Is the World Facing an Energy Crisis? Essay Example
Is the World Facing an Energy Crisis?
Energy provides the necessary power to do work. We obtain energy by eating food. We use energy to push a shopping cart around. We use energy to walk. We use energy to perform all daily work. We use energy to maintain our biological function inside our body. Without any energy in our body, we would be literally dead. Energy stores inside our body allow us to carry out work. But humans have long been utilizing energy from the environment. Fire, for example, is one great evolutionary step that separates us from the animals in this planet. Our ancestors were able to cook meat with fire. They warded off beasts in the primitive world with fire. The manipulation of fire allows human to dominate the food chain. Wood has been the primary reagent for lighting fire prior to the Industrial Revolution. We learned to exploit other energy sources as technology progresses. Coal became the principal energy source until oil took over. Our usage of energy has increased with the growth of population. In recent years, experts analyze the amount of oil left for us to exploit. Their conclusions vary. Some of them claim the world is facing an energy crisis while some point out we can still last for at least another century with the current consumption rate on oil.
There are other sources of energy available besides oil. Renewable energy has gained popularity as pollution becomes problematic when using oil and coal. Renewable energy is the energy that can be replenished by natural processes on a human timescale. Renewable energy includes wind, solar, water, or biomass (wood). Non-renewable energy means energy that can not be regenerated within a human timescale. This usually indicates the energy source needs billions of years in order to restock to the current amount. Oil, coal, natural gas and uranium (nuclear) are the leading examples. Non-renewable energy sources are often associated with pollution. This problem arises primarily due to the
Energy provides the necessary power to do work. We obtain energy by eating food. We use energy to push a shopping cart around. We use energy to walk. We use energy to perform all daily work. We use energy to maintain our biological function inside our body. Without any energy in our body, we would be literally dead. Energy stores inside our body allow us to carry out work. But humans have long been utilizing energy from the environment. Fire, for example, is one great evolutionary step that separates us from the animals in this planet. Our ancestors were able to cook meat with fire. They warded off beasts in the primitive world with fire. The manipulation of fire allows human to dominate the food chain. Wood has been the primary reagent for lighting fire prior to the Industrial Revolution. We learned to exploit other energy sources as technology progresses. Coal became the principal energy source until oil took over. Our usage of energy has increased with the growth of population. In recent years, experts analyze the amount of oil left for us to exploit. Their conclusions vary. Some of them claim the world is facing an energy crisis while some point out we can still last for at least another century with the current consumption rate on oil.
There are other sources of energy available besides oil. Renewable energy has gained popularity as pollