Renewable Energy Sources versus Fossil Fuels - Research Paper Example

Renewable Energy Verses Fossil Fuels The existing energy sources in the United States are vital to the economic development and progress. A significant increase on the demand for energy would mean the need to increase the energy supply coming from different sources of energy. For this reason, the United States government is spending US$500 billion each year in the development of energy sources alone (U.S. Department of Energy, 2009). With the presence of sufficient energy supply, there will be a national security since the economic output of the country would increase. In line with this, the U.S. Department of Energy has been relying over the use of different energy sources including: bioenergy, coal, electric power, fossil fuels, fusion, geothermal, hydrogen, hydropower, natural gas, nuclear, oil, solar and wind energy (Science Daily, 2009; U.S. Department of Energy, 2009). With regards to the different sources of energy, it will be argued that the use of renewable energy sources like the biomass, solar, wind, hydropower, and geothermal energy is better than the use of fossil fuels. In line with this, the advantages and disadvantages of using solar, wind, water, geothermal energy, and fossil fuels will be compared and contrast. Advantages of Using Solar, Wind, Hydropower, and Geothermal Energy over Fossil Fuels Generating electricity out of wind, water, geothermal, and solar energy is more advantageous over the use of fossil fuels because of environment, health, efficiency and practical reasons. When using either fossil fuels or biomass combustion, it has been noted that approximately 20% of the energy produced is actually wasted as heat (Science Daily, 2009). On the contrary, the use of renewable energy sources can provide us with more economic advantages since the supply of energy will be greater than our daily consumption needs (Science Daily, 2009). It simply means that the use of these renewable energy sources can lead to long-term ready supply of energy with no possibility of causing harm to our environment (Science Daily, 2007). Solar energy is considered a very good source of electricity since the use of solar can provide us with 30 times the electricity we actually needed to run the entire U.S. economy including the daily consumption of electricity the entire nation needs (Science Daily, 2009). The wind energy is another powerful source of electricity. In line with this, the use of wind energy is approximately 5 to 15 times more than the electricity needed to power all countries around the world (Science Daily, 2009). Geothermal energy which utilizes heat from the inside of the Earth is another good source of renewable energy that will not emit harmful elements in the atmosphere (Green Peace, 2009b; Union of Concerned Scientists, 2009). Similar to solar, wind, and geothermal energy, the use of biomass energy which is derived from plants is also more advantageous over the use of fossil fuel because of the significant reduction in the greenhouse gas emissions (National Renewable Energy Laboratory, 2009b). Burning of fossil fuels could result to a serious global climate change (Green Peace, 2009). In relation to the continuously increasing population and energy demand in the United States, the problem with relying too much on the use of fossil fuel is the question behind the long-term reserves of fossil fuels (Science Daily, 2007). Likewise, fossil fuels are non-renewable energy sources (National Renewable Energy Laboratory, 2009). Once the sources of fossil fuel become scarce, the market price of electricity would automatically increase. This will cause a serious disturbance in the U.S. economic activities. Disadvantages of Using Solar, Wind, Hydropower, and Geothermal Energy over Fossil Fuels The problem with using wind, water, and solar energy lies behind the need to build expensive wind turbines, solar photovoltaic cells and concentrated solar arrays, dams, drilling up to two or three kilometers down the Earth’s surface, and other related other technology that could generate electricity (Science Daily, 2009). On top of investing on expensive generators and necessary infrastructure of renewable energy resources, the U.S. government will also have to spend on the transmission line that will carry the wind, water, and solar energy to different communities. Even though some countries had already set-up some wind turbines, it is given that the wind does not blow all the time to generate the electricity we need for our daily consumption (U.S. Department of Energy, 2008). In line with this, it is not possible to build wind turbines in congested urban areas. For this reason, it can be considered that one of the disadvantages of relying too much on renewable energy resources is that fact that it will not be easy to produce the amount of electricity we are used to out of using fossil fuels (Hick, 2009). On the other hand, relying too much on hydroelectric energy can also lead to serious environmental issues since this particular energy option can affect the natural flow of marine environment because of the build-up of methane (Hick, 2009). Discussion Even though investing on new infrastructure for solar, wind, water, and geothermal energy can be very costly, the long-term socio-economic and health benefits exceeds the disadvantage of having to spend a lot of money over the use of renewable energy sources. Since these renewable energy sources do not produce carbon dioxide due to combustion, lesser pollution is expected to be released in the air. It is a common knowledge that the use of some renewable energy sources like water, wind, and solar will not pollute the air may contribute to the development of global warming (Hick, 2009). Aside from solving the problem related to global warming (Science Daily, 2007), people around the world will also be free from controllable health problems (Science Daily, 2009). Conclusion In terms of the environmental, health and socio-economic benefits, the use of renewable energy resources like solar, wind, water, and geothermal energy is better than the use of fossil fuels. In line with this, relying more on the use of renewable energy resources could enable us solve most of the existing environmental and health problems we are currently facing today. *** End *** References "Green Peace." 2009. A clean energy revolution is the solution to climate change. It will pave the way for cleaner energy and a safe environment for everyone. 14 November 2009 . "Green Peace." 2009b. 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