How the United States Can Lessen Its Dependence on Fossil Fuels
While the debate over the precise date when peak oil will arrive continues, some experts argue that the world has already passed this milestone and the world’s growing hunger for energy resources will inevitably deplete them entirely regardless of the precise date involved. Against this backdrop, identifying ways that the United States can lessen its dependence on fossil fuels represents a timely and essential enterprise for the nation’s security at home and abroad. To this end, this paper provides a review of the relevant literature to explain the significance of this problem and ways the United States can incorporate renewable alternative fuel sources such as wind and solar power into its current energy grid. Finally, a recommendation concerning a viable strategy to reduce America’s dependence on fossil fuels and the rationale in support thereof are followed by a summary of the research and important findings concerning the need for the United States to lessen its dependence on fossil fuels in the conclusion.
Review and Analysis
Significance of the Problem
At present, oil, coal and natural gas are the three most significant sources of fossil fuel energy that are used by the developed countries of the world, and there has been little economic incentive to identify viable replacements for these resources since they are all relatively cheap and the infrastructure that is required for transporting and using them is already in place (Deal, 2010). The list of renewable alternative energy resources that could replace these fossil fuel resources is well known to most Americans, with solar and wind power representing two of the most commonly cited by experts today. In addition, other renewable energy resources such as biomass, hydrogen cell or tidal power as well as hydro- and geothermal power have also been mentioned as potentially viable replacements for fossil fuels. Indeed, some experts even suggest that it may be possible to harness the sun’s energy by collecting it in outer space and beaming back to collection stations on earth.
By contrast, the 800-pound gorilla in the renewable resource room -- nuclear energy – which also has the most to offer -- appears to have lost much of its appeal in recent years. This diminished interest in nuclear energy is despite a proven track record of safe operations in the vast majority of its applications around the world due to rare but high-profile incidents such as Japan’s Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant that was severely damaged by a major earthquake in 2011 or the Chernobyl meltdown incident in...
References
Advantages and challenges of wind energy. (2018). U.S. Department of Energy. Retrieved from https://energy.gov/eere/wind/advantages-and-challenges-wind-energy.
Eckhouse, B., Netter, A. & Martin, C. (2018, January 23). President Trump slaps tariffs on solar panels in major blow to renewable energy. Time. Retrieved from http://time.com/ 5113472/donald-trump-solar-panel-tariff/#.
Deal, W. F. (2010, September). Wind power: An emerging energy resource. Technology and Engineering Teacher, 70(1), 9-12.
Status of nuclear power in the United States. (2017). American Physical Society. Retrieved from https://www.aps.org/policy/reports/popa-reports/energy/fission.cfm.
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