World Ocean. Climatic, space, biological and recreational resources. Climatic and space resources of the earth What applies to space resources
CLIMATE AND SPACE RESOURCES - RESOURCES OF THE FUTURE
The Sun is a giant thermonuclear reactor, the primary source of not only all life on Earth, but practically all of its energy resources. The annual flow of solar energy reaching the lower layers of the atmosphere and the earth's surface is measured in such a huge value (10 14 kW), which is tens of times greater than all the energy contained in proven mineral fuel reserves, and thousands of times the current level of global energy consumption. Naturally, the best conditions for using solar energy exist in the Earth’s arid zone, where the duration of sunshine is greatest.
Table 17. Climate and space resources.
| Energy source | Areas of use |
| Energy of sun | Arid belt: USA (Florida, California); Japan, Israel, Cyprus, Australia, Ukraine (Crimea), Caucasus, Kazakhstan, Wed. Asia. |
| Wind energy | Coast of the North and Baltic seas, Arctic seas; Wed. Siberia, Far East, southern European Russia, Ukraine. |
| Geothermal | Low-temperature (heating): Iceland, Italy, France, Hungary, Japan, USA, Central American countries, New Zealand, Kamchatka, Northern Caucasus; high-temperature (dry steam for the construction of geothermal power plants): Italy, USA (California), Mexico, New Zealand , Japan, Russia (Kamchatka). |
| tidal energy | Brittany (France) - English Channel coast, White Sea, southern China, Bay of Fundy (coast of the USA and Canada), etc. Work continues in the USA, Canada, Great Britain, France, Russia, China, Rep. Korea, India, Argentina, Australia. |
| Current energy (OTES) | Hawaii (USA), Nauru (Japan), Tahiti (France), Bali (Netherlands). |
| Wave energy | Japan, Norway |
Wind energy, which man has also long used with the help of windmills and sailing ships, like solar energy, has practically inexhaustible potential, is relatively cheap and does not pollute the environment. But it is very unstable in time and space and is very difficult to “tame”. Unlike solar energy, its resources are concentrated mainly in the temperate zone.
A special type of climatic resources is formed by agroclimatic resources - heat, moisture and light. The geographical distribution of these resources is reflected on the agroclimatic map.
Tasks and tests on the topic "Climate and space resources - resources of the future"
- Natural resources
- Climate zones of the Earth - General characteristics of the nature of the Earth, grade 7
Lessons: 5 Assignments: 9 Tests: 1
- Latin America - South America 7th grade
Lessons: 3 Assignments: 9 Tests: 1
- USA - North America 7th grade
Lessons: 6 Assignments: 9 Tests: 1
- Asteroids. Comets. Meteors. Meteorites - Earth in the Universe 5th grade
Lessons: 4 Assignments: 8 Tests: 1
Leading ideas: The geographical environment is a necessary condition for the life of society, the development and distribution of the population and economy, while recently the influence of the resource factor on the level of economic development of the country has been decreasing, but the importance of the rational use of natural resources and the environmental factor has been increasing.
Basic concepts: geographical (environmental) environment, ore and non-metallic minerals, ore belts, mineral basins; structure of the world land fund, southern and northern forest belts, forest cover; hydropower potential; shelf, alternative energy sources; resource availability, natural resource potential (NRP), territorial combination of natural resources (TCNR), areas of new development, secondary resources; environmental pollution, environmental policy.
Skills and abilities: be able to characterize the natural resources of the country (region) according to plan; use various methods of economic assessment of natural resources; characterize the natural prerequisites for the development of industry and agriculture of the country (region) according to the plan; give a brief description of the location of the main types of natural resources, identify countries as “leaders” and “outsiders” in terms of endowment with one or another type of natural resources; give examples of countries that do not have rich natural resources, but have achieved a high level of economic development and vice versa; give examples of rational and irrational use of resources.
The future of humanity is connected with the inexhaustible resources of the World Ocean.
Ocean water, which accounts for 96.5% of the hydrosphere, constitutes the main wealth of the World Ocean. As is known, ocean water contains up to 75 chemical elements from the periodic table. Thus, sea and ocean waters should be considered as a source of mineral resources.
In ocean water, the greatest concentration is the share of dissolved salts. From time immemorial, humanity has extracted table salt by evaporating sea water. Currently, China and Japan meet part of their needs for table salt using seawater. About one third of the table salt produced in the world comes from ocean waters.
