Technology Is The Most Advanced Species On Earth Essay

Thomas Edison once said, “I have not failed 10,000 times. I have succeeded in proving that those 10,000 ways will not work,” he said of his method of experimentation. “When I have eliminated the ways that will not work, I will find the ways that will work.” Up until the late 1830’s electricity was derived from many non-renewable sources such as coal, oil, and natural gases. These are also known as fossil fuels. Fossil fuels are the major energy sources that are being used in the world today. The production of fossil fuels account for more than one-third of U.S global emissions, which trap heat, steadily drive up the plant’s temperature, and create harmful impacts on our health, our environment, and our climate. Their sources are limited and depleting at a faster

As the global population increases exponentially, having passed six billion in 1999, the world population is expected to be 8.9 billion by the year 2050. The worlds energy consumption will increase by an estimated 54 percent by 2025. Energy demand in the industrialized world is projected to grow 1.2 percent per year. Energy is a critical component of sustained economic growth and improved standards of living. One of the major requirements for sustaining human progress is an adequate source of energy. As the world’s technological enhancements and standards of living improve, so too does their appetite for electricity.

Earth has not yet, reached its carrying capacity. Many people believe that Earth’s resources are running out due to the human population exponential growth, and the linear growth of food supply. The document, “Has Earth Reached its Carrying Capacity?” by Julia Layton, points out the fact that if the human population does more to extend the amount of resources available to us, we can increase Earth’s carrying capacity. For example, On page one, Paragraph four, Layton writes, “...technological advancement... they(scientist) have argued that this human ability allows food production to grow exponentially, as well.” Many advances in technology have giving us a wide range of information. Some of which could help us, now or in the future, to create

Relevance Statement: Electricity is the heart of our current civilization. Without electricity we would regress into a feudal like stage which will slow down our evolution as a society

Today, most people take electricity for granted, especially in the United States and other developed countries of the world. According to Walter Moss in his book, An Age of Progress?, Clashing Twentieth-Century Global Forces, during the twentieth century, perhaps no other technological advancement, even the automobile, affected the people of the world more than electricity. Electricity would become the foundation for the development of new technological advancements in industries such as agriculture, health and science, environment, and technology. Production and consumption in all these industries would continue to rise throughout the century with reliance on electricity to flourish.

In conditions when both technologies and our needs require more and more energy, it is impossible to count only on natural resources and to think that their reserves are unlimited. This is not true. We have learned to receive electricity from irreplaceable resources – oil, gas, also from replenished - water, wind, sun. But the energy of the sun or wind is not enough for today’s rythm of our civilization. And hydroelectric and thermal power plants are not as clean and economical for the modern rhythm

For many years, energy has been a need for people everywhere. What has become of the world today is due to the revolution in energy use. There are two types of energy non-renewables and sources-renewables. An example of a non-renewable is coal and it is a great type of fossil fuel the reason being is because it is a reliable source of electricity. Examples of renewables are wind,water and solar power. Renewables can be recovered and reused while on another hand a non-renewables can not be used again. Coal has been used for thousands of years archaeologists discovered that coal was used even in the second and third centuries by the Romans. Solar power is a renewable source since it’s powered by the sun. It can be changed into other forms for example both heat and electricity can come directly from the sun. The sun’s power has been used for a lifetime to heat up our homes, water (to drink and bathe), and our food as well. Both energy sources-coal and solar-are quite reliable resources, and are used very much. As worldwide energy sources, coal and solar power share similarities and differences when it comes to having a huge impact on the environment the world's economic status within how much money we profit from them and human health such as increased lung cancer rates.

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.

the growing rate of technological advances within the recent centuries, a stable source of energy

There are many ways to fuel the world’s needs for electrical power, but we acquire our needs mostly from three energy sources: coal, natural gas, and nuclear energy (Cravens, 11). Yet from fossil fuels the emission of carbon dioxide (~1400 grams CO₂ equivalent per kWh) and toxic waste produced from the burning of aforementioned fossil fuels kills more than 20,000 Americans annually (Cravens, 13), while nuclear energy (and its outputs) have not killed a single human (as it is rather human error that is the cause of the loss of life). One must also note the fact that if an American received all of his or her electricity from fossil fuels over a lifespan of about 75 years, that person’s “pile” of waste would weigh 68.5 tons compared to the two

The Industrial Revolution sparked a need for large sources of energy. Human and animal labor could not provide the power necessary to power industrial machinery, railroads, and ships. The steam engine and later the internal combustion engine provided the bulk of the energy required by the industrial age. Today most nations are still heavily reliant on energy that comes from combustion. Usually coal, petrolium, and natural gas are used. Some hydroelectric, wind power, and nuclear fission sources are used, but in the US they accounted for less than 20% of the total energy consumption in 1997 (1). Many experts are worried that natural resources such as coal and petrolium are being depleted faster than they are being replenished, which could

Electricity is part of our daily lives, which makes our lives easier since it has been discovered, but nobody thought about the dangerous consequences we will face, now and in the future. In addition, most people do not know how electricity is produced; they just know how to consume it. Burning coal in giant boilers to generate steam that produces electricity and power other industries. However, the side effects of the use of coal to process energy have caused massive damage to Mother Nature and our environment that is escalating to the next level. This is the destruction of our environment. Electricity is primary conveniences as we continue develop our ways of living. But people must find alternative ways to get power without damaging our environment.

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.

Although humans use electricity for almost everything we do, we don’t realise that this is harming our environment in many ways. The production of electricity is causing a major loss of the earth’s natural resources such as:

By the late 1800s, the world’s first coal powered electric generator was made, the world’s first electric light was used, and the world’s first hydroelectric plant was utilized. A few years later a new type of fuel was becoming well-known, petroleum. Initially it had been an inconvenience for polluting water but by the end of the century oil, turned into gasoline, powered up engines. With the spread of economical gas cars and electricity, society’s energy use rapidly increased. Power plants became massive and power lines stretched out from hundreds of miles between cities, even during The Great Depression. After World War II, the use of energy was quickly doubling every 10 years and it concerned no one.