A. Where does your energy come from? Look at the EPA link to see how your zip code compares to the national average. What did you find?
B. Check out Bidder 70.org What's the story here? Tim DeChristopher is part of ongoing debates and activism about what type of energy the US should develop. Should we continue to extract or facilitate the extraction of fossil fuel?
C. Finally, listen to this video of Nathan Lewis on solar energy and discuss what you learned. What does he think is possible? Take notes on the following.
- What does he mean, we're running out of air?
- Why is the issue he's discussing the problem of our time?
- What does he mean 'the Stone Age didn't end because we ran out of stones' - what does it have to do with energy?
- What does he mean 'you can't understand a problem unless you know its scale?'
- What is the 'business-as-usual' scenario and what drives it?
- What is carbon intensity?
- What is the biggest experiment humans have ever done?
- What does he mean when he says 'wait and see is wait and do'?
- To avoid the biggest experiment humans have ever done on the planet, how much nuclear fission plants would we need to put in place?
- What's carbon sequestration and will it work?
- What are our renewable options? Which among them has the most potential and why?
For full credit: A) Discuss something from the Nate Lewis podcast using questions 1-11 as a guide B) Discuss the Tim DeChristopher questions, C) Tell us specifically what you found for the energy source calculator and, as usual, reply to a peer.
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Optional: Go to this link to read about innovations in providing solar light or find other evidence of people and places innovating and using renewable sources of energy.
Energy before I even began I checked out where the energy I use come from and through what forms is that energy created. I assumes since I live in La Crosse near the Mississippi that the majority of the power I used was created via Hydro Plants however, that made up only 5.9% lower the national average. The majority of the energy I used comes from Coal Plants about 65.3% which is higher than the national average. I just can't believe that one of the most polluting and dangerous of the energy producing ways is how I power my lights. I assumed that the majority of the power I used was via renewable resources but it's not. Tim Christopher is a man whose trying to stop oil and gas companies from drilling in Utah especially near National Parks. He advocates for more usage of solar and other renewable resources because of the adverse effects that fossil fuels have on the environment especially with climate change. He wants to prevent companies from destroying the environment and end corruption at its core. At this moment I think we should proceed with caution as to where we extract oil and fossil fuels by destroying a forest to get oil we only solved a problem for a few more years but that as well will eventually run out. Instead, we should use what we have a means of getting somewhere new and renewable rather than dealing with the problem eventually. Nathan Lewis in Powering our Planet is speaking directly to that by saying that our energy situation is the top priority of time which he emphasis by saying that we are "running out of air" or are gonna begin to choke when we run out of fuels and fresh air. Waiting till the issue to arrive isn't the correct solution either because when that time comes we'll have way more issues than energy such as chaos. He emphasizes that we learn the extent of what the dilemma we face and that as a result we can figure out how to proceed. If we proceed to go on as normal we'll end up in a whole new mess that we may not return from. It also doesn't take into account issues such as population growth and higher usage and that throws estimates straight out of the loops. Our country has a huge carbon intensity which is how much carbon we produce per dollar earned and that is only expected to rise despite our best efforts. We have created the largest experiment ever by watching and waiting to see what will happen with the immense carbon dioxide in the atmosphere however, eventually the effects will change our planet forever and we'll be forced to adapt to a new way of life. Nuclear may not be the answer as well because to keep at our pace we need 1000 of them by 2050. We could put the carbon in other forms or sequester it but they all have they're own set of issues and don't truly solve the issue. So, the best way he suggests is throw solar energy especially if the sites are appropriately placed. In the end its an issue that needs to move from talk to action because time is running out fast.
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