Introduction:
Ok. Team number 079 of Shiprock, NM comsist of Tierra Todicheene, Rochelle Begay, Rychelle Charlie, and Nichole Largo
History:
When we first start back in the Fall, we were recuited by friends and Mrs. Noble who wanted us to participate in the SCC. Our minds were all kind of clueless of what was expected of us. So, we just took it one step at a time. There was five of us at the time, but as we persist with our project, we lost a member. Nevertheless we continued without him and came this far to give up now. In October, we went to Gloretia to submitt our abstract. So here is our abstract.
Abstract
Air Pollution
Team: 1064 (orginal #)
School: Shiprock High School
Area of Science: Environmental Science
Our problem is the air pollution from APS (Arizona Public Service), the smoke coming from the plant is spewing harmful chemicals into the air which is spreading to the surrounding areas. It is imprtant to solve this problem so that there will be fewer chemicals being spread to areas that could cause harm to the people,plants, and livestock. The air needs to be cleaner for future generations so they can be taught to lead a healthy life and increase awareness about the dangers of pollution. Air pollution has been known to cause lung and cardiovascular disease, cancer, globle warming, damage to the ozone layer and plants caused by the acid rain and smog. We are hoping to find a solution that will benefit both APS and the surrounding area. To help us, we will do research our subject to better acquaint ourselves with the problem so we can understand it and find a solution. We will do research on air pollution using the web, textbooks, magazines, and other various sources. After we have learned about this problem and feel that we know enough about it, we will come up with a solution that we feel will help the community. We hope to warn people about the dangers of air pollution so that they will react and want to help their community to find ways to clean up the air.
Team members:
-Tierra
-Rochelle
-Rychelle
-Nichole
Final Report
Air Pollution
New Mexico Adventures in SuperComputing Challenge
Final Report
April 07, 2004
Team 079
Shiprock High School
Team Members:
1. Tierra Todechine
2. Rochelle Begay
3. Rychelle Charlie
4. Nichole Largo
Teachers:
1. Vernetta Noble
3. Barbara Hayes
4. Kyla Johnson
5. Char IronMoccasin
Table of Contents
Table of Contents 2
Executive Summary 3
Introduction 4-5
Hypothesis 4
Model 4
Project Description 6
Results 7
Conclusion 8
Recommendations 9
Acknowledgements 10
References 11
Appendices
Appendix A: {Description of Appendex} 12
Appendix B: {Description of Appendix}
Appendix C: {Description of Appendix}
Executive Summary
Our goal in doing this project is to discover what air pollution is and some major causes. We decided to study APS (Arizona Public Service) Power Plants and see what they are doing to reduce air pollution coming from the smoke stacks. We did extensive research on APS and ways to reduce air pollution. If we find a better way of reducing pollution we will suggest it to APS.
The project is based on what kind of chemical that is let out and what the highest rate of the most dangerous chemical is. What we are trying to solve is to try and use less electric as possible. We know that some are used for vehicles and houses but we are trying to let people know what is causing air pollution and how we need to stop that. Soon it will come to global warming to where the people will wonder how it came to this and will want to know how we can stop this. This is what the project is mostly about before it is too late to do anything about is.
Introduction
Hypothesis: If APS plants are causing major pollution, then we will try to find a way to reduce the pollution.
Model: Our model's purpose is to show how pollution spreads by the wind.
We began our project by learning about air pollution and major contributions. Most of the pollutants that are contributed are man made. There are some natural sources, but not enough to cause any real change. The pollutants return to earth in the form of acid rain and snow, damaging the ecosystem.
Fossil fuels are produced by automobiles, factories, or power plants. When fossil fuels are burned, they put carbon dioxide, carbon monoxide, nitrogen oxides, and sulfur dioxide into the air. APS smoke stacks produce many of these chemicals. They operate eight power stations with a total of thirty-nine generating units in New Mexico and Arizona; there are one to eight units per site.
Since more than 575 employees work at the Four Corners Power Plant, we were curious about what effects pollution could have on humans. We found it can cause breathing problems and cancer if you are exposed to great amounts for a long period of time.
The most current Toxic Release Inventory report we could find was for 1998. It shows 1,050,000 lbs of Hydrofluoric Acid and 1,700,000 lbs of Hydrochloric Acid were produced that year. Both are on the top five most potent chemicals produced by APS. Both exceeded the limit that the Environmental Protection Agency has where it states that chemicals can't be used in an excess of 10,000 pounds a year.
Most of the chemicals are metal compounds locked in the ash. Out of the thirty-five chemicals that the Environmental Protection Agency requires industries to report, APS reported a release of thirteen from its power plants. The chemicals come from burning fossil fuels, such as coal. Coal is 55% of their energy; they burn on average fifteen million tons of coal each year while natural gas, oil, and water only account for about 10%.