Sea water contains magnesium, sulfur, bromine, aluminum, copper, uranium, silver, gold and other chemical elements. Modern technical capabilities make it possible to isolate magnesium and bromine from ocean water.
The world's oceans are a storehouse of underwater mineral resources. Almost all minerals common on land are also found in the shelf zone of the World Ocean.
The Persian and Mexican Gulfs, the northern part of the Caspian Sea, and the coastal zones of the Arctic Ocean, where industrial production and exploration of oil and gas fields are carried out, are rich in mineral resources.
Currently, the coastal zones of the World Ocean are being actively studied for the exploration and production of ore and non-metallic minerals. In particular, the coastal areas of Great Britain, Canada, Japan and China appear to be rich in coal. Tin deposits have been discovered off the coasts of Indonesia, Thailand and Malaysia. Diamond exploration is underway in the coastal area of Namibia; gold and ferromanganese nodules are mined in the coastal zone of the United States. The Baltic Sea, washing the coast of the Baltic countries, has long been famous for amber.
The World Ocean is of greatest interest as a source of energy resources. The energy resources of the World Ocean are practically inexhaustible. The energy of tides has been used by humans since the second half of the 20th century. According to calculations, the energy of ebbs and flows is estimated at 6 billion kW, which is almost 6 times the energy reserve of the world's rivers.
Potential tidal energy reserves are concentrated in Russia, Canada, USA, Argentina, Australia, China, France, Great Britain, etc. The countries listed above use tidal energy for energy supply purposes.
The world's oceans are also rich in biological resources. The flora and fauna of the World Ocean, rich, in particular, in proteins, occupies a significant place in the human diet.
According to some reports, up to 140 thousand species of animals and plants are found in the ocean. Currently, 20% of humanity's needs for calcium are met by the biological resources of the World Ocean. Fishing accounts for 85% of the “live” biomass produced.
The Bering, Okhotsk, Japanese and Norwegian seas, as well as the Pacific coast of Latin America, are rich in fish.
The limited availability of biological resources forces humanity to treat the riches of the World Ocean with care.
CLIMATE AND SPACE RESOURCES
Climate and space resources include solar energy, wind energy, and geothermal heat. The listed resources belong to the so-called non-traditional resources.
Solar energy is of greatest interest to humanity. The sun is a source of inexhaustible energy, which man has been using since ancient times in the national economy.
The total power of solar energy reaching the earth is tens of times greater than the total energy of the Earth's fuel and energy resources and thousands of times greater than what humanity currently consumes.
Tropical latitudes are rich in solar energy. In the tropics, and in the arid zone, cloudless days dominate, and the sun's rays are directed almost vertically to the surface of the earth. Currently, solar power stations are in operation in a number of countries.
Wind power is another important unconventional energy source. Man has been using the power of the wind for a long time. This applies to windmills, sailing ships, etc. Temperate latitudes are relatively rich in wind energy.
The internal heat of the Earth, as noted, is the third non-traditional source of energy. The internal energy of the Earth is called geothermal.
Geothermal energy sources are confined to seismically active belts, volcanic regions and zones of tectonic disturbances.
Iceland, Japan, New Zealand, the Philippines, Italy, Mexico, the USA, Russia, etc. have significant reserves of geothermal energy.
The limited availability of mineral sources and the ecological “purity” of non-traditional energy sources attract the attention of scientists to the development of the energy of the Sun, wind and internal heat of the Earth.
BIOLOGICAL RESOURCES
The flora and fauna make up the biological wealth of the Earth, called bioresources. Plant resources include the totality of both cultivated and wild plants. Plant resources are very diverse.
Plant and animal resources of the Earth are exhaustible and at the same time renewable natural resources. It was bioresources that were first developed by humans.
An important role in human economic activity belongs to forests, the total area of which is 40 million km2 (4 billion hectares), or almost a third (30%) of the land area.
Deforestation (annual timber harvest in the world is 4 billion cubic meters) and industrial development of forest areas are the main reason for the reduction in forest area.
Over the past 200 years, the area of forests on Earth has almost halved. This trend continues, and according to the latest data, the forest area is decreasing by 25 million hectares annually. The reduction of forests disrupts the oxygen balance, leads to shallowing of rivers, a reduction in the number of wild animals and the disappearance of valuable varieties of wood. In other words, the predatory exploitation of forests gives rise to environmental problems, the solution of which is closely related to environmental protection.
Forest areas in the form of continuous strips are confined to the temperate and equatorial zones (see Atlas, page 8).
Forest areas are concentrated in temperate and subtropical climate zones. About half of the world's timber reserves are found in the northern hemisphere. In temperate forests, the most valuable species are teak and conifers. Russia, Canada, the USA and Finland are rich in forests. It is in these countries that the forestry industry is developed, where, thanks to artificial plantings, the reduction of forest areas has been stopped.
Forests of the southern hemisphere are concentrated in the tropical and equatorial climate zones. Tropical and equatorial forests in the southern hemisphere account for the other half of the world's timber reserves.
Equatorial and tropical longline forests, in contrast to temperate zone forests, are represented by broad-leaved tree species. In addition, the forests in question are rich in valuable wood species.
Forest areas of the southern hemisphere are concentrated in Brazil, Peru, Bolivia, Colombia, Congo, India, Myanmar, Indonesia, etc.
Asteroids are the initial material left after the formation of the Solar System. They are ubiquitous: some fly very close to the Sun, others are found near the orbit of Neptune. A huge number of asteroids are collected between Jupiter and Mars - they form the so-called Asteroid Belt. To date, about 9,000 objects have been discovered passing near the Earth's orbit.
Many of these asteroids are in the access zone and many contain huge reserves of resources: from water to platinum. Their use will provide a virtually endless source that will establish stability on Earth, increase the well-being of humanity, and also create the basis for the presence and exploration of space.
Incredible Resources
There are more than 1,500 asteroids that are as easy to reach as the Moon. Their orbits intersect with the Earth's orbit. Such asteroids have a low gravity, which makes landing and takeoff easier.
Asteroid resources have a number of unique features, which makes them even more attractive. Unlike Earth, where heavy metals are located closer to the core, the metals on asteroids are distributed throughout the object. This makes them much easier to remove.
Humanity is just beginning to understand the incredible potential of asteroids. The first contact of a spacecraft with one of them occurred in 1991, when the Galileo spacecraft flew near the asteroid Gaspra on its way to Jupiter. Our knowledge of such celestial neighbors has been revolutionized by the few international and American missions undertaken since then. During each of them, the science of asteroids was rewritten anew.
About the discovery and number of asteroids
Millions of asteroids fly past the orbits of Mars and Jupiter, whose gravitational perturbations push some objects closer to the Sun. Thus, the class of near-Earth asteroids appeared.
Asteroid belt
When they talk about asteroids, most people think of their Belt. The millions of objects that make it up form a ring-like region between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter. Despite the fact that these asteroids are very important from the point of view of understanding the history of the origin and development of the Solar System, compared to near-Earth asteroids, they are not so easy to get to.
Near-Earth asteroids
Near-Earth asteroids are defined as asteroids whose orbit or part thereof lies between 0.983 and 1.3 astronomical units from the Sun (1 astronomical unit is the distance from the Earth to the Sun).
In 1960, only 20 near-Earth asroids were known. By 1990 the number had grown to 134, and today the number is estimated at 9,000 and growing all the time. Scientists are sure that there are actually more than a million of them. Among the asteroids observed today, 981 of them are more than 1 km in diameter, the rest are from 100 m to 1 km. 2800 – less than 100 m in diameter.
Near-Earth asteroids are classified into 3 groups depending on their distance from the Sun: Atons, Apollos and Amurs.
Two near-Earth asteroids have been visited by robotic spacecraft: a NASA mission visited asteroid 433 Eros, and the Japanese Hayabusa mission visited asteroid 25143 Itokawa. NASA is currently working on the OSIRIS-Rex mission, which aims to fly to the carbon asteroid 1999 RQ36 in 2019.
Asteroid composition
Near-Earth astroids vary widely in their composition. Each of their bottoms contains water, metals and carbonaceous materials in varying quantities.
Water
Water from asteroids is a key resource in space. Water can be turned into rocket fuel or supplied to human needs. It could also fundamentally change the way we explore space. A single water-rich asteroid, 500 m wide, contains 80 times more water than could fit in the largest tanker, and if turned into spacecraft fuel, it would be 200 times more than was required to launch all the rockets in human history.
