Archive for February, 2008
Article Overview:
It’s a heated debate between fossil fuels and renewable energies. Fossils fuels, while becoming slightly pricier, are pollutants unlike renewable energy sources. But, fossil fuels are the “standard” in today’s society and are readily available. Wind power is a type of renewable energy that can be implemented in many parts of the world to provide electricity. When will the world finally become independent from fossil fuels?
The debate between fossil fuels and its alternatives has developed into one of the more discussed topics across the globe. In today’s world much stress is being put on creating alternate types of energy from that of fossil fuels. This idea gains more strength each year as fossil fuels are a limited, non renewable resource which are beginning to dwindle. One potential alternative, at least for electricity, is wind power which is a renewable resource. There are several types of renewable energy on the rise today. Along with wind power there is also solar power, hydro power, geothermal, biomass and biofuels. These renewable resources combine for only a small percentage of the total power consumed and wind power specifically accounts for approximately only one percent of energy used world wide. However, wind power has incredible theoretical potential. The potential energy in our atmosphere is greater than the total global energy consumption (wwea).For many, wind isn’t a well known source of harness able energy. Even though its first human uses date back to the first century (a.d.) it is just recently that many countries have begun to fully understand and use wind as a significant type of energy. Wind power is the conversion of energy produced by the wind into a consumable form, such as electricity. It is collected by windmills and, more frequently, wind turbines. Each year the use of wind power across the globe increases dramatically as it has more than quadrupled since the year 2000.
With the constantly rising prices of oil one major point of discussion related is the economics associated with wind power. The cost to produce a single turbine is rather expensive which draws criticism especially when considering that turbines are typically placed in groups in order to produce a significant amount of energy. Supporters of wind power counter that argument by pointing out turbines pay for their own production costs in a matter of months. Also “Improved turbine designs and plant utilization have contributed to a decline in large-scale wind energy generation costs from 35 cents per kWh in 1980 to less than 5 cents per kWh in 1997 in favorable locations At this price, wind energy has become one of the least-cost power sources” (wind energy). Another issue with the costs of wind energy is that the locations in which turbines are most effective aren’t the same locations as where the energy is demanded. Consequently that requires the production of new substations and transmission lines again costing substantially more money. On the other side, wind power consumers have the ability to create long term contracts to prevent potential future rises in pricing. Consistent pricing is often associated with wind power, which is one of its advantages over fossil fuels. Most of the costs related to wind power are relatively fixed while the ongoing costs of fossil fuels can be volatile.
The environmental effects of wind power are another highly controversial topic for both supporters of wind power and its critics. Proponents note that wind energy reduces pollution and carbon dioxide emissions. Since wind power doesn’t consume any fuel it in turn doesn’t produce any type of air pollutant; where as the negative environmental effects (the pollution) caused by consuming fossil fuels are well known. Adversaries will argue while that may be the case the materials used in building a wind turbine will have to be transported and the transportation used will more than likely run on fossil fuels. Further more wind turbines require large amounts of land space and are considered by some to be rather unsightly.
It has been observed that wind turbines have had a negative impact on wildlife. Some birds, particularly birds of prey have been killed by turbines. This number is however in significant compared to the number of birds killed by traffic. Many bats are also killed by turbines and at a much more alarming rate. It is believed that as many as two thousand bats were killed by a number of turbines in a matter of just six weeks. More research is needed to determine what if any effect these deaths had on the over all bat population for the different species. It is believed that turbines located off shore by at least ten kilometers don’t affect bats. However turbines located off shore effect other animals. There is a question of whether ocean noise generated by the operation of turbines is significant enough to affect or harm sea mammals. The deeper the water levels the further area the sound is carried affecting more of the ocean. Reportedly these vibrations could effect communications of whales and potentially the distribution of their prey. Further testing is still needed as much of these ideas are simply theoretical.
There are many other advantages associated with wind power to offset the negatives. One of which is conserving our limited resources. Today fossil fuels are used for heat, electricity and in fuelling automobiles. Using wind power negates the need for fossil fuels at least for electricity saving this resource for other uses. Also wind energy saves thousands of dollars in electricity bills. Individuals or corporations who construct wind turbines can actually generate income. An example is and individual in Michigan who plans on constructing four wind turbines on his property expects to earn any where from eighteen to thirty thousand dollars a year.
The one last hazard with wind energy is its unpredictability. If wind power is to be used for electricity consistently it is necessary that the amount of wind energy itself must be consistent. There are attempts to predict wind power but so far they’ve yielded a relatively low success rate and wind itself is constantly variable.
