America Must Invest in Energy Efficiency
In recent years our country has had many debates over what must be done to lessen the amount of oil that our country consumes. It is well known that we need to make some type of change to help not only the environment, but also lessen our reliance on imported oil. President Bush recently announced his new plan that could someday greatly reduce that amount of oil that Americans use by replacing oil with hydrogen fuel cells. Although this plan is a step in the right direction, it is not the answer. There are far too many downsides that could actually hurt our country in the long run. One problem is that the plan proposed by Bush will take far too long before any changes will be seen.
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. If cars were required to run on 55 miles per gallon, the U.S. would save about five million barrels per day. This alone is about seven times the amount of oil that was imported from Iraq alone last year (Kennedy 11). All major auto companies can already make cars that run on seventy miles per gallon; meaning that Clinton’s goal was nearly reached. However, because funding is being cut by the new plan, these cars will most likely never be available in the large market. We do need to someday totally end our reliance on oil, especially in cars, but why stop funding a plan that would have an immediate effect? Money is simply being wasted due to the fact that millions of dollars were spent on a plan that is being ended because funding is suddenly being spent on new areas of research. We need to continue funding Clinton’s plan even if we do start more research in hydrogen fuel cells.
A second major problem with the plan is not easy to see at first. You must look much closer at what types of research is being done. There are two ways that hydrogen fuel cells can be made. One is by a reaction with oxygen. These cells are about 70% efficient and the only emissions are water vapor. The second way it by using oil or coal to make the cells. These cells are about 33% efficient and release harmful emissions into the atmosphere (Abelson 1469). I feel that we should fund research into using oxygen as opposed to fossil fuels when making hydrogen
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.
The “U.S. became the world’s top producer of petroleum and natural gas” in 2013 (Energy Infrastructure). “Capital spending in the infrastructure that moves and transforms oil and gas into everyday products … has increased by 60 percent between 2010 and 2013” (Energy Infrastructure). The rise to become the top producer has led to the decrease in “U.S. oil import dependence” and the “rise of U.S. product exports” (U.S. Oil Import Dependence). The increased exportation of oil and gas by the U.S. has allowed both of these products to become large moneymakers for the United States. Although we will probably never “completely eliminate our need” for oil, we can reduce our petroleum consumption and the damage we inflict on the environment (Reduce Oil Dependence Costs). By decreasing the “dependence on oil” in new vehicles, there has been a
The topic of this paper is America’s foreign oil dependency. The purpose of this paper is to suggest how might America completely destroy or at least greatly mitigate its dependency on crude oil to fuel Americans’ cars, especially foreign crude oil. Library literature, newspaper articles, encyclopedias, and the Internet were all sources used to compile this paper. The conclusion reached in this research topic is that America’s great foreign oil dependency is a crisis and other energy sources to fuel our cars need to be adopted and implemented before the people
Total destruction of the United States’ economy, this statement may sound outright ridiculous, but could be the outcome of the future. Oil has become the main resource consumed by the world, primarily used for generating electricity, household use and transportation. Due to oil being a non-renewable resource, inefficiency and over dependency will eventually drain the world of the fuel. Electric motors may lead the way in developing alternate energy for transportation combined with newer developments. With today’s fluctuating oil prices America’s current mode of transportation will meet its end; clean electric power would serve as a way to preserve America’s future.
I agree. Over the next four years we will have to take environmental protection into our own hands, especially mitigating climate change. There have already been reports that the climate change webpage on Whitehouse.gov has been taken down and replaced with the Trump Administration’s “America First” energy plan.
