We explain what thermal pollution is and the causes and consequences it presents. Also, its features and solutions.
What is thermal pollution?
It is known as thermal pollution or thermal pollution. a form of environmental deteriorationespecially water (since air dissipates heat much more quickly).
It is caused by the presence of activities of a diverse nature that cause a sustained increase in temperature.
In other forms of pollution, chemical or physical elements are introduced that alter the properties of the environment and affect its delicate biochemical balance.
When we talk about thermal pollution, something very similar happens, but it has to do with the surplus energy from certain human activitieswhich is usually released into the environment in the form of additional heat, altering it physically and chemically.
This is a type of pollution much less mentioned but no less important. Many ecological organizations have taken up the fight against thermal pollution in recent years.
See also: Water pollution
The catalytic effect of heat
The first thing we must understand regarding thermal pollution is that Heat has a catalytic effect on chemical reactions.
Catalyzing means accelerating them by introducing energy.
It can even cause reactions to occur that, at a few degrees lower, they would not occur due to lack of energy.
This is precisely the big problem of thermal pollution: the unpredictable effects that heat causes on the environment.
Causes of thermal pollution
Thermal pollution is caused by those industrial or technological elements that introduce heat into the environment in an uncontrolled manner. For example:
- Discharge of cooling water. In many industrial facilities, steel plants or electricity generation facilities, processes are carried out at high temperatures and, when materials must be cooled, water taken from rivers, lakes or seas is used. It is returned after certain filtering and stabilization processes, but with temperatures much higher than those it had when it was taken in the first place.
- Discharge of cold waters. The same happens in gas liquefaction plants, a process that is generally endothermic (consumes energy) so it cools the matter around it. These plants dump cold water into rivers and seas, which is also a form of thermal pollution.
- Deforestation and soil erosion. These factors generally increase the level or expose bodies of water to sunlight, causing abnormal heating.
- Natural causes. Volcanoes and geothermal activity can also influence the warming of groundwater and ocean waters, having considerable environmental impacts.
Consequences of thermal pollution
The consequences of these changes in environmental temperature are especially noticeable in aquatic environments, and involve the following:
- Reduction of oxygen in water. Hot water can retain smaller amounts of dissolved oxygen than cold water, due to its excess internal energy. This causes the water to be less suitable for life, suffocating animal species.
- Trophic imbalances. High levels of water temperature can accelerate certain reproductive processes while hindering others, causing some species to proliferate disorderly and others, on the other hand, to decrease in number. All of this disrupts the delicate trophic balance of the ecosystem.
- Release of toxins. The warming of waters catalyzes or produces uncontrolled chemical reactions, whose impact on ecosystems is unpredictable, causing mass deaths, uncontrolled proliferation of species or biochemical imbalances.
- Mass migration. Warming water and air in certain regions can be inhospitable to endemic species, forcing them to leave their habitats and invade those of other species. This affects the loss of biodiversity and the depopulation of regions.
Possible solutions for thermal pollution
The fight against thermal pollution requires joint efforts on the part of the State, private organizations and economic interests, which means reaching a difficult agreement.
Some measures to take in this regard are:
- Implement normalization measures before returning water to rivers and seas, such as cooling or natural heating stations.
- Recycle hot water from industrial processes instead of releasing it: for domestic heating or for industrial reinjection and reuse.
- Undertake the search and use of substitute energies for nuclear energy, which uses boiled water to generate electricity.
- Strengthen ecological legislation that concerns industrial activities and ensure that well-deserved punishments occur.
- Reforestation plans and expansion of protected areas.
Global warming
Thermal pollution is just an added element to the serious problem of global warming that facing our planet since the end of the 20th century.
This process of increasing the world's temperature has disastrous ecological consequences.
Among them is the melting of the poles and subsequent rise in water levels of the world, the desertification of large geographical areas and the development of more extreme climates.
In this sense, the fight against thermal pollution would also contribute to recovering the world's thermal balance.
Continue in: Global warming.
Why is thermal pollution important?
The different points of view involved in thermal pollution agree that some measure must be taken to reduce the impact of these activities in the global thermal balance.
The difficulty of change industrial practices carried out for a long time, as well as the economic interests that depend on them, are some of the challenges that this type of initiatives must face.
Considering the enormous ecological costs that the industrial model of society is already beginning to show, are becoming more urgent than ever.
Examples of thermal pollution
Some examples of thermal pollution are:
- The accumulation of air conditioning equipment in urban areas, whose rear parts exhale hot air, whose temperatures can add to the air.
- The discharge of overheated water from steel plants, used to cool heavy metals (and often contaminated with solid fragments suspended in them).
- The indiscriminate clearing of the Amazon in South America by the logging and paper industry, leaving vast regions of soil and water exposed to the sun.
Other types of pollution
Pollution in the world is the product of most human industrial activities, as well as some cataclysmic natural phenomena.
It can be classified according to its pollution sources, as follows:
- Chemical contamination. Characterized by the presence of chemical agents and reagents in an environment that is not natural to them, causing various unpredictable chemical reactions.
- Radioactive contamination. It occurs when chemical substances with unstable atomic composition are spread through the environment, emitting subatomic particles capable of altering the DNA of living beings and causing mutations, cancer and other diseases.
- Petrochemical pollution. It is due to spills of oil or other derivatives into environmental environments, spreading these highly toxic substances and causing great ecological damage.
- Residual contamination. It is produced by everyday waste such as garbage, sewage and other secondary materials that are spread into the environment.
Thermal and radioactive contamination
Radioactive contamination occurs when chemically unstable waste is dumped in the environment.
It is generally accompanied on occasions by thermal contamination, since these elements They also tend to release heat energy.
Obviously, radioactivity It is much more worrying in the ecological sense than its possible thermal emission.
visual pollution
In addition to producing chemical and physical imbalances,Sources of thermal pollution also cause visual pollution..
This means that drainage pipes, indiscriminate felling of forests, power plants, and other industriesIn addition to producing changes in temperature, they produce a visual impact on the environment.
It is about a type of aesthetic pollutiondetermined by its context, but which has implications for the emotional and psychological health of human beings.
References
- “Thermal pollution” at https://es.wikipedia.org/
- “Thermal pollution” at https://www.inspiraction.org/
- “What is thermal pollution and what are its causes” at https://www.ecologiaverde.com/
- “Thermal pollution” at https://contaminacionambiental.net/
- “What is Thermal Pollution?” at https://www.conserve-energy-future.com/
- “What you need to know about Thermal Pollution” at https://www.conservationinstitute.org/