Rare metals
Once we have gained access and learned how to mine, extract and use the water resources of asteroids, the extraction of metals from them will become much more feasible. Some near-Earth objects contain PGMs in such high concentrations that only the richest terrestrial mines can boast. One platinum-rich asteroid, 500 m wide, contains almost 174 times more of this metal than is mined on Earth in a year and 1.5 times the world's known PGM reserves. This amount is enough to fill a basketball court 4 times higher than the hoop.
Other resources
Astroids also contain more common metals such as iron, nickel, and cobalt. Sometimes in incredible quantities. In addition, they can contain volatile substances such as nitrogen, CO, CO2 and methane.
Use of asteroids
Water is the most important element of the Solar System. For space, water, in addition to its critical hydration role, provides other important benefits. It can protect against solar radiation, be used as fuel, provide oxygen, etc. Today, all the water and related resources needed for spaceflight are transported from the Earth's surface at exorbitant prices. Of all the restrictions on human expansion into space, this is the most important.
Water is the key to the Solar System
Water from asteroids can either be converted into rocket fuel or delivered to special storage facilities located in strategic locations in orbit to fuel spacecraft. This type of fuel, supplied and sold, will give a huge boost to the development of space flights.
Water from asteroids could significantly reduce the costs of space missions, since they all rely primarily on fuel. For example, it is much more profitable to transport a liter of water from one of the asteroids into Earth's orbit than to transport the same liter from the surface of the planet.
In orbit, water can be used to refuel satellites, increase the payload of rockets, maintain orbital stations, provide radiation protection, etc.
Issue cost
The 500m wide, water-rich asteroid contains $50 billion worth of water. It can be delivered to a special space station, where devices for flights into deep space will be refueled. This is very effective even with the skeptical assumptions that: 1. Only 1% of the water will be extracted, 2. Half of the extracted water will be used during delivery, 3. The success of commercial space flights will lead to a 100-fold reduction in the cost of launching rockets from Earth. Of course, with a less conservative approach, the value of asteroids will increase by many trillions or even tens of trillions of dollars.
The economics of asteroid mining operations can also be improved by using "local" fuel. That is, a mining vehicle can fly between planets using water from the asteroid on which it was mined, which will lead to high payback.
From water to metals
Provided the extraction of water is successful, the development of other elements and metals will become much more feasible. In other words, the extraction of water will allow the extraction of metals.
PGMs are very rare on Earth. They (and similar metals) have specific chemical properties that make them incredibly valuable to 21st century industries and economies. In addition, their abundance can give rise to a new, not yet explored, use of them.
Use of metals from asteroids in space
In addition to being delivered to Earth, metals mined from asteroids can be used directly in space. Elements such as iron and aluminum, for example, can be used in the construction of space objects, protection of devices, etc.
Target asteroids
Availability
More than 1,500 asteroids can be reached as easily as the Moon. If we take into account the return path, the figure increases to 4000. The water extracted on them can be used for the return flight to Earth. This further increases the availability of asteroids.
Distance from Earth
In certain cases, especially during early missions, asteroids that pass in the Earth-Moon region should be targeted. Most of them do not fly so close, but there are exceptions.
With the rapid rate of discovery of new near-Earth asteroids and the increasing ability to explore them, it is likely that most of the available objects have yet to be discovered.
Planetary Resources
All of the above is of interest to many organizations and individuals. Many see this as the future of mining in general and the Earth in particular.
It was these people who founded the company Planetary Resources, whose officially declared goal is to use commercial, innovative technologies for space exploration. Planetary Resources is looking to develop low-cost robotic spacecraft that will enable the discovery of thousands of resource-rich asteroids. The company plans to use the natural resources of space to develop the economy, thus building the future of all humanity.
Planetary Resources' immediate goal is to significantly reduce the cost of asteroid mining. This will bring together all the best commercial aerospace technologies. According to the company, their philosophy will allow the rapid development of private, commercial space exploration.
Technologies
Much of Planetary Resources' technology is their own. The company's technological approach is based on several simple principles. Planetary Resources brings together modern innovations in the field of microelectronics, medicine, information technology, and robotics.
