Researched Argumentative Essay PDF

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Final for English 2010. Sample Research Essay....

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Matt Waite Prof. Cogman English 2010 11/14/18 Researched Argumentative Essay Currently, the world we live is running out of sustainable energy. Scientists have tried to stretch out the current resources that society relies on. Although, through extensive research and application, renewable energies like solar and wind have been thought to be viable solutions to this energy crisis. There are many arguments and claims as to why this could be an answer. Some of which include the costs of current resources vs alternative or renewable energies, the reliability and sustainability, and also availability and quantity. The costs to produce, regulate, and distribute energy is a key element when discussing the future of energy. Cost is one of the main things that is currently holding back renewable energy from expanding and becoming more mainstream. Many have claimed that the current resources like fossil fuels have increased in price overtime. In the article “Renewable Energy Will Be Consistently Cheaper Than Fossil Fuels By 2020, Report Claims” Dominic Dudley reports that the costs of renewable energy have dropped and are still decreasing. He quotes as statistic by IRENA stating “The cost of generating power from onshore wind has fallen by around 23% since 2010 while the cost of solar photovoltaic (PV) electricity has fallen by 73% in that time.” His claims are confirmed by Kate Waxler, a writer for Lazard, who cites a study done by Lazard about the costs of different energy sources. The findings show that renewable energy costs are decreasing while fossil fuels are staying consistent. She states “As LCOE values for alternative energy technologies continue to decline, in some scenarios the full-lifecycle costs of building and

operating renewables-based projects have dropped below the operating costs alone of conventional generation technologies such as coal or nuclear. This is expected to lead to ongoing and significant deployment of alternative energy capacity.” This claim is further confirmed in the article “Renewable Electricity Levelized Cost Of Energy Already Cheaper Than Fossil Fuels, And Prices Keep Plunging”. This article reports many statistics about the current state of energy. The article states “Rapid cost declines in renewable energy technologies made them the cheapest available sources of new electricity, even without subsidies, in 2017. And in many locations across America, building new wind energy projects is cheaper than running existing coal-fired power plants.” This proves that cost does have an impact on the production of renewable energies, but is becoming less and less of a problem. The primary concern of costs is described in the article “Advantages and Disadvantages of Renewable Energy” published by Conserve Energy Future. They state “Change up to renewable sources of energy means stability of energy prices across the globe. This is because the cost of renewable energy depends on the initial cost of installation of renewable energy technologies as opposed to fossil fuels, which increase and decrease depending on the current inflation and availability of the resource. Respective governments would only need to cater to the initial costs and that’s it.” Their claim is that the initial costs of renewable energy come primarily from the installation. Once that is completed then the costs decrease dramatically. When discussing the pros and cons of different sources of energy, a main point is whether that resource is reliable. Reliability is extremely important. An energy source that isn’t reliable, in other words, isn’t able to work at its full potential. Some current reliable resources are fossil fuels like coal, natural gas, and petroleum. Society knows they work and we don’t question it. Some claim that renewable energy has to potential to become a fully reliable source of energy. In

the article “The Most Reliable Energy Sources” the author discusses the benefits as well as the disadvantages of different resources. They compare and contrast the reliability of each resource. The article states “ Fossil fuels remain to be one of our highest-energy sources in the UK. Made up of natural gas and coal, it is a reliable form of energy that has supplied both domestic and commercial needs for many years… Renewable energy is a growing source of energy in the UK and worldwide. Many countries are investing in solar panels and wind farms to generate electricity in new ways. However, many believe that these are less reliable sources of energy and we could never be 100% reliant on them.” This claim is contradicted in the article “Barriers to Renewable Energy Technologies”. It is stated “Renewable energy opponents love to highlight the variability of the sun and wind as a way of bolstering support for coal, gas, and nuclear plants, which can more easily operate on-demand or provide “baseload” (continuous) power. The argument is used to undermine large investments in renewable energy, presenting a rhetorical barrier to higher rates of wind and solar adoption. But reality is much more favorable for clean energy. Solar and wind are highly predictable, and when spread across a large enough geographic area—and paired with complementary generation sources—become highly reliable.” What these claims are trying to say is that fossil fuels have always been reliable, but renewable energy is also becoming more and more reliable. Therefore, overall, fossil fuels do have a more reliability rate than renewable energies. Creating energy that can be infinitely produced or consumed is the ultimate goal. Renewable energy could be just that, renewable. The ability to create more energy infinitely would be extremely powerful. Eric McLamb writes in his article “Fossil Fuels vs. Renewable Energy” that our current sources of energy are finite. They have an end and that end is near. He claims “We are going to run out of fossil fuels for energy and we have no choice but to prepare

