Our third topic is again a very pertinent and fascinating topic: Should we consider alternative energy sources or stick with the old and well-known ways? Your colleague, Han would like you to read the following articles to be able to form a knowledgeable opinion about the topic:
http://www.wtrg.com/EnergyCrisis/index.html,
http://www.energycrisis.org, and
http://www.alternative-energy-news.info (be sure to check out the links as well, especially http://www.alternative-energy-news.info/biofuel-market-set-to-grow/).
Your job is the same as for the previous topics, with a deadline of Sunday, February 8, 2009.
Have fun with it,
Kinga
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Energy usage is an delicate fact that we have to start to worry about. The US dependance on oil is alarming and the facts around it are not really good. Alternative sources are needed in order to regulate the consumption and the availability of the energy sources we have right know. The articles mention different kinds of energy resources that could be an option, like biomass and solar energy. Biomass and solar energy are good options because they are renewable, and cheaper than oil, because biomass is just burning waste material and solar energy because it is generated form the sun. Other source I think would be a good option but is not listed in the articles is nuclear power, which is power generated by uranium decay. France actually uses it, being the source of 87.5% of their electricity generation. It costs the same as coal, so its not expensive to make, and produces huge amounts of energy with small amounts of fuel, but the disadvantage is that is not renewable. Mentioning all this, there are a lot of opportunities that have to be exploited in order to regulate the situation the energy usage reality is facing.
The resources we are taking for granted are coming to an end. And, We, the people currently living in this world should not be so selfish to their own well-being, and neglect or forget those that will follow in the coming years. This issue not only deals with the issue of the children and their children. It also deals with the issue of balance in life and the planet. Global warming is only one factor that causes unbalance in nature. But the bricks that have been holding life at balance will soon deteriorate, and life will not continue in the same it once took.
Oil and coal are considered as the greatest sources of energy of this time. They run almost every device and household that is considered of great importance to human life. However, these sources will not last forever.
People have to consider the fact of finding alternatives for energy sources. The idea of solar energy, biomass, and even nuclear energy are great resources of energy that are also considered to being cheap and very rich in energy.
But I think the biggest problem is, people don’t want to change. People are actually afraid of change. They are so happy with what they have and the amount of time they spent to transform these fuels into energy, that they simply to do not want to endure the troubles of doing all this work and research again.
This is why, it should be our generation, the one that is newly blossoming, to take this change, and start to work on preserving Earth’s natural resources, and fight for your alternative energy resources.
Our world that we know of today, is going to fall apart inevitably without energy. Fossil fuels have been our way of life all this time. However, the recent increase in price of this resource is exactly the kind of symptom that we should fear, and work on finding an alternative. For some people affording it has turned impossible. To make things worse, our need for energy is actually increasing every single day. Therefore, I think, to look for an alternative source is absolutely the best and the most ideal thing to do for us right now.
Its not just the exhaustion of fossil fuels that we should worry about, we should also look into the impact it is creating on our environment. Mother Nature lives upon balance. Too much usage of something is definitely not a good thing. Fossil fuels that we are about to exhaust has left our world polluted as the recycling process of the waste we create was not fast enough. With this, I should say, we should have been looking for an alternative power source which was much cleaner and re-usable, a long time back and should have already implemented it.
In my opinion, we should develop some more alternative energy sources especially renewable energies such as nuclear energy, wind energy, solar energy. As we know, coal is non-renewable energy and its contamination is great. What’s more, due to some official statistics, coal will be used up in the coming several hundred years. I do believe we should do something not only for ourselves but also for our off springs. Nowadays, scientists are keeping researching more alternative energy sources. Although researches cost a great deal of money, but I think it does make sense! There are some successful applied examples for solar energy, wind energy and so on. The world has been getting benefits via applying renewable energies because their contaminations are few and they don’t cost a lot of money after the first investments. What’s more, dong this protects the earth, ourselves and our off springs. So I do believe we should consider alternative energy sources, especially renewable energies.
Everybody needs energy. The energy demand is increasing every year but that demand can’t be cover because the energy is decreasing and will vacant someday. Because of that I’m really agree if they want to produce alternative energy to alter the old one. We need to prepare for the new one before our old energy is done. From those articles many people have already tried to find the new one but it’s hard to find the better energy resources than the fossil energy that we have one right now. Also the cost for the new energy is higher than the old one. Because of that right now nobody is using the new one. Nowadays there are many machines that use sun energy. In my opinion its better if we invent utility that use sun as its energy because this energy will never be finished until the sun itself is disappeared. And effort to find the new energy resources is really good and it will help the future of human life
Lack of energy source is an inevitable obstacle in our world. Our world has been heavily depending on oil and coal sources. These sources are not a renewable source, so one day it would be gone in our life. Also because of oil sources, there are always changes in our market prices and economics. Since it is a problem that we have to solve one day, it is prudent to start coming up with renewable sources that can substitute the fossil fuel.
Lot of ideas has already come out, such as solar energy, wind energy, and more other energy sources that are infinite in our world. Even though these sources are approved as an energy source, not many people actually use these sources as their real sources. To solve this problem, there should be more ways and things to be invented to use these renewable sources. It has to be more convenient for people to actually use these sources. With no doubt, there should be a new type of sources for us to use than just using fossil fuel.
Alternative energy is a very hot topic now. All the hype about global warming added fuel to the fire of researching new sources of energy. So far there hasn't been any successfull development for effective use. Solar panels are too costly and they produce toxic waste when they are manufactured. Wind turbines, honestly seem like a joke. They break down so often that it outweighs the benefits. It also require so much maintenance that it would cost too much to maintain. Research is underway in all parts of the world to develop a plausible alternative energy. Nuclear was seen as a solution ultill they found out that nuclear waste is so much worse than co2 emission which caused global warming. Right now no scientist has found a safe way to dispose of this radioactive waste. I hope in time we can truly find a safe and clean energy source.
