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Renewable Energy Options is the Future
Vincent Nguyen
Abstract
The average temperature of the world is continually increasing at a rapid rate.
This is primarily believed to be due to the use of non-renewable resources which emits
harmful greenhouse gases into the atmosphere. Greenhouse gases trap the heat from
escaping therefore increases the average temperature of the earth. This increase in
temperature has causes mass environmental damage at a global scale. Sea levels are
rising, droughts are getting more intense, weather patterns are being altered, and
growing seasons are being lengthened to begin with. There is a solution to this problem
is that is the use of renewable resources that harvest unlimited energy.
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These resources are clean meaning that there is little to no harmful emissions
into the air. The amount of these resources being used today is surprisingly low. The
world is still depending on fossil fuels to create energy and it is having a devastating
effect on the planet. The reason for the lack of a push for a change in energy harvesting
methods is down to public opinion. The more powerful countries who emit the most
greenhouse gases are not nearly as concerned for the planet as the smaller, poorer
nations. The media has to promote the positives of renewable energy options to the
general public so they can be informed. This is the way to get the government to fund
the construction of these renewable energy options and reduce the reliance on fossil
fuels. If humans do not take action and protect the environment, then soon, they will
realize too late when they feel the effects themselves.
Introduction
Nature’s worst enemy are humans. Our dependency on fossil fuels such as coal,
oil, and natural gas has caused our only home to suffer. By burning these fossil fuels,
large amounts of greenhouse gases are released into the atmosphere each year. These
gases trap in heat and over the past century, according to the University of California
UC Riverside, temperatures have risen “roughly 1.33°F over all land and ocean
surfaces”. (UCR, 2011) It may not seem like much but this increase in temperature has
impacted the earth in many ways already and also has the potential to damage it even
worse. NASA, a United States government agency that is responsible for science and
technology related to air and space, explains that the global warming has already
caused a change in rainfall patterns, an increase of intensity for droughts, and a rise in
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sea level to name a few. (NASA, 2014) This harms the balance in the ecosystem greatly
and this problem needs to be addressed urgently. If that is not bad enough, humans are
already being affected and it will only get worse. The increase in drought intensity will
cause more cases of heat stroke and the rise in sea levels means coastal flooding will
become more often.
Change has to occur somewhere to reduce our carbon emissions each year.
This is where renewable energy options come in. They are methods of obtaining
energy, like the energy obtained through the burning of fossil fuels, except it is clean
energy. There is little to no harmful emissions released into our atmosphere. All the
required technology is there but there is not nearly enough use of these resources. The
environment continues to deteriorate as long as humans depend on fossil fuels.
Renewable energy is the key to reducing the emitted greenhouse gases. This is not
possible though unless the public opinion on the topic is brought up more and is
encouraged by the government and media.
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Environmental Damage
Humans have been on the planet for only around 200,000 years and within those
200,000 years, only about 6,000 years ago has civilization began. Eric McLamb is the
founder and largest owner of Ecology Communications Group Inc. He explains that the
industrialization which began in the early 1800s meant the beginning of damage to the
environment began only around 200 years ago. (McLamb, 2011) Humans can be found
everywhere on Earth and the human population is increasingly growing every second.
In the past, human nature often helped benefit the natural environment through the
creation of artificial environments and soil cultivation. Now, human pressure on natural
environments is greater than before in terms of magnitude and efficiency in disrupting
nature and natural landscapes. (Kousen, 2000) According to J Kousen, a biology and
water analyst in Hobart, Indiana, there are many reasons for the damage caused to the
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natural environment that is due to humans. “The intensive agriculture replacing
traditional farming, mass tourism affecting mountains and coasts, and the policies
pursued in the industry, transport and
energy sectors having a direct and
damaging impact on the coasts, major
rivers, and mountain
landscapes.”(Kousen, 2000) are a few
key reasons she explains in depth in
her article. These reasons are only a
Figure 1. This map shows the odds of floods at least as high as
historic once-a-century levels, occurring by 2030, based on
Climate Central research.
few of the hundreds, if not thousands, of reasons why humans are a large reason of our
environmental damage. There needs to be a vast change in how the environment is
looked upon by higher authorities because our actions have already caused some
permanent damage.
John P. Holdren PhD., a professor in the Energy and Resources Program at
California Berkeley, supports my argument by stating that the population size and the
population growth is a key factor to the environmental damage. He says that the scale
of damage is constantly increasing due to the population requiring more and more since
it keeps on growing. The environment gets more and more polluted and torn down
generation after generation. As the human population increases, the amount of waste
created increases as well. (Holdren, 2010) The Population Reference Bureau (PRB)
informs people around the world about population, health, and the environment, and
empowers them to use that information to advance the well-being of current and
future generations. They explain that “High levels of consumption and industrialization,
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inequality in wealth and land distribution, inappropriate government policies, poverty,
and inefficient technologies all contribute to environmental decline.” (PRB, 2007) The
land available to humans is already limited so that puts a large strain on the
environment. This leads to more and more deforestation and decreasing the natural
environment even more.