for the new age of energy production since, most certainly, human demands for energy will not decrease… Clearly, renewable energy resources will play an increasingly vital role in the power generation mix over the next century.” McLamb believes that renewable energy could be pivotal for the future. A section from the article earlier agrees with McLamb’s claims (“Advantages”). They stated that renewable resources “do not deplete over a lifetime and there is zero possibility that they will run out (sustainable source of energy)… Powerful winds, heat emanating from beneath the earth, sunshine and moving water can guarantee a huge and steady energy supply to a nation for many years.” Also, writer for the Salem Encyclopedia of Science, Alice Myers agrees and describes the main types of renewable energy sources including solar, wind, biomass, and hydro power energy. She states “Fossil fuels are limited resources, and the burning of fossil fuels to generate energy creates emissions of carbon dioxide, toxic chemicals, and air pollutants that harm the environment and human health. Because renewable, or clean, energy systems use natural, local sources that are inexhaustible and such systems have fewer negative impacts on human life and the environment…” Essentially the basic claim is that renewable energies should be further researched and developed because of their infinite ability to renew itself. The claim given by Myers also incites another problem with the fossil fuels, the effect on the environment and society. Obviously fossil fuels have had harmful effects for years. The Union of Concerned Scientists put out an article titled “The Hidden Costs of Fossil Fuels” describing some of the effects that fossil fuels have on the environment. They state “Of the many environmental and public health risks associated with burning fossil fuels, the most serious in terms of its universal and potentially irreversible consequences is global warming. In 2014, approximately 78 percent of US global warming emissions were energy-related emissions of carbon dioxide. Of this,

approximately 42 percent was from oil and other liquids, 32 percent from coal, and 27 percent from natural gas.” What this means is that the majority of global warming emissions come from fossil fuels. In that same article they claim “Renewable energy—such as wind and solar power— carries far fewer negative impacts at increasingly competitive prices.” Another article published by Conserve Energy Future titled “Various Disadvantages of Fossil Fuels” gives a list of reasons why fossil fuels are at a disadvantage. Some of their reasoning consists of its non-renewability, the harmful effects on the environment, the health effect on humans, our overdependence, and its impact on aquatic life. They state “Though the fossil fuels meet our energy and fuel needs, still it’s a high time to look forward for the alternative renewable sources of energy such as wind turbines, solar panels, tidal generators and compost. As said by a great man, there is enough for everyone’s need but not enough for everyone’s greed.” There are plenty of harmful effects to the environment caused by fossil fuels. Renewable energy helps combat this with their little to no harmful environment effects. In the article earlier stated, they claim that renewable energy is ecofriendly (“Advantages”). The article states that renewable energy “is a clean source of energy, meaning, it has low or zero carbon and greenhouse emission… The use of renewable energy dramatically reduces the dependence on fossil fuel as a source of energy, hence, cutting back on air pollution.” According to these claims and research conducted, renewable energies are overwhelmingly more beneficial to the environment than fossil fuels. Renewable energy and the energy crisis are of major importance. Some believe that it is the key to the future of energy, while others claim that it is unreliable and inefficient. The initial claim was that renewable energy is more beneficial to us than current energy resources like fossil fuels. According to the research conducted it seems like this claim is correct. However,

renewable energy isn’t perfect. There are still plenty of flaws that need to be fixed. But as a society we should look forward to using more renewable energies as a sustainable solution.

Work Cited “Advantages and Disadvantages of Renewable Energy.” Conserve Energy Future, 15 Jan. 2017, www.conserve-energy-future.com/advantages-and-disadvantages-of-renewableenergy.php. “Barriers to Renewable Energy Technologies.” Union of Concerned Scientists, 20 Dec. 2017, www.ucsusa.org/clean-energy/renewable-energy/barriers-to-renewableenergy#.W8PqDBNKh-U. Dudley, Dominic. “Renewable Energy Will Be Consistently Cheaper Than Fossil Fuels By 2020, Report Claims.” Forbes, Forbes Magazine, 13 Jan. 2018, www.forbes.com/sites/dominicdudley/2018/01/13/renewable-energy-cost-effective-fossilfuels-2020/#65efe9574ff2. McLamb, Eric. “Fossils Fuels vs. Renewable Energy.” Ecology Global Network, 18 May 2014, www.ecology.com/2011/09/06/fossil-fuels-renewable-energy-resources/. “Renewable Electricity Levelized Cost Of Energy Already Cheaper Than Fossil Fuels, And Prices Keep Plunging.” Energy Innovation: Policy and Technology, 5 Feb. 2018, energyinnovation.org/2018/01/22/renewable-energy-levelized-cost-of-energy-alreadycheaper-than-fossil-fuels-and-prices-keep-plunging/. “The Most Reliable Energy Sources.” Open Access Government, 14 Nov. 2017, www.openaccessgovernment.org/the-most-reliable-energy-sources/39780/.

Thompson, Elaine. “Renewable Energy vs. Fossil Fuels for Electricity: Facts and Forecasts”, Beachapedia, 20 June 2018, www.beachapedia.org/Renewable_Energy_vs._Fossil_Fuels_for_Electricity:_Facts_and_ Forecasts. “Various Disadvantages of Fossil Fuels.” Conserve Energy Future, 21 May 2017, www.conserve-energy-future.com/disadvantages_fossilfuels.php. Waxler, Kate. “Levelized Cost of Energy 2017.” Lazard.com, 7 Nov. 2017, www.lazard.com/perspective/levelized-cost-of-energy-2017/....