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Energy Resource Plan

Wendy Lile

SCI275

University of Phoenix

Due April 1, 2012

Sarah Hsu

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Energy Resource PlanToday, I am going to start by focusing our attention on our main non-renewable resource.

Although all of the non-renewable resources we use for very important reasons: cooling and

heating our homes, growing and cooking our food, light our homes and even to make the energy

itself. Yes, it takes energy to make energy. On our planet our main resource of energy is crude

oil. We turn this crude oil into many different kinds of gases by boiling it and extracting it at

different points. There is jet fuel, diesel, kerosene, gasoline, and natural gas, but the most used

kind of gas we rely on for personal transportation.

Renewable versus Non-renewable

Non-renewable

As you know, the United States has always had problems with countries in the Middle

East, yet we must rely on them for foreign imports of our most needed resource because they

have the largest underground deposit of crude oil in the world. One reason to conserve energy

would be to reduce our need for foreign imports. We will probably never totally cut off our need

from these countries but conserving energy would greatly reduce it. Another reason to conserve

energy would be environmental sustainability, or in other words, so that future generations will

be able to have resources available to them. Hopefully very soon, we will begin to come up with

more reliable alternative fuels. We need to conserve the oil deposits for this exact reason. Not to

mention, during these hard economic times, gas is outrageous right now and we can all stand to

save a little money. Yet another reason to conserve how much we use this energy is the CO2

pollution that we emit from our huge consumption of gasoline. This is what creates the

greenhouse effect, which I am sure you have heard of, trapping heat inside our atmosphere and

raising surface temperatures. Eventually this will lead to bigger problems like global warming.

Renewable

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Okay, that was a little bit about our main non-renewable energy source. Now, let us

discuss some alternative renewable energy resources, since these are resources that we can

always use and renew. Wind energy is one that is made by something we will always have

enough of (most of the time), wind. It is generated by wind turbines. The problem with this

energy is we cannot control how much wind we get and for how long. Solar Power is another

renewable resource that we will always have. It is made by having solar panels capture energy

from the sun, but again, we cannot control when and if we get sun over extended periods of time

during the winter. Fuel from good is something that our government really needs to start looking

into more because we can always grow more corn, grain, and sugars and make it into ethanol.

The last renewable energy source that I am going to talk about is hydropower. Hydropower is

when the energy from running water is created and captured through a water turbine. All of

these resources are a good start to alternatives to using crude oil for gasoline and natural gas.

Methods to Conserve and Help Our Environment

By using one or all of these types of energy to at least reduce our need for crude oil, we

can help our environment and conserve energy. To do this though, every person needs to play a

part. The easiest way to start would be to make fewer trips in the car by planning routes and

stops for saving gas. When we are at home during the day we can use windows to light the

inside, insulate our entire house including the water heater, turn off all lights when leaving the

room, closing air vents in rooms that are not being used, using ceiling fans greatly reduces

energy use from air conditioning systems, and unplug appliances that are not being used. We

should also be conserving water so installing water saving appliances and fixtures is also a good

idea. More public transportation would greatly reduce our need for gas as well.

Government Efforts

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As far as the government is concerned, their number one priority should be to allocate

their monetary resources into scientific research to find or improve upon a resource to replace or

reduce the use of gasoline. They could also be funding the research for or planning the

construction of renewable energy stations. If the government helped fund the construction of

electric or hybrid cars, they would be much more affordable. Until the government steps in and

passes a law that electric cars are a must by a certain year, we will always be dependent on

gasoline.

To summarize, we need to conserve energy because of environmental sustainability. We

have started thinking about renewable resources but we are still stuck on using non-renewable

just because Americans love their cars. The methods that I have went over to conserve energy

will greatly reduce our need for those non-renewable resources. Maybe we should all write our

local government first to see what they are doing about our energy crisis and second to demand

more action. Thank you for coming and always remember to “save energy today for a brighter

tomorrow!” (LHPLC, 2012)

References

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Linden Hills Power and Light Company. (2012). Energy Conservation Slogans. Retrieved from

http://www.lhpowerandlight.org/article.aspx?articleid=5972.