1. Thermal Pollution

2. Sources and Methods Power plants creating electricity from fossil fuel. Water as a cooling agent in industrial facilities. Deforestation of the shoreline. Soil erosion.

3. Effects The residual heat released by power plants adds to the environment and impacts its inhabitants harshly. Since hot water holds relatively less oxygen; many species in these habitats face difficulty in survival. The cooling towers used in power plants release heat directly into the atmosphere, which raises the air temperature drastically, thus contributing to global warming. Water heating due to thermal pollution alters marine ecology to a great extent; hotter water favors some species while it is harmful to others. In a similar way, during nuclear plant startup, shutdown for repair and maintenance and then sudden startup creates abrupt temperature changes in water contained in lakes. These thermal shocks can be lethal for certain aquatic species.

4. Effects

5. How to Control Thermal Pollution The problem of thermal pollution is unavoidable. It can be reduced, however. Engineers can make efforts to ensure minimum heat losses by improving thermal efficiencies of heat engines. Nonetheless, the best solution is to reduce consumption of fossil fuels and to limit day-to-day energy usage. The development of alternative energy resources such as solar power, wind energy and hydropower can also be beneficial.

6. Control : cooling pondscooling ponds, man-made bodies of water designed for cooling byevaporation, convection, and radiationevaporationconvectionradiation cooling towerscooling towers, which transfer waste heat to the atmosphere through evaporation and/or heat transferatmosphereheat transfer cogenerationcogeneration, a process where waste heat is recycled for domestic and/or industrial heating purposes. [8] [8]