Luis Garza Nancy Hall WRC 1023 – 0P2 15 September 2014 Another Way To Die In many recent years there has been a great development in fuel technology, more and more money is being invested into finding greener sources of energy. However even if the research is in the way there is a problem that must be addressed first for it is the source of the pollution that is affecting our world. That issue is over dependence and extreme consumption of fossil fuels. First-world countries are partly responsible for hindering third-world development, because countries like the United States’ over dependence on fossil fuels has gone uncontrolled. For the past century many companies have developed methods to utilize fuel in a more efficient way, but with …show more content…
Figure 1 shows that in the past 50 years the total use of petroleum and coal as sources of energy, and CO2¬ , have increased 190% from it’s value in 1960, going from 29.04 BTU to Figure 1 The graph shows the consumption of fuels by decade from 1960 – 2009 in the U.S. Showing the increase in the use of fossil fuels in the last half century. Source U.S. Energy Information Administration 55.03 BTU and when coupled in 2009 they account for 58.2% of the total energy consumption in the United States. Figure 1, however, only shows the data available from the United States, but if in the US the consumption is so high the how will it be in countries like China or India that are more densely populated and as such consume more energy. Considering that the sources for their energy must be very similar if not the same than the sources in the United States, then this creates a very grim picture for the world. With so many countries consuming energy with no apparent control the world keeps getting more and more contaminated and the while effects are minimal in first-world countries, where they can even be neglected, third-world countries are not so lucky. In third-world countries located in Africa, where most of the population is malnourished and impoverished, even the smallest change in climate has a deep effect on their lives; Nicholas Kristof tells of an interview he gave to a scientist, who has spent years researching, in Africa about the effects that
The U.S obtains more than 84% of its energy from fossil fuels including oil, coal and natural gas. This is because people rely on it to heat their homes, power industries, run vehicles, manufacturing, and provision of electricity. It is apparent that the country’s transportation industry highly depends on conventional petroleum oil, which is responsible for global warming, thus threatening economic opulence and national security. Apart from that, increasing consumption of fossil fuels have elevated health problems in the state, destroyed wild places, and polluted the environment. After conducting Environmental Impact Assessment, projections showed that the world energy consumption would increase by more than 56% between 2010 and 2040. However, fossil fuels will cater for more than 80% of the total energy used in 2040. Sadly, it will be a trajectory to alter the world’s climate, as well as, weaken the global security environment. Importantly, the rate at which the US relies on fossil fuels needs to reduce since it has adverse effects on the planet’s supplies. The society needs to realize that fossil fuels are nonrenewable, thus taking millions of years to form (Huebner, 2003). Notably, the country can reduce dependency on fossil fuels by practicing energy conservation and efficiency,
Though humanity still has developed industrial systems, there have been laws and social norms put in place to protect the environment. Odum discusses fuel-powered systems in industrial areas, “they require so much energy and create so much waste heat and pollution, that they have an enormous impact on the other two environments.” In 1993, this was true since the primary use of energy was coal, oil, natural gas, all carbon emitting energy sources. However, countries like China, Germany, the United States have reduced the emission coming from these fuel-powered systems in the past 25 years. There are now other options for environmentally clean power, people are recycling their trash, using less water, and cutting back energy usage.
` The continuous use of fossil fuels is leading the Earth on a path to destruction. Generations of advancement and technological innovation being brought down to rubble. Natural disasters wreaking havoc on innocent people across the world. Temperatures soaring above 125℉ globally. These are the results of the excessive use of fossil fuels. A chief concern in the 21st century is global warming and climate change, and the continued use of fossil fuels for the technology and daily lives of humans is key to blame. Decades ago, these problems were much more daunting and seemingly unsolvable than they are today, with the use of alternative energy sources and new
Indeed, the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) predicts that domestic petroleum consumption will increase to 60 Btu by the year 2025. This statistic, in and of itself, is a matter of concern with respect to the greenhouse gas emissions that result from petroleum combustion. However,
What does the U.S. use fossil fuels for? In America, 95% of transportation use is fossil fuels to power the vehicles and the other 5% are renewable sources. Around 67% of U.S. Electric energy consumption is fossil fuels and the other 33% is other sources such as renewable. In 2014 natural gas consumption was 34% industrial, 30% electric power, 19% residential, 13% commercial, and 3% transportation ("Fossil Fuels-EIR"). America still relies too heavily on fossil fuels, but because they won 't last forever and they harm our environment, America should try to develop alternatives.
The world right now is facing a major disaster if our habits don’t change. Fossil fuels dominate our energy demand and at our current rate this will remain true for quite some time. The World Energy outlook claims that by 2030 84% of our energy demands will be fulfilled by fossil fuels (Shafiee et al, 181). It is believed that we possess the reserves to meet our demands until 2030 (Shafiee et al, 181) but the cost will increase as time goes on. Fossil fuels are a non-renewable resource, meaning that once we run out of what’s currently available, we cannot replenish it. Our future energy needs are heavily dependent on a non-renewable and quickly depleting energy source.