Overall I believe that the positives associated with wind power and its use as a replacement or alternative to fossil fuels far outweigh the negative consequences. While many view a vast field stocked with wind turbines as unsightly I take the opposite approach and see it as beautiful. To me the turbines represent progress in an effort towards finding an alternate source of power, one that doesn’t pollute and is virtually unlimited unlike fossil fuels which are limited in supply and cause great conflict sometimes even leading to war. Once wind turbines are in place they are relatively cheap to maintain and produce cheaper electric and in not using fossil fuels we can reduce or even eliminate our dependency on foreign oil.
The debate on which types of energy has no clear end in sight. While there is great support for alternatives to fossil fuels the United States along with many other countries are currently highly dependent on oil. Both types of power have their own advantages and disadvantages creating an argument for each side. Eventually it seems humans will extinguish the many of the Earth’s natural resources including crude oil and we will be forced to find alternative sources of power.
Works Cited
New World Record in Wind Power Capacity. World Wind Energy Association. 29 January 2007. 19 January 2008 <http://www.wwindea.org/home/images/stories/pdfs/pr_statistics2006_290107.pdf.>
Smith, J.C., and E.A. DeMeo. Wind Power Impacts on Electric Power System Operating Costs. Colorado: NREL, 2004.
Wilson, Paul. “Generate Jobs with Wind Power, Study Says.” Columbus Dispatch 24 august 2007, business 12C.
Wind Energy: construction of modern wind turbine. 10 January 2008 <http://winds-energy.blogspot.com/2007/09/consrtuction-of-modern-wind-turbine.html>
Wind: powering a cleaner, stronger America. American wind energy association.
9 January 2008 <http://www.awea.org/>
Windpower Monthly Magazine. Jan. 2008. Windpower Monthly.
10 January 2008 <http://windpower-monthly.com/>
This paper was written by J. Davidson at The Ohio State University.
February 19th, 2008
As of February 2008, the worldwide population is believed to have reached over 6.6 billion people. At this current pace, the Earth would reach a human population of nine billion by the year 2050. The 2007 CIA World Factbook claims that the current population increases by 211,090 people per day.
From DSW-Datareport 2006 (”Deutsche Stiftung Weltbevölkerung”), here’s the list of the most populous nations:
- China: 1.32 billion (about 20% of world population)
- India: 1.12 billion (about 17%)
- United States: 300 million (about 4.6%)
- Indonesia: 225 million (about 3.5%)
- Brazil: 186 million (about 2.8%)
Earth’s carrying capacity based upon economic factors, land, natural resources… ect. will eventually come under too much stress. When referring to the ever-booming population, how much is too much?
For many more fascinating global trends, we highly recommend checking out EarthTrends. It is a great source to find the trends for nearly anything.
February 11th, 2008
Article Overview:
Three Gorges Dam is the largest dam on the face of the planet. Its a magnificient construction project in terms of design and output but the environmental and sociological impacts may cause excessive devastation to the surrounding area.
An engineering marvel, currently under construction in China, will be the largest water conservation project of its kind. Three Gorges Dam is the world’s largest dam, doubling as a control for flood prevention and a hydroelectric power plant, being built along the Yangtze River. For generations China has contemplated the idea of building a dam to stretch across the mile width river. Since 1954, teams of scientists and engineers have developed the plan, design and consulting work of the dam (TED). In 1993, the Three Gorges Dam became reality when construction began. The dam is a major engineering project and another step forward in continuing to keep the boosted Chinese economy. This highly controversial construction project will have many positive and negative effects on the Chinese landscape and environment.
It is expected that the costly $180 billion dollar construction project will provide an electrical output that will be forty percent higher than that of the current largest operating dam (TED). Three Gorges Dam’s hydroelectric output “will generate 84.7 billion kilowatts of electricity each year — the equivalent of what it takes to light the counties of Los Angeles, San Francisco and Sacramento” (Neighbors). The dam’s use of hydropower, a renewable source of energy, to generate electricity will help replace the burning of fossil fuels. This will support the environment against the world’s growing global warming problem. The plant’s output will be equivalent to several large coal-fired plants (TGD Hyrdoelectric). “[Three Gorges Dam] will reduce the country’s annual coal usage by 50 million metric tons, therefore diminishing a major source of air pollution and greenhouse gas emissions” (Water).