The emission of carbon dioxide has been growing dramatically within the past
century due to humans. This is mainly because of the mass use of fossil fuels such as
coal and oil and the cutting down of forests. (PRB, 2007) The use of these nonrenewable sources are a “key contributor to climate change that is expected to produce
rising temperatures, lead to more extreme weather patterns, facilitate the spread of
infectious diseases, and put more stress on the environment.” (PRB, 2007) The air
pollution from the use of these resources affect the health of the environment in a
negative way. An example of the damage due to air pollution is that it causes natural
disasters such as acid rain which damages forests, streams, and lakes. According to
the World Resources Institute, the Unites States
of America is only behind China for the top
emitters of greenhouse gases in the world.
(Friedrich, 2011) According to this map for
Figure 2. CO₂ Emissions Totals - Total CO₂ Emissions
Excluding Land-Use Change and Forestry - 2011
(MtCO₂).
carbon emissions in 2011, China has the highest
carbon emission at 9,000.73 metric tons and then
the United States comes at second 5,334.32 metric tons. Then comes Russia at third
with 1,712.87 metric tons of carbon emissions. This has to change or else the planet as
we know it is going to continue on its path of destruction. (Friedrich, 2011) It is agreed
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upon increasingly by environmentalist and economists that “Slowing the increase in
population, especially in the face of rising per capita demand for natural resources, can
take pressure off the environment and buy time to improve living standards on a
sustainable basis.” (Hinrichsen, 2015)
Lastly, the mass meat industry has a large impact on why the environment is in
the state it is. Greenhouse gases are gases in the earth’s atmosphere and can be
produced in nature and through human industry. NOAA is an agency that enriches
life through science. Their reach goes from the surface of the sun to the depths
of the ocean floor as they work to keep citizens informed of the changing
environment around them. An increased amount of greenhouse gases generates high
temperatures on earth. The most abundant greenhouse gases are water vapor, carbon
dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide and ozone. (NOAA, 2011) Each and every living animal
produces greenhouse gases. According to Damian Carrington, the head author of
environment at the Guardian, “Emissions from
livestock, largely from burping cows and sheep
and their manure, currently make up almost
15% of global emissions. Beef and dairy alone
make up 65% of all livestock emissions.”(2014)
The meat industry has to keep up with the
Figure 3. Robert Nickelsberg / Getty
large demand of the consumers and because
Beef cattle grazed on a hillside 50 miles east of San
Francisco along Altamont Pass
of that, the carbon emissions from the animals
harm the ozone. Therefore, in order to cut back on these emissions, there needs to be a
solution. The meat industry is not going anywhere in the United States so in order to
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reduce the country’s carbon emission, we can change how the country obtains its
energy. There are numerous renewable resources that can replace the current methods
of relying on fossil fuels.
Renewable Resources
With the environment in such a critical condition, using renewable sources is one
of the biggest ways to reduce our carbon footprint and the choices we have are endless.
The U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA), collects, analyzes, and disseminates
independent and impartial energy information to promote sound policymaking, efficient
markets, and public understanding of energy and its interaction with the economy and
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the environment. They explain that more than 150 years ago, humans were relying
heavily on wood to supply the needs of the nation.(2015) Since then, the world has
changed and evolved meaning that different methods have been devised to harvest the
energy needed to run the nation. This is where non-renewable resources come in.
Resources such as coal, oil, and natural gas are considered as fossil fuels and
they are a limited resource. This means that
there is only so much supply of these before it
runs out. These resources have been created
naturally by the earth after millions of years
and once they are used up, they cannot be
Figure 4. Lifespan of how much fossil fuel is left. INFORSE - International Network for Sustainable
Energy
brought back. (EIA, 2015) According to the
Science Learning Hub, a national project that is funded by the New Zealand
government to support the teaching of science to the schools, says that:
“Fossil fuels were formed from animals and plants that lived hundreds of millions
of years ago (before the time of the dinosaurs). They were formed during the
Carboniferous period. The plants that lived millions of years ago converted the
Sun's light energy into chemical energy through the process of photosynthesis.
This 'solar' energy was (and still is) transferred down the food chain in animals,
and when living organisms die, the chemical energy within them was
trapped.”(2008)
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These resources have an expiration date and we as the next generation must look
forward to helping improve our environment while also providing the energy we need to
continue living.
