Preview

Renew the Energy Crisis: the Bright Future of Renewable Sources

Powerful Essays
Open Document
Open Document
1317 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Renew the Energy Crisis: the Bright Future of Renewable Sources
Mary Ma
Professor Hallsted
English 1A
September 20, 2010
Renew the Energy Crisis: The Bright Future of Renewable Sources
The growing energy crisis has drawn the whole world’s attention. Voices coming from various roles in society have offered speakers’ worries, warnings, and solutions. Among them, Richard Heinberg, a leading educator on peak oil, is regarded as the world’s most effective communicators of the urgent need to transition away from fossil fuels. In his book, The Party’s Over, Richard Heinberg emphasizes the emergent condition that energy resources will be run out. He also addresses essential questions about practical solutions to the energy crisis. Heinberg mentions “a more strident voice issues from environmental activists”(Heinberg 4). Those people advocate exploring renewable sources to dealing with the increasing greenhouse effect and environmental pollution. This solution, also supported by Heinberg, should be considered as one of the most efficient and realistic methods of resolving the global problem.
The problem that environmental activists are focusing on is vital enough to alarm humankind. One of the most important reasons is that getting our energy from coal, oil or gas will entail disadvantages. In the book, The Party’s Over by Richard Heinberg, the author introduces what environmental activists are worried about: “the buildup of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere and about various forms of hydrocarbon-based pollution in air, water, and soil”(Heinberg 4). During the long development of human society, people ignore side effects caused by energy transitioning. Those side effects, including deforestation and air pollution, can cause unpredictable serious problems under the pressure of growing population densities. In Heinberg’s estimation, “As fossil fuels become scarce, it will become increasingly difficult to protect trees in old-grown forest preserves, and perhaps even those along the sides of city streets” (Heinberg 199). It shows



Cited: Heinberg, Richard. The Party’s Over: Oil, War and the Fate of Societies. Rev. ed. Gabriola Island, BC: New Societies Publishers, 2008. Roberts, Paul. The End of Oil: On the Edge of a Perilous New World. Boston, New York: Houghton Mifflin Company, 2004. Wengenmayr, Roland, Thomas Bührke(Eds.) Renewable Energy: Sustainable Energy Concepts for the Future. Weinheim: WILEY-YCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, 2008. Dr. John Everett. “Summary for Policymakers.” The IPCC 2007 Climate Forecast for this Century. July, 2010.<http://www.climatechangefacts.info/>

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Powerful Essays

    The oil industry as we know it--- make up 95% of American’s resources and monetary means for trading and living. In 1901, the drilling of oil on Texas salt dome sparked the nation’s advancement that pulled in politics, social economics, and culture all together that for each category meant “power” in fact the oil had a great contribution in the advancement of the United States of America’s political and economic labor market. The Oil industry paved the way for many jobs in America and set the standard for many domestic and international buyers.…

    • 1092 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Best Essays

    Abaffy, Luke. (2012). Oil ignites micro boom. Engineering News-Record, 269(1), 12. Retrieved from http://enr.construction.com Carrns, Ann. (2012, March 24). Leaving families behind for life in a 'man camp '. The International Herald Tribune, p. 14. Retrieved from http://global.nytimes.com/?iht Galbraith, Kate. (2012, July 13). In oil boom, a housing shortage and other issues. The New York Times, p. 17A. Retrieved from http://www.nytimes.com Shafer, Christi. (2012, June 4). Oil, gas rich Eagle Ford shale creates economic boom in Texas. Natural Gas Week, Retrieved from http://www.energyintel.com Sulzberger, A.G. (2011, November 25). Oil rigs bring camps of men to the prairie. The New York Times, p. 12. Retrieved from http://www.nytimes.com Warnica, R. (2012). Boom, busts and trouble. Maclean 's, 32. Retrieved from http://www2.macleans.ca…

    • 2103 Words
    • 9 Pages
    Best Essays
  • Better Essays

    Rodman D. Griffin’s article entitled “Alternative Energy: Can Renewable Energy Sources Replaces Fossil Fuels?” is about alternative methods of getting energy. The article goes into great detail of how America has gone into such an increase in using oil and other non-renewable resources. America spends billions of dollars a year on oil and gas to fuel the countries working class. This was incorporated in my paper along with other facts that Griffin uses throughout his article. His article gave me insight to the crisis that we face everyday and a new wave of thinking when it comes to alternative energy.…

    • 2056 Words
    • 9 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Best Essays

    In 1938, a team of American geologists struck oil outside the village of Dammam, Saudi Arabia, touching off a chain of events that would propel the backwards desert kingdom into the modern age and change the course of world history. In 1992, the American-based Occidental Petroleum won permission from the Colombian government to search for oil on land belonging to the native U’wa people, touching off a chain of events that would lead to decades of strife. These two events, separated by over five decades, represent a kind of yin and yang of globalization, extreme…

    • 1581 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Best Essays
  • Good Essays

    Bp Oil Spill Response

    • 973 Words
    • 4 Pages

    Freudenberg, W. R., &Gramling, R. (2011). Blowout in the Gulf: The BP oil spill disaster and the future of energy in America. Cambridge, Mass: MIT Press.…

