Germany is number one in wind power in the world. So the question is, should the United States and Canada follow the lead? Already Germany is the most wind energy efficient country and continues to build on its energy expertise. Though wind energy and other alternative sources have increased in the US and Canada over the past decade, they are no where near European commitments or practice. Is there a future for alternative energy in America, or is it a waste of time and energy?
This news item was brought to my attention by William Austin in our lecture class. I am interested in other important sustainable items that impact the United States and Canada.
16 comments:
Of course there’s a future for renewable energy in the United States and Canada, we probably just won’t realize it until we absolutely need it (and hopefully it won’t be too late by then). The problem seems to be that the economics of it have never meshed particularly well with our consumer society. I don’t think its coincidence that the recent renewable energy push happens to coincide with the recent upward demand for oil. If we woke up tomorrow and found that gasoline had dropped to 67 cents a gallon, how quickly does everyone think the renewable energy craze would disappear? Oil is an incredibly efficient energy source. As long as there aren’t any projections that the world oil sources will be dry within 10 years I’d expect far more money to go into extracting oil quicker and more efficiently rather than to alternate sources of energy. Solar, wind, and nuclear power have an extremely high initial investment. I think this is where our politics get in the way. If an elected official has a 2, 4, 6, or 8 year term, are they really going to break their budget on something that won’t see a return until someone else is in position to reap the rewards of their endeavors? Maybe a silver lining is that as long as someone (such as the EU or another group) is willing to do the investing to discover great renewable technologies, then the Western world (or whatever region happens to be consuming the most energy at the time) might think of adapting their advancements.
I agree with almost everything Kyls says. Any major political initiatives that will make a real difference on this issue need to happen at the government level and in turn need politicians with the fortitude to fight for them. The energy industry and all of those in conjunction with it are extremely lucrative and in the hands of a powerful who have no real incentive (financially) to vigorously explore an energy source like wind as much as they do oil. It is hard to teach an old dog new tricks, not impossible but hard, and these people have been at the oil game for a long time. I disagree with the comment about oil being an efficient resource. In use it is but in production it is growing evermore cumbersome. An infathomable amount of money and government welfare is going into R&D to find new ways and places to extract and refine oil. Furthermore these costs are increasing drastically and the energy companies are not going to pull themselves away from the feeding trough if the governemtn keeps putting food in. I think, and I hope, that there is a future for renewable energy in the U.S. and Cananda there just has to a major shift in the thought paradigms of consumers and politicians.
The U.S. and Canada should most definitely follow the lead of countries like Germany. The "profit now at all costs" way of thinking is starting to takes its toll in a major way on these two countries. Politically, because we are becoming increasingly reliant on unstable parts of the world and are no longer towing the line of morality when it comes to dealing with countries that have no human rights records to speak of, we have crossed it. Also as these business get past the financial growing pains of startup they have the same potential to create the amount of jobs for U.S. and Canadian citizens just like it has in Germany which is beneficial to everyone in these two countries.
Yes, I believe there is a future for renewable energy in the United States and Canada. I also agree with what Kyle has said although I believe that the United States and Canada has realized the there is a future for it but big oil and the monster it has created has completely dominated this area (I use big oil because it was used above). We know that there are other energy’s worth working on and investing time and money into to relieve our oil dependence. However, big oil companies are squashing these efforts left and right. Same goes for our political leaders, who in some cases seem to be in bed with big oil as big oil lobbyist pay political figures huge sums for campaigning as long as they support big oil. Furthermore, political figures are just not interested in waiting for results in renewable energy (much like Kyle said). I believe that the realization is there, it is a matter of mobilization on the part of the American people to create change; something I think our country has lost over the past few decades is our drive for “public talk” or rather our interaction in our community and local government. If we wait for change to happen from our political leaders we will see that it has come when it is already too late, much again like Kyle said.
I think that the U.S. should invest in renewable energy. I personally feel that the U.S. should be setting the standard for the world. This is a new revolution and we have a chance to dominate the market if we put our resources into it. Sure we're gonna lose jobs, but we would gain different jobs in exchange. People would need to maintain energy producing facilities, people need to develop the technology, we need factories to build products related to the industry. I think that in the long run our energy prices would decrease and many companies might consider coming back to the U.S. I hope that in the 2008 election we get someone with the spine to make a change and lead us towards a sustainable future.
I think that United States and Canada should increase the use of renewable resources but we should do it gradually. If we haven't done anything like this we should start off maybe at 5 or 10 percent because it would be harder just to jump into cutting 20 percent of carbon dioxide emissons. We should stat off slow and then build our way up
The United States and Canada do need to follow the lead. Of course it may be easier for the European countries to be more sucessful because their countries are a lot smaller. The United States and Canada will have to work a lot harder to meet those same goals because the countries are a lot larger, but that is not to say that it can not be done. One day their may be no more oil, or it may be somewhere that is to hard to reach it, which is already the case....we can not wait for that to happen we have to get sustainablity going right now.
It would be an understatement to say that there is a huge place for alternative energy in America. As we talked about in class, Americans live lavish compared to a lot of other places. If we were to find a way to keep our lifestyles that we live now, but find other ways of keeping them going instead of fuel for instance it would be a huge advantage. If we as Americans could develop new ways of keeping the driving force behind our lifestyles rather than using the resources we currently do it could start trend in other countries. It could also provide many employment opportunities in new and expanding fields.
