There are currently many different resources for energy usage, both renewable and non-renewable. Non-renewable resources include those resources which, once used, will cease to exist, such as oil and coal being mined from the Earth. Kentucky, the state in which I live, was listed as the third largest producer of electricity using coal in 2011 (Kentucky, 2012). This output accounted for 10 percent of the United States’ total coal production for that year, as well as ninety-three percent of the total electricity generated for the state (Kentucky, 2012). Ghent Power Station, which is incidentally about seven miles from my house, is listed in the 100 largest electric U.S. power plants from 2010 (Kentucky, 2012). My house does currently utilize both electric and natural gas resources. The electric is from a power company which uses a coal-generated electricity output method and the gas is our heat source through the furnace. Coal and natural gas are, however, fossil fuels and as such are non-renewable. To travel, both of our vehicles uses gasoline, which is refined from oil, also a non-renewable resource, and the use of which produces large amounts of pollution that contribute to the greenhouse effect. Mining for both of these also affects the ecosystems in which they are found, destroying forests and thereby removing the homes of several animals. However, for our next vehicle purchase, I believe we will strongly consider a hybrid vehicle, relying on both gasoline and electricity. Should renewable resources become available for these power needs, however, we can only hope that current power providers would update their equipment to provide power through renewable methods. As such, there are three renewable resources that I will focus...
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... start of this incentive, very few of the bulbs in our house are regular light bulbs. Recently we took the option afforded by our electric company to install a switch on our water heater that, during the summer months, cycles the amount of time that the heater is actually on, thereby saving electricity during those hotter months. Other ways that we could save energy would be to replace the filters in our house on a regular basis, I could car pool to work and my husband could walk to work more often, and we could install shower heads in the bathrooms that allowed for less water flow to conserve the amount of hot water used (Energy Conservation, 2013). There are several things that people can do to conserve energy, and the incentives being introduced by energy companies to assist in this endeavor are commendable. Saving energy now could very well save the Earth later.
While DST’s conserves energy used to power businesses and industries, it is offset by an increased use of electricity from residential areas.
Thirty-seven percent of the energy used in the United States comes from oil. Natural gas comes in at second, contributes twenty five percent of the energy. Coal gives us twenty one percent of our energy while the other seventeen percent comes from other energy sources. Those other resources include nuclear, wind, and mostly solar. Besides the environmental harm that some people think fracking has, it has the potential to produce more natural gas and oil. It also is a non-renewable resource and will take a very long time for it to come back because of the earth’s natural creation. Solar and wind power are renewable, but do not produce enough energy to run our country. All of the solar panels and wind mills we have on the earth right now could ...
Two people who believe this are reporters at the Breit Bart News Network. Julian Morris and Victor Nava believe that, “‘Green’ energy subsidies benefit the politically connected while harming future generations as hundreds of millions of dollars are added to the country’s debt burden with each green failure.” In a way Morris and Nava are correct. According to Mathias Aarre Maehlum, “Residential solar systems are typically sized from 3 to 8kW and end up costing between $15,000 and $40,000.” This can add up to become very expensive when implementing solar energy throughout the country. However, with the advancements in technology growing every year the cost will decrease over time. The cost of implementation can in fact go down as well through the use of community solar gardens. This helps the homes that are shaded and cannot absorbs the Sun’s energy. The energy from the community solar gardens are shared through out those homes. Switching to solar energy can also save money over time. Rhone Resch, president of the Solar Energy Industries Association confirms this. Resch says, “Today, the solar industry employs nearly 175,000 Americans and pumps more than $15 billion a year into the U.S. economy – and we’re just scratching the surface of our enormous potential” (qtd. in
Reliance on major non-renewable resources has had, and continues to have detrimental effects on the environment. These resources found in the earth are mined and drilled so that people around the world can benefit from their use. For example, the majority of Americans, and most of the world’s population, uses gasoline to fuel their vehicles in order to commute back and forth from one place to another and gas to heat the homes in which they spend the bulk of their time. With the world’s population consistently growing, the amount of vehicles on the roadways increases therefore causing the amount of fuel being used to increase. The same goes for planes and ships that transport people greater distances, whether it be from Virginia to California, or the United States to China. The carbon emissions released pose a threat to the global climate (“Fossil”). Not only does the emission of fossil fuels hinder earth’s atmosphere, but the availability of the non-renewable resources used daily is also shrinking. Though the United States may not be greatly affected by the environmental dangers, other countries continuously struggle with locating drinkable water, maintaining consistent levels of agricultural produce and...
... reduce natural gas consumption. Long-term I am committed to installing new energy efficient windows to truly reduce energy consumption. To help reduce the family’s water consumption we recently installed an energy efficient washing machine that uses over 60% less water than the previous model that was installed. As an additional means in which to help conserve water I will be installing a rain barrel in the summer to water our outdoor plants. While these actions might not seem significant, they can make a significant difference. According to Energy Star, a U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, if every home in America replaced just one incandescent light bulb with an Energy Star qualified CFL, in just one year it would save enough energy to light more than 3 million homes. That would prevent the release of greenhouse gas emissions equal to that of about 800,000 cars.
