DEPARTMENT OF CIVIL AND STRUCTURAL ENGINEERING

FACULTY OF ENGINEERING AND BUILT ENVIRONMENTAL

THE NATIONAL UNIVERSITY OF MALAYSIA

KKKH 4284 SUSTAINABLE URBAN PLANNING
TASK 6: GLOBAL WARMING

STUDENT:
WAN TALHAH BIN WAN IBADULLAH
A133106
LECTURERS :
PROF. IR. DR. RIZA ATIQ ABDULLAH BIN O.K. RAHMAT
DR. MUHAMMAD NAZRI BIN BORHAN
PN. NORLIZA BT MOHD AKHIR




Today, global climate change is a fact. The climate has changed visibly, tangibly and
measurably. An additional increase in average temperatures is not only possible, but very
probable, while human intervention in the natural climate system plays an important, if not
decisive role.
It is well known that climate is critical to life on this planet. The landscape, plants and
animals are determined to a large extent by climate over long periods of time. Over
geological time, climate has helped to shape mountains, build up the soil, determine the
nature of the rivers, and build flood plains and deltas. At least until the advent of irrigation
and industrialization, climate determined food supplies and where humans could live.
The impacts of Climate Change are both direct and indirect, including:
1. Tens of millions of people on small islands and low-lying coastal areas are at severe
risk of flooding from Sea Level Rise and storm surges.
2. Increased threats to human health.
3. Increased demand on energy.
4. Severe floods in some countries and severe droughts in others.
5. Changes in natural productivity and biodiversity, with an increased rate of extinctions.
6. Decreases in cereal crop yields in most tropical and sub-tropical countries.
7. Increased water shortages in many water-scarce regions.
8. Adverse economic effects in many developing countries for even small warming, and
for developed countries for larger warming.
9. Increase in inequities between developing and developed countries.

There is wide range of energy sources that provide energy needs with minimal impact on
the environment through using technologies with high energy-conversion efficient designs.
However, the use of these resources in an environmentally acceptable manner while
providing for the needs of growing populations and developing economies is a great
challenge. The following are the main sources of energy:

1. The alternative liquid fuels such as coal-to-liquids, gas-to-liquids, oil shale, tar sands,
heavy oils, and bio-fuels. But, it is still uncertain how and to what extent these
alternatives will reach the market and what the resultant changes in global GHG
emissions.
2. Coal can be converted to liquids and gases by the use of technologies with high
energy-conversion efficient designs.
3. The use of energy carriers with increased efficiency and convenience, particularly
away from solid fuels to liquid and gaseous fuels and electricity.
4. Nuclear energy could make an increasing contribution to carbon free electricity and
heat in the future, if the concerns of recycling, safety, waste management, security
and proliferation are solved.
5. Renewable energy sources must either be used in a distributed manner or concentrated
to meet the higher energy demands of cities and industries.
6. The use of non-hydro renewable energy-supply technologies such as solar, wind,
geothermal and biomass must be enlarged.


However, addressing environmental impacts depends on the following:

1. The introduction of regulations and tax incentives rather than relying on market
mechanisms.
2. Large-scale energy-conversion plants with a life of 30100 years give a slow rate of
turnover of around 13% per year. Thus, decisions taken today that support the
deployment of carbon-emitting technologies, especially in countries seeking supply
security to provide sustainable development paths, could have profound effects on
GHG emissions for the next several decades.
3. Smaller-scale, distributed energy plants using local energy resources and low or zero-
carbon emitting technologies, can give added reliability.
4. Distributed electricity systems can help reduce transmission losses and offset the high
investment costs of upgrading distribution networks that are close to full capacity.
5. More energy-efficient technologies can also improve supply security by reducing
future energy-supply demands and any associated GHG emissions.

Since coastal zones are the first to be threatened by climate change, we should know what
does the coastal zone mean? The coastal zone is the area where land meets ocean, and as such
it constitutes one of the most dynamic natural system. This significance springs from the fact
that the three components of earth, the hydrosphere, the lithosphere and the atmosphere, meet
and interact in the coastal zone, forming the interconnected systems. Moreover, land and
freshwater meet saline water in the coastal zone, and across this zone the effects of ocean on
land and vice versa, are transferred and modified. Thus, the coastal zone is the field of the
current battle against climate change.
The countries of the world, particularly coastal and waterfront cities, must work now
more than ever before to develop mitigation and adaptation strategies to encounter this great
challenge and ease its grave consequences. I think mitigation and adaptation strategies must
be interconnected so that they could help humanity contain the challenges of global climate
change.
Climate change and global warming have become one of the established sciences in the
existing human literature. The impacts of climate change, including Sea Level Rise,
devastating floods, high temperatures, storm surge, ice sheets melting..etc, have made it
incumbent on governments, municipalities, universities and all other stakeholders to find new
approaches to adapt to these changes.
The main responsibility of (GHG) emissions reduction must be shouldered by the developed
countries. There are two ways to do so:
1. Depending on energy-efficient technology or,
2. Relying on renewable energy technology.
Additionally, there are several ways by which we can reduce (GHG) emissions:
1. Review of local planning practices relating to Climate Change Mitigation
or/and Adaptation.
2. The use of better building design to reduce the need for artificial heating and
cooling by insulation.
3. The use of energy-saving bulbs.
4. The use of fiber optics and light sensors.
5. The use of economical vehicles through better urban design.
To do so, there are several alternatives that may be used for this end:
1. Solar energy: solar installations can generate a considerable rate of the world
energy needs.
2. Energy self-sufficient buildings: such buildings can lessen consumption of
energy.
3. Wind power: This alternative is the cheapest and most energy efficient one.
Denmark generates 18% of its electricity from wind power. Germany is
planning to have 25% of its electricity from this source. (Wolfson, Richard &
Stephen H. Schneider 2007).
4. Biomass energy: although this sources contribution to worldwide energy
generation is less than 1% at present, this contribution can be enlarged.
(Bloomfield, Janine, Molly Smith & Nicholas Thompson, 1999)
5. The Hydrogen Economy: hydrogen generation must be done in a manner that
gets rids of carbon dioxide. In Europe for example, this source is used to
generate hydrogen through the use of water and natural gas vehicles with a
view to reducing greenhouse gas. (Nicholls, Robert J. Poh Poh Wong, 2007)

In addition to the aforementioned measures, there are several actions that must be taken to
reduce carbon dioxide emissions in the atmosphere:
1. Changes in Urban Designs, infrastructure and behaviour: This includes:
a. The design of more compact cities with a view to minimizing travel needs.
b. The provision of better public transport.
c. The use of bicycles or walking for short trips.
2. Carbon control and sequestration: this includes forest reservation, large-scale tree
plantation and efficient farm management.
3. Technological innovation: Despite social and economic barriers and obstacles, there
are now worldwide strenuous efforts to make use of the new technologies.
In this context, resilient communities are the overarching goal, while adaptation and
mitigation are the methods to reduce the vulnerability and the overall biophysical, social and
economic risks of climate change. The vulnerable communities must develop strategies in
which mitigation and adaptation complement each other. Mitigation seeks to reduce global
warming over the long term, and adaptation works to protect local communities from sudden
and immediate dangers. Therefore, it is possible to develop concepts for mitigation and
adaptation to complement one another. For example, shifting to decentralized low carbon
forms of energy generation reduces greenhouse gas emissions, and shifting to wind, solar or
wave energy is a key adaptation strategy.