Arkyd series 100 LEO
Space exploration poses specific obstacles to the construction of spacecraft. Critical aspects in this matter are optical communications, micromotors, etc. Planetary Resources is actively working on them in collaboration with NASA. Today a space telecom has already been created Arkyd series 100 LEO(Fig. left). Leo is the first private space telescope and means of reaching near-Earth asteroids. It will be in low Earth orbit.
Future improvements to the Leo telescope will pave the way for the next stage - the launch of the apparatus' mission Arkyd series 200 - Interceptor (Fig. left). When docked with a special geostationary satellite, Interceptor will undergo positioning and travel to the target asteroid to collect all the necessary data about it. Two or more Interceptors can operate together. They will make it possible to identify, track and track objects flying between the Earth and the Moon. The Interceptor missions will allow Planetary Resources to quickly acquire data on several near-Earth asteroids.
By adding the capability of laser communication in deep space to the Interceptor, Planetary Resources will be able to begin a mission called Arkyd series 300 Rendezvous Prospector (Fig. left), the target of which is more distant asteroids. Once in orbit around one of them, Rendezvous Prospector will collect data on the asteroid's shape, rotation, density, surface and subsurface composition. The use of Rendezvous Prospector will demonstrate the relatively low cost of interplanetary flight capabilities, which is in line with the interests of NASA, various scientific organizations, private companies, etc.
Mining on an asteroid
Mining and extracting metals and other resources in microgravity conditions will require significant research and investment. Planetary Resources will work on critical technologies that will make it possible to obtain both water and metals from asteroids. Together with inexpensive devices for space exploration, this makes it possible for sustainable development of this area.
Planetary Resources Team
Planetary Resources consists of outstanding people in their field: scientific engineers, specialists in various fields. The company's founders are considered to be businessmen and pioneers of the commercial space industry, Eric Anderson and Peter Diamandis. Other Planetary Resources team members include former NASA scientists Chris Levitsky and Chris Voorhees, famed film director James Cameron, former NASA astronaut Thomas Jones, former Microsoft CTO David Waskiewicz, and others.
Which are present in unlimited quantities on Earth and cannot be depleted or exhausted due to human activity. Examples of such resources are solar, wind energy, etc.
Climate and space resources directly or indirectly affect life on Earth. In addition, recently they have been gaining popularity as alternative energy sources. Alternative energy involves the use of environmentally friendly sources of thermal, mechanical or electrical energy.
Energy of sun
Solar energy in one form or another is the source of almost all energy on Earth and can be considered an inexhaustible natural resource.
The role of solar energy
Sunlight helps plants produce nutrients and also produce the oxygen we breathe. Thanks to solar energy, water in rivers, lakes, seas and oceans evaporates, then clouds form and precipitation falls.
People, like all other living organisms, depend on the Sun for heat and food. However, humanity also uses solar energy in many other forms. For example, fossil fuels produce heat and/or electricity and have essentially stored solar energy for millions of years.
Harvesting and Benefits of Solar Energy
Photovoltaic cells are a simple way to generate solar energy. They are an integral part of solar panels. What makes them unique is that they convert solar radiation into electricity, without noise, pollution or moving parts, making them reliable, safe and durable.
Wind energy
Wind has been used for hundreds of years to generate mechanical, thermal and electrical energy. Wind energy today is a sustainable and inexhaustible source.
Wind is the movement of air from an area of high pressure to an area of low pressure. In fact, wind exists because solar energy is unevenly distributed across the Earth's surface. Hot air tends to rise, and cold air fills the void, so as long as there is sunlight, there will be wind.
Over the past decade, wind energy use has increased by more than 25%. However, wind energy accounts for only a small share of the world's energy market.
Benefits of wind energy
Wind energy is safe for the atmosphere and water. And since wind is available everywhere, operating costs once the equipment is installed are close to zero. Mass production and technological advances make the necessary units much more affordable, and many countries encourage the development of wind energy and offer a number of benefits to the population.
Disadvantages of Wind Energy
The disadvantages of using wind energy are: complaints from local residents that the equipment is not aesthetically attractive and is noisy. Slowly spinning blades can also kill birds and bats, but not as often as cars, power lines and high-rise buildings. Wind is a variable phenomenon; if it is absent, then there is no energy.