Here in the US alone we consume nearly 6.844 Quadrillion Btu’s of energy, however most alarmingly less than 7% of our toll energy usage comes from Alternative energy resources. This leads to the edge of a dangerous presuppose as our current resources continue to dwindle and our future grows darker each day. It is estimated that there is less than 200 years of oil left in the reserves we currently have and with the population and the demand for oil increasing each year it could be here faster then we know it. As we continue to pour pollutants back into our skies, waters and lands each year our planet feels the effect each day.
Fossil fuel consumption in the United States is colossal. In Colorado, the average household uses 70 million Btu of energy from natural gas and 150 million Btu from gasoline in 2000. (Energy Information Administration) That’s around 1,320 gallons of gas per household, per year. (US EPA) In that same year, multiply that by Colorado’s 1,658,238 households (US Census Bureau) and find that the state’s residential sector consumed around 2,188,874,160 gallons of gas at the turn of the century. Per capita, Colorado ranks just 36th amongst the states in energy consumption. (Energy Information Administration)
“Moving away from fossil fuel energy? Not without aggressive policy action” describes the simultaneous increase in use of fossil fuel energy and the production of fossil fuel
Because of the fast paced world we live in, we tend to go with what works and sometimes fail to see the negative side of those actions. The use of fossil fuels to produce energy is one example. Although it doesn’t seem like it, the ways in which we are currently producing our energy create many negative effects for us, one of which is economically. Looking at oil or petroleum, which produces about 35.5 percent of the U.S. energy (Annual Energy Review), it is estimated that the U.S. spends 1.5 to 1.75 billion dollars a day (Lynch). As time goes on and oil sources become less and less this cost will only grow. These numbers are not including other hidden costs that make the price of oil and or petroleum, or any other nonrenewable energy higher. Such things include keeping foreign relations with fossil fuel providing countries, money used in healthcare to treat illness, injury or death from using these methods. Many people in favor of fossil fuels argue that the number of people with health
Fossil fuels such as oil, coal, and natural gas provide the U.S. with over 80 percent of its energy supply (McNerney & Cheek, 2012). Fossil fuels, formed from organic materials over the course of many centuries, have fueled the global and U.S. economic development for the past two centuries. Nonetheless, fossil fuels are finite resources that cause irreversible harm to the environment. Scientists consider them nonrenewable forms of energy since they take hundreds of years to form. According to Rand (2010), fossil fuels were responsible for 79 percent of the greenhouse emissions in 2010. Poor efficiency practices and higher energy demands have increased the usage of fossil fuels, and it is now important to find substitute means of generating
According to the EPA, the burning of fossil fuels contributes about 57% of the greenhouse gasses in the atmosphere, but people tend to overlook the statistic because the way of life institutes that we must use them to survive. Coal, which is a fossil fuel, was used to heat homes and power machinery on a large scale in the 1800’s and 1900’s contributed much of the CO2 in the atmosphere. Because of the decrease in coal availability, the public has turned from coal burning, but the negative effects are still in effect today. Also, in more modern times, drivers must travel an excessive number of miles to work, the grocery store, school, and other day to day errands, which is unavoidable. With so many people relying on cars and other means of transportation, a massive amount of gas is burned to transport people. Fossil fuels are also used to power electricity and heating
The U.S. Energy Information Administration (2015) reports that the United States consumed approximately 19.4 million barrels of petroleum products daily, which calculated to an overall total of 7.08 billion barrels by the end of 2015 (para. 2). The United States population consumes a huge quantity of oil alone, in addition to all of the other fossil fuels that it also greatly depends on. Fossil fuels are a natural resource that is in limited supply, and they provide an efficient and consistent supply of power to communities all over the planet. Many people are pleased with the short-term advantages these
Coal and natural gas are the United States’ main fossil fuels used as energy sources. These fossil fuels both contain mixtures of hydrocarbons, which is a chemical compound of carbon and hydrogen (Olah, 2005). Currently, fossil fuels provide eighty-five percent of commercial energy, such as businesses, worldwide and this eighty-five percent does not even account for residential use. Imagine if the residential energy use was accounted for in that eighty-five percent (Davison, 2007). According to Goodell (2006), “Between 1950 and 2000, the world population increased by 140 percent and fossil fuel consumption increased by 400 percent. By 2030, the world’s demand for energy is expected to more than double,” with most of the electricity
The most of global energy production produces from fossil fuel such as coal, oil and natural gas. The vast fossil fuels generate energy which use for many purposes for instant residential, transportation and industrial sectors. While the rate consumption of fossil fuel higher than their formation leads to oil price crisis. Another concern of fossil fuel combustion is the impact on the environment. Global warming is a significant problem which results in increasing concentrations of greenhouse gas in the atmosphere. These problems drive researchers and societies to search alternative energy such as switching to renewable energy or carbon-free energy to replace fossil fuels. For example Nakata et al., (2011:465) show ‘low-carbon society’