Technology Transfers: Developing Renewable Energy Sources Essay

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 The US’ reliance upon outdated energy sources continues to harm both the environment and the economy by producing millions of tonnes of pollution every year and costing the government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

The book is also helpful because it assists with spreading awareness that we are unlikely to solve global warming using todays methods thus preventing us from wasting more time on it. Renewable energy sources, and Carbon capture and sequestration (CCS) are common propositions as solutions. However, they have their own problems. Renewable energy sources’ have problems that revolve around how they are not cheap or reliable.

As we can see, the sense of urgency of this policy has kindled some sort of energy revolution in the world's developing nations. The Kyoto Protocol cannot perhaps be attributed with all the credit for this revolution, however it must have at the least given these nations a workable justification behind any changes that previously would have been unacceptable.

Renewable energy has currently become a significant aspect in the countries generation, combination, and a constitution focus of government policy for energy, and environmental protection. As a result of public’s growing responsibility for the environment and constantly binding rules, and regulations of emission in the electric power industry, government has facilitated policies to boost the amount of renewable energy in the electricity generation portfolio. Additionally, the generation of electricity from renewable resources creates insufficient, and frequently, zero emissions of pollutants that comes from traditional fossil fuel production technologies. The additional use of renewable energy aids utilities in their emission agreement obligations. Furthermore, the anticipation of agreement with any future carbon emissions management would further toughen the incentive to move towards cleaner electricity creating technologies (Langwith, 2009).

Addressing this issue, there has been a few things done in result of eliminating this problem. One solution being The Kyoto Protocol, "...was the first agreement between nations to mandate country-by-country reductions in greenhouse-gas emissions ( 'Extract ', 2011)." During this process, countries agreed to cut their yearly emissions of greenhouse gases. "Some countries and regions, including the European Union, were on track by 2011 to meet or

The switch to clean energy in the United States and around the world is a difficult necessity that must be met within the subsequent five to six decades. The prolonged use of damaging fossil fuels and other unsustainable forms of energy are greatly damaging the planet. These sources of non-renewable energy are bound to run out in the following century. Millions of square kilometers of Arctic ice has melted so far, the sea level is rising, and the CO2 levels present in the atmosphere are drastically increasing (Chang). The transition to renewable energy must be met; however, this is not a process possible to achieve overnight. This change will require an extensive amount of resources and time but will reap many benefits to the users of this growing technology.

Naturally the capitalistic world that we live in breeds competition, in turn leading to powerful private interests. This has resulted in powerful industrial partnerships with political figures. In order to bring our society forward we must act for change, to encourage modernization, overcoming the stacked odds. The only way to influence our country’s dependency on carbon-based energy is to make way for environmental advocates at all levels of policy. The Paris Climate Change efforts have us headed in the right direction, even though they hold no legal international clout. Individual countries are held responsible through the social pressures created by groups like the UNFCC, along with renewable industrial interests, has led to country social responsibility. Country social responsibility has been promoted by voluntary climate efforts, which resulted in ambitious goal allowing countries to claim leadership on a global issue. Our efforts would ideally result in net-zero emissions in developed and developing countries alike by 2050. The technology is available, but modernization has a social aspect as well. This is essential to promote environmental policy, in order to pressure industrial powers. We can only be successful if we change our current social patterns into virtuous environmental forms.

Naturally the capitalistic world that we live in breeds competition, in turn leading to powerful private interests. This has resulted in powerful industrial partnerships with political figures. In order to bring our society forward, we must act for change to encourage modernization, overcoming the stacked odds. The only way to influence our country’s dependency on carbon-based energy is to make way for environmental advocates at all levels of policy. The Paris Climate Change efforts have us headed in the right direction, even though they hold no legal international clout. Individual countries are held responsible through the social pressures created by groups like the UNFCC, along with renewable industrial interests, has led to country social responsibility. Country social responsibility has been promoted by voluntary climate efforts, which resulted in ambitious goals, allowing countries to claim leadership on a global issue. Our efforts would ideally result in net-zero emissions in developed and developing countries alike by 2050. The technology is available, but modernization has a social aspect as well. This is essential to promote environmental policy, in order to pressure industrial powers. We can only be successful if we change our current social patterns into virtuous environmental forms.

When the new Southeast Polk High School opened they added many new energy saving products. This included installing geothermal heating under the high school cutting back on the cost of heating such a large building. Many new windows help save on energy used to light the building along with automatic lights that turn off after several minutes without movement. The new high school shows how easy it is to save money and help the environment. Renewable energy is good for all aspects of the U.S, providing jobs, economical growth, environmental cleanliness, and new research for improving energy efficiency. Therefore the United States should use renewable energy to benefit the economy and environment.

“The Kyoto Protocol is an international treaty which extends the 1992 United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) that commits State Parties to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, based on the premise that (a)

Bilen et al., (2008:1531) predicted that global energy consumption will account for around 85% of the increase in world primary demand over 2002– 2030. The increasing of global energy demand happens the global stock of fossil fuel resources may be adequate for short term period, thus requiring the development of renewable energy sources, which would not decrease the stock of fossil fuel resources available for future generation. There is an increasing interest in the development of renewable energies such as biofuel and wind power, which have a great potential energy to produce enough power for the world’s population demand.

The proportion of Renewables must increase to around 50% of the energy mix in most countries and is expected to be over 70% in countries Brazil and Africa. Energy efficiencies and low carbon energy carriers for heating and cooling can decarbonize electricity, significantly reducing the share of fossil fuels to less than 50% in the total energy requirement. Sharing best practices across borders can help transfer innovative technologies and support energy transition plans for many of the developing countries that are majorly dependent on coal as a primary source of energy. Over the coming years the dependence on fossil fuel will have to gradually reduce and much of investment must go into making this transition possible.

With global warming being one of the most significant event over the past decade and at present, the need to reduce Green House Gas (GHG) emissions have become globally widespread and pertinent especially because climate change has flow-on ramifications on the society and economy (Goldin & Katz, 2008; King, 2013). Ironically, while it can be said that technology is a major contributor to the issue of global warming (Zerzan, 2009), technology is also seen as one of the key tools to help overcome climate change (Jasanoff, 2002). Moomaw et. al. (2011, p. 165) states that “renewable energy [technology] (RET) may

Energy is a crucial necessity and with the ever increasing need for it and the high and fluctuating prices of oil, researchers are constantly coming up with newer and more sophisticated alternative sources of energy. However, energy comes at a cost, as it is either expensive or it possesses high health risks. This essay presents the concept of energy by discussing the two major types of energy, the various forms it could take, including renewable sources of energy, energy conservation and above all it talks about the safest and cleanest alternatives.

Annex I countries are industrialized nations with large carbon emissions, such as the US, Australia, EU, and Russia. The agreement has four implementation mechanisms designed to achieve the desired reductions in emissions, but only asks that countries comply with the reductions rather than suggesting a methodology. The primary method for countries to reduce emissions is through domestic policies, traditionally taking the form of governmental controls, which each nation would be responsible for creating and enforcing. Domestic policy is “…likely to become a ‘hook’ to ensure that the industrialized countries implement the policies necessary to spur real changes towards less carbon-intensive production and consumption patterns (Depledge 11).” The domestic policy article in the Kyoto Protocol is intended to provide governments, not an international body, with direct control over domestic emissions.