Alternative Energy Sources Essay

In todays world the demand for more energy to power peoples electronic filled lives is ever growing. Nations around the world are looking for ways to supply this much called for energy and are asking the question “should they make the move from traditional energy sources and turn to more renewable alternatives?” American has answered this question and is among the nations pursuing alternative energy sources.

The Alternative energy industry in the United States has been at a steady rate of growth for the past decade, however there is still controversy over the use of renewable energies, their impact on the economy, and their impact on the environment. As controversial as the topic is, the argument boils down to a moral need to support environmental regulations, and an economical need to sustain domestic growth in the Energy industry of the United States. Mainly, the question is can alternative energy effective replace fossil fuels? There are of course arguments for both sides of this question.

Renewable resources can be used as things that come naturally within Earth and will not run out; including but not limited to solar power, wind power and hydroelectric power. According to Document B, “BP’s (British Petroleum) intention to step up investments in solar energy.” , “WIth twice the fuel economy and half the CO2 (carbon dioxide) emissions of conventional cars.” (talking about the world’s first hybrid electric car), and finally “Denmark now generates (some) of its electricity from wind power and ... from the combustion of agricultural waste.”. Using any and all of these renewable resources can be the start to a new beginning of the end of fossil fuels.

As the planet’s population continues to grow, so will the energy needs. Even with fast advancement of technology, humans are only able to extract so much oil in a given period. Relying solely on fossil fuels and pushing off the inevitable does not make sense. If all of the United States oil supply and every other non-renewable energy source had suddenly disappeared from the face of North America, Americans would have no choice but to rely on renewable energy resources and that would not be a problem. As more solar panels, windmills, and hydroelectric turbines were built and placed in their respective environments, the United States would be back on its feet within no time. This would eventually lead to lower energy costs and a much greener and environmentally friendly nation overall. In the long run, investing and focusing on renewable energy resources provides the United States with a fail-safe solution which would also provide citizens with the energy they need to power their everyday

The current technology in it’s infant stage isn’t capable of clearing the blockage to clean sustainable energy. According to a study by University of California, it is estimated that it will take 131 years to replace gasoline and diesel fuel which leave 90 years energy gap between end of conventional oil and alternative energy. Even if we start aggressively replacing biofuel, it will take much longer than the expected 30 to 40 years of known oil left so it is reasonable to conclude that it’s unlikely we will stop drilling and mining for oil even with all its known environmental and health risks. We can’t stop drilling but we can try to minimize the cost to our environment and our health through technological innovations but it will required great pressure from the people. We can’t rely economic forces to drive for innovation in energy because economic forces don’t account for 20 or 30 years ahead or any environmental factors; it simply cares only for short term profits. As long as oil remains relatively low, it will be business as usual because unless alternative energy can competitive in the market, it’s advancement and breakthrough will not occur. Biofuel have the potential to replace some of our fuel needs but replacing fields for fuel crops is challenge to our food supplies especially the future food crisis is an equally challenging problem in itself.

The beginning of the industrial revolution in the eighteenth century led to an exponential increase in our demand for energy to satisfy the growing needs of manufacturing, transport, production of raw materials, healthcare, and agriculture. Simple tasks are taken for granted such as “powering-up” the plethora of devices and gadgets that we “cannot live without” – such as our smart phones and computers. Whilst all of these things are central to our very existence on the planet, our increased dependence on energy has essentially been met to date by the burning of non-renewable fossil fuels, such as brown and black coal.

When the new Southeast Polk High School opened they added many new energy saving products. This included installing geothermal heating under the high school cutting back on the cost of heating such a large building. Many new windows help save on energy used to light the building along with automatic lights that turn off after several minutes without movement. The new high school shows how easy it is to save money and help the environment. Renewable energy is good for all aspects of the U.S, providing jobs, economical growth, environmental cleanliness, and new research for improving energy efficiency. Therefore the United States should use renewable energy to benefit the economy and environment.

In this day and age, we have new energy sources that could be used to power our homes and transportation. Wind and solar power are used all over the world, but are still used far less than fossil fuels. Most would say it’s not reliable or it doesn’t make any profit. While both statements are true, it doesn’t mean we can’t make a better future using renewable energy. In fact, the only reason we don’t use renewables for everything is that we don’t want to change. The hard truth is we need to change. Fossil fuels are great right now, but if we run out, humanity must have another source of energy.

