William Webb

Suzanne Ingram
University Writing
25 October, 2015

What would your reaction be if I told you that someday this planet is going to run out of
resources? Imagine that there is no more to take from the earth: no more gasoline, no more fish
in the ocean, no more green in the landscape. Its a terrifying thought. Many people fail to realize
it, but literally everything around you consists of the planet or something that was ripped from it
and repurposed. Despite our reliance on our home, we have spent the last hundred years killing
it. The human race collectively kills just about everything we see. We kill animals, plants, and
even each other. However, we as a species are very weak. We have soft skin and thin bones. We
could not physically compete with the rest of the worlds predators; hence, we created machines.
Machines that could do everything we could not. The introduction of contrivance allows us to
advance and survive. At the same time, it holds us back. As humanity grew, so did our needs.
Energy became the greatest of these needs. We turned to harvesting from the earth to meet our
needs. Now, after a century of inflicted damage, we must generate our own energy.
Coal and gasoline are the primary forms of energy used today. Despite their adaptations
to many different functions, they are surprisingly inefficient when compared to clean energy.
Furthermore, they are very harmful to the earth and its environments. Coal is slowly being
phased out by natural gas. Currently, no new coal plants are under construction. This is slightly
better but not necessarily an indefinite solution due to the fact that natural gas will someday run

out too. Natural gas also generates considerable amounts pollution as well, so the only real
benefit is the amount of energy produced by the substance.
Fortunately, there are multiple forms of renewable energy which are immeasurably more
efficient than natural forms of energy. There are a multitude of ways to produce energy from
renewable resources. All of which have plenty of benefits and virtually no drawbacks. The only
true obstacles is the speed at which they can be produced, the cost of construction, and
legislation which favors large companies such as BP and Exxon. Some methods such as solar
panels are very expensive. Others such as hydroelectric energy take a long time to become fully
operational. The pros of these methods far outweigh the cons, but the actual process of
implementing them seems daunting to most. Progress is being made, but at somewhat slow pace.
The biggest strides in the way of efficiency have been made in the area of wind farms.
Massive turbines are formed which take advantage of the motion of the winds. The wind moves
the blades of the turbines to harness energy which is then used in to power homes, cities, etc.
This is arguably the most effective means of generating renewable energy given the fact that the
wind blows constantly, even when you cant feel it. Wind farms have been constructed in almost
every part of the world, with China being the largest contributor at more than seventy percent of
all of the worlds wind energy. Denmark generates the most energy relative to its country with
more than thirty percent of the its energy produced by wind farms. It is reasonable to assume
that just the power of the wind would be able to constitute a large portion, if not all, of the
worlds needs.
Another alternative would be solar energy. The sun will be here for roughly the next six
billion years. So for as long as we live, the sun will be a reliable source of heat. The technology

is incredibly diverse, it is possible to build a traditional power plant or smaller scale versions. In
this way, a massive amount of power can be drawn and stored until needed. This power can then
be used in whatever way deemed necessary. In addition to efficiency, solar panels can last for
years and require very little maintenance. The only drawback is the cost of such technology.
They are very expensive. However, as a counter to cost; it should be realized that solar panels
can significantly lower the cost of electricity of a given area. This means that the cost balances
out in the long run.
The water on the planet also has the potential to produce energy. Hydroelectric power
constitutes about ten percent of the nations energy. Hydropower is generated from the movement
of falling or rushing water. Kinetic energy can then be harnessed and converted into usable
electricity. This is usually done via a power plant on a dam or river. Water is first stored in a
reservoir. The water is then released and flows through a turbine. The action of the water causes
the turbine to spin, which activates a generator to produce electricity. An advantage of
hydroelectric power is that it does not necessarily require a large dam. Some plants use a small
canal or river. Pump storage plants are also viable. Instead of immediately rerouting power, they
store until it is needed.
A sort of sub category of hydroelectric power is ocean energy. The ocean is capable of
producing two types of energy: thermal and mechanical. Thermal energy is produced from the
suns heat. The ocean is the largest gatherer of solar energy in the world. Because of this, just a
fraction of the oceans energy could power the entire world. Ocean mechanical energy is
generated much differently from thermal energy. Primarily due to the fact that the motion of the
waves is dictated by the gravity of the moon and action of the mind as opposed to the sun. In

mechanical energy, the oceans warm temperature is used to evaporate a fluid. Which then
activates a turbine to produce electricity. an extent wave and tidal activity is intermittent,
whereas thermal is constant.
The earth itself maintains a constant temperature. This heat is called geothermal energy.
Heat pumps are able to harness this energy to heat and cool buildings. This system operates
based on the time of year. In the winter, the warm air used to heat a building and its water supply.
In the summer the cool air is used to service a building. Most of the reservoirs are in the western
U.S. as well as Alaska and Hawaii. It is possible to drill into the earth to construct a well capable
of gathering the energy. Some power plants use steam generated by the earth to power a turbine,
while others use boiling water that vaporizes and then turns the turbine.
Once the effectiveness of new forms of energy were realized, other industries were
immediately threatened. The oil and gas industry have fought clean energy since it was
discovered. Many worry that these new forms of energy will render the production of fossil fuels
obsolete and therefore bankrupt companies such as BP and Exxon. They are in fact right in
believing this, as someday the switch will have to be made. In response to this the companies are
using means such as legislature, public school curriculums, and undermining of global warming.
An example of this is a group attempting to make the teaching of the concept of climate change
illegal in public schools. Other such instances involve the monopolies comparing believers of
global warming to the likes of Osama Bin Laden and Charles Manson.
Despite the opposition it faces; clean energy is still taking steps forward. Recently, a
landfill was closed and will now serve as a wind farm. By the end of next year, California will
install about eight-thousand five-hundred solar panels in the former landfill. Also, the town of

Tonawanda will buy power from the wind farm for roughly six cents an hour reducing the towns
electric bill by about 200,000 dollars. Even better is that the production is expected generate
almost three thousand jobs.
Renewable energy may not be utilized to its full potential for the next few decades, but
someday natural gases will dissipate. It will then be up to humanity to find its own sources of
energy. Cars, planes, and ships will all be left at a standstill without some means of power.
Transportation in general will slow to a halt without energy. A majority of the people in the world
would not even know how to survive without electricity. Energy is required by almost every
aspect of the world at this point. Its important to sever the reliance on natural fuel while we
dont need it. In this way we can transition to cleaner, more efficient means of energy without a
break in the medium causing panic.