Environmental protection is an important task, because moving the civilized world forward leads to inevitable difficulties and risks in the issue of environmental pollution. Among other social dangers, one of the first places is occupied by environmental problems associated with the use of heat engines.
What are heat engines for us
Every day we deal with engines that propel cars, ships, manufacturing equipment, railway locomotives and airplanes. It was the appearance and widespread use of heat engines that quickly propelled the industry forward.
The environmental problem of using heat engines is that emissions of thermal energy inevitably lead to heating of surrounding objects, including the atmosphere. Scientists have long struggled with the problem of melting glaciers and rising sea levels, considering human activities to be the main factor of influence. Changes in nature will lead to a change in the conditions of our lives, but despite this, energy consumption increases every year.
Where are heat engines used?
Millions of cars on internal combustion engines transport passengers and goods. Powerful diesel locomotives run along the railroads, and motor ships along the water trajectories. Aircraft and helicopters are equipped with piston, turbojet and turboprop engines. Rocket engines “push” into space the stations, ships and Earth satellites. Internal combustion engines in agriculture are installed on combines, pumping stations, tractors and other facilities.
The environmental problem of using heat engines
Man-used cars, heat engines, automobile production, the use of gas turbine propulsion systems, aircraft and rocket carriers, pollution of the water environment by ships - all this has a catastrophic destructive effect on the environment.
Firstly, the combustion of coal and oil releases nitrogen and sulfur compounds into the atmosphere that are harmful to humans. Secondly, atmospheric oxygen is used in the processes, the content of which in air decreases due to this.
Emissions of harmful substances into the atmosphere are not the only factor in the influence of heat engines on nature. The production of mechanical and electrical energy cannot be carried out without the removal of significant amounts of heat into the environment, which cannot but lead to an increase in the average temperature on the planet.
Thermal pollution is aggravated by the fact that combustible substances increase the concentration of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. This, in turn, leads to a “greenhouse effect”. Global warming is becoming a real danger.
The environmental problem of using heat engines also lies in the fact that the combustion of fuel cannot be complete, and this leads to the release into the air that we breathe of ash and soot flakes. According to statistics, all over the world power plants annually discharge into the air more than 200 million tons of ash and more than 60 million tons of sulfur oxide.
Ecological problems associated with the use of heat engines, trying to solve all civilized countries. The latest energy-saving technologies to improve heat engines are introduced. As a result, energy consumption for the production of one and the same product is significantly reduced, reducing the harmful effect on the environment.
Thermal power plants, internal combustion engines of automobiles and other machines are discharged in large quantities into the atmosphere, and then into the soil, waste that is harmful to all living things, for example, chlorine, sulfur compounds (during the combustion of coal), carbon monoxide CO, nitrogen oxides, etc. Automotive engines annually emit about three tons of lead into the atmosphere.
At nuclear power plants, another environmental problem of using heat engines is the safety and disposal of radioactive waste.
Due to the incredibly high energy consumption, some regions have lost the ability to self-clean their own airspace. The operation of nuclear power plants has helped to significantly reduce harmful emissions, however, steam turbines require a huge amount of water and a large space under the ponds to cool the exhaust steam.
Solutions
Unfortunately, mankind is not able to abandon the use of heat engines. Where is the way out? To consume an order of magnitude less fuel, that is, to reduce energy consumption, it is necessary to increase the efficiency of the engine to carry out the same work. The fight against the negative consequences of using heat engines is only to increase the efficiency of energy use and switch to energy-saving technologies.
In general, it will be wrong to say that the global environmental problem of using heat engines is not being solved. A growing number of electric locomotives are replacing conventional trains; battery cars are becoming more popular; Energy-saving technologies are being introduced into the industry. It is hoped that environmentally friendly aircraft and rocket engines will appear. Many governments have implemented international environmental protection programs against earth pollution.