The U.S. Energy Information Administration (2015) reports that the United States consumed approximately 19.4 million barrels of petroleum products daily, which calculated to an overall total of 7.08 billion barrels by the end of 2015 (para. 2). The United States population consumes a huge quantity of oil alone, in addition to all of the other fossil fuels that it also greatly depends on. Fossil fuels are a natural resource that is in limited supply, and they provide an efficient and consistent supply of power to communities all over the planet. Many people are pleased with the short-term advantages these

The world around us mostly runs on fossil fuels in order to produce electricity; however, there will be a period that comes where we will run out of those fossil fuels. We only have so much time before a crisis hits and we have nothing left to produce the energy we need. In order for our country to produce the energy and electricity we need, we must do something about it. As a country, we must figure out how we can make the switch to using more renewable energy before it is too late and we run out of fossil fuels.

Fossil fuels are an important part of life. When you turn on the lights, watch TV, or take a shower, the electricity that you are using is being generated by fossil fuels. The three types of fossil fuels are coal, crude oil, and natural gas. They all take millions of years to form, so they are considered to be “non-renewable”- eventually, the fossil fuels will all be used up. One dangerous biological effect of using fossil fuels is ocean acidification. Extracting and transporting fossil fuels can also be very dangerous. Environmentally damaging accidents such as groundwater contamination, land subsidence, and oil spills occur frequently. Global warming is another possible environmental effect. Fossil fuels have a crucial role in modern

Since the advent of the internal combustion engine nearly two centuries ago, humans have become increasingly reliant on fuel to power these engines. Our only method, historically, for obtaining this fuel is to probe the earth and oceans until crude oil is struck. Crude oil is termed a fossil fuel as it takes hundreds of millions of years to form. Crude oil is extracted from a geological reservoir and subsequently refined into the various fuels which we use at ever increasing rates (petroleum, diesel, aviation fuel etc). Unfortunately we are not finding new oil deposits at anything like the rates we are consuming, so logically we will eventually run out. Many of the alternate energy sources currently available (electric engines, fuel cells and ethanol) have low energy density and do not scale well to larger vehicles like aeroplanes and trucks. Therefore finding new renewable sources of energy to power our current and future devices is paramount to our continuation as a successful species.

These fossil fuels serve to be very beneficial for our use and need for energy. The accessibility of these energy sources are relatively abundant in our environment. These sources of energy, specifically crude oil for example, are found in abundance underground in certain areas. For example, while there is not huge oil sources underground everywhere, there are large rigs in certain areas of the world that supply an astronomical amount of crude oil for our use. Places such as Saudi Arabia and Canada have been the 2 largest providers of non-renewable oil for the US. Similarly, there are many places in the US that non-renewable resources like oil and coal have been tapped into. These oil rigs and coal mines are being used at a rate that some worry is not sustainable, or responsible. The oil rigs, in particular, produce a real economic boom as well as the benefit to fulfill our energy needs. For example, back when gasoline was 4 dollars a gallon, it

The most of global energy production produces from fossil fuel such as coal, oil and natural gas. The vast fossil fuels generate energy which use for many purposes for instant residential, transportation and industrial sectors. While the rate consumption of fossil fuel higher than their formation leads to oil price crisis. Another concern of fossil fuel combustion is the impact on the environment. Global warming is a significant problem which results in increasing concentrations of greenhouse gas in the atmosphere. These problems drive researchers and societies to search alternative energy such as switching to renewable energy or carbon-free energy to replace fossil fuels. For example Nakata et al., (2011:465) show ‘low-carbon society’

Energy is a crucial necessity and with the ever increasing need for it and the high and fluctuating prices of oil, researchers are constantly coming up with newer and more sophisticated alternative sources of energy. However, energy comes at a cost, as it is either expensive or it possesses high health risks. This essay presents the concept of energy by discussing the two major types of energy, the various forms it could take, including renewable sources of energy, energy conservation and above all it talks about the safest and cleanest alternatives.