Global Climate Change And Creating A Sustainable Energy Future

In recent years there has been great concern over the growing demand for energy, and the lack of non-renewable energy resources to meet the demand in the future. In addition, the question of “sustainability”—the ability to balance social, economic, and environmental needs in energy production to meet both current and long-term requirements—has come to the fore. It is clear that America must expand energy production quickly, and that we must develop renewable, sustainable energy sources to meet long-term demand and protect our future. There are many proposed solutions, such as wind and solar power. But the technology for these resources is not yet fully developed, making them, at best, low-output alternatives. Because renewable sources are

Obtaining energy by the means of burning fossil fuels, such as coal, oil and natural gas, is unsustainable and raises environmental concerns. Gases like carbon dioxide, as well as other toxic pollutants, are released into the atmosphere when these fossil fuels are burned. This contributes to air pollution, the greenhouse effect, and ultimately global warming. When carbon dioxide is exposed to the air, heat is trapped and is unable to escape into space, leading to the rise in global temperatures. Pollution in the air can cause diseases in living organisms,

Energy is an important part of life producing the power of movement, heat, and production of electricity in many different ways. Therefore, choosing the correct source of energy is important for the environment and humans. Renewable energy that produces electricity never runs out, causing a lower environmental impact. Solar, Biomass, Wind, Geothermal, and Hydropower energy should be used globally to produce electricity. On the other hand, producing electricity from nonrenewable energy sources can be very harmful to humans and the environment. Humans can easily be dependent on it, which may not be the best option when it comes to finance, efficiency, sustainability and more. Approximately 52% of the US electricity comes from polluting sources like natural gas, oil, nuclear, and hydropower that have a lot of disadvantages effecting the environment in a negative way.

The United States is the second largest producer of greenhouse gases in the world, and yet is doing very little to fix this startling statistic (Dennis). The US’ reliance upon outdated energy sources continues to harm both the environment and the economy by producing millions of tonnes of pollution every year and costing the government billions of dollars (“Fact Sheet: Clean Power Plan”). Fossil fuels have been the main energy sources in America since the industrial revolution, and it is time to make a change. Renewable energy is energy harnessed from sources like the sun, wind, or water, and has little to no negative effects on the environment (“Renewable Energy Technology Basics”). The United States needs to integrate and increase the use of these types of energy across the country, as well as implement positive environmental policies, to prevent further pollution of the earth and combat the effects of climate change.

With the rise of nonrenewable fuels prices and the estimated decline of availability in the not so distant future it is very clear that the only answer to this problem is to implement the use of renewable resources. Renewable resources are very versatile and can reduce pollution of the environment and can in the long

When fossil fuels are burnt, the c02 is released into the atmosphere rapidly, and the c02 cycle doesn’t have enough time to get the c02 out of the atmosphere. This c02 traps the heat from coming out of the atmosphere and creates global warming. Global warming is serious because it melts the ice cap, removes habitas, raises sea levels and many other negative effects. A good way to stop this environmental hazard is to use green energy. Instead of burning coal and natural gas, we can use more wind turbines, hydro-electric dams and other green electricity options. We also need to research solar panels more, so we can make them more efficiant. If we start to do this, the c02 outtake would be significantly decreased and the world will be a better place to live

Efficiency at a power plant is determined by energy conversion rate. This is rate is measured by the input energy source, in this case coal, in proportion to the output, which is the power generated. The less fuel that is required for power generation, the more efficient it is. Efficiency is very sensitive in relation to the amount of carbon dioxide emitted. A single percentage increase in the efficiency of a coal fired power plant yields a 2-3% reduction in the carbon dioxide levels emitted by this plant. The power stations on the upper side on the scale of efficiency may emit up to 40% less carbon dioxide than the average power stations currently installed. The efficiency of power plant improvements include the most cost effective and shortest lead time actions for reducing emissions from coal fired electricity. This is especially true in developing and lower-economy countries

Emissions from coal fired power plants contribute to global warming, ozone smog, acid rain, regional haze, and perhaps most consequential of all from a public health standpoint, fine particle pollution.

Today we rely on a majority of fossil fuels with a small percentage of solar or wind energy generation to power our comfortable living. With fossil fuels being our primary source of energy, we are releasing things such as lead into the atmosphere to be inhaled; coal has to be mined causing deforestation and additionally causes water contamination from mining water runoff, the same to be said with fracking.

This is a pie chart about how much electricity was used by type. As you can see coal and natural gas have a much higher use. This causes a lot of pollution which will hurt the environment. "Coal is almost half the [global] emissions. If you replace these power plants with modern, safe nuclear reactors you could do a lot of [pollution reduction] quickly" from a Scientific American article.

Along with the greenhouse effect, burning fossil fuels also creates human health problems. The chemicals and gasses released instantly cause damaged cells, stress, and illness in respiratory systems. Some future health effects include shortened life span, diseases like bronchitis, emphysema, asthma, and cancer, and aging and loss of capacity in lungs.3 These are all serious health problems notably found in North Americans. Health-harming pollution can be prevented and stopped if people become informed about the causes and effects of it.

Renewable energy is an extremely popular topic in conversation, politics, and media. Consumers are interested because it raises real estate value, cuts power bills, and offers a tax break on homes equipped with solar panels. Environmentalists agree with renewable energy because it produces little or no waste products such as carbon dioxide and other chemical

Energy efficiency has a variety of benefits: lowering cost on both household and economical levels, reducing demand for energy imports, and fewer greenhouse emissions. Although renewable energy technologies help to accomplish these objectives of reducing the utilization of fossil fuels, the cheapest, and often most immediate, is improving energy efficiency. There are considerable opportunities for improving the efficiency in almost all sectors of the economy, whether it is transport, energy generation, buildings, or industry.

With American population expected to increase by approximately fifty percent over the next fifty years, some sort of energy reform is needed (Lehrman 2). The most commonly proposed idea is for America to stop relying so heavily on fossil fuels, and to turn its focus onto renewable sources of energy, such as solar power and hydroelectricity (Energy Information Administration). If the United States could realize the benefits of renewable energy, then much of the world’s energy problems could be solved.

Carbon emissions are changing the planet for the worse. Energy production (mostly coal) is producing a one third of the US 's global warming emissions. Renewable sources produce little to zero percent. The balance of coal and renewable energy in the U.S. needs to be evened out with renewable techniques. Statistics from the Union of Concerned Scientist’s “Benefits of Renewable Energy Use” show that wind emits .02 to .04 lbs. CO2E/kWh (carbon dioxide per kilowatt-hour), solar emits .07 to .2 lbs. CO2E/kWh, geothermal emits .1 to .2 lbs. CO2E/kWh, hydroelectric emits .1 to .5 lbs. CO2E/kWh and biomass emissions depend on how it 's sourced. These all have significantly less of a carbon footprint than coal, which emits 1.4 to 3.6 lbs. CO2E/kWh or natural gas which emits .6 to 2 lbs. CO2E/kWh. This impressive difference of carbon emissions between renewable and fossil fuel is the