    • 973 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Clark, W.R (2005) Petrodollar Warfare: Oil, Iraq and the Future of the Dollar New Society Publishers. Gabriola Island.…

    • 3043 Words
    • 13 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Better Essays

    R. Tillerson, Ceo

    • 1983 Words
    • 8 Pages

    Cited: Booth, C., & Booth, T. (2003). An Oil Man Who Still Gets Respect. Time , 162 (22), 84.…

    • 1983 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    Pual, Tranter, and Sharpe Scott. "Children and Peak Oil: An Opportunity in Crisis." 15.1 (2007): 181-197. Print. (Pual, and Scott 181-197)…

    • 873 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    The Prize

    • 2271 Words
    • 7 Pages

    The world has been forcibly changed by the discovery, invention or innovation of various things throughout history, as food items, weapons and even techniques have shaped world history. However, oil stands as perhaps the premier thing to ever shape history, as oil has remained a mainstay within the global power struggle for centuries. Daniel Yergin acknowledges the power and possibility made available by oil in his renowned book The Prize, where he explains the history of oil from its initial discovery to its current place within diplomatic matters and economic stability. Yergin details the important places, people and corporations that influenced the oil business in its earliest days. As Yergin begins, he explains how rock oil became a cash cow for Rockefeller, as he was able to maintain a monopoly for several years. The book continues into how the oil industry spread across the globe, as the United States government eliminated Standard Oil’s monopoly. Oil remains a major dependency for the United States and many parts of the world, as the non-renewable resource, according to Yergin, will eventually create a serious and unmistakable predicament for the United States and the rest of the world.…

    • 2271 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    When oil was first discovered in 1908, in what is modern day Iran, the importance was immediately recognized. Surely nobody could foresee what an international commodity it would become, and the control it would have on the global economy. D'Arcy and Burmah, which was the company that first discovered oil in this region in 1908, reorganized their holdings in 1909 as the Anglo-Persian Oil Co. (which became the Anglo-Iranian Oil Co. in 1935, British Petroleum in 1954 and BP in 2000. Britain became a principal power in Persian and later in Iranian politics. British and American political operations in that nation shaped the developments that led to the Iranian revolution in 1979. These activities have also directly lead to the current Middle Eastern power struggle. This discovery of oil in the Middle East has been a major influence in politics, culture,…

    • 728 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    ”If one commodity can claim credit for the startling advances seen in the world in the 20th century, in particular in developed industrialized countries, it was crude oil- soon to be dubbed ‘black gold’.” Oil became an influential substance in the post war times, economically and also in shaping countries’ foreign policies. Whichever countries controlled oil controlled much of the world’s policies. After the increase in industrialisation and manufacture in the post war times, oil became a ‘must have’ resource, for a nation, in order for that nation to grow economically and become a self-sustaining state. The first Bush administration reiterated the need to invade the Gulf as, “a way to defend our way of life” in the form of acquiring and maintaining the supply of cheap oil into the American interior. Post war rebuild was the main agenda as most nations fought to rebuild their states from the damages sustained during the two World Wars. A drastic rise in the demand for oil in the world became eminent and those nations that held oil resources had substantial advantage over those that did not have easy access to it. In this essay, an outline of the role oil played in shaping post war worlds will be clearly discussed showing the various policies implemented by different nations in order to acquire the imperative resource.…

    • 1203 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    James D. Hamilton, Oil and the Macroeconomy since World War II, The Journal of Political Economy, Vol. 91, No. 2 (Apr., 1983).…

    • 860 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Better Essays

    Climate Change

    • 1850 Words
    • 6 Pages

    For the first time in human history it has become undeniably apparent that our lifestyle has finally come full circle. The bi-partisan argument between political parties has ceased and it is evident our world will never be the same. Just like the course of action that has been taken in the past, the human race silently awaits the unavoidable reality of destruction and decimation through the increased emissions of greenhouse gases into our atmosphere.…

    • 1850 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    There’s no question that our world population is growing. The most desired commodity to enhance the quality of their everyday lives shared by the majority of third world countries, where populations are rising the fastest, is energy. However, meeting amplified energy demands, from a rising global population, with a limited supply of energy is a paradoxical situation. In the 2009 documentary Collapse, Michael Ruppert discusses how America’s addiction to fossil fuels is far worse than that of a smoker to nicotine, “In 2001 there was not only a great deal of evidence that proved that peek oil was very real, but that government agencies were responding and acting if peek oil was very real” (Smith). The concept of peak oil can be best explained through a common bell curve. The amount of oil production in the world will, after it reaches its climax, never be able to reach that quantity again. With this…

    • 3441 Words
    • 14 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Better Essays

    Energy Crisis

    • 910 Words
    • 4 Pages

    A global energy crisis is defined as any great shortfall in the supply of energy to an economy. Energy is oil, electricity, or other natural resources like coal and natural gas. When the energy supply to an economy becomes endangered or scarce, prices raise to record highs. This paper will cover historical events that caused energy crises in the past, recent events that affect today's energy prices, and what is being done and proposed to lessen the United State's dependence on some forms of non-renewable energies.…

    • 910 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Better Essays