In chapter thirteen of our book, Environment by Raven and Berg, it shows us just how important renewable energy sources are. Currently the United States of America thrives on the use of fossil fuels and nuclear power. The main problems with these types of fuel are that they are both limited and can be extremely harmful to our environment. They cause global warming, air pollution, acid rain, and oil spills (Environment), and not only that, but in the grand scheme of things, these sources really aren’t even that cheap of a fuel source. There are many alternatives to these all but outdated fuel sources. Renewable energy is the future, and we should embrace it. The planet we live on is teeming with so many untapped renewable energy sources. These include energy from the sun, water, wind, geothermal sources, and even biomass sources such as the use of ethanol from corn. (Renewable Energy Sources in the United States) While these are all great sources of alternative energy, I want to focus mainly on solar energy. My question is why aren’t more of our cars, homes, and businesses running on solar power? Many other countries have started to use several if not all of these renewable energy sources, yet we have barely begun to tap into the very tip of the iceberg when it comes to renewable energy. So why are we, United States of America as a whole, still stuck in the old world thinking of non-renewable fossil fuels? We have a very bright future ahead of us indeed if we simply pick up the pace on even only one of the many renewable sources. Solar power for instance is one of the most popular and easiest of all of the renewable energy sources to harness, especially for home and business uses. (Galbraith) For around the same ... ... middle of paper ... ...ly overcome our financial security, but also, maybe even more importantly, protect our environment so that future generations may enjoy the beauty of raw nature. Works Cited Almasy, Steve. “Solar Cars still a way off” January 28, 2009 Galbraith, Kate. “Solar Energy” Feb. 19, 2009 Lewis, Jaye. “Harness Solar Power for Your Home and Garden” Raven, Peter, and Linda Berg. Environment 5th Edition. New Jersey: Wiley, 2006 “Renewable Energy Sources in the United States” September 17, 2009 “Solar Power” September 30, 2009
Why don’t we use more renewable energy sources? What role do they currently play? According to Energy Kids, in 2008 renewable resources only produced seven percent of the energy that we used. One reason we don’t use a lot of renewable energy
Despite generating electricity with fossil fuels for years and years there is a much better way that does not harm the environment. Using Solar panels does not produce any carbon dioxide unlike fossil fuels that “produces huge volumes of carbon dioxide, which is a gas that influences the global climate” (“Solar Power Vs. Fossil Fuels”). Having the choice to get power in a new way that saves the environment, home owners should not have to think twice about trying solar. In fact if home owners collect some amount of watts per hour on Monday, that will not reduce the amount of solar energy a home owner can collect on Wednesday or any other day that week. They can always keep collecting the power. No matter what people may argue about how much coal, natural gas and petroleum remains buried in the Earth, those fossil fuels will run out far earlier than the life of the sun ("Solar Power Vs. Fossil Fuels"). Home owners should invest in solar energy because solar systems have very dependable technology with little maintenance, they offer financial savings and they are better for the environment.
Fifthly, we can achieve our ideals of obtaining sustainable development and a high quality of life; we will also be able to save the lost “environmentalist” souls from wandering past these ideals.
Our country is currently suffering energy-wise, we have been powering with inefficient sources for years now and the harm that it is doing to the country has started to become apparent. Renewable energy is the only way to stop, or at the very least, set back the inevitable downfall of our ecosystem. I think that the next big breakthrough for renewable energy is implementing off-grid communities that use renewable sources as their main sources of power, so that we can potentially escape the energy rut that we got ourselves stuck in. America is wasting their finite resources, such as coal and nuclear, when we could actually be using renewable sources that will never run out. Most of our country’s citizens have never thought about where their energy comes from, or they do not even care.
The future of the United States solar energy industry will be shaped not only by economic growth, but also by the rate of declining oil resources and the global realization of the consequences of human induced climate change. Political responses to this realization in the United States include; new policies, legislature, and tax incentives to both businesses and private households to promote growth and investment in the solar power industry.
Claim: Solar power has the potential to become the United States main supply of energy and replace are needs for more conventional and harmful forms of power generation.
...ative, renewable energy resources. Most tend to think of solar power, wind power, and hydroelectricity as the most capable alternatives to fossil fuels, yet that mindset is greatly evolving.
According to the diagram provided, only 10% of the total energy used in the United States is obtained from renewable energy sources. Even though the use of biomass waste, a type of renewable energy, is only 5%, I claim that the United States should increase its usage above all other types of renewable energy.
Solar is a viable alternative energy source with solar panels becoming more affordable and more efficiently designed.
...mful diseases, cleaner environment, last but not the least, saving the planet for our future generation.
...at we need. Clean up the rivers and streams, lakes and oceans. Reduce the use of chemicals and pesticides. But society must do something, even if only donating money to an organization who does. Just do something to help, before even more animals disappear, before all the fish and forests are gone, before the earth has so little diversity that only humans remain.
... emissions and protect our natural resources, before we look to make a profit. Because once the natural resources and ozone are destroyed and gone, they are gone forever.
In the search for alternatives to fossil fuels, scientists and policy makers have focused on three options: nuclear power, energy from biomass; and a combination of wind, water, and solar power. Nuclear power, however, is much more costly and runs the risk of having it fall into the wrong hands where it could be turned into a weapon of mass destruction. The third option entails wind turbines, photovoltaic power plants and rooftop systems, concentrated solar thermal power plants,...
There are different kinds of resources that we can use in order to produce renewable energy. Solar power, wind power, hydroelectric power are just some of the kinds of renewable energy that might be the best options to obtain energy because they come from natural resources. Although renewable energy can be expensive to build, it has less environmental damage in comparison to non-renewable energy. Besides the natural resources such as sun, wind, water and hydrogen, we also have geothermal power, and biofuels as renewable sources.
Using fossil fuels such as coal and oil is inefficient, dangerous, and otherwise a process that is known to eventually fail as a long lasting energy source. Yet, there is hope for the future of energy, this new hope has many shapes and forms, but requires a chance to be fully implemented in our everyday life. Such energy sources like solar energy, wind energy, geothermal energy, and hydro power are the key to our future. These energy sources are proven to be long lasting, safe, more reliable, and the next innovation. In short, all Americans should switch to renewable energy, resulting in a safer and more efficient world.