Alternative energy

Introduction

We eat until our stomachs are more than full, we buy until we put ourselves in debt, and we use resources until the earth has nothing else to give. This drain on the environment can only continue for so long though, because our most used source of energy, oil, will eventually run out. And when it does, we will have nothing to power our cars, our homes, and our workplaces. The easiest solution to this is to develop alternative, renewable forms of energy and introduce them into our society so that we have a lessened impact on our environment.(Cotterill,332)

There are several obvious problems with the way that America uses oil. First off, how much of it we use: "In 2008 total United States petroleum consumption was 19.5 million barrels a day, or 37% of all the energy we consumed" (Use of Oil 1). Oil is something that the United States of America can no longer live without, and it's not a renewable resource because of how long it takes for Mother Earth to brew it. If we continue at the rate we are going, there can be no doubt that we will have sucked the earth dry long before we have developed enough renewable energy technology to replace the existing oil systems. Also, the oil wells in the United States of America have already started to run dry, so now we buy most of our oil overseas (Use of Oil 2). This means that we have to rely on other countries for something that we need just to continue to live our day-to-day lives, which is unacceptable considering our current image abroad. Finally, drilling for oil destroys the natural environment. Massive drilling platforms scar what would otherwise be gorgeous landscapes, and oil spills are dangerous to any wildlife that falls into their clutches. In the long run, continuing to use oil is a no-win situation, both for the United States of America and for the environment as a whole.(Uri-Haber,212)

Luckily, there are many alternative solutions available. Some are renewable, some are not, but none of them have the same particular problems that oil do, and that may mean they are worth a shot. (Nelson,22) All of these have their own benefits and drawbacks. (Cotterill,332) And between inconsistent wind speeds, consistently weak winds, and being too spread out to benefit enough people, the rest of America is not suitable for wind power. Clearly, even if wind power is a solution for some, it is not something that can be applied from coast to coast, and so is not the solution that we need.(Nelson,22)

Ethanol is a bit more promising. It does not have quite as low an overhead as wind power does, but it is almost equally as renewable, and we already produce so much corn that it is very difficult to think that we could ever not supply enough to meet the demand. But the truth is, the corn we produce right now we use to feed America, and there isn't really ...