Renewable vs Nonrenewable Resources Essay -- Essays Papers

Renewable vs Nonrenewable ResourcesThe united States has 4% of the worlds people, but as a country consumes 25% of the worlds oil. The U.S. and Western Europe are obsessed with a standard of living that is reliant on energy consumption retained by the burning of fossil fuels. These nonrenewable resources continue to be depleted, despite the fact that solar power, wind power, hydropower, biomass, and many other renewable resources are visible(prenominal) and accessible. The switch to these renewables would stop the extensive pumping of CO2 and other pollutants into the air we breathe. Acid rain, oil spills and global climate change and other environmental disasters might get down a chance to abate. In addition to the impact on our health and the health of the planet, fossil fuel dependence has other potentially disastrous implications. every bit disturbing as the environmental consequences for oil-dependent Western economies is the fact that, in the near future, more than half o f the planets petroleum reserves will be owned and controlled by a handful of countries in the politically unstable Middle East. This will mean, and has arguably meant in the recent past (Operation Desert Storm, Operation Iraqi Freedom), that the United States military will go into these Middle Eastern countries to ensure management of oil resources are in line with U.S. corporate desires. This dependence and the resulting imperialism seem miserable and completely unnecessary when there are other types of sustainable resources here, at home.One example of the actual aptitude of renewable resources is wind power, the fastest growth energy resource use jumped from 10 mega watts in 1980 to 15,600 megawatts in 1999. If Wyoming alone were to cover just 1.... ...e 21st Century. Alternative Energy Institute, Inc, chapter 2Joesph Kahn. US fit(p) to Oppose International Plan for Cleaner Energy. New York Times, July 14, 2001Chiras, Daniel. The Solar House- Passive Heating and Cooling. 2 002, pg 237Wyoming Wind Resources, accessed on 9/11/03 www.eere.energy.gov/state_energy/tech_wind.cfm?state=WYCaveli, Damien. The United States of Oil, 2001, accessed on 9/11/03 http//global research.ca/articles/CAV111A.htmlBrown, Eric. An Introduction to Solar Energy, accessed 9/15/03 http//www.ccs.neu.edu/home/feneric/solar.htmlGreer, Bloyd. An Overview of Hawais Photovoltaic Experience, accessed 10/01/03 http//state.hi.us/dbedt/ert/pv_overv.htmlKelly, Rick. Bush grants permanent legal electrical resistance to US corporations looting Iraqi oil. International Committee of the Fourth International (WSWS), August 19, 2003