Gabriel Munoz November 16, 2011 GEO 225 The Unrealistic Alternates Global warming is a serious issue that

is being caused by humans and people say that things need to be done in order to stop global warming and save the environment. What exactly is being done though? The current issue that is causing global warming is that too much carbon dioxide is being released into the atmosphere by cow farts and by the constant human use of fossil fuels. One way to fix this problem would be to kill off all the cows and stop using fossil fuels, but since cows serve so many different purposes they will not be terminated. This leaves us to answer the next question, which is how to stop the human use of fossil fuels. One solution to this problem involves people using alternate sources of energy instead of fossil fuels which wont release carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. These alternate energy sources include, wind energy, solar energy, nuclear power, and biofuels. Although they do sound like viable options, there are many reasons to support the ideas that these alternate energy sources can pose a major problem or simply be unrealistic for the common person to use. What seems to be the most ideal of all the possible alternate energy sources is either solar or wind energy. Since wind is caused by many different reasons it is abundant while the human race cannot survive without the sun, so it should make sense to use solar energy as a power source for as long as the sun exists. Solar energy and wind energy have both been harnessed by people but there is a very good reason as to why giant windmills and solar panels have not been applied to everyones home in the United States. According to a chart made by Jason Morgan,
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wind energy has higher costs in terms of construction and production than other fuel sources such as natural gas, nuclear power, and coal. In this same chart it showed that solar energy had the highest construction cost. What does this all mean though? In 2010 solar energy supplied 0.039% of the renewable power to the world while wind energy accounted for 0.064% of the worlds renewable energy which totaled about 13%. Considering how expensive it would be to replace the entire worlds energy supply with solar power and wind power would require someone like the government to do it for the people since many people would probably not be willing to pay the extra cost just to save the environment. On the upside though, both solar power usage and wind power usage have both been growing annually. Nuclear energy is another possible choice that could solve everyones energy problems and save the ozone layer. However despite the fact that nuclear energy is much cleaner than burning fossil fuels, the truth is that there are other risks involved with using nuclear energy that could pose much more immediate threats than global warming. According to Steven Cohen, two of the main issues regarding nuclear power is that no large city wants a nuclear power plant next door because of the possible threat of a meltdown and that scientists have not yet been able to figure out how to dispose of toxic fuel rods, which contain the waste from nuclear power and stay toxic for thousands of years. Nuclear power is a major breakthrough for science that could benefit the world but at the moment it poses more of a possible threat. Last years tsunami incident was a demonstration of what could happen when something like a natural disaster strikes a nuclear power plant and causes power outages and the threat of radiation being released which can cause cancer. According to an article by John Matson, last years incident at the Fukushima Plant has already been rated past the Three Mile Island incident in New York which was rated at level 5 which meant that the consequences were no longer local. Once the radiation
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is released into the air, wind can carry it and eventually cause radiation poisoning and thyroid cancer. If every major city were to depend on nuclear energy in a time when more and more countries are experiencing industrial growth, the consequences of nuclear meltdowns which could be caused by tornadoes or hurricanes could potentially threaten the entire world. The best thing scientists could do in this situation is figure out better ways to properly dispose of the waste from nuclear power and they could try to figure out how to better address the consequences of a nuclear meltdown. Of the most recent solutions offered as an alternative to using fossil fuels for power is using biofuels. Biofuels are made using different crops, most commonly corn, and can be used to make ethanol or other types of fuels. What makes a biofuel renewable is the fact that crops can be regrown. What does using food for the purposes of fuel and not for food consumption mean though? Well according to the Global Forest Coalition, there are both short term and long term effects of using biofuels for power. The main short term consequence of using biofuel is the increase of prices of food which are constantly rising as it is. The long term effects pose the same threats that deforestation does. Since not all land can be used for agriculture, such as deserts in Arizona and tundra in Siberia, the only choice left is using deforestation to make more land available for the extra demand since the world population is still growing and crops are still used for food. Along with deforestation in itself being a large tragedy, habitats are being destroyed as well as the cultures of indigenous peoples. The only option that can stop the growth of biofuel usage is by making further advancements in the production of other fuel types. Todays world is filled with all kinds of problems. Global warming and the extreme weather that is resulting from it is one of the most serious issues because it can cause a number of problems. The best way for humans to stop this problem though is by using alternate fuel
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sources instead of using fossil fuels. Solar power, wind power, nuclear power, and biofuels are all major advancements but they are not the solutions at the moment. The safest of these choices is solar and wind power but because they make up such a low amount of the worlds energy supply, they are not realistic options at the moment. Nuclear power is just too risky to be used on a global scale since humans do not yet know how to dispose of the waste properly or how to contain a large nuclear meltdown. Biofuels pose the same threats that using deforestation pose and although both biofuels and saving forests are both major issues, only one of the issues can be solved. Biofuels also make the everyday challenge of raising food prices in a world where each day it seems that people have to pay more for taxes or other things. There are other options being explored as alternative fuel sources but right now fossil fuels are still the cheapest and most available fuel sources for people to use. Hopefully a better solution or more advances in science will come along to finally solve the issue of global warming before it poses an even bigger problem.

Works Cited Page Cohen, Steven. 2006. Nuclear Power Is Complicated, Dangerous, and Definitely Not the Answer. Grist. http://www.grist.org/article/cohen1 Accessed November 15, 2011. Global Forest Coalition. 2006. Biofuels: A Disaster In the Making. Energy Bulletin. http://www.energybulletin.net/node/21845 Accessed November 15, 2011. http://media.photobucket.com/image/2010%20world%20energy%20supply/aangelinsf/W orldPrimaryEnergySupply.gif http://www.altenergy.org/ Matson, John. 2011. What Happens During a Nuclear Meltdown? Scientific American. http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=nuclear-energy-primer. Accessed November 15, 2011. Moisse, Katie. 2011. Fallout Fears: Potential Health Impact of Japan Nclear Crisis. ABC News http://abcnews.go.com/Health/fallout-fears-health-impact-meltdownfukushima/story?id=13132302 Accessed November 15, 2011. Morgan, Jason. 2010. Energy Costs of Nuclear, Coal, Gas Wind and Solar. Nuclear Fissionary. http://nuclearfissionary.com/2010/04/02/comparing-energy-costs-of-nuclear-coalgas-wind-and-solar/ Accessed November 15, 2011.