Air pollution of vehicles Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Air pollution of vehicles - Essay Example Though vehicle-exhaust harmful pollutants are terribly dangerous to human health, the concerns about air or atmospheric pollution mainly grow in response to the drastic natural and climatic changes in the world-environment. One of such concerns of the scientists and the climatologists about the changes in the environment is ‘global warming’ that is directly resulted from vehicle-emission related air pollution (Dispensa & Brule, 2003, p.87). There are about seven pollutants, such as carbon dioxide, carbon monoxide, Nitrogen Oxides, sulfur dioxides, etc found in vehicle emission. More than half of these pollutants have serious greenhouse effects on the nature and directly takes part in global worming. Due to the hazardous effects of vehicle emissions on human health and world environment, scientists and technologists have come up with the ideas of a number of non-polluting vehicle technologies that will greatly contribute to the reduction of the vehicle-emission related ai r pollutions. Present non-polluting technologies primarily pivot on reducing the emissions. Two of such pollution-resistant technologies are: Hybrid Electric Energy vehicle (HEEV) and Hydrogen fuel Combustion vehicle (HFCV). Pollutants in Traditional Fossil Fuel Vehicle Emission Traditional fossil fuel vehicle pollutions are related to three sectors such exhaust, evaporation and refueling emission. While evaporation and refueling pollute the environment by directly mixing the evaporated fuel with the air, the exhaustion related pollutants are produced by combusting and burning the fuels while producing a number of substances that pose great threats to both human health and environment. A study by the US Department of Energy shows that there is a number of pollutant substances produced at different stages of the combustion in a vehicle engine. Whereas most of these pollutants are carcinogenic, the greenhouse gas emissions such as carbon dioxide, carbon monoxide, etc are responsible f or the rise in the temperature of the atmosphere. The carcinogenic substances are mainly responsible for causing cancer in human body. A list of vehicle exhaust pollutant along with their causes and effects are shown in the following table: Traits of Vehicle Emission that Need to be addressed Reducing air pollution is, to a great extent, a technical issue that depends on the availability as well as the adaptability of technologies with modern lifestyle, as Kjellstrom says, â€Å"Technologies to reduce pollution at its source are plentiful, as are technologies that reduce pollution by filtering it away from the emission source† (819). Technologies that contribute to the reduction of air pollution involve the use of lead-free fossil fuel and the use of â€Å"catalytic converters on a vehicle’s exhaust way. These technologies show significant results in the reduction of some particular air pollutants from vehicles. Yet the slogan that ‘the cleaner the air, the bett er the world’ does not always goes with the expectation of modern trade and commerce. Air pollution intervention programs often find it difficult to make themselves cost effective as well as adaptable to modern lifestyle. For example, while Hydrogen Fuel Combustion technologies hold a great prospect of being the replacement of the fossil fuel energy, they are not

Hypertension Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Hypertension - Research Paper Example Should the blood pressure hit 140/90 and above, one is considered to have hypertension. The two major classifications of hypertension are secondary and essential hypertension. Whereas essential hypertension refers to a high blood pressure case whose cause is unknown, secondary hypertension refers to high blood pressure caused by tumors, kidney disease, and birth control pills (Falvo, 2009). The essential type of hypertension has been identified to cause about 95% of all hypertension cases. That is, among the about 73 million adults in the United States suffering from hypertension, 69.35% have the essential hypertension (Falvo, 2009). Although the exact causes of hypertension are generally unknown, several risk factors have been associated with hypertension. These factors include diabetes, sedentary lifestyle, and lack of physical activity, smoking, vitamin D deficiency, stress, aging, excessive alcohol consumption, genetics, and medications such as birth control pills, obesity, and e xcessive consumption of salt. Others are chronic kidney disease and insufficient consumption of minerals such as calcium, potassium, and magnesium. The symptoms of the condition are rather hard to identify and quite a big percentage of hypertension victims do not know that they have the condition. Because this ignorance about one’s hypertension status could last years and endanger lives, it is recommended that people continually go for screenings. Included in these symptoms are problems with vision, breathing problems severe headaches, fatigue or confusion, nausea, blood in the urine, dizziness, irregular heartbeat, and chest pains (Falvo, 2009). This paper explores the subject of hypertension with regards to its statistics, prevalence, psycho-social challenges, lifestyles, treatment, researches, and community programs. Statistics on Hypertension That hypertension is a major health concern in the United States is evidenced by the statistics made available by federal, state, a nd local government agents as well as private citizens, community-based groups, and non-governmental organizations. For instance, that as many as one in three American adults are at risk of contracting chronic kidney disease, stroke, and heart attack/heart failure makes them highly likely to develop hypertension as well. Evidently, hypertension prevalence is rather alarming. It has also been noted that more than half of hypertension patients have not managed to put it under control, resulting in severe health and psycho-social problems, reduced control rates, and high prevalence across the population. According to the American Society of Hypertension (ASH), more should be done regarding the establishment of educational, prevention, treatment, management and research programs to address hypertension, which has been a national health concern for quite some tine. These programs should specifically target hypertension prevention, treatment, awareness, and the reduction of hypertensionâ €™s consequences. To meet these objectives, these programs will have to initiate