Should Australia go Nuclear? Unless you live under a stone, you’ll be aware that we have a very serious problem with global warming, most of which occurs because of the burning of fossil fuels like coal to produce energy. As a result of these concerns, there is a really important debate currently underway about what kind of energy Australia should have in the future, fossil fuel, renewable energy or nuclear? Nuclear energy was on the discussion table a few years ago but recently it has surfaced again due to global warming. One of the greatest advantages of nuclear power is that it avoids the wide variety of environmental problems arising from burning fossil fuels such as coal, gas and oil.
Supplying a sustainable source of energy for today’s population is already a challenge, however in the future the world’s population is set to hit a peak of 7.8 billion. From the graph you can see that, in the past, the supply of energy has always followed the pattern of increasing population. This was because the world still had large reserves of untapped fossil fuels, allowing for an increase in production. However as these reserves begin to diminish the supply of energy may fall behind the increase in population unless an alternative form of energy is found, capable of filling the large energy gap left behind from fossil fuels. This coupled with an increase in living for the majority of the world, especially RICs such as India where its oil consumption had increased by 40 million tonnes over a 6 year period, makes supplying the world’s energy demands a very difficult task.
The need for oil is a problem that is facing not only the government, but the general public as well. As the United States enters into a new presidency the subject of oil
Although we may be able to sustain a planet with some kind of civilization, the earth that we knew is gone. Oil and fossil fuels are attributed to manual labor and why we are prosperous and why our economies have grown. It is also why we have global warming and acid oceans. Rising temperatures and depleting oil reserves go hand in hand. Modernity may cease with global warming as half the biggest companies are oil companies, and oil is the essence of life.
Hydroelectricity is the production of power through use of the gravitational force of falling water or flowing water. Lastly solar energy is using the suns energy to produce electricity. Solar energy is one the fastest growing energy sources and new technologies are developing at a rapid pace. The main thing about all this there sources of energy is that they are environmental friendly, and their maintenance is low cost if compared with other sources of energy. Why using wind power, solar energy, and hydroelectricity?
To Drill or Not to Drill This is one of the United States biggest debates, and it will continue for years to come. The United States has been using coal, oil and natural gas for their energies. Some people are afraid that these sources will be used up and the United States will be dependent on a foreign country to provide us with these sources. On one hand, the debate is that these three sources have been used for millions of years. Changing to alternative sources would be too expensive.
Another reason is the fact that water on Mars points to a similarity to Earth, as if perhaps it may have looked similar to Earth at a younger time. This is of great interest to us because if Mars did indeed contain oceans of liquid water as Earth does, the probability of life ever occurring on Mars would be great. The presence of water today is also very important. It opens the door for the idea of a possible human colony on the planet if the need ever arises. Water is essential to human survival and the transport of large quantities from Earth to Mars via Space shuttle would be incredibly expensive, so the ability to extract it from Mars for use on Mars would be the only way to make life on Mars practical.
Bobby Carl Neal Peters English 102 26 April 2012 What a Fracking Opportunity The United States has an energy problem. We are dependent on Petro-dictators for the energy needed to fuel our economy. But recently, due to a new technology called hydraulic fracturing, or “fracking”, new estimates of accessible natural gas reserves have increased dramatically. Used throughout the United States and worldwide, this process has profitably unlocked Trillions (emphasis added) of cubic feet of natural gas here at home in just the past few years. Concern about this new technology spans the political divide.
Enis Davud 2/6/13 Mrs. Laird Earth Science Frack Attack! Off shore drilling or conventional drilling is used most often to extract natural gas. However a fairly new form of drilling has evolved called hydraulic fracturing or hydrofracking. Hydrofracking’s main purpose is to open up shale deposits filled with natural gas that are unable to be attained using normal drilling. The process of hydraulic fracturing is complex and has many effects on the economy, environment, and the workers.
It would take tens of billions of dollars plus multiple years to drill an amount of oil that would make America no longer dependent on foreign oil. In that time we could create an alternative energy and regain our leading economy that was robbed from us while we become