Since those times of using wood for our resources to now where we have begun
using renewable resources, our progress of transition has been a rather slow one. As of
2015, only about 10% of the energy the
US consumes has been created by
renewable energy sources. Renewable
resources is key to reducing the
greenhouse gas emissions and also
whenever renewable sources are used,
that reduces the demand for fossil fuels. There is too much use of non-renewable
resources currently and it shows why the environment is taking a struggling. We must
push to make our transition to using more renewable sources quicker before our
environment takes too much permanent damage and before the non-renewable
resources run out.
There are many options when it comes to renewable resources. The earth, sun,
and moon all offer us energy in forms of wind, solar, hydro respectively, and much
more. All we have to do is build more of the devices we already have the technology for
to harvest these forms of energy. Seth Atchue, the author of SunWorksUSA, a website
which provides information about solar energy and how it can benefit customers, talks
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about how cost efficient solar energy is and how it is plentiful. The prices of solar power
are increasingly dropping allowing the installations of more panels. Advantages such as
these mean that there are no reason not to increase funding in order to install more
solar panels. (Atchue, 2016)
Then comes the option of using nuclear power. Mike Conley, who is the founder
of the Energy Reality Project which tries to advocate the public about climate change,
argues that nuclear power should be used because it can be considered as one of the
most environmentally friendly sources of energy because it produces much less
greenhouse gases than the usual coal power plants. Nuclear power plants can run
uninterrupted due to it not being dependent on weather but rather by the nuclear fission
of uranium.(2009) Although it is not considered a renewable source, it is far cleaner
than fossil fuels and there is a method currently being worked on to use the waste to
produce other fissionable elements. (2009)
The next options comes wind energy and hydroelectric with both being
renewable energy options. Wind energy uses the power of windmills and wind turbines
to generate electricity. Mathias Maehlum, an author for Energy Informative which is a
place for consumers to learn about and discuss energy efficiency and renewable
technologies, explains that the largest turbines can create enough electricity for over
600 homes but currently is only used to generate 2.5% of the U.S. energy. (Maehlum,
2012) The prices for these turbines and mills are rapidly decreasing making it an
affordable yet also positive alternative to the burning of fossil fuels. Hydropower
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according to Mathias Maehlum generates “20% of the world’s electricity consumption in
2006, the most used renewable energy source in the world”. (2014) Hydropower is one
of the safest methods of generating power as well because there is no fuel
consumption. Only water is needed to generate the electricity and that water gets
reused continuously. These clean energy options have been around for a few decades
but has not been used to its max potential. The main reason is that the public do not
have the necessary information to help promote the use of renewable energy resources.
Public Opinion
Public opinion on changing our current energy methods are varied and is the key
reason I believe our nation has not pushed towards relying on renewable energy more.
Without the public, the government has no reason to push towards increasing the speed
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of converting our
methods. A poll
conducted on adults
from 2008 to 2014 in
the United States by
the Yale Project on
Climate Change
Communication
(YPCCC) asked about
what are the adult’s
beliefs, risk perception
about climate change,
and policy support.
Figure 5. YPCCC poll chart on the percentage of the US and their opinions about climate
change.
(YPCCC, 2014) Within
those three categories, questions were asked with the adults answering yes, no, or
maybe. These polls showed an estimated percentage of adults in each state and how
they view climate change. According to the polls, about 63% of the adults think that
global warming is actually occurring with less than half of those polled believing that
humans are the main cause of it. (YPCCC, 2014) Only 34% of those polled believe that
they will be affected by the global warming showing how much they believe the risk is to
the planet. The positive results came in when they were asked if they supported funding
for renewable resources and if CO2 should be regulated with the poll numbers showing
77% and 74% support respectively. (YPCCC, 2014) This shows that the public are in
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support of changing our current methods of generating energy but are not too
concerned that they will be affected by the climate change. This is worrying because if
the general public do not feel like they are going to be impacted by the global warming,
then they will have no reason to fight for change.
Besides the public being not too concerned about the state of the environment,
they are also misinformed. Dr. Brandly Ph.D. teaches economics at Patrick Henry
College and is a member of the Board of Scholars of the Virginia Institute of Public
Policy. He believes that there needs to be a societal push in order for change to occur.
Dr. Brandly Ph.D. talked about how misunderstanding about nuclear power has made
the industry a political target. (Brandly, 2001) He explains that, “With fossil fuel plants,
tons of pollutants are emitted into the atmosphere. Nuclear plants release no gaseous
pollutants and the amount of radioactivity is miniscule. Those living near a nuclear plant
face less radioactivity per capita than is encountered in many normal daily activities.”
(Brandly, 2001) The public after the Three
Mile Island nuclear meltdown in
Pennsylvania and the Chernobyl disaster
were afraid of nuclear reactors. The thing
was that the damage was contained in
Three Mile Island because of the up to date
Figure 6. A single home located less than 5 miles from a
nuclear power plant.
safety precautions set while in Chernobyl
(not in the US) was not up to safety
protocol. Others believed that nuclear reactors are similar to the nuclear missile which is
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to be feared unlike the reactors. The public needs to be informed more about all the
renewable energy options available and why we need to change our current methods. If
they sense the urgency, then I believe that there will be a big movement to fight back
against the use of fossil fuels.