20th century’s Industrial Revolution based on our Fossil fuel consumption finally cost us as a global warming and other environmental problems. People are aware of these problems, but since this is not only an environmental problem, it is hard to just move on to the other alternative energy.
In the world, some things are just hard to change, energy is one of them. As we know, there are some hybrid-vehicles are on the street. Although, it is very expensive and still requires some improvements, it is one of the most successful alternative energy types. Still many companies are trying to make solar energy as new primary source of the electricity. Solar energy itself might be perfect alternative and renewable energy, but other required equipments cost for the solar energy could be more than actual benefit.
Currently, we cannot simply move on to the alternative energy source. Some hybrid-products might become a mainstream of the market, but not sudden change in our primary energy source. So till our renewable alternative energy become a primary source of our energy, we have to save our energy.
Over the last several decades, the alternating energy sources have risen as the biggest issue that we human beings have ever faced. The main energy source that we are using now is the oil. Energy resource experts estimate that the oil will only last approximately 40 more years if we using the oil in the rate we are using now. That means, after 40 years, we cannot use electricity,cars, and whatsoever that we absolutely need in our lives. There are several other energy resources, which are on the process of developing to be used as the alternating energy sources for replacing the oil. However, developing new energy resources cost very much, destroy environment, and the worst thing is no one can sure about the result, whether it's going to be successful or not. However, we cannot live without out energy, then I think all we can do is to develop the new source of energy in the way that harms environment less.
The fact that carbon based fuel is depleting, give us a hint, that it MUST be replaced with a new one, alternative source of fuel. We cannot sustain something that is unsustainable. People have to go back to their senses, if they only reduce the usage of carbon fuel, they will only slow down their own upcoming trouble once the fuel is run out of stock. Last time, human depend on steam and coal, and then came along oil. We, humans, change, hence it is understandable that we have to change, and find an alternative way to harvest energy. Carbon dioxide and sulfur dioxide residue from oil and coal have brought a tremendous damage to the earth. however we can cope with it, as we are improving ourselves. I think, a change to nuclear energy, which is the most feasible way to produce energy for the mass now, is the most justified alternative. Definitely, there is a drawback, as the waste disposal and residue may came up troubling. Nonetheless, we definitely, have to move on and start doing things with alternative energy source. The sooner the better.
There is no doubt that we must find alternative energy resources as soon as possible because fossil fuel will be exhausted in several decades. I think that we should started save energy right now to strive for time. I don’t believe that biofuel can be a permanent choice. The population of world is boomingly increasing. All the farmland should be used to feed those who are suffering from hunger instead of those rich people’s engine. I agree to use nuclear energy. As we all known that sun’s energy is produced by nuclear reaction. I believe that nuclear energy will finally become the main energy resource of earth. I strongly support to build an artificial sun on earth. A nuclear plant occupies only a few hectares of lands, and with the development of technology, nuclear energy will be easier for us to control and become very safety. Compared with nuclear energy, all the other alternative energy recourses have their own advantages. They can be the additions to nuclear energy when nuclear energy is not accessible.
I think new president Obama has a very good plan for new alternative energy source. He is inventing a lot of money into delevoloping new energy source. His plan will create many jobs for the United States and it will save the earth. Since the United States is one of the biggest oil consuming country, the United States is definitely reponsible of the world pollution. According to the articles, there are variety of new energy sources, but not many of them look like reliable and capable of producing enough energy. The most important object is developing energy source that can produce enough energy for everybody. The wind generated or wave generated power plants look little bit insufficient. We should replace the new energy source with oil combustion energy. Therefore, we can drive cars without cuasing pollutions.
We need to be aware of the fact that there are not much time left until oil runs out. People need to hurry.
I'm in the same camp with most of the articles here, the shortage of petrol-based energy is not only going to happen, but also VERY VERY close to us. The actual situation may not be as optimistic as many people may think and I will not be surprised if we run out of it in ten years.
So it is definitely a necessity for us to not only develop new energy sources but also implement them as soon as possible and as widely as possible. There are plenty of alternative ways such as solar energy, thermal-nuclear fusion, as well as wind and tide energy and there're many many people researching them. Such as there're quite a few US national labs concentrating on wind plants and there's also a great international project called ITER(acronym for international thermal-nuclear experimental reactor) which is trying to build a fusion reactor in France which is capable of running for a long time(possibly several minutes). These are indicating that many are aware of the petrol-base energy must be replaced by something else, but very-few of them are knowing how soon must we have that alternating one found as well as implemented. This can be obviously seen from previous examples, though quite a few national labs are researching on wind-plants, the budget and personnel are very limited, though ITER looks great today, it was first proposed in the 1980s and has paused for a long period of time because of the withdrawing of some major members including the States.
All in all, the crisis is right around the corner and we need to react, as fast as we can.
Right now, the energy like oil or the nature gas is running out right now. We could see the price of the gas was raising up and it still raising up. Face to the issue of running out of the energy, I think all the world should think of this problem seriously. We need to find out some renewable energy such as solar energy or other kind. The energy we use right now can not support us forever. To discover other kind of energy become a good research. And we also should save the energy that we are using right now.
About the nuclear energy, in my opinion, it is not a bad idea to use. But we must consider about the safety issue, and the nuclear waste. It is important for us to protect our environments while we are using this kind of energy. It’s better to find another renewable energy as soon as possible!!
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