There is no doubt that human activity is having a significant impact on our environment. These environmental impacts include depleting our natural resources, air and water pollution, climate change, destruction of habitats, and loss of biodiversity. Because of these growing concerns, we need to learn how to live sustainably. Living sustainably will allow us to conserve our limited resources more wisely so they will be available for future generations (Withgott & Brennan, 2011, Chapter 1).
The nuclear accident in Fukushima, Japan revealed the fragility of highly centralised energy systems that are not adapted into complex societies. Some technological solutions such as carbon dioxide capture or shale gas could even turn out to be mere illusions in the future. Meanwhile, energy costs are increasing every day, with social consequences. As a result, there have been calls for strong involvement of local authorities in formulating energy policies for cities. This will give rise to a more prominent place to decentralise policies on the basis of energy efficiency, energy savings as well the use of renewable energy. It is widely anticipated that the implementation of these policies by the relevant city authorities will play a prominent role in the transition to energy efficient cities (Energy-cities, 2011).
Environmentally Friendly Electric vehicles are today’s zero-emission vehicles. They have no tailpipes and emit no pollutants. Instead of gasoline from oil refineries, electric vehicles get their “fuel” from electric power stations. Although power plants using fossil fuels do have emissions, power plant emissions generated for electric vehicle use are typically much lower than emissions from the comparable use of gasoline-powered cars. For power plants using renewable energy sources like wind, solar and hydropower, no air pollution is created.
The introduction of more commercially available diesel and fully electric vehicles has started to impact the sales figures of hybrids which is surprising to me because of the natural deficiencies that the hybrid vehicle has to overcome to be more effective both in environmental savings and cost savings to the end user. I believe that some combustion automobiles offer equal if not greater environmental and cost savings over hybrid vehicles. I believe this because the manufacturing and disposal process for batteries is very damaging to the earth, and the longevity of the parts is less than that of a normal vehicle. Also, if measuring environmental impact by comparing fuel consumption, many diesel cars are able to achieve greater miles per gallon than similar hybrid vehicles.
Department of Energy, vehicles that run on gasoline emit the equivalent of 11,435 pounds of carbon dioxide per year on average nationwide. For all-electric vehicles, this average drops to about 4,815 pounds of carbon dioxide per car, per year (Emissions). Based on these statistics, there are definitely measurable benefits that come from using cleaner energy sources for travel. Cars that run solely on electricity produce less than half the amount of emissions that vehicles that run on solely on gasoline do. While the use of only electric cars is not necessarily the best possible solution to the problem of inefficient travel methods on a widespread level, they do provide a good example of clean technology that has already been created and somewhat implemented into daily use. If these types of vehicles where used by the majority of the population, it is easy to see that amount of damage done to the environment by greenhouse gas emission would drastically decrease. Moreover, the type of technology used in electric cars could be expanded to use in aircraft as well to create hybrid aircraft that use electricity along with fuel as a power source, therefore decreasing the amount of fossil fuels they consume and the amount of carbon dioxide they release in emissions. Clearly, there is much room for improvement in the efficiency of vehicles and aircraft, but there needs to be a larger initiative to take action on this issue if we are to protect the
Household energy conservation is a very practical and realistic approach to conserving energy within our society. US households consume a tremendous amount of natural gas as well as electric energy. It has been calculated that the amount of energy consumed within the US increased exponentially from about 1850 to 1975. If energy continued to increase at this rate, we would be experiencing severe energy shortages in our current society. Luckily, steps towards conservation, including various energy regulations, have curbed that growth somewhat, brining the predicted 160 Qbtu/yr for the year 2000 down to around 93.8 Qbtu/yr by the year 1996. However, household energy usage is still a major issue as households consume about 38% of the total consumed energy and contribute greatly to natural gas consumption and issues such as global warming. Therefore, it is important that people understand how we use energy in the household and what steps can be taken to conserve that energy.
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.
The world that we live into today affords us the expectation that the flip a switch will turn the lights on. As populations increase and developing nations undergo dramatic economic growth, this energy demand will only continue to grow. The International Energy Agency (IEA) believes that “the world’s energy needs could be 50% higher in 2030 than they are today” (ElBaradei). Given this projected growth, it is necessary for world leaders must take action to secure the energy supply. Meaning that world leaders need to start seriously considering an alternative to non-renewable energy sources. “In 2012, the United States generated about 4,054 billion kilowatt-hours of electricity. About 68% of the electricity generated was from fossil fuel (coal, natural gas, and petroleum), with 37% attributed from coal” (U.S. Energy Information Administration). The fossil fuels that are used to supply over half of our country’s energy are in finite supply and are increasing in price to astronomical heights.
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.
Imagine a life without lights, televisions, computers, trains, washing machine, refrigerators and microwaves. Imagine a planet so polluted that smog is in the air so bad that one cannot see very far, lakes and streams are poisoned, and land so badly scarred from people trying to find more energy sources. This may become reality in nearly future as a result of abuse of our energy resources. That reveals that energy is most important in our life, while a planet where we live is important too, a planet which effected by both generate the energy to meet our demands, and our use of energy.