Text 2 Transport Ecology

Every human activity has a minor or major effect on the environment. Railway transport industry also impacts negatively on nature by building railroads and industrial enterprises. The operation of railways and rolling stock lead to great fuel and energy consumption and exhaust fumes from diesel locomotives contain a lot of harmful substances.

Construction and functioning of railways is connected with pollution of natural complexes by emissions, drains and waste which break the balance in ecological systems. However, in comparison with other means of transport railways are more environmentally friendly. Thus, electrified railways can carry large volumes of passengers with essentially no pollution at the train, while diesel-powered trains generate fifteen times less harmful substances than automobiles for the same traffic.

The origin of noise from rail traffic usually comes from the engine of rolling stock, wheel-rail interaction, pantograph-contact wire and aerodynamic effects during the movement of the train.

The most efficient way for the reduction of rail noise is the proper track layout and reduction of noise of the diesel engine. However, if the rail nose cannot be reduced in origin, then the solution is in noise barriers. They should be placed as close as possible to the track and have a height no less than 2 meters. In addition noise barriers should be made of special absorbing materials for additional noise reduction.

The transport sector consumes annually 1/3 of the total energy in the world community. Railways have the lowest unit energy consumption compared to other transport modes. Besides, in electrified railways, energy can come from clean forms such as hydro power stations rather than from oil. People have already assessed the advantage of electrified railways especially now when the oil reserves are becoming exhaustible.

Finally, land occupation is much less for rail transport than for other transport modes and specifically three times less than for road transport. For the purposes of comparison with airplanes, it is important to mention that the high-speed Paris-Lyons line (a distance of 427 km), occupies as much space as the Paris airport at Roissy. Different methods based on new technologies can help people use railway transport in the most efficient way.

Questions for discussion:

1.Does human activity effect on the environment?

2. How does railway transport industry impact on nature?

3.How is construction and functioning of railways connected with pollution of natural complexes?

4. What does the operation of railways lead to?

5.What transport is considered to be environmentally ? friendly?

6.What is the origin of noise from rail traffic?

7. How do railways try to reduce noise?

8. How much energy does the transport sector consume?

9.What forms of energy can be used for electrified railways.?

10. What can help people use railway transport more efficiently?

Text3 Green IT

The world's ICT carbon emissions are thought to be equal to the emissions of the aviation industry. The amount of electricity required to send read and delete all the spam email in the world could power millions of homes instead.

Conversely, using videoconferencing instead of flying to the meeting, can considerably reduce air transport carbon emissions. Allowing computers to run smart buildings, where the heating, cooling, ventilation and lightning are managed as economically as possible is another useful application of digital technologies.

However electronic equipment itself should be as efficient as possible. Data centres use huge amounts of electricity to power chips that generate lots of heat, and more power is needed to cool them down. Data centres could be made greener by being built in locations with lots of sunlight. Thus they could be powered by solar energy. At users level there are initiatives like "Blackle", which highlights that black computer screens and white letters would use less power.

When we come to the end of a product's life we should know how to dispose of tones of computers, screens, mobiles, smartphones and cables each year. European countries have signed the Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment Directive (WEEE) and encourage everyone to reuse, recycle and recover electrical and electronic equipment. The directive places the responsibility and associated costs of disposal onto the manufacturer or the user. The result is that equipment should be designed and made to last longer. When it is thrown away and replaced by the latest models, much of it can be recycled and sent to developing countries where it can be used again.

Questions for discussion

1. What is the world's ICT carbon emissions equal to?

2.How can IT industry be dangerous for the environment?

3.How could IT industry be good for the environment?

4. What do Data centres use and generate in order to function?

5. What could be done to make Data centres greener?

6. What is the aim of "Blackle"initiative?

7. What document has Europe signed?

8. Who is responsible for disposal of old computers and mobiles?

9. What should be done with the thrown away models?

10. Where can recycled equipment be used again?