The United Nations Environment Programme is the leading global environmental
authority that sets the global
environmental agenda and serves as an
advocate for the global environment.
“On April 22, leaders and
representatives from more than 150
countries gathered at the United Nations
to sign the global climate change
Figure 7. The Paris Agreement has been approved. UNEP
agreement reached in Paris in
December.” (UNEP, 2016) What was found at the meeting was that the countries like
America and China who have the highest overall carbon emission were less concerned
than the countries in Latin America and Africa. It was reported that approximately
around 20% of the leaders were concerned in China and for the US around only 40%. In
Brazil, 80% of the leaders believed this was a serious problem and in the African
nations, the general concern was around 60-70%. This is very bad because if the
leaders of the largest carbon emitting nations do not believe this is a serious issue, then
that means the citizens are not pushing enough to reverse the high amount of
emissions. What was surprising is that in Brazil, roughly 90% believe that they are
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currently being impacted right now due to the climate change while only 41% have the
same belief for America. (UNEP, 2016) The smaller nations are the ones who are
concerned because they do not have the resources to fight against the emissions. It is
up to the people to influence the decision making of the leaders of these powerful
nations. This way, the leading nations can begin implementing policies that can
increase the use of renewable resources.
Conclusion
If nothing is done to reduce our carbon footprint, then environment we have
come to know and love will continue to change drastically. Many lives will be lost due to
the effects of the burning fossil fuels if the current trends continue. Our sea levels will
keep rising which leads to coastal flooding, our droughts will become harsher and more
intense, and more species will become endangered or extinct. The resources are there
and the technology is getting more advance each year. There are many renewable
resources that do not release the harmful greenhouse gases that the burning of fossil
fuels do. Nations can create their own energy without having to import massive amounts
of fossil fuels. It is down to the public to hold the government accountable for what they
agreed upon in the Paris Agreement.
In the end, the fate of the human race and many other species is all in our hands.
What nations decide to do within the next few decades will determine the outcome of
the world. The world does not need us but we do need the world. The public needs to
be informed more about the current situation of the world; then they will see that change
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has to happen. If public influences the leaders of the global powerhouses to become
more concerned about the situation, then they can put in place policies that will slowly
but surely repair the damages done to the environment. Therefore, renewable
resources is the easiest and most logical option to fix our home.
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Multimodal
The first portion of text that I chose to highlight was because it talks about how
humans have impacted the environment in a negative way. They have caused damage to
the planet and the picture is used to depict how our actions have influenced nature. The map
shows the increase in historic record flooding levels that would normally occur around once a
century. With the influence of humans, the percentage of risk of global warming flood due to
the rise in sea levels is much higher than the percentage without human impact. Next, I
included a map of the world from the World Resources Institute. It depicts that the US and
China are the top two carbon emitters in the world by a mile. What was highlighted explained
the statistical numbers from the map to show that the US and China need to be the ones
who begin the movement of changing their energy harvesting methods. For the last picture in
the Environmental Damage subtopic, I used a picture of a few cows with CO2 written above
with a gas cloud. The highlighted text explains how much carbon emissions come from the
meat industry and that the meat industry is a major contributor to our carbon footprint.
For my next subtopic, Renewable Resources, I included a chart that explains the
expected life span remaining on each non-renewable resource. The text talks about what
non-renewable resources are and that they are limited. The chart compliments the text by
showing that for certain fossil fuels, they won’t even last until the next century. The next
image is a pie chart that breaks down the energy consumption by energy source in the US. It
further breaks down how much of each renewable energy is currently being used to produce
the renewable energy portion of the graph. The lines highlighted talks about there is not
enough use of renewable resources and that there is still too much reliance on nonrenewable resources. In the final subtopic, Public Opinion, I chose to insert the opinion poll
conducted by the Yale Project on Climate Change Communication on US adults. It shows
how the general public view certain questions about the climate. My highlighted text explains
what the poll chart is depicting and how the adults answered. My last picture was a picture of
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a house in Pennsylvania that is within a 5 mile radius of the Three Mile Island Power Plant.
This goes along with the quote from my resources which explains that the general public are
misinformed about nuclear power. They believe it is dangerous to be around and this picture
shows that it is perfectly safe to live close to the plant. My last and I think my best multimodal
addition is a video by the United Nations Environment Programme. The video explains what
happened during the Paris Agreement and that the world leaders have all come together to
fight climate change. My text explains what the nations all gathered together to approve. I
think this shows that the world has had its turning point but now it is up to the people to
follow through with their promises.