However, there is significant growth in wind energy. From 2000 to 2015, total wind power capacity worldwide increased from 17,000 MW to more than 430,000 MW. In 2015, China overtook the EU in the number of installed equipment.
Experts predict that if the rate of use of this resource continues, by 2050, the world's electrical energy needs will be met by wind energy.
Hydropower
Even hydropower is a derivative of solar energy. This is a practically inexhaustible resource, which is concentrated in water flows. The sun evaporates water, which later, in the form of precipitation, falls on the hills, as a result of which the rivers fill, forming the movement of water.
Hydropower, as a branch of converting the energy of water flows into electrical energy, is a modern and competitive source of energy. It produces 16% of the world's electricity and sells it at competitive prices. Hydropower dominates in a number of both developed and developing countries.
Energy of ebbs and flows
Tidal energy is a form of hydropower that converts the energy of the tides into electricity or other useful forms. The tide is created by the gravitational influence of the Sun and Moon on the Earth, causing the movement of the seas. Therefore, tidal energy is a form of obtaining energy from inexhaustible sources and can be used in two forms:
Tide magnitude
The magnitude of the tide is characterized by the difference in vertical fluctuation between the water level during high tide and the subsequent low tide.
Special dams or settling basins can be constructed to capture the tide. Hydroelectric generators generate electricity in dams and also use pumps to pump water into reservoirs to generate power again when the tides are low.
tidal current
Tidal current is the flow of water during high and low tides. Tidal flow devices seek to extract energy from this kinetic movement of water.
Sea currents created by the movement of tides are often strengthened when water is forced to pass through narrow channels or around headlands. There are a number of places where the tidal current is high, and it is in these areas that the greatest amount of tidal energy can be obtained.
Energy of sea and ocean waves
The energy of sea and ocean waves differs from the energy of tides because it depends on solar and wind energy.
When the wind passes over the surface of the water, it transfers some of the energy to the waves. The energy output depends on the speed, height and wavelength, and density of the water.
Long, persistent waves are likely generated by storms and extreme weather conditions far offshore. The strength of storms and their influence on the surface of the water is so strong that it can cause waves on the shore of another hemisphere. For example, when Japan was hit by a massive tsunami in 2011, powerful waves reached the coast of Hawaii and even the beaches of Washington state.
In order to convert waves into the necessary energy for humanity, it is necessary to go to where the waves are the largest. Successful use of wave energy on a large scale occurs in only a few regions of the planet, including the states of Washington, Oregon and California and other areas located along the west coast of North America, as well as the coasts of Scotland, Africa and Australia. In these places the waves are quite strong and energy can be received regularly.
The resulting wave energy can meet the needs of regions, and in some cases, entire countries. Constant wave power means the energy output never stops. Equipment that recycles wave energy can also store excess energy when needed. This stored energy is used during power outages and shutdowns.
Problems of climate and space resources
Despite the fact that climate and space resources are inexhaustible, their quality may deteriorate. The main problem of these resources is considered to be global warming, which causes a number of negative consequences.
Average global temperatures could increase by 1.4-5.8ºC by the end of the 21st century. Although the numbers seem small, they could cause significant climate change. (The difference between global temperatures during an ice age and an ice-free period is only about 5°C.) In addition, rising temperatures can lead to changes in precipitation and weather patterns. Warming oceans will cause tropical storms and hurricanes to become more intense and frequent. Sea levels are also expected to rise by 0.09 to 0.88 m over the next century, mainly as a result of melting glaciers and expanding seawater.
Finally, human health is also at stake as global climate change could lead to the spread of certain diseases (such as malaria), flooding of major cities, a high risk of heat stroke, and poor air quality.
Climate and space resources are the resources of the future. Both space and climate resources are inexhaustible, they are not used directly in the material and non-material activities of people, they are practically not removed from nature during the process of use, but they significantly influence the living conditions and economic conditions of people.
Climate resources are inexhaustible natural resources, including light, heat, moisture and wind energy.
Climatic resources are closely related to certain climate features. They include agroclimatic resources and wind energy resources. Agroclimatic resources, that is, light, heat and moisture, determine the possibility of growing all crops. The geographical distribution of these resources is reflected on the agroclimatic map. Climatic resources also include wind energy resources, which people have long learned to use with the help of wind turbines and sailboats. There are many places on the globe (for example, the coasts of oceans and seas, the Far East, the south of the European part of Russia, Ukraine) where the wind speed exceeds 5 m/s, which makes the use of this energy with the help of wind farms environmentally friendly and economically justified, in addition it has practically inexhaustible potential.