Along with efficient energy output, the Three Gorges Dam was designed to have other valuable effects. Throughout history, the Yangtze River has flooded and caused much devastation to its surrounding landscape. In 1954, the river had a major flood that killed more than 30,000 people and left a million homeless (Water). The last major flood, occurring in 1998, was a battle fought by about 6.7 million people and hundreds of thousands of soldiers but the floods still killed 1,526 people (China). The Three Gorges Dam is viewed most importantly in helping to prevent further flooding from occurring. Along with the large loss of life due to flooding, vast areas of flooded farmland have hurt the agricultural landscape and economy surrounding the Yangtze River (Qing).
The Yangtze River is an important shipping route through China because many industries and farmlands are located along the banks. With deepened waters, navigation through the reservoir will be improved for cargo ships. A lock system that takes four hours for each ship to complete has been installed to bypass the dam’s water level difference. The Yangtze River, known to have been dangerous to navigate through prior to the construction of Three Gorges Dam, will now be safer and easier travel.
Along with positive effects associated with the construction of Three Gorges Dam, comes negative environmental impacts that have been a nuisance to the surrounding land and people. Three Gorges Dam has created a large 370 mile-long reservoir at 525 feet deep (TED). This reservoir has overtaken many of the lands that previously existed along the riverbank. These lands include many towns, villages and archaeological sites. Since this project began, 1.4 million people have already been relocated to new homes due to their land being overtaken by water. Many more people are expected to be moved as the waters continually rise higher. The continually rising reservoir water has caused erosion to the surrounding land which in return has induced land slides and river bank collapses.
Including the overtaken towns and villages, the waters have taken over old factories, mines and waste dumps. Debris from these sites has caused a large pollution problem in the reservoir’s water because “the dammed river is less able to disperse pollutants effectively” (TGD Hyrdroelectric). The decline of clean fresh water has already proved to have an impact in the area’s freshwater fishing industry. Annual catches may be reduced by one million tons due to the lack of fresh water and sediment reaching the sea (TGD Hydroelectric). Certain types of toxic algae have begun spreading in the water. These algae feed off of the sewage and waste contaminating the water (Yang).
The natural ecosystem which has occurred along the river for as long as life has existed came to an immediate stop upon construction of Three Gorges Dam. Along with waste and debris building up at the dam wall, essential silt will be stopped at the dam wall as well. This silt is an important component of nature in providing nutrients for the land and wildlife further down the river. The riverbanks downstream from the dam are also at potential risk for erosion and damage because the silt is a necessary component in the composition of the land. Not only will the material build up at the dam wall and cause stress on it, debris could cause dam failure by blocking the turbine’s entrance.
At how much of cost, both environmentally and socially, is a dam of this scale worth? “Over a million people have been moved from their homes to make way for the project and more than 1,200 towns and villages will disappear under its rising waters” (TGD Wall). The high price tag of construction and everlasting environmental effects of such a project may make Three Gorges Dam a forever mistake for the Chinese Government and its people. While intended for positive productivity and effects, the visible negative consequences have been a tough issue to handle so far. With construction expected to be complete in the year 2009, time will only tell if the effort was worth all of the problems of such a major construction effort.
Work Cited:
China Three Gorges Project. 2002. China Three Gorges Project Corporation.
21 Jan. 2008. <http://www.ctgpc.com/>.
Neighbors wary of China’s Three Gorges Dam. Audra Ang. 30 Dec. 2007. MSNBC.
21 Jan. 2008. <http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/22441313/>.
Qing, Dai. The River Dragon Has Come!: The Three Gorges Dam and the Fate of
China’s Yangtze River and it’s People. Armonk, New York: M.E. Sharpe, 1998.
TED Case Studies: Three Gorges Dam. 1 November. 1997. American University.
21 Jan. 2008. <http://american.edu/TED/threedam.htm>.
Three Gorges Dam. 2007. International Rivers. 21 Jan. 2008.
<http://www.internationalrivers.org/node/356>.
Three Gorges Dam Hydroelectric Power Plant, China. 2007. SPG Media Limited.
21 Jan. 2008. <http://www.power-technology.com/projects/gorges/>.
Three Gorges Dam wall completed. 20 May 2006. BBC News. 2 Jan. 2008.
<http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/5000092.stm>.
“Water Issues in China”. Fall 2007. Standford Spice Digest. Accessed
Online 14 Jan 2008. < http://iis-db.stanford.edu/docs/113/10000shovelswater.pdf>.
Yang, Lin. “China’s Three Gorges Dam Under Fire”. 12 Oct. 2007. Time. Accessed
Online 14 Jan 2008. <http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,1671000,00.html>.
This paper was written by myself, Brent Willis, for an English class at The Ohio State University.
February 8th, 2008