Energy

Energy is something that all living things depend upon. “Plants use flows of energy from the sun to make food. Humans use food to power their bodies and a variety of other sources to carry on complex activities in the modern world”. (Robertson, p. 158).  Today most energy is produced from fossil fuels, a nonrenewable resource. However we do have renewable resources on earth such as wind and sunlight, which are being constantly replenished. That’s the problem with fossil fuels are replenished but take hundreds of millions of years, which for humans sake is never.

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There are three main fossil fuels, oil, natural gas, and coal.  Oil is a combination of hundreds of complex hydrocarbon molecules that have fossilized over hundreds of millions of years. Drilling for oil is extremely complex and takes up to six different exploratory drills to find a oil depository. This extraction process is extremely time consuming and generates waste drilling fluid called “drill mud” (Robertson, P. 159). Over the years land based fields have become depleted so oil companies are turning to drilling in the ocean. 

The petroleum that is extracted from the ground is not ready to be used it must be refined. The Petroleum must be boiled and distilled in to different grades of fuel used in various industries. Like everything else in life, it is good in moderation, same rules applies to oil. If we used it in moderation and did not rely on it to the extent we do today the world would be a much better place. If oil reserve rain dry today, the western world would go into panic. Gas would sky rocket in price because there was no more supply and people would need to change the way they function in todays society. A saying my grandmother always says, “it is the way it is, because you set it up that way”. This is true for oil. We rely on it to much.

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We as a country and people group need to start looking into more renewable energy sources, such as wind and solar. The nice thing about these sources is, they are free and they are not going anywhere anytime soon. To produce energy, mechanical energy is used to turn a generator. “A generator is a device that converts mechanical energy into electrical energy”. (Robertson, P. 164). For example, wing can turn fan blades that then turn the generator to create electricity. Another sources of renewable energy is hydroelectrically power. A great example is Niagara Falls. The amount of kinetic energy the falls creates with the millions of gallons of water that fall each and everyday is incredible. By placing some turbines near the falls, the current the water moves at will create an astounding amount of clean renewable energy.  

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