (Zhou e al., 2015). The thermal cycle plants have been the major option for the use of sea water. The coal and the gas fired boilers can be the major reason for the depletion of the water as they have a higher steam temperature which requires less cooling. The exhaustion and the excessive use of fossil fuels allow the electricity generation but can be the major reason for the manufacturing of plastics with the emission of carbon dioxide in the air. The result has been only the increase in the temperature of earth with the greenhouse effect that contributes directly to global warming. The nuclear power plants are not able to co mpress the problem of fossil fuels. There have been emission at the time of mining, enrichment and the fuel transport which is seen to be effective for the emission of radioactivity. The control is generally through the regulations with certain abnormal operations. (Miller et al., 2015). Hence, for the proper assess of the environmental issues, there is a need to focus on the renewable source of energy which are able to handle the electricity generation and fuels with releasing enough of carbon dioxide and the greenhouse gas that contribute to the change in climate. The hydroelectric systems have been efficient to handle the elimination for the fuel cost. The major advantage is related to the long life with the lower operating costs which provide the facility setup for water sports. The operations are pumped in the storage plant which improves the generation system as well as handle the electricity that is generated from the fossil fuels or the nuclear energy. There is a need to foc us on reducing the demand for the emission intensive goods and services. The increased efficiency has been through the end-use and supply distribution which can save both money and the emissions. (Brook et al., 2015).The priority has been set which includes the effect of fuel that has been from the mines and the dealing of the wastes. There are certain ordinary operating procedures which ensure that there has been no significant water pollution. There have been different areas which are destructed and needs an immediate rehabilitation. The situations related to this are like the small amounts of radioactivity which has been released in the atmosphere with the coal fire and the nuclear power stations. (Gemechu et al., 2015).There have been small amounts of the radioactivity which release to the atmosphere from the coal fired and the nuclear power stations. Hence, there have been issues related to the combustion of coal. There have been actions on the non-energy emissions which has th e land-use or the non-carbon dioxide industrial emissions. The switching to the lower carbon technologies for the power and the transport is set for the gas carbon capture and storage. The major focus has been on the electric industry emission reduction which particularly interests the energy efficiency within electricity to build environment and the lower emission fossil fuel generation. The emerging renewable energy technologies and the carbon capture and storage has been for the coal. (Igos et al., 2015). There are geosequestration options with the extensive experience for the injecting of carbon dioxide which sets for the enhancement of the recovery from the depleting oil. There are limited experience with the injecting of CO2.There have been different abatement options like the energy supply sector, transport, buildings, industry, agriculture, forestry and the wastes which are important for properly improving the supply and distribution. The more fuel efficient vehicles are ava ilable with the use of public transport to less the pollution with the focus on forest management. The carbon capture and storage for the gas has been for generating facilities with the advancement in the nuclear power and the second generation of biofuels. (Hahn et al., 2015). The integrated design has been including technologies with the advanced energy efficiency and improvement of crop yields. The options set for the energy efficiency and the renewables are based on the lower emm fossil fuel techs where the micro cogen energy has been still emerging. This set for certain environmental benefits with the secured carbon dioxide abatement with the lower release of the GHG emissions. Describe our technical options for addressing key environmental and wider sustainability issues, in particular the challenges of climate change.There have been certain market based policies which are set for the voluntary restraint with the ability to properly regulate the decisions. The market based en vironmental markets generally take the advantage of the competitive pressure on the participants which respond to regulate the set target. The transferring of decision making process with avoiding the interactions has been set between different policy measures. (Christopher, 2016). There are challenges which relate to the market based policies that have an inevitable complexity to match the commercial market. There are certain potential measures in the energy supply where there is a need to manage the fossil fuel subsidies and the taxes or the carbon charges. The feed-in tariffs and the renewable energy options are for holding the producer subsidies that direct to provide a benchmark information with certain performance standards. There have been technical status that directs to the energy efficacy options which are considerable for improving the technology. The renewables are set for the mature establishment and emerging of the wind. The lower emm fossil fuel techs are generally t he off-the-shelf CCGT and the Cogen plants where the micro cogen technology has been emerging highly. The nuclear established plants and the Gen III designs are growing up with the implementation for the carbon captures. The demonstration of the projects has not been implemented yet. (Hong et al., 2015).There are nuclear power technology scenarios for handling the industrial power for managing the spent reactor fuel. This is able to store the waste when the fuel has been completely used once. The thermal reactors are with settled with reprocessing in the closed fuel cycle that has a balanced closed