Life is changing everyday as we know it and it will continue to change for eternity. It is now 2050 and we have come a long way since 2014. We humans are always in search for bigger and better things although sometimes new technology can negatively affect our Earth. For many years the United States has focused on energy independence due to the energy crisis. President Barack Obama had created an administration towards the Green Power movement to help solve the energy crisis that had been happening. Many factors of technology advancements contributed to the Green Power movement which has altered the professional work lives and homes of the country’s citizens.The world is in our hands and we have the power to change and create a better future.
Cars are an example of a continuous effort in advancing in a direction towards more efficiency and less pollutants. Different vehicles serve different purposes and that is why it is difficult to just have one vehicle solve all issues. The cause of change had been the increasing oil prices, the concern about tailpipe emissions, and Global Warming. The USA had been too dependent on global markets for oil. America was facing an energy crisis that was said to be "the moral equivalent of war" (Bryce, 488). In 2006, 60 percent of consumption was dependent on imports of oil, petroleum, gas, and other fossil fuels. In a report of an Independent Task Force it was said that “the steep rise in energy prices...is the false expectation that policies to lower imports will automatically lead to a decline in prices” (Independent Task Force, 484). The constant disappointment had caused a search for change on the dependence of oil.
Electric cars and Hybrids are two cars that we now have that are more efficient and less of a pollutant to our environment because they release no carbon emissions into the atmosphere which had been a major cause of Global Warming. Globally, Electric cars have contributed to the prevention of the oil-related disaster that could have happened due to the cars that ran on gasoline. In the early 2000s it was said that “Hybrids served as a mental bridge to electric cars by creating public acceptance of battery driven vehicles and what they could mean; a much larger role for electricity in transportation” (Yergin, 526). The earlier plug-in hybrids were said to “run for some distance on electricity and then the battery runs down and a combustion engine takes over, either recharging the battery or directly providing power to propel the car, or both” (Yergin, 526). Some people had feared this because they were unsure if their car would travel long distances. Many cars today run on electricity from a battery, but there are charging stations just like there were gas stations in the previous years. Dieter Zetsche, the CEO of Daimler in the early 2000s said “We’re investing billions and billions and basically we’re going for everything- from diesel to hybrids to batteries” (Zetsche, 533). It is seen that many efforts and many different outlooks have contributed to the change in the transportation system. America had to constantly be open to new ideas and inventions. Looking back on the past, Joseph White said “efforts yield a solution to any challenge” (White, 537). He is a witness of the continuous efforts that the United States have made. Two factors that supported the USA’s dedication are the technological challenge of the Manhattan Project and the race to put a man on the moon. Unfortunately, financial problems have always played a major role in the creation of environmentally friendly vehicles which have caused some doubts to the creation of these new cars some decades ago. When Obama was president, his administration had provided $5 billion in grants and loans to battery producers, entrepreneurs, auto companies, and equipment suppliers to jump start the electric car and to create the infrastructure systems that would help it. The government had to implement many regulations, incentives, and subsidies to find an affordable price for the making and buying of the new cars.
In the early 2000s, rapid growth in solar installation had sparked an interest in society. Energy from the sun is priceless, renewable, abundant, and it is not dangerous to produce. The falling prices for solar panels had made the solar panels more popular. It was said by Paul Krugman that “prices adjusted for inflation [were] falling around 7 percent a year” (Pulmer, 510). Compared to the early 2000s, solar panels are now extremely cheap. It has been discovered that electricity from solar panels is less expensive than generating electricity by burning coal. Many solar panels are used to power our homes. The first state that had benefitted from this new advancement was California. In California, around 2007 it was said that “rows of gigantic mirrors cover[ed] an area bigger than two football fields” ( Dickerson, 505) showing the amount of space it the city needed to conduct a good amount of energy. Some places had also depended on solar thermal plants such as Ausra. Solar thermal plants were enormous boilers that were made of glass and steel that used the sun’s heat to produce steam to power turbines for electricity. Executives of Ausra said that their technology could “generate enough electricity to meet the entire nation’s demand” (Dickerson, 507). Although it seems to be a cleaner and more efficient energy source, it still requires high-voltage lines and old fashioned power towers to reach to people’s homes. Also, the sun does not always shine so problems continue to arise because fossil fuels must be used as backup power, unless there is stored energy. Although we have to burn some fossil fuels, it is very minimal compared to the amount that was burned in 2007. It was said that "Less than 12% of the states electric came from renewable resources" (Dickerson, 506). In the beginning of the twenty-first century “state lawmakers told investor-owned utilities that they must procure 20% of their electricity from renewable resources by 2010” (Dickerson, 507). Since then we have been able to acquire a minimum of 45 percent of electricity from renewable resources.
