Frank Powell

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Mrs. Blandford
UWRT 1102
March 19, 2015
The Essay
As Americans, along with many other people around the world today,
we take energy for granted. We expect that every time we flip on the light
switch that the lights will go on and every time we turn on the gas stove it
will light and if it doesnt wed be pissed off. Not many people really consider
where that energy comes from and how creating and obtaining it harms the
Earth.

My inquiry question what can we do to harness and use energy in a

more responsible and economical way? asks specifically what can the future
of energy hold for us. This makes me look into the future and try to assume
what the future will consist of. Technology is expanding at an exponential
rate and some things we can do now were unimaginable just ten years ago.
BP estimates that the earth has 53 year of oil remaining as of 2014 (Smith,
Lydia) so obviously things must change in the near future.
Nuclear energy is a clean and inexpensive way of obtaining energy. Of
course the biggest concern people have with nuclear energy is its safety. In
1986 there was the accident at the nuclear power plant in Chernobyl,
Ukraine within the Soviet Union. During a test in the middle of the night one

of the reactors malfunctioned and caused an explosion and a fire. Over the
span of five days only 5% or slightly more of the radiation from that
one reactor leaked out.(Johnson, Thomas) Even though this was a small
amount of the percentage of radiation, it was still a massive amount. The
amount of radiation that leaked out of the power plant gave people of
Chernobyl a lethal dose in less than four days. At the

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base of the power plant a person received a lethal dose in under 15 minutes.
There was a possibility of the power plant exploding and if it did it would
have been 100x the power of the nuclear bombs dropped on Japan during
WWII. This would have made a huge portion of Europe uninhabitable and
killed millions of people..(Johnson, Thomas)
Other then the incident at Chernobyl, nuclear energy has been very
safe and affective. There are currently 435 Nuclear power plants worldwide
in 31 different countries, 104 of those being in the United States where they
make up 11% of our electricity.(World Nuclear Association) Nuclear energy is
clean and inexpensive. To produce the same amount of energy that the 435
nuclear power plants create worldwide it would release 2.4 billion tons of
carbon dioxide into the atmosphere per year. (World Nuclear Association)
The waste from a nuclear reactor is sealed into steal boxes for a number of
years. After about 30 40 years the waste is significantly less radioactive
then it was priory. The waste is then transported to parts of the desert or

other parts of the world where people do not inhabit. The waste is then
buried about 300 feet underground so that way it is safe.
Coal energy is currently the most popular way of producing electricity.
Coal energy currently creates 44% of the energy in the United States. It
works by heating water up so that it turns to steam reaching temperatures
greater then 1000f and 3,500 psi. This then spins a turbine, which powers
up a generator.
Coal is the most abundant energy source on the planet, especially in
North America. The average coal power plant burns 15,000 tons of coal a
day, which equates to about a ton

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of coal every six seconds. Because of the massive amounts of coal these
plants require they are the single handed biggest contributor to global
warming and air pollution not including all the pollution caused by obtaining
the coal and transporting it. Coal power plants are responsible for 31% of
the worlds CO2 pollution, the signal handed largest contributor. This
polluting causes acid rain, smog, poor air conditions, etc. These coal power
plants are most commonly built near a body of water because it uses billions
of gallons of water to operate.
Solar energy is a form of clean energy that is quickly growing in
popularity within the United States and other parts of the world. It works by

collecting the energy from the suns rays to then charge a battery. Then
using this battery you can power your house if you have the solar panels on
your roof, or solar power plants could power thousands of homes. The
Earths surface receives 20,000 times the energy the world uses in potential
solar energy.(Maehlum, Mathias) The United States government is offering
tax credits for people who install solar panels on their roofs. These people
are not only supplying themselves with a self-sufficient source of energy, but
they could also put energy back into the grid and get paid for it. It is
estimated that the average house with solar panels will pay for itself in ten
years. The technology is quickly becoming cheaper and yielding more
energy. This could be a huge supplier of energy in the near future. The
biggest concern over solar energy is that the sun isnt out every day. Thats
why the power they generate charges a battery so that it can be used during
the night and other times when the sun is not out or producing enough
power to sustain the energy demand. There are cloudy days

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and some parts of the earth receive significantly more sunlight then other
parts so it doesnt make sense to use solar energy everywhere.
Wind energy is also very expensive but can also be very effective. In
some cities where they experience a lot of wind like Chicago, makes a lot of
sense to install wind turbines. One big wind turbine can power up to 600

homes. Currently wind energy is responsible for supplying 2.5% of the

United States electricity. Along with solar technology, the price for wind
energy is dropping. Since 1980 the price for wind energy has dropped 80%
and is continuing to decrease.(Maehlum, Mathias) Although wind energy is a
clean form of energy, it does pollute the environment. It pollutes with sound
pollution. People claim that at night they hear the sounds of wind turbines
spinning and this is very unattractive for wildlife in that area. Birds and other
species of animals have been known to migrate away from their homes to
get away from the sound caused by the turbines. The other downside to
wind energy is that some days are windy and other simply arent. Wind
farms in areas where wind is strong and constant makes a lot of sense and
can power thousands of homes.
Clean renewable energy is going to play a huge role in our future and
we will see it everywhere from our own homes to our cars. We much change
the way we obtain and use energy soon because if we dont we will run out
of energy. This is a growing problem and must be addressed now rather then
later. There future of energy dependence will be much different then it is
today.

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Maehlum, Mathias. "Wind Energy Pros and Cons - Energy Informative."

Energy Informative. 25 Dec. 2012. Web. 21 Mar. 2015.
<http://energyinformative.org/wind-energy-pros-and-cons/>.

Maehlum, Mathias. "Solar Energy Pros and Cons - Energy Informative."

Energy Informative. 16 Oct. 2012. Web. 31 Mar. 2015.
<http://energyinformative.org/solar-energy-pros-and-cons/>.

Johnson, Thomas. "Chernobyl Uncensored - Documentary." YouTube. YouTube.

Web. 4 Apr. 2015. <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dS3WvKKSpKI>.

Smith, Lydia. "World Energy Day 2014: How Much Oil Is Left and How Long
Will It Last?" International Business Times RSS. 22 Oct. 2014. Web. 4 Apr.
2015. <http://www.ibtimes.co.uk/world-energy-day-2014-how-much-oil-lefthow-long-will-it-last-1471200>.

"World Nuclear Association." Number of Nuclear Reactors. Web. 4 Apr. 2015.

<http://www.world-nuclear.org/Nuclear-Basics/Global-number-of-nuclearreactors/>.

Siegel, RP. "Clean Coal: Pros and Cons." Triple Pundit People Planet Profit. 9
Apr. 2012. Web. 4 Apr. 2015. <http://www.triplepundit.com/special/cleancoal-pros-cons/>.