fast reactor. The setup has been through the repeated recycling of the plutonium and other elements. There have been technologies which are for the global climate system altering the scale, duration and the intensity. The technologies are modern according to the industrial revolution which introduce the new crop hybrids and a better use of the scarce water. (Redlinger et al., 2016). The coastal zones and adaptation measures are set to social and legal acceptability methods that direct to cost effectiveness. There are certain technologies for the adaption of the climate change:Establish priorities for these options through a multi-disciplinary technology assessment framework and incorporate them into sustainable energy scenarios.Considering the change in the environment, there have been present energy drivers for holding the rapid technological development that directs to the small scale technologies and renewables. (Fahimnia et al., 2015). There have been market restructuring and the competitive generation investment with the growing energy security concern. The multidisciplinary aspects of the environmental, economic and the social assessment framework related to the policy development and assessing the sustainability. There are different examples which are set in accordance to offer the new perspectives to have a major impact on the assessment for planning and decision making. (Hertwich et al., 2015). The sustainability is directed to help in decision making and the policy making which works on deciding over different actions. There have been goals of the sustainability that pursue for proper planning and the optimal contribution growth. The demands are set depending upon the dimensions and perceptions. The major challenges for the sustainability are related to identify the scientific based and the policy based lines with the capability to perform the knowledge and solution in the trans-disciplinary setting. (Twidell et al., 2015). The methodological framework is based on assessing the new ideas and policy that direct to hold values along with analyzing that no decision variables have been neglected. There are certain uncertainties in innovation which have been acquired under the public and private resources. The risk management strategies include the risk based technology assessments with certain diversification and the flexibility choic e. The exploration is based on handling the key challenges which direct to the scenario analysis for exploring the sustainability driven technologies. (Moss et al., 2016).With the social and economic changes, there have been advancement in the complex system analysis with the understanding to couple the human environment conditions. The transformational agenda is mainly to research the community for the needs along with identifying the problems of sustainability. The possibility of transcending is set based on systematic design as well as mapping to the long range phenomenon. With the understanding of complex problems, there are functional integration of different methodologies for the coproduction of knowledge and participation with strong links. There have been relevant values and perceptions to identify the normative functions that direct to the sustainability assessment. (Miller et al., 2015). The essential consideration that have been taken into account are the dynamics of cur rent trends with proper interaction of the risks, uncertainties and the activities. The adequate scope for addressing the short term and the long term effects are based on current policy decisions and the frameworks for effective communication. Assess the effectiveness of current and proposed Australian energy and climate policies in driving the electricity industry towards more sustainable outcomes, with particular climate change.Considering the changing trend of the electricity prices, there have been variations which reflect the investment in the poles and wires to ensure the reliable supply to the customers. There have been carbon taxes and the other environmental policies like the feed-in-tariffs to handle the inflation price. The network costs are important for the determination of cost of the supplying electricity. The network is set for the ageing network infrastructure. (Gomez-Exposito et al., 2016).There are changes set for the network investments that permit the rate of r eturn for the investments with the lower whole sale prices which are expected to result through the modest declines or the stabilized retail prices. In Australia, the cross subsidies and the cost reflective tariffs are important for handling the electricity market reform which gives a great power to manage the energy with the demand on network terms. The Australian Government has been working on the rapid reductions in the PV prices which combine with the higher price of electricity. The consumers who are without the distributed generation are set through analyzing price signals and advanced metering. The cost reflection tariff management is where there are effective and time consumer access for the data. The system setup has been through handling the national standard of living by assuring the export of LNG, coal and uranium. Australia has been able to manage the climatic change through the Direct Action plan where there are Emissions Reduction Fund for the reduced greenhouse gas e mission. The commitment for the Renewable Energy Target has been to deliver the 20% of Australian energy which will be a part of meeting the ERF. This encourages the investments with the efficient generation of electricity, technology and the energy productivity. (Aman et al., 2015). This contribute to the longer term climate change emission targets. The energy technologies and the markets generally change quickly. The focus has been on the energy markets with the environmental markets set for emission trading and the renewable obligations. There are wider policy frameworks to achieve the innovation in technology and energy efficiency through the policy frameworks and regulations. The key decision making is the investment to establish markets with the potential loss of control and land use. 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