Technology

Introduction
It is in the wide interest of the humanity to protect our environment which includes forest, lakes and animals. The neglect of human beings to the environment has been done partly due to heavy industrialization as a result of such heavy industrialization earth environment has severely been effected.    
Acid rain is a direct result of the neglect of the environment and continuous burring of the fossil fuels in cars, factories, power stations and elsewhere. In this paper we are discussing the acid rain and its wet deposition, dry deposition, and the effects on humans, autos, materials, visibility, forests, and lakes and streams.

Acid Rain program
Acid rain program has been developed by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to get rid of the SO2 and NO2 which are the chief causes of the acid rain. The program is based on achieving the target with lowest possible cost to the public utilizing innovative and traditional approaches.

The Acid Rain program largely focuses on coal-fired electric utility boilers that emit NOx,. Acid Rain program is a very detailed and comprehensive program that lets the affected units to measure and records its emissions of SO2, NOx, and CO2, as well as heat input, volumetric flow, and opacity. Acid Rain program has been a very successful program and is being considered as a model by other environmental agencies for dealing with emerging environmental issues.

Uptil now the Acid Rain program has undergone two phases, the success of first phase can be determined by the fact that by 1995,40 percent of the total S02 emissions were decreased. The phase II target was to achieve 2 million ton reduction in NOx emissions and considerable amount of it has been reached now.
To reduce SO2 emissions Acid Rain program came up with a unique program under which incentives are given to the companies in the form of SO2 allowance to help decrease the emission
The Acid rain program has developed an allowance trading system which uses the power of the marketplace to reduce SO2 emissions in the most cost-effective manner possible. This program allows SO2 producing sources the flexibility to modify and update their compliance strategy based on their own individual circumstances. Other parts of the Acid rain program, the continuous emissions monitoring and reporting systems provide the accurate account of emissions necessary to make the program work.

Acid rain
There are two main causes of acid rain SO2 and NO2, both are produced when fossil fuels are burned , SO2 is burned when coal is burned where as NO2 is produced whenever any kind of fossil fuel is burned.
Since one of the main cause of the acid rain as is the burning of the fossil fuel hence there is a dire need to look into other sources for energy such as solar ,wind and geothermal energy  to avoid environmental damage by acid rain which is a direct consequence of burning fossil fuel.

Also there is a need to depend more on the hydro electric and nuclear power sources so that environment can be freed from acid rain. It is true that some of the sources of energies are more expensive to produce and utilize than others but if the world wants to leave the world a good place for their generations to come , it is required to do so.

There are several ways to remove SO2 production for example by using coal which has reduced Sulphur or washing the coal before burning or using devices known as scrubbers to chemically get rid of SO2 before they are released into the air.

Power plants can also switch to other kinds of environment friendly fossil fuels such as using natural gas which contains much less sulphur compared to coal.  Additional measures can help decrease Carbon di oxide that can cause acidic rain too but of lighter strength, the technique is to blown more air over the fuel. Power plant companies can also come up with innovative solutions, proposed by several scientists over a long period of time, which can produce less or no harmful gas at all.

Cars can produce significant amount of NO2, where gas is used to run the engine, the remedy is to use catalytic converters which convert NO2 to harmful Nitrogen gas , though catalytic converters is expensive but if the automobile companies start to fix it in the car during the production than the cost can be significantly reduced.

Acid deposition on soil and lakes can leave long lasting effects and it may take years or decades specially in the case of soil to recover , the immediate  remedy action plan may help in decreasing or eliminating the acid rain but the ecosystem gets heavily affected, the visibility of lake water may change back to normal  in few months but the damage to the heavily affected acidified lakes, streams, forests, and soils can take years or even centuries (in the case of soils) to restore.

To recover such chronically effected lakes and streams the process of liming can be used, this process has heavily been used in Sweden and Norway but hasnt been used widely in USA. In liming lakes an soil which has been affected by acid rain are lined with the lime stone which reacts with the acid and hence decreases the acidity. This is a fast process compared to the natural process and can help bring the the soil and lakes back to normal quickly instead of leaving them to recover on its own.

Even though liming helps in the reduction of the acidity it cant help to change the soil composition that has already been effected, it does let the fishes survive and stay in such effected lakes but doesnt help to clear visibility or material damage.

Individuals can help the environment by some only simple steps  Turning off the electronic appliances when these are not being utilized such as lights , computers , microwave , in fact this way individuals not only help the environment but also reduce their own energy bills.

By using energy saving products such as newer LCD monitors, energy saver bulbs and motors, that are more efficient, would help reduce the overall energy consumption that was actually produced as a result of burning fossil fuel and hence effect to decrease the production of SOx and NOx.

Another way to reduce the production of SOx and NOx is by keeping the home and office thermostat at 68F in the winter and 72F in the summer and turning it off or lower or higher as required when people are not present in the home or the office.

Another possible way to decrease the acid rain is by insulating offices and homes so that less energy is consumed,  carpooling or cycling to work and other places , buying vehicle that emits less NOx  and which uses catalytic converters and convert harmful gases into harmless.

EPA website
The EPA website has tons of information about acid rain in general,  acid rain program and how a power plant unit can benefit from it, the EPA website has been categorized into the following main sections
Phases and Reductions      
Operating Principles Feasible, Flexible, Accountable
Environmental Benefits
Allowance Trading
Annual Reconciliation
Allowance Management System
Auctions
Voluntary Entry The Opt-in Program
Pollution Prevention
Nitrogen Oxides (NOx) Reductions
Emissions Monitoring and Reporting
Excess Emissions
Designated Representatives
Permitting
Compliance Options Freedom to Choose
A Model Program

Other pages on the EPA website explain procedures to follow for the successful reductions in SO2 and NOx emissions. The website also provides Laws and Regulations of Title IV of the Clean Air Act which is about the control of acid deposition.

The website also offers guidance and facts sheets of the NO2 and SO2 emissions, provides forms so that newer units can sign up as well as has made available the success of the program by supplying the data.
The website also informs the visitor about the causes and effects of the acid rain and how the acid rain can be measured and procedures to follow in order to effectively reduce acid rain. Website further provides links to other related educational resources for anyone to get more information on acid rain.

Conclusion
In this paper we outlined how acid rain is caused and what are the main contributing factors for the acid rain, then we discussed the severe effects that acid rain causes in some detail and went on to describe how acid rain effects can be minimized if it has already occurred at some place , we also discussed some ways which can be employed by organizations as well as on individual level to decrease the possible acid rain .
One of the methods proposed was to start utilizing alternative energy resources such as solar, wind or geothermal power. The main conclusion of this paper is on the emphasis on the decreased dependency on fossil fuel by increasing the use of alternate energy sources and doing stuff to overcome the damage that has already occurred and description of the acid rain program of US EA.