How Technology Has Tremendous Positive Spillover Effects On The United States

Have you ever wondering where your electricity comes from? How your car uses gasoline to run? What about how these things impact our environment or how we are going to keep producing them? As a country, we need to start looking ahead to the future and planning for what is to come. Currently, 86% of America’s energy comes from petroleum, natural gas, and coal. All of these resources will run out eventually. We need renewable energy sources that will keep producing in a clean, more efficient way for a long time. Before committing to an idea and going all the way with it, we need to compare all the different energy sources available to the U.S. and choose the one that is best for everyone.

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 The US’ reliance upon outdated energy sources continues to harm both the environment and the economy by producing millions of tonnes of pollution every year and costing the government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.

America should pursue alternative energy sources because “With only 5 percent of the worlds population, the United States consumes almost one-quarter (22.5%) of global energy”. (((Josef Bram, 15))) With such a small percentage of the world’s population and still one of the largest consumers of energy the U.S should be looking for new and better ways to generate energy. Currently The U.S’s energy is supplied using traditional sources. According to Canadian scientist and policy analyst Vaclav Smil “Todays energy 29% from coal, 33% from oil and gas, and 33% from soft-energy (alternative sources)” (((Smil, 47))) Most of the energy we use on a daily basis is not produced using clean methods. Some alternative energy sources that are already in place within the United Stats are wind, solar, and hydraulic.

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.

Shifting the majority of energy consumption in the U.S. to clean energy would affect people and businesses both in and outside of the nation. This inevitably creates concern surrounding the topic and causes delays due to necessary controversy and questioning. While plenty of concerns are valid, others have been answered by studies and reports by various organizations but have yet to reach the public in masses.

On the same note, the energy revolution spoken of above brings forth another advance in the ongoing global climate situation. The nature of the Kyoto Protocol calls for nations to increase research and eventually semi-convert their energy usage to accommodate for cleaner energy. Products such as solar power, wind power, biomass, geothermal power, and hydropower are now widely being studying to create processes that use less coal, oil, and natural gas in production. Altogether the results have

Renewable energy’s increasingly greater power output has “made wind and solar more competitive with fossil fuels in many regions” (Warrick). In fact, renewable energy has improved so much, both financially and technologically, that many “developing economies will ultimately choose renewables over cheap coal”, enabling them to “skip over a generation of technology” (Warrick). Hydropower, geothermal energy, solar energy, and wind energy will only keep improving in power output until they inevitably become the best choice for electricity. Now that private tech companies have begun to back renewables, their technology is increasing at an extraordinary pace. With more prominent business leaders supporting renewables, the public is more inclined to accept them. People like Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla (and many other companies), fund and promote clean energy projects to raise popular support and develop new renewable technologies. Some people argue, however that renewable energy will never produce enough energy to power the entire United States. After all, “by 2016, wind energy accounted for just over 6.7 percent of U.S. electricity production” and solar energy sits at just “0.6 percent” (Renewable). While this number seems extremely low, it has been increasing rapidly. In 2012, “solar energy accounted for only 0.2 percent of the electricity

The bitten apple on the backs of devices seen almost everywhere had its start roughly 40 years ago. Apple Computer, Inc. was formed by Steve Wozniak and Steve Jobs on the first of April in 1976. That day changed America’s dependence on technology forever. The popularity of personal computers and mobile devices has undoubtedly increased year by year. Social interaction has changed completely within American society with the introduction of networking and other methods of electronic communication. The wide range of information made available through the internet and accessible devices built a ‘library’ of material for anyone to use. The age of the internet has changed American lives, for better or for worse.

The U.S. is using non-renewable resources affecting the environment and the resource itself negatively. This is a problem because the fossil fuels are creating a tremendous amount of Carbon Dioxide and the Carbon Dioxide is polluting the air. This is bad for the environment because of the amount of pollution and because of the way you obtain fossil fuels. This resource is not renewable, this means that the resource will run out over time. In this day and age, the demand for this resource is increasing rapidly due to overpopulation and the demand for more cars. If we could come up with a renewable resource to replace fossil fuels, then we wouldn't have to rely on a non-renewable resource any longer. This is where hydropower comes in. hydropower should replace fossil fuels and the U.S. a better place.

Continued investment should be encouraged in order to develop the best technology in energy for the future. Continued investment will allow for new and exciting developments that will improve the energy industry in the long run. It will assist the industry in satisfying the growing demand and need for sustainability. There are a number of political and legal factors that are significant to the energy industry. For example, laws and government regulation on energy use could potentially affect the demand for domestic energy and thus lead to a shift in prices. However, with an increase of clean energy use, the demand for energy will not change dramatically due to laws and regulations, instead, the future prosperity of the globe will improve.

There are several reasons why alternative energy is slow to catch on in our nation. One of the most compelling reasons is the unreasonably low cost of fossil. The government reaches this goal by widespread subsidies of certain industries. The oil industry alone is a recipient of around $8 billion in annual subsidies (Env. Adv. Stat., 2003). This makes the use of crude oil derivatives like gasoline and heating oil much more appealing than other, more expensive fuels. More interesting, is the effect that government subsidizing has on the

Energy production is vital to the United States. The United States current main reliance for energy is importing oil and other sources of energy from foreign countries such as Saudi Arabia. However, the United States is determined to alter this current reliance and convert the U.S. into a major energy producing country. Energy relates to nearly every person in the country because almost everyone relies on some sort of energy in their everyday lives. In relation to importance to the people, without energy, life would be incredibly different from what it is today. Almost everything you use happens to

Till this day the U.S. still goes through a lot of influence over the world, and remains to be the dominant power. I believe that a green revolution or renewal in the US and for the US economy could very well help the US regain some of it’s lost power and preponderance, as well as benefit the global effort to cut back on fossil fuel emissions. Global energy shifts are usually associated with a shift in global hegemonic power, in the case of the US I believe they could reassert their dominance by introducing an economy based off renewable resources, and perhaps cause a global energy shift and a reaffirmation of power at the same time. If commercial and social factors are in fact more important than technical factors it is not a matter of whether America can be the leader in the green revolution, it is a matter of whether America is willing to be the leader or not. I believe with the proper research and commercialization of going green with the economy, the US could make green technology competitive enough against fossil fuels such as oil and coal to shift to sustainable energy altogether. For example, historically we see a shift from biomass to coal in the 19th century because of political, commercial, and even social factors. The United States had a clear abundance of

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.

It is stated in the article “Benefits of a Hydrogen Economy” in Hydrogen Future that if we use hydrogen as an energy source in the U.S.A, it could help address concerns about energy security, global climate change, and air quality. Hydrogen fuel cells appear to be an one important enabling technology for increasing energy savings and reducing global climate change; however, I suggest that much more research is needed before the nation becomes absorbed in developing the hydrogen economy. In addition to the hydrogen fuel cells, the nation should continue to investigate other technologies such as new generation diesel, hybrids and solar cells. At present these technologies have come to maturity to some degree.