Wednesday, March 7, 2012

Is Alternative Energy the Solution?


Can alternative energy effectively replace fossil fuels?
In the U.S., we have an abundance of naturally occurring resources in coal and oil. These resources have raised the standard of living and fueled our society for decades. But the future of conventional sources of energy is uncertain.
Al Gore and President Obama have both said that the continual use of fossil fuels will result in a global warming disaster and they encourage us to turn to alternative sources of energy. But the fact of the matter is, there are experts on both sides of this issue and we don’t know with certainty if this claim is true or not. Carbon emissions from human activity constitute less than 5 percent of the total emissions released from oceans and land. Some experts contend that temperature rises are due to a natural cycle of warming and cooling, not humans.
Alternative energy is underdeveloped and expensive—solar and wind costing two to four times more than coal and oil. It is simply not practical to pursue alternative energy if it is not competitive in the market.
In 2010, the federal government spent $66 billion on clean energy. Forcing expensive energy will worsen the economy and impede recovery.
Due to more state and federal regulations, the coal and oil industry is safer, cleaner, and more efficient than ever before. We can rely on coal and oil until the technology is developed that will make clean energy competitive. I hope to see a future where society is powered by solar and wind, but I can't see it happening today.

Laws:
Federal spending
State and federal regulations on oil and coal industries

Players:
            Federal and state governments
            Coal and oil industries
            Clean energy proponents and industries

Interests:
            Cheap energy
            Clean energy

Please leave a comment with your opinion!

For more information on energy (and many other issues): http://alternativeenergy.procon.org/

2 comments:

Amber Robinson said...

Alternative energy is the future but I feel unless this country focuses more on fixing our many other problems new advancements in green technology will be slow. I've always felt that nuclear power is the best temporary fix to our energy and environmental crisis until we can invent something better. Though it's not perfect it's safer than most people think. Thank you for sharing that article!

Here is a site that tells the many benefits of Nuclear energy: http://www.nei.org/

Jeff said...

That was not an article actually. I wrote it myself. But thanks, I'll take that as a complement :)