One other tool that has been invented is generating electricity from wind power. When it had been first introduced it was seen to be very efficient because it could be a clean, free, and safe source of energy. Another advantage was that “Wind power producers get tax credits and state incentives, and don’t have to worry about fuel price increases, pollution production or long construction delays” (Kolbert, 515). The way that it worked was that the windmills would catch the wind by either turning into or away from air currents. The wind would move through a propeller which would turn the shafts to work the generator and the mechanical energy would be turned into electricity. Although this seemed to be a smart energy source to depend on, it had eventually been discovered that it had many flaws and was not as effective as it was thought out to be compared to the amount of electricity generated from burning fossil fuels or from nuclear power. Some disadvantages were that the installation was sometimes costly, the turbines were loud, it was dangerous to birds and the windmills had taken up a large amount of land. Wind also has many different variations of speed at which it blows; it can only generate power within a range of 8 to 65 miles per hour. When the wind exceeds this limit it had to be shut off for the possibility of it being blown down. Environmentalists had worried about the windmills damaging fragile ecosystems. Some migratory bird species such as Bald and Golden Eagles had been endangered because of the large blades. Some say that the industry had “tricked its way into unspoiled countryside in ‘green’ disguise by portraying wind farms as ‘parks’” (Burnett, 521) when really wind farms were just like highways, industrial buildings, railways and industrial farms. They had taken up a lot of space and would only create a fraction of the energy of a conventional power plant. It was proven that they take a year to produce less than four days’ output from a single 2,000-megawatt conventional power station- which takes up a 100 times fewer acres” (Burnett, 521). All of these negative effects had resulted in a movement in another direction and we no longer see windmills around.
It can be seen that not all problems have been solved due to the new technological advancements, but we continue to work toward a better future for ourselves and the Earth. The world has changed drastically compared to what it was like about four decades ago and we will keep pushing towards a better and a more environmentally friendly future. Electric cars, Hybrids, and Solar power has greatly impacted our world. Our professional and home lives will continue to change and hopefully there will be no existence of the energy crisis that there once was. The inventions will continue to be a trial and error to see what is most beneficial to our world. What do you believe the next big advancement will be?
Works Cited
Bryce, Robert. “The Dangerous Delusions of Energy Independence.” Writing and Reading Across the Curriculum.October 2006: 488-492, Print.
Burnett, H. Sterling. “ Wind Power Puffery.” Writing and Reading Across the Curriculum
February 4, 2014:521-522. Print.
Dickerson, Maria. “State Solar Plans Are As Big As All Outdoors.” Writing and Reading Across the Curriculum December 3, 2008:505-508. Print
Kolbert, Elizabeth. “ The Island In The Wind.” Writing and Reading Across the Curriculum July 7, 2008:514-520. Print
“National Security Consequences of U.S. Oil Dependence.” Writing and Reading Across the Curriculum October 2006: 483-487. Print
Plumer, Brad. “Solar Is Getting Cheaper, But How Far Can It Go?” Writing and Reading Across the Curriculum November 7, 2011: 510-511. Print
White, B. Joesph. “Why The Gasoline Engine Isn’t Going Away Any Time Soon.” Writing and Reading Across the Curriculum September 15,2008 : 534-539. Print
Yergin, Daniel. “ The Great Electric Car Experiment.” Writing and Reading Across the Curriculum 2011:525-534. Print
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