USA over a Barrel
The cost of a barrel of oil this summer reached a record high of nearly $100. How has this happened and how much higher could oil go? The United States dependence on foreign oil is at an all time high. Nations supplying this oil are pumping at a record pace and maximum capacity. If any of these nations fail to supply the U.S. because of a terror attack or bad relations, the economy would be negatively impacted. How can the U.S. reduce dependence on imported fuels and diversify our energy supply?
In recent months, the new focus is the investment in research and development of alternative or renewable energy. Google has announced its plans to spend tens of millions of dollars in 2008 on the project known as Renewable
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On the other hand, both renewable energies compete for land uses. The wind turbines produce noise and kill birds and bats. Some problems exist with alternative energy, that’s why it is urgent to research and develop this technology today.
Solar Power
The sun is a massive burning ball of hydrogen that outputs gigantic quantities of energy every second. Sunlight is an excellent energy source and the future of using solar power is very exciting. The Sun's energy can be used to heat and cool buildings, generate electricity, operate communication, and GPS systems and even power solar cars. The sun’s energy is clean and solar panels used to harness the energy are low maintenance.
Wind Power
Wind can play a major role in the solution to global warming. Constantly, the wind is blowing and is being wasted. Wind is also a domestic, unlimited energy source that produces no emissions, requires no fuel, and consumes no natural resources. Wind is relatively immune to inflation because it does not rely on any other fuel source. No single energy source can alone meet the USA’s electricity needs, and wind is making a steadily growing part to our electricity supply.
We Need to Act Now
At a time when America is hampered by growing demands for electricity, higher energy costs, and climate change and national security concerns, a cornerstone of any energy bill should be to promote renewable energy. “The Renewable Electricity Standard (RES)--which would require
One of the fastest growing energy sources in the world, wind power is a globally advantageous renewable resource.
Each year the cost of designing, building, and maintaining renewable energy infrastructure and technology decreases. This trend is most prominently visible in the solar and wind industries which have both “seen stock prices jump since Congress approved an extension of tax credits for renewables” in late 2015 (Warrick). One cause for the renewable industry’s growth is the influx of investors. In November 2015, Goldman Sachs “quadruple[d] its investments in renewables to $150 billion,” a trend that has only become more prevalent in 2017 (Warrick). Part of the strong appeal of renewable energy is that it pays itself off over time. Instead of paying an electric bill every month, year after year, one can pay to have solar panels installed, that while initially expensive, never require additional payments. Not only are they free after the initial payment, some electric companies pay customers for installing panels and investing in clean energy. Many people complain that renewables produce far less power per dollar than coal, natural gas, and oil. While this may be true, the gap is quickly closing as renewable technology improves and prices drop. The convenience of only needing to pay once for renewable infrastructure far outweighs the greater power output that non-renewables provide for
Wind energy is a clean, alternative source of energy that does not produce greenhouse gas emissions and can be produced domestically. While wind energy accounts for a small overall portion of the energy produced in the United States, the potential for wind energy is significant. Nevertheless, there are some obstacles that delay the widespread use of this technology, including intermittency of wind, cost, and public policies that deter their implementation.
Since the gasoline and fuel oil shortages of the 1970’s, the topic of renewable energy has been
Wind energy is clean and renewable. The wind is never going to stop blowing; therefore, there will always be enough to keep the turbines going. While some areas may have more wind than others, there is always wind. Wind turbines do not produce any pollution or waste, making them one of the cleanest energy sources on the planet. However, environmentalists are concerned that with the increase of wind turbines, bird populations with decrease because they are getting hit by the wind turbines and dying. Because of the huge poles in the ground, turbines can cause erosion and disrupt wildlife habitats. Wind turbines are also huge; at 30 meters (100 feet) above the ground, with large spinning blades, they can be a bit of an eyesore. They are also loud and have a deep buffeting sound. But the idea is that the large wind farms will be located in the middle of nowhere so they don’t cause an issue in suburban areas. Small wind turbines may be located in backyards to feed houses directly, but these would be so small that they wouldn’t bother any
Well we all know that the energy system is very unstable because the total energy available on the earth is limited, and man has exploited all the conventional technologies to fulfill his needs. By the use of these conventional technologies, the world also has a disability, with problems such as global warming. Consumption of energy by man increased gradually as his wants also increase. The conventional energy resources mainly include fossil fuels, but research shows that this fuel source will be depleted completely in approximately 20-25 years. This could cause major setbacks around the world. As a result, we need an alternative source of fuel that could keep the world running on its wheel. One possibility is ethanol. Chemically extract
Ethanol, an alcohol, is the product of the fermentation of a biomass resources or sugar rich crops such as corn. Ethanol is an alternative fuel used over a century till to this very day however it has not been a profound source of fuel. It has not been until the last few decades that ethanol has gone through resurgence from going from a secondary to primary option in fuel consumption. Here in Queensland the revival is boosted due to the availability of an already grown biomass; sugar canes, a product already growing in large quantities throughout Queensland that can be utilised for the mass production of ethanol fuel. Utilizing sugarcanes for the production of ethanol in Queensland would be beneficial to the economy, the
The cause for this great rate of growth in wind power is contributed to tax incentives and state laws mandating renewable energy research. The nation 's total Wind power production is relatively low but some states like Iowa are investing in it heavily. Wind power produces 4.7 percent of the United States electrical energy and makes up over thirty percent of Iowa 's energy (American Wind Energy Association). Wind energy is gaining a lot of traction in northern states but almost does not exist in the southern states. When it comes to reliability wind energy is inferior to Hydropower. In order for a wind turbine to work wind speeds need to be around 8-55 mph and they are only efficient at wind speeds above 30 mph, anything below that minimal (National Wind Watch). This makes wind turbines less reliable because the wind can vary wildly throughout a day. Wind power also comes with some environmental impacts too. Wind Turbines kill tens of thousands of birds a year do to Turbines essentially being giant metal fans (Hosansky). Bats are especially affected because they rely on echolocation to see and giant moving blades confuse them into running into the blades.
