Order Number |
2434653092 |
Type of Project |
ESSAY |
Writer Level |
PHD VERIFIED |
Format |
APA |
Academic Sources |
10 |
Page Count |
3-12 PAGES |
Instructions
Here are some questions to consider in your discussion of the topic of Energy use in the 21st century:
Steph
There has been increasing support for the utilization of ethanol as a viable alternative to gasoline and other petroleum-based products as it not only provides energy sustainability but also leads to less environmental pollution.
Ethanol is less harmful than gasoline as it leads to less carbon monoxide production and is also easy to source given that it comes from processed corn.
Bill Gates does not believe that ethanol can become a measurably important to impact the US oil importation (Anderson, 2011). although ethanol can be an important and useful alternative to
gasoline, the American ethanol industry is presently far from being able to meet the increasing energy needs. Part of this has to do with the fact that ethanol is processed from corn. The use
of corn to produce ethanol is simply too expensive as compared to gasoline production. The amount of energy from fossil fuels that is needed to produce ethanol (running farm machinery,
fertilizing, harvesting, and transporting corn, and processing corn into alcohol) is as much as the energy produced by ethanol making it a less viable alternative at present.
It is really difficult to predict what will happen in the next 50 years or so given the highly dynamic nature of today’s energy environment. Although it is an admirable goal to try and replace
petroleum-based fuel with ethanol fuel, it is highly unlikely that such a goal will be attained within the next fifty years. There is going to be a myriad of energy alternatives developed within the
next five decades and whether or not ethanol will be accepted as a viable energy source will depend on the development of more efficient techniques to produce ethanol.
Biodiesel is a renewable fuel which can be made from vegetable oils, animal fats, or recycled restaurant grease. It is an alternative to petroleum-based fuels and is presently mainly
manufactured from conventionally grown edible oils such as soybean, palm, and sunflower (Demirbas, Bafail, Ahmad, Sheikh, 2016). However, biodiesel is currently not economically feasible
as the cost for producing it is high while extensive production from edible oils can lead to a food crisis (Demirbas, Bafail, Ahmad, Sheikh, 2016). The most probable way to make biodiesel
economically feasible is by using low-cost feedstocks such as waste cooking and non-edible oils.
Chavez
In the past decades we have been able to see how many companies, political figures and some of the wealthy promote the importance of developing new sources of energy. By far one of the
most promoted sources is solar power and has become a trend that keeps growing fast int he United States and the world. Is solar power the future of alternative energy? According to Bill
Gates… no. Surprisingly to me, Bill Gates seems to be supporting more of the use of nuclear power compared to other energy sources. He states that using ethanol in farming works better for
the rich but affects greatly the poor. For the rich it means that they can increase the price of their products but for the poor, who already struggle to be able to buy this products, it means that
their spending raises while still making the same amount of money. In my opinion, this supports the theory of the rich getting richer and poor getting poorer and using ethanol is not the best
method for the majority of the consumers.
Based on the increased use of solar power on businesses and homes, electric vehicles and clean air gas for public transportation, I believe this trend will continue growing and most people
will continue to transition to these means. It may be somewhat expensive to put solar panels on the roof or to buy an electric vehicle but companies have found a great way to advertise the
benefit of change. One of the main reasons of my believe is that the use of these energy sources tend to be somewhat more cost effective and helps the daily user save money in the long
term, serving as a incentive or motivator to advertise in order to get others on board with the “switch”.
In the interview Bill Gates said that “ethanol has nothing to do with reducing CO2” but according to Larry West, writer of an article in ThoughtCo site, ethanol has a lot of benefits. Besides the
fact that ethanol is a “relative low-cost alternative fuel that boasts less pollution” we can find more of it than unblended gasoline (2019). West goes on to say ethanol is “less harmful than
unblended gasoline” since engines create less carbon monoxide when using it. Ethanol also helps farms and manufacturing economies since it creates a revenue and creates jobs. According
to the article, another big benefit of using ethanol is that it is produced domestically and it reduces us to rely on other countries petroleum products and keeping the jobs in the United States.