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
needs coal, coal-fired plants, and nuclear power plants to create jobs, and wind energy to help generate electricity. The U.S. can find sources around here to use, and then they can slowly back away from being dependent on foreign oil. Is the U.S. trying to drain the other countries of their oil, so if they run out, we have oil to survive with and the other countries will not? Or if the other countries run out of oil, they will have to buy it from the U.S.? These are some questions we should ponder and think about this and see what other people think about these questions for our future generations. The U.S. should be ready and prepared for the future in case they are in dispute with other countries and are not welcomed there, and have no choice but to drill here in the U.S. Since the U.S. uses tons of oil and gas, the people in the U.S. probably only think of what they use in their vehicles or lawnmowers every day and not for anything else like making wind turbines, light bulbs, and electric cars. They think of themselves as using the oil and gas as one person and not as a whole United States using the gas and oil. Our Illinois Senator Dale Righter and the other U.S. Congressmen need to listen to other people who are trying to reduce the dependency on foreign oil and try to support them. Those people may have some good suggestions or ideas, for them to use or try. U.S. Energy Information Administration, “The United States uses nearly 400 million gallons
Hydrogen has already been under the micro scope for many years as an alternative fuel source to us because of its abundance and power. We have simply been lacking the
President Obama reached out to American scientists and engineers telling them that if they focus on clean energy technology, “We'll fund the Apollo Projects of our time.” The President stated that if we get behind this innovation we may possible break our dependence on oil, thereupon “Become the first country to have one million electric vehicles on the road by 2015.” The President presented an idea to pay for these incentives; take away the tax dollars that are currently given to big oil companies and use it to pay for these new investments. President Obama followed his last statement with some comedic relive saying “I don't know if you've noticed, but they're doing just fine on their own.”
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.
As the world population rises, we are using more and more energy and it is depleting faster than ever. Our fossil fuels (coal, oil and natural gas) will not last forever and at some point we will have to switch over completely to renewable energy sources. While most of the world still uses non-renewable energy sources, the future will rely on renewable energy and its applications. Right now, over 90% of the world still uses fossil fuels and developing countries even burn wood to generate energy. At the rate we are using our fossil fuels, they will not last us far into the 22nd century. Additionally, big consumers of fossil fuels like China, U.S., Russia, and India are creating large amounts of pollution and it is only increasing. For instance, India has major issues with pollution because of heavy traffic (which releases more fuel emissions into the air), the burning of biomass (wood and other organic matter), and runoff into lakes and rivers. Right now, our biggest goal should be to figure out how to implement more forms of renewable energy in our own society. We should start using renewable energy in America because: it is more environmentally friendly, opens up the job market, and improves the health of the public.
The United States consumes more energy than needed, compared to the rest of the world. However, to properly address such an issue as over consumption of energy, one first must understand what “energy” is.
Humans today are using much more electricity than we need to in our houses and this is impacting our world more then we realise. Although electricity is a huge advantage to humans it has the complete opposite effects on our environment. By using more electricity, we are using more of the earth’s resources and if we keep going down this road then we are going to run out. The solution for this mass overuse of energy is to build houses which are more energy efficient. Features like LED lightbulbs, insulating and even positioning your house in the correct position for natural airflow instead of using air conditioning are all ways we can help improve this problem.
The U.S. should replace fossil fuel with renewable energy. There are many reasons that the U.S. can use renewable energy to improve the economy. First of all, renewable energy can have a more stable price. Unlike fossil fuel, renewable energy is a continual source of energy that will not be as demanded, and will not cause inflation. Next, using renewable energy is a key to having a clean and green environment. It will not cause pollution to the environment and will keep cities clean. Finally, the United States can provide more efficient jobs for unemployed workers. People will have more opportunities for jobs like installing or building any source of renewable energy. Replacing fossil fuels with renewable energy can be more efficient because it will have a stable expense, it is a clean way to help the environment, and it can provide several jobs.
By taking the position as Raj Bhatt, Business Development manager of GE Canada, I am comfortable and confident that energy efficiency is an attractive industry and business opportunity. What makes Raj Bhatt believe that the Energy Efficiency projects will be successful in Canada is that the project helps not only the ESCo, which conducts the performance-based contracting, but also the customers, who are more aware of the benefits of Energy Efficiency project. The Energy Efficiency project will optimize the energy usage, including conservation, use of efficient equipment and off peak usage. Even though the project has required intensive initial capital investment and long payback period, it will