One of the great parts about wind energy is that it has a large amount of positives to the environment and hardly any negative effects. Because wind energy uses the wind for the energy there is no emissions generated from the energy produced. It is estimated that the use of one million kWh of wind power can save around 600 tons of carbon dioxide emissions (Saidur, Rahim, Islam, & Solangi, 2011). Therefore, it is easy to see that the widespread use of wind power can help mitigate climate change. This is critical to help stop climate change and the United States is uniquely positioned to be the leader in curbing climate. When the United States starts heavily investing in alternative energy sources other countries will likely follow suit, which will be key to reducing global emissions.
Based on my research, I have noted some significant long term positive impacts of renewable energy that should be taken under consideration. In this paper you will find information related to supply and demand for energy, U.S. dependence on foreign energy and why we should rely on renewable energy more so that we can relieve our dependence from foreign sources.
Wind is a natural, replenishable source of energy. With the invention of wind turbines, it has made it possible to convert wind into the energy people can use in homes and businesses. Earth's climate is rising continually, and if humans don't begin to change the use of nonrenewable sources to renewable, the planet will have devastating consequences. Today's consequences range from climate change, polar caps melting, and oceans rising. Recent achievements in wind energy are making it a popular renewable source worldwide; however, the United States Congress needs to establish a bill that guarantees long term support through tax credits to encourage the growth of wind energy.
Fossil fuels are having great impacts toward nature such as global warming and greenhouse effect. Plus, the depletion of it contributes to the rising price of petroleum. Therefore, wind power rise as it is a source of clean, non-polluting renewable energy (Nash, 2008). This type of energy generation provides us with loads of benefits environmentally and economically.
temperature changes of the sun and the sun is a constant variable of energy, making wind power renewable. While wind seems to be a good option and is the fastest growing energy source in the world, with the United States planning to rely 20 percent of its electricity on wind power by 2030, the benefit it produces does not entirely contribute to decreasing global warming. Wind power generates only a small portion of the nation’s energy and will reduce insignificant amounts of carbon dioxide emission in the air. Wind power is also unstable and difficult to find an applicable area to built them. The tall and enormous wind turbines require high wind to
In contrast, some believe that renewable energy is a key factor involved in helping the economy to grow. Many jobs are created in the manufacturing and running of renewable energy plants. The renewable energy and energy efficiency technologies created 8.5 million new jobs and $970 billion in revenue in the year 2006 (Langwith, “Renewable Energy is Economically”). The American Solar Energy Society says by 2030 it could generate up to $4.5 trillion in revenue for the U.S and create 40 million new jobs. This would represent one in every four jobs (Langwith, “Renewable Energy is Economically”). This shows how vital it is to get renewable energy companies in the U.S. It is important to build a stable economy again and do it all while helping the environment.
The studies conducted over the past 10 years reveal that the need for fossil fuel as an alternative source of energy is on the rise (Machol and Rizk 79-95). The studies revolve around a central idea that the future demands for electricity are probably going to be higher due to the advancements that are brought in by the contemporary century. Sources show that wind energy is the most viable source of energy to provide a solution to the problems emerging from the dominant by fossil fuel in the energy sectors. However, the studies tend to reveal that most countries have continued to use fossil fuels and fewer strategies to harness wind energy. The studies show that the United States was the only country that