Our research is ongoing to find other, environmentally safe ways, of producing energy.
Project Description
To begin with, we broke down our project into parts and each team member researched a different topic. We had to do research on APS (Arizona Public Service), find out causes of air pollution, what effects it could have, and different ways of reducing it. Then we put it all together to see what we all had discovered.
Next we decided on a math model to help us to find out how far pollutants can travel from the plant.
Distance = Time * Rate
We figured this could help us to see how pollutants build up. In doing this we saw that on a very windy day, the pollutants can travel farther but it is thinned out. If you were to calculate it on a not so windy day, the pollutants wouldn't travel as far, but it would be more concentrated.
Results
Our research showed that the biggest problem is the smoke. So what to do? By using a sort of filter, the plant can reduce the amount of smoke. Therefore, less smoke, the less pollutants getting blown by the wind or collecting nearby. The problem is that these filters cost quite a lot. Our solution was to fund raise, there are many environmental protection agencies and we are sure that they will invest time and money to help out.
Conclusion
We have concluded that if we raise awareness about the dangers of air pollution, there is a good chance that people will pay attention. There is a protest against the Four Corners Power Plant to close it. That is one of the reasons that we wanted to learn all we could about what was happening. After doing all the research, which was a lot of work, we feel that others need to know. The Daily Times is now informing people about APS's future plans such as building another plant around San Juan County.
WE also know that the electricity that is used for people who needed, building, housings and vehicles.
Recommendations
We'd like to show some of the things that we would like to see put into action.
1) Run the power plants less
2) Reduce smoke from the smokestacks by using filters
3) Raise money for organizations that work to clean up the earth
4) Educate people on using less electricity
We would like to find out what environmental organizations are out there and what they do to help. If we could get more involved, we could really make a difference.
Shiprock Chapter house is planning to build another power plant. As we have read in the newspapers, both Arizona Public Services and San Juan Generating Station are giving out more Mercury then all the power plants in the Northwest of the country even more then all the California power plant put together. Just in three months they have released 1,350 pounds of mercury.
We will try solving it by turning off electricity that are not in use or that are not needed. For example if we leave on a light in the kitchen just to know where you are going, try caring a flashlight with you if you need to or when Christmas comes turn off the tree without leaving it on all night. Also try using less elect when really not needed to.
Acknowledgements
Mrs. V. Noble
Mrs. Iron Moccasin
Mrs. Guiliano
Ms. Hines
Ms. Hayes
Mrs. Johnson
Mr. Calvin Charlie
Ms. Alayna Largo
References
¢ http://www.epa.gov/echo/tri
¢ http://www.aps.com/mycommunity/Environmental/environmental3.html
¢ http://find-it.state.nm.us/result/asp?ql=San+Juan=country*&x=8&y=8
¢ http://encarta.msn.com/encyclopedia761577431/AirPollution.html
¢ http://www.zonelo.com/wsdocs/tech/NASA/fuh.htm
¢ http://www.nmenv.state.nm.us/cdp/projects/Osone.html
¢ http://www.airpollutioncontrolequitment.com/brainpop.com/science/earth/airpollution/index.weml?&tried-ciikie=true
¢ http://www.catf.us/publications/fact_sheets/children_at_risk/New_Mexico_Kids_Facts.pdf
¢ Farmington Daily Times (newspaper)
" Appendix A:
APS uses 55% coal, 35% nuclear, and 10% natural gas, oil & hydro to produce energy for their power plant.
Appendix B:
Children Being Exposed Within 30 Miles to Lung Cancer
Plants County Exposed
Population Children under 18 Children in Poverty Pediatric Asthma
Escalante McKinley 60,868 20,274 10,298 1,150
Four Corners San Juan 103,854 33,340 12,173 1,989
San Juan San Juan 103,854 33,340 12,173 1,989
Appendix C:
// This program computes the distance, time, and rate
// of air pollution from APS (Arizona Public Service) power plant.
# include //For std::cin, std::cout, and std::endl
using namespace std; //Allow use of cout, cin, endl, and string
int main ()
{
// A. Intialize objects
double t = 0.0; // t = TIME
double r = 0.0; // r = RATE
double d = 0.0; // d = DISTANCE
//B. Input
cout << "Enter a number for time : " << endl;
cin >> t;
cout << "Enter a number for rate : " << endl;
cin >> r;
//C. Process
d = (t * r ) * 0.01 // distance = time * rate * 0.01 (for decimal reason)
//D. Output
cout << "The distance pollution traveled in " << t << "minutes at
a rate of " << r << "MPH is " << d << "miles.";
return 0;
}
COMPUTER SCREEN
For example: t = 60 ; r = 45