Space resources include primarily solar radiation - the most powerful energy source on Earth. The Sun is a giant thermonuclear reactor, the primary source of not only life on Earth, but also almost all of its energy resources. The annual flow of solar energy reaching the lower layers of the atmosphere and the earth's surface is measured by a value (1014 kW), which is tens of times greater than all the energy contained in proven mineral fuel reserves, and thousands of times the current level of global energy consumption. Naturally, the best conditions for the use of solar energy exist in the arid zone of the Earth, where the duration of sunshine is greatest (USA (Florida, California), Japan, Israel, Cyprus, Australia, Ukraine (Crimea), the Caucasus, Kazakhstan, Central Asia.
Impact of climate on the economy. It is known that climate significantly affects various sectors of the economy. Each successful forecast of serious climate change without additional costs provides an opportunity to save significant amounts of budget funds. For example, in China, when designing and constructing a metallurgical complex, taking into account climate data saved $20 million. Using climate information and dedicated forecasts across Canada results in annual savings of $50-$100 million. In the US, seasonal forecasts (even with 60% accuracy) provide a benefit of $180 million per year, taking into account only the agricultural, forestry and fishing industries.
Long-term forecasting makes it possible to significantly reduce the damage caused by climate change to the economy and even have a large economic effect from such forecasts. First of all, this concerns agricultural production. The structure of sown areas, sowing dates, seeding rates, and depth of seed placement in cultivated agriculture are unthinkable without a reliable forecast of the expected weather conditions for the sowing and growing season. Fertilizers and all agricultural technology and crop care affect the level of yield, but the biological conditions created by the nature of the weather are the dominant factor. Agriculture, therefore, does not receive much from what climatic resources are capable of providing. Over the past 15 years, economic damage due to natural disasters has increased greatly. The human community itself aggravates some climate phenomena. Signs of global warming are perceived as anthropogenic impacts on the environment.
Rational human management is impossible without taking into account the climatic characteristics of the region.
Rice. 44. CO emissions in countries of the world (per capita per year)
Air pollution. Atmospheric air is an inexhaustible resource, but in certain areas of the globe it is subject to such strong anthropogenic influence that it is quite appropriate to raise the question of a qualitative change in air as a result of atmospheric pollution.
Atmospheric pollution is the presence in the air in excess quantities of various gases, particles of solid and liquid substances, vapors, the concentration of which negatively affects the flora and fauna of the Earth and the living conditions of human society.
The main anthropogenic sources of air pollution are transport, industrial enterprises, thermal power plants, and the like. Thus, gaseous emissions, solid particles, and radioactive substances enter the atmosphere. At the same time, their temperature, properties and state change significantly, and due to interaction with atmospheric components, many chemical and photochemical reactions can occur. As a result, new components are formed in the atmospheric air, the properties and behavior of which differ significantly from the original ones.
Gaseous emissions form compounds of carbon, sulfur and nitrogen. Carbon oxides practically do not interact with other substances in the atmosphere and their lifetime is limited. For example, it was found that since 1900, the proportion of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere has increased from 0.027 to 0.0323% (Fig. 44). The accumulation of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere can cause the so-called greenhouse effect, which is accompanied by the compaction of a layer of carbon dioxide, which freely transmits solar radiation to the Earth and delays the return of thermal radiation to the upper layers of the atmosphere. In this regard, the temperature in the lower layers of the atmosphere rises, which leads to the melting of ice and snow at the poles, a rise in the level of oceans and seas and the flooding of a significant part of the land.
As a result of exposure to industrial waste released into the air, the ozone layer of the globe is destroyed. As a result, ozone holes are formed, through which a huge amount of harmful radiation reaches the surface of the Earth, from which both the animal world and people themselves suffer. In recent decades, colored rain has begun to fall, which equally negatively affects human health and the soil. Emissions of radioactive substances into the atmosphere are the most dangerous for all life on Earth, therefore their sources and patterns of distribution in the atmosphere are the object of constant observation. Under the influence of dynamic processes in the atmosphere, harmful emissions can spread over considerable distances.