Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
of domestic coal and the reserves of oil in Western oil shales are projected
to last for more than a century, and natural gas from methane hydrates
may be correspondingly large, although there is not yet a reliable esti-
mate of reserves. Producible fossil fuels are still abundant in the United
States; in 2006 they supplied 70 percent of the nation's electricity.
The key issue is whether we want to use them. They are responsible
for the air pollution in our cities and are thought by most scientists to
be largely responsible for such climate changes as global warming,
changes in precipitation patterns, the increasing severity of hurricanes
along our Gulf Coast and Atlantic coastlines, and the rise in sea levels.
Political realities and the time needed to develop the infrastructure for
alternative energy sources mandate that fossil fuels will be our main
source of energy for many decades to come.
Alternative energy sources are abundant but are of small importance
at this time. Their research and development require time and consider-
able money from the government during their early stages. The Obama
administration is well aware of these facts and is determined to replace
fossil fuels with alternatives to the extent possible. But it will not happen
overnight. The bottom line on fossil fuel use was well expressed by
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid in June 2008: “The one thing we
fail to talk about is those costs that you don't see on the bottom line.
That is, coal makes us sick, oil makes us sick. It's global warming. It's
ruining our country. It's ruining our world. We've got to stop using fossil
fuel. We have for generations taken carbon out of the earth and put it
in the atmosphere, and it's making us all sick. It's changing our world.”
Conservation: A Pollutant Saved Is a Pollutant Earned
As Steven Chu, Nobel Prize-winning physicist and current secretary of
energy, believes that conservation and energy effi ciency will remain for
the next couple of decades the most important thing the world can do
to get on a sustainable path. “If I were emperor of the world, I would
put the pedal to the fl oor on energy effi ciency and conservation.”
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It is
a method that can be implemented immediately and have a noticeable
effect, unlike the development of renewable energy sources that will take
many decades to have a major impact, regardless of federal government
policies.
Current government fi nancial policies that foster conservation, such
as increasing the use of renewable energy sources and the construction
of energy-effi cient buildings, are essential. But additional measures are
needed, such as decoupling the profi ts of electric utility companies from
