Guided Response: Review several of your classmates’ posts and respond to at least two of your peers by 11:59 p.m. on Day 7 of the week. You are encouraged to post your required replies earlier in the week to promote more meaningful and interactive discourse in this discussion. In your reply, be sure to help strengthen each other’s ideas through constructive dialogue.

Arthur King

Many believe that global warming is a hoax and that scientists are overestimating the effects it will have on our lands. The way that humans are maintaining it, we will eventually submit to the idea that pollution is real and that we need to act now. Fossil fuel is a major cause to the destruction of our climate. Two obvious ways that we can help reduce the use of fossil fuel energy are solar energy and wind power energy.

Solar energy is the most talk about alternative energy for conventional energy. While the concept may seem easy, many believe the technology is difficult. Many of us grew up on the gas and coal type of energy and therefore the capability to learn how to govern something new may become stressful. Additionally, although solar energy will have a low-cost overtime to the consumer, many do not want to pay the upfront cost to set it up. Urban and city life may difficult placing the panel in a proper position or adequate the room to store the batteries.

Wind energy is a great alternative for replacing coal, oil, and natural gas as the primary means of energy. One of the main barriers for making this the primary source for conventional energy is location. Not all places in the states produce an abundance amount of winds. Wind energy works best on coastal and higher elevation lands. Many loan institution see wind energy as a risk and therefore insurance and loans will be difficult to get. The idea is that they may fall over due to serve weather or the maintenance for upkeep will be too expensive.

For both alternatives, they face the interconnection for common electric grids your house may use. Additionally, they have not figure a way to find a rate structure. However, the government still attempts to encourage the use of renewable energy in several ways. Of course, they will publicize the money benefits. You can get a rebate of your taxes whether corporate or personal. They also issue grants in support renewable energy. They can also give financial incentives for adapting to the green power purchasing.

Barriers to Renewable Energy Technologies. (2017, December 20). Retrieved from https://www.ucsusa.org/clean-energy/renewable-energy/barriers-to-renewable-energy#.WkOQwN-nFPY

Barriers to Additional Wind Energy Development. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://www.e-education.psu.edu/earth104/node/1300

Graylee, K. (2013, August 12). Beyond the Debate: The role of government in renewable energy finance. Retrieved from http://sitn.hms.harvard.edu/flash/2012/energy-finance/

State Renewable Energy Resources. (2017, October 24). Retrieved from https://www.epa.gov/statelocalenergy/state-renewable-energy-resources#Benefits of Renewable Energy

Turk, J., & Bensel, T. (2014). Contemporary environmental issues (2nd ed.) [Electronic version]. Retrieved from https://content.ashford.edu/Links to an external site.

Vujadinović, R., Tombarević, E., & Karadžić, U. (2017). Valorization Of Potentials Of Wind Energy In Montenegro. Thermal Science, 21(5), 1893-1903. doi:10.2298/TSCI161201016V

Jerome Saunders

While we do depend on fossil fuels a lot in everyday life, there are many other alternatives that can be used in their place. The problem with converting to these alternatives can be a number of things such as funding, knowledge, or time. If you take a in depth look at things its not as simple as you may think and this is why we may never see a change in our lifetime. Along with such high demands for fossil fuels you then create shortages which is why we need to focus on developing ways to change them or use alternatives. If we don’t and the fossil fuels run out, what will happen next? Will we just go without certain things we really need in life? The two alternatives I will talk about will be solar power and biodiesel. Taking a look at biodiesel first, biodiesel is a renewable alternative that can be used in place of fuels like petroleum. Biodiesel comes from different types of cooking oil, vegetable, sunflower and soybean. Solar power has been around for some time now and becoming more popular, but why haven’t we made the full switch? Because of the cost that many cannot afford and the ability to place the panels in good enough areas to receive full coverage from the actual sun. The barriers each of these alternatives face can in fact keep them from taking over completely, but if we come up with a way to use both in their own areas then it might help cut down on the use of actual fossil fuels. In the eyes of the government it may cost to much to do the research or take more time. They have the ultimate say so, so it would have to be approved through them before and changes could take place.

 Turk, J., & Bensel, T. (2014). Contemporary environmental issues (2nd ed.) [Electronic version]. Retrieved from https://content.ashford.edu/Links to an external site.

Shankar, A. A., Pentapati, P. R., & Prasad, R. K. (2017). Full Length Article: Biodiesel synthesis from cottonseed oil using homogeneous alkali catalyst and using heterogeneous multi walled carbon nanotubes: Characterization and blending studies. Egyptian Journal Of Petroleum

Abramowitz, Y. I. (2014). Blair’s Missing Peace: Solar Power for(Energy) Independence. Palestine-Israel Journal Of Politics, Economics & Culture, 19/20(4/1), 79-87.