An Introduction to Energy

With the extreme prices for gasoline and crude oil, society finally decided to focus on an issue with major impacts on the future of humanity – the issue of renewable energy. Fossil fuels may be the dominate fuel of today’s society, but are hampered by its limited supplies. Once fossil fuels are depleted, they can only be reformed by decomposing organic material and allowing the newly formed peat to rest for approximately three hundred million years. Also, fossil fuels have been theorized, according to the Energy Information Administration, to contribute seventy-five percent of man-made greenhouse gas emissions. Renewable energy sources do not contribute to these harmful emissions, and these sources regenerate much faster. Additionally, renewable energy sources can potentially provide untold amounts of energy. According to a diagram on Wikipedia, an online user-reviewed encyclopedia, the world consumes approximately fifteen terawatts of power. In the same diagram, geothermal energy alone can potentially provide thirty-two terawatts of power, wind energy could provide eight hundred and seventy terawatts of power, and solar energy can donate a whopping eighty-six thousand terawatts of power. Even with this immense power, renewable energy sources remain limited, primarily because of technological limitations and high costs. These drawbacks would give anyone, including myself, doubts, especially given the current financial situation. Despite my doubts, I still chose to support the vigorous pursuit of renewable energy, as I asked myself “What would happen if fossil fuels vanished, and society had no permanent alternatives?” I have already seen a preview of the answer in the current energy crisis, and I do not want to risk that crisis expanding to a larger scale.

Tommy