Jude 1

Jude K.

Emma Boone

Liz Cartwright

8A Science

03 May 2019

The Battle of Renewable Energy

Intro: An unacceptable amount of our energy that we use daily comes from nonrenewable

sources that are polluting our air as we speak. These sources include natural gas and coal. By

burning these natural resources we are polluting our air and depleting natural resources and

something needs to be done about it. Right now the most promising solutions are wind, solar,

and hydroelectric energy. Burning coal and natural gas are unquestionably bad for our earth and

environment because they add pollutants to the air and deplete natural resources, on the other

hand, renewable energy sources like solar and wind are undoubtedly positive alternative energy

sources. This paper will talk about the science behind this, the impacts it has on you, and more

about a solution.

Body 1: The science behind this topic is very alarming, how bad non-renewable energy is

for the environment and the sheer amount of

benefits involved with renewable energy sources.

In their article about carbon dioxide emissions of

coal power plants B.D. Hong and E. R. Slatick

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said, For every 2,000 pounds of coal burned to make energy in a coal-burning power plant 5,720

pounds of carbon dioxide emissions are released into the atmosphere and that Co² eventually

makes its way to our earth's atmosphere and thickens it so that heat cannot escape. At the same

time, you could have a solar or wind farm that costs less to build, less to maintain, is cheaper for

consumers to buy the energy, and finally does not add any harmful pollutants to the atmosphere.

On his website, Dave Alan said, “On a larger scale, wind farms

are projected to provide as much as 20% of global electricity

production by 2030.” this is very promising because the more

energy that comes from renewable sources means that much less

Source:​http://static.guim.co.uk/sys-images/Guardian/Pix/pictu​ ​energy is coming from other sources that are not sustainable.

res/2009/4/13/1239621814127/E.ons-coal-fired-Ratcliff-001. ​ Jacob Marsh also said that in 2017 7.5% of the energy consumed

in the U.S. was harnessed by large hydroelectric facilities. Overall there are so many positives to

renewable energy and there should not be any reasons that it is not yet implemented.

The biggest restrictor with renewable energy is that most energy companies that supply

you with energy are tied into pre-existing contracts with coal and natural gas companies. Most of

these contracts are 25 years long and last until 2035. This makes the transfer from coal and gas to

wind and solar very hard because if a company that contracts renewable energy projects wants to

make a contract with an energy company they would have to have the solar or wind farm built in

advance, so they could be ready to produce energy. The problem that the farm would be sitting
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there and whoever built it would not make any money. On the other hand, if they did not decide

to make it until the contracts run out energy companies would be forced to resign with coal

companies because they can't just wait until the farm is built without energy. Many countries are

attempting to transition to renewable

energy but some are very far behind in

the process.

The hardest thing to do is to implement

solutions to these problems. One

company that is helping countries such

as England get ahead of the curve is

London based startup Pavegen. Pavegen is designing sidewalks that when stepped on flex about

5 mm and that compression creates enough energy to power a street lamp for 30 seconds. This

company is going so far to help

the environment that their

sidewalk tiles are made of 95%

recycles tires (OVO Energy).

Another idea that scientists had

was to harness the power of

lightning, this idea though

Source:https://www.curbed.com/2017/7/5/15921382/smart-street-london-bird-street-pavegen was found to be completely infeasible for

​

many reasons. This is because a bolt of lightning only contains 1,000,000,000 joules of energy,

which is no small amount on its own but compared to the 41 billion joules that an average
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American household year this

would not do much. Since one house consumes 41 billion joules every year you would have to

harness 41 lightning bolts just to power one house for only one year (Tom Hartsfield). The

easiest things for a consumer like you to do to help this problem is to be aware of leaving lights

on and even turn down your thermostat down a few degrees. If you want to make an even bigger

change you can invest in putting solar panels on your house so

that you are sustaining yourself in renewable energy. On a

community level, the biggest thing you can do is build

awareness and/or petition to your city council to implement

these things into your city. ​ ​If you want to look at this problem

global people need to take their money out of the natural gas

and coal industry and ​Source:​https://www.cablinginstall.com/content/cim/en/articles/2​ ​reinvest in companies who are making

renewable sources. At ​016/01/fluor-solar-pv-cabletray/_jcr_c ontent/leftcolumn/ar t​ his point in time, we are so dependent

on the oil and gas

ticle/thumbnailimage.img.jpg.​ industry that it is going to have to be a global effort if we really

want to make a change.

Overall there are so many reasons to switch to renewable energy resources that there is

no reason not to have already switched these sources. I believe the switch is one of the hardest

things that mankind has done. The hardest part of the switch will be the fact that the whole world

will have to work together.

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Works Cited

“Could We Harness Lightning as an Energy Source?” ​RealClearScience​,

www.realclearscience.com/blog/2012/05/could-we-harness-lightning-as-an-energy-source.

html.

Davison, Alan. “Alternative Energy.” ​Alternative Energy - Wind, Solar, Hydro and Other Alt

Energy Sources for Commercial and Home Power​, www.altenergy.org/.

www.curbed.com/2017/7/5/15921382/smart-street-london-bird-street-pavegen.

Marsh, Jacob. “What Are Examples of Renewable Energy Sources? | EnergySage.” ​Solar News​,

EnergySage, 1 Oct. 2018, news.energysage.com/five-types-of-renewable-energy-sources/.

Nagy, B. F. ​The Clean Energy Age: a Guide to Beating Climate Change.​ Rowman &

Littlefield, 2018.

“What Is Kinetic Pavement?” ​Kinetic Pavements Are Giving a Whole New Meaning to 'Power

Walking' | OVO Energy,​

www.ovoenergy.com/blog/technology-and-innovation/kinetic-pavements-are-giving-a-wh

ole-new-meaning-to-power-walking.html​.

Johnson, Charles. ​Carbon Dioxide Emission Factors for Coal,​

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www.eia.gov/coal/production/quarterly/co2_article/co2.html.

Images

https://www.cablinginstall.com/content/cim/en/articles/2016/01/fluor-solar-pv-cabletray/_jcr_co

ntent/leftcolumn/article/thumbnailimage.img.jpg

http://static.guim.co.uk/sys-images/Guardian/Pix/pictures/2009/4/13/1239621814

127/E.ons-coal-fired-Ratcliff-001.jpg