The Alternative to Fossil Fuel

Due to the emissions from coal-fired power plants, oil refineries and cars, the Earth has warmed by 9 degrees Fahrenheit since the 1950s. The polar caps have lost about 30 percent of their ice mass since the 1970s. As a result, the oceans temperatures have steadily risen; consequently, causing bigger and more frequent hurricanes and typhoons. For this reason, some scientists argue that these are natural weather occurrences because the Earth is in a warming trend just before a new ice age. On the other hand, the majority of scientists are coming to an agreement that carbon dioxide or (CO2) emissions are the primary source of the Green House Effect, which is causing the current global catastrophes. Some of the ways to prevent global catastrophes is to find alterative energy sources. There are alternative sources of energy such as ethanol fuel, hydroelectric, nuclear, solar, and wind power. All these sources could replace fossil fuels; thus, decreasing the toxic CO2 emissions in the atmosphere. The use of alternate energy could slow or even reverse the Green House Effect.

The Green House Effect is caused from carbon dioxide or (CO2) being trapped in the atmosphere. This doesn’t allow for radiation cooling, thus raising the Earth’s average temperature one degree every ten years. The average level of carbon dioxide for the last 40,000 years has stayed about 200 parts per million. However, in the last hundred years with the introduction of cars and oil refineries, the level of carbon dioxide has risen to 368 part per million. This is almost a 30% rise in carbon dioxide. At the current rate of fossil fuel consumption, by 2100 the carbon dioxide levels will be at 540 to 970 parts per million. This will make the atmosphere toxic to breath, and will have serious effects on sustaining any plant life on Earth. Furthermore, the industrial revolution also has contributed its share of toxins in the last 200 years. The toxins from industries have added harmful gases such as methane, nitrous and chlorofluorocarbons. These gases further the process of global warming by creating a blanket of toxic air over the Earth. (342) Some of the ways to prevent this tragedy from continuing is to find alternatives to fossil fuels.

The first alternative to fossil fuel is nuclear power because nuclear power doesn’t admit any emissions in the atmosphere. However, nuclear power does have its skeptics because of the radiation leak at Three Mile Island in New York in the 1970’s, and the Chernobyl melt down in the Russian Ukraine during the late 1980’s.These accidents could have been prevented if both nuclear reactors had better management teams. Both incidents were caused by human operating error and cut backs in the nuclear power plant’s budgets. Tragically, 31 people loss their lives in the Chernobyl accident, but that is nothing compared to the thousands of people who have lost their lives in coal mining accidents mining coal for power plants. (10)

Nuclear power can be safe and use less natural recourses to produce the same amount of power. For example, the New Madrid power station in Madrid, Missouri uses 4.2 million tons of coal each year and spews out 358,621 tons of nitrous oxide, 8,415, 549 tons of carbon dioxide, and 280 pounds of mercury the most deadly of all toxins. Comparing this to a Nuclear power plant of the same size, that only uses three hundred tons of natural uranium on an annual bases and produces the same amount of electricity without the green house gases. Overall, a nuclear power plant uses 14,000 times less natural resources than coal-fired power plant. (42)

There are also other sources of energy such as windmills and solar panels. These sources may not always be reliable because of the weather. However, these renewable sources of energy are safe and clean for the environment. Windmills and solar panels could substitute for a natural gas substation such as the one on Northern Ave. in the city of Peoria. The purpose of a natural gas substation is to add more power to the power grid during peek hours of the day without creating high emissions. So substituting windmills and solar panels would bring down the price of natural gas that has been soaring since the late 1990’s. Furthermore, it would help the average American homeowners in the cost of heating their houses in the winter. Natural gas is not a renewable resource of energy, and it should only be used as a gas for heating homes and offices. (40)

The use of coal for electricity is only one of the problems in global warming. The other problem is the growing demand of oil and gas. In the last 50 years the population of Earth has doubled to six and a half billion people. As a result, the demand for planes and vehicles has also doubled; for this reason, planes and vehicles account for 21% of the total carbon dioxide in the Earth’s atmosphere. The gas used in cars and trucks account for the largest amount of carbon dioxide produced in the United States. For example, one mid-size car can produce over 12,000 pounds carbon dioxide a year; furthermore, the car will produce 54 tons of carbon dioxide in its life span. As a result, the affects of the carbon dioxide is observed in the damage to crops, trees, water supplies and upper respiratory problems. (205)

To combat the ecological damage done from global warming, large oil companies and automobile manufactures must do more research and development in the production of ethanol. Ethanol is the cleanest burning fuel because it contains 35% oxygen by weight and is totally biodegradable. Fuels blended with ethanol drop the emission from cars by 35 to 45%; therefore, reducing the fossil fuel use by 50%. The blended fuel is equivalent of removing 853,000 cars annually from our nation’s highways. Furthermore, the use of ethanol in the United State has reduced the CO2 green house gas by 5.7 million tons a year. (1)

And last, Americans need to change their love affair with SUVs and Trucks to help in reducing the CO2 green house gas. The SUVs and Trucks account for 51% of all vehicles on U. S. highways, and they only get 16 miles per gallon. This is 9 miles per gallon less than the average passenger car therefore leaving American even more dependent upon foreign oil. However, Honda’s Insight and Toyota’s Prius is an alternative to the gas guzzling SUVs and Trucks. Both cars get 60 miles per gallon this is twice the fuel efficacy of a typical passenger car. Furthermore, the emissions from Honda Insight and a Toyota Prius have 80% less tailpipe pollution than a small passanger car. (236)

In closing, Mankind is at the top of the evolutional chain, so it’s Mankind’s conscious and moral responsibility to ensure the survival of all living species on Earth. One way to ensure the survival of the forests and the animals that live in them is to change people’s dependency of fossil fuels; this is done by finding alternative energy sources. Furthermore, people need more education on the effects of Global Warming. For if they knew the future catastrophes that come with Global warming, maybe it would change their minds on the damage they are inflecting on the Earth.

Work Cited

Domenici V. Pete. A Brighter Tomorrow. Lanham, Maryland: Rowman and Littlefield

Publishers Inc, 2004. 10, 42, 40.

Langholz Jeffrey Ph.D., Kelly Turner. You Can Prevent Global Warming. Kansas City, Missouri: Andrews McMeel Universal company, 2003. 200 - 205, 236 - 239, 342.

Lomaborg Bjorn. The Skeptical Environmentalist. Cambridge, United Kingdom:

The Press syndicate of the University of Cambridge, 2001.

American Coalition for Ethanol. “Environment and Clean Air Benefits.” “Economy and Job creation Benefits.” American Coalition for Ethanol. November 29, 2004 <http://www./ethanol.org/economy.html>. 1 - 3