Sorry So Long
I think everyone agrees on the main points of the problems as well as the solutions to the renewable energy question. First of all I think that it’s well in the reach of our government which holds one of the greatest pools of intellectuals in the world to work on a solution. Furthermore, politically and factually one of the roadblocks to US participation, is that this is a global issue not just the US. Just as in non point pollution from industry plants, etc. you have other countries where the pressure of making a difference is non existence. I do not think this is a reason not to get involved in the movement but serves as a political hurdle for many in the fight. Also with all of the issues that are front stage today such as the economy, jobs, foreclosures, war, the threat of an environmental issue that will not immediately effect this generation or maybe the next seems to not be so important. Just being the devils advocate a lot of issues revolving around environment changes are often not concrete enough to some to be considered factual. Everyone hit on the point that politics play a HUGE role in what happens. The incentives have to be there for the investment to take place. As far as we have come as a nation we are still in a country that does not jump for change. Although proper planning would ease the transition, you have to look at past examples of what change has done to many areas. The same is true when you follow the change from coal to electricity. Although there is a move towards cleaner coal, still today the coal industry is not the same. The US was left with thousands of unemployed and the end of boom cities such as those in the Appalachian region. Being from Michigan I can only pray that the same doesn’t happen here, we are standing on one leg now as it is. One of my final reasons that I feel that there would be a problem is that oil is so dominant and ingrained into our society it will be a huge adjustment in our lifestyle. When you consider oil heated homes, petroleum, Vaseline, gas, tires, etc. oil has been made a permanent part of our lives. But the answer ALSO lies in that fact that we are the solution. The US is 5% of the worlds population; however, we consumer 25% of the worlds energy (I remember this from reading, but feel free to correct me on the facts)
Since finding new alternatives or developing the ones that we have are so expensive, the government is going to continue to push them aside. We are going to have to have a real crisis before I believe that anything is going to be done about the situation. People don't like to think about changing their lifestyle, especially if it is going good. But obviously something needs to be done and needs to be done soon. I agree with cdougla4 that we should not expect to jump right in and try to obtain the 20% right away. I think that we need to take progressive steps towards that goal. It would allow people to become more familiar and comfortable with the new policy. Right now, the government is not doing much about the issue, so the people of the country need to stand up and demand that the government do something. It is not going to be an easy road or a cheap road, but I believe that it will be well worth it in the future.
-Chelsey Kasper GEOG 320
To better the earth that we live in is never a waste of time or energy. Since I don't know much about wind energy there are a couple of questions that I have. Trees have a tendency to break up gust of wind well does that mean we would have to do some major deforestation. Or is this not effected by the trees. What ever we can do to improve the earth and make sure it is still here for many generations to come is a great investment.
The question of should there be a future for renewible resorces is simple to answer YES!! But there is very little chance I feel that it will ever happen. The united states is in buisness looking at the bottom line. With the inital cost of switching to sustainible or renewible types of resources industries are not willing to invest. Take for example the townin i believe ohio that bought out the town rather than instal the filters on there smoke stacks. As long as we remain a society that looks at minimum spending for maxium profit we are going to be reluctant to invest in renewible resources.
Do I believe that the world should be on the move to change towards sustainability, I think that is one of the dumbest questions ever. Why would you? I understand that this is a major issue, but can someone please give me a good reason to not change, other than money. And even at that point no argument that it should be done. Money made by those nonrewable resources can be changed to renewable investments. You can make money through that investment, and become more independent country. There is nothing bad with that in my opinion.
While I think it is great that the EU has set the goal of 1/5 of energy be renewable, why not set it a little higher? It is our environment, our whole WORLD, that is at stake! Not just 1/5 of it! While it may the most ambitious plan ever created, we are also living in a time that is the most troubled. Perhaps we need a more ambitious plan because times are so bad right now.
I think that if the US and Canada do not follow Europe's lead, there is something seriously wrong. We NEED to do something and perhaps the government needs to get more involved. I don't necessarily think that people choose not to live sustainably, but alot of the times, they are just ignorant. Mabye if the government mandates something like the EU has, it will get more people's attention to this growing problem.
I don't think that it is even conceivable to say that it is a waste of time and energy to attempt to begin a movement to using alternative energy. It is not a question, it is absolutely necessary. The German WindEnergy Association is extremely impressive with their renewable energy work and success. As American's it seems that consumers are greedy and yet frugal with their money in relation to our resources. Americans do not realize the negative consequences that are in store if we do not make changes. We are used to our resources being inexpensive and readily available to us. What is going to happen when that is no longer the case? It will be too late. As far as the politics of this idea, I believe that in order for us to make substantial changes, it is imperative that we have the support and guidance of our political figures and our government. Our future is relying on the use of renewable energy. The reduction of pollution and the conservation of fossil fuels is mandatory. We have to make changes and rely on the use of such energy from solar power, wind power and ground heat in an attempt to sustain our future. If we do not follow Europe and especially Germany, we are going to be regretting our laziness and shallow pockets sooner than we want to.
The use of renewable energy has quickly become a very efficient way to conserve the world's natural resources. It would be absurd for the United States and Canada not to follow the lead of the European countries and they should have already been well above where we stand today. The capabilities that we possess as one of the superpowers of the world should have been used and we are abusing the natural resources we do have when there are alternative forms to keep some sustainability to the life of what resources we possess. I don't forsee our natural resources running out in our lifetime but taking this step and following the lead of the European countries will allow us to leave the natural resources available to the future generations of these two countries. Allowing Germany to be the number one wind power country in the world can be viewed as a major letdown to the populations of the United States and Canada because we can clearly step up our efforts for a more conscious approach to helping solve the problems. We are slowly making the way to use more fuel efficent vehicles but it needs to become a faster process because of the current rising costs in gas prices and the economy not being in the best of shapes. We as the citizens of the country need to push the effort into being more responsible and respectful of the greatest possession that we all share(the earth).
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Kyle Seay
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