Energy Choice
Edgar Munoz
Kaplan University
SC250 Science for Everyday Life
July 28, 2014

Introduction Energy plays a vital role in moving our lives forward. Consuming energy is undoubtedly became the prime factor of sustainability and survivability in the modern world. Energy is one of the most important subject matter that involves our contemporary life style. According to physicist Boyle, scientific description of ‘energy’ is the ability to accomplish tasks which also defined as an individual’s capability to transport an object involving some sort of resistance. This paper talks about common energy usage in our homes everyday lives as well as the resources that the energy is derived from. Renewable and non-renewable energy is also discussed evaluating the impact on the humans and the environment result in increasing the demand for energy. Alternate energy resources will be analyzed in this paper to find the best practice of future energy solutions. Energy usage in our daily life Even though the population of the United States is less than 5% of the entire world, we in America consume a quarter of the world’s energy resources (Energy.gov, 2009). 21% of the nation’s energy usage is accounted for residential consumption where we spend average more than $2000 per year for energy related bills. From 1950 to 2009, American energy consumption practically tripled due to increased population and at the same time the development of standard of living. The population of United States nearly doubled during this time and the average size of the home also became larger. Urbanizing society is driving the needs of electronic devices and modern appliances in every home. There are several forms of energy we use in our daily life. Sometime we consume energy directly from the sources called “primary energy” without converting it to another form. Electricity that we use every day is a secondary form of energy because we convert primary energy such as fossil, nuclear, solar or wind in to electricity. Thus electric power generation segment consumes primary energy and transforms it to electricity. Then the electricity is processed for the residential, commercial, and industrial consumers as well as or transportation segments. Often a good portion of primary energy is being consumed or destroyed at the time of transformation from one form to another. Moore States, “The primary energy used to generate electricity, for example, includes the amount of electricity sold at retail as well as energy lost during generation and distribution.” [Moore, 2010] For transportation purpose we use gasoline which is derived from Crude oil from beneath the earth. Crude oil is processed and refined to be able to use in our cars thus this type of energy requires a transformation but we still can recognize gasoline or petroleum as primary sources of energy. For another example of daily usage of energy is lithium ion battery for laptop used both at home and in school. Battery for laptop is manufactured using chemicals stored in the battery that convert stored chemical energy into electrical energy. Battery is rechargeable with several years life span. Some batteries can be chargeable by solar panel as a source of renewable energy. We also use solar lighting poles outside of our homes that illuminate our gardens at night. This energy sources are exclusively from sun by storing the energy and use when needed. Some of us own Hybrid vehicles that are run by combination of electricity and gas. Electricity is being produce by dual combustion process and recharges the battery as a source of renewal energy also called green car that is energy efficient and do not produce any CO2. Increasing energy demand and its impact Rising energy demand and increasing energy cost have been a huge impact in the United States for at least a decade. Energy demand and its impact is a substantial factor in the U.S. economy. Energy consumption in America is nearly 10% of Gross Domestic Product (GDP). Only thing we pay attention to is the price we pay at the gas station and the energy bills that we pay at homes. However, our gasoline and utilities consumption is only a fraction of total energy that we use every year. Most people do not track the amount of energy consumption that we do in the industrial, commercial, and transportation areas. Most of us may not have any understanding about the price we pay for goods and services that include the cost of the energy. An ultimate effect of overconsumption of this energy drive significantly reduces our planet's carrying capacity for sustainable ecosystem. Extreme unmanageable consumption would force to surpass the long term sustainability of its environment which is also called “ecological overshoot”. Overconsumption also causes subsequent supply exhaustion, ecological deprivation and condensed ecological health. This high demand of energy and urbanizing society is an ultimate driving force behind the expansion of extreme energy production that would cause a serious threat to our climate and the sustainability of our future generation. Alternate energy resources As the ecosphere faces increasing conservational and economic challenges, scientists, educators and a few policy makers are standing up to achieve a sustainable energy production and consumption which would be a fair measurement of consumption and good for our current environment and future generation. As we move forward looking for alternate energy resources we are successfully able to produce energy in a number of areas including solar, wind, geothermal, bioenergy and water energy sources. The current US administration launched several efforts to implement alternate energy resources in every sector of our life from residential to industrial areas as well as schools and institutional organizations. The clean energy production generates 100s of billions dollars in financial movement, and is predictable to continue to grow in a fast pace in the years to come. There is tremendous financial prospect for the nations that discover, manufacture and trade clean energy technologies. [energy.gov, 2014] If I were to seek a new energy resource for my home, I would definitely pick solar powered energy which would help at least reduce 64% of my conventional energy consumption. Recently there are so many solar powered equipment can be found in the market especially for homes. Most of the appliances and electric equipment such as television, air conditioner, computes, cell phones and notebooks can be powered by solar panels mounted on the roof of the house. It would require at least three quarters of the day of sunlight to keep the appliances running for 2 days. Therefore energy storage and energy generation system from solar sources must be maintained in a regular basis. For transportation I would pick all electric-car that would save 100% of the gasoline consumption. There are a few car manufacturers who are building all electric cars and more companies to follow. Currently Tesla and Nissan are building 100% electric vehicle which are relatively higher cost compare to other hybrid vehicles such a Toyota Prius and Honda Insight. For school I would support our school to take initiative to make the entire school a Green school. For an example, the department of energy website published an article of Green school. It states showing pictures of those initiatives “Watch as these fourth grade students go from learning about electricity to making their own electricity with their solar-powered classroom.” [Energy.gov, 2014] Conclusion Energy is critical to our existence and our standard of living. The US and global energy consumption raises because of population growth and in the hunt of increasing standards of living. In recent years our demand for energy seems to be in a pick across the continents and thus production of large amount of energy causing serious threat to the environment. We must take proper action to find alternate energy sources and reduce overall consumption that benefits us both financially and environmentally. Reference: Moore, Richard, “US Energy Consumption: How much do we use? (2010)Retrieved on 07/30/2014 from http://www.pennenergy.com/articles/pennenergy/2010/05/us-energy- consumption.html Clean Energy, “What Is the Impact of Electricity Generation on the Environment?” Retrieved on 07/30/2014 from http://www.epa.gov/cleanenergy/energy-and-you/index.html Zehner, Ozzie, Green Illusions. Lincoln and London: University of Nebraska Press, 2012 Renewable energy, “Solar powered schools” 2014 Retrieved on 07/30/2014 from http://energy.gov/science-innovation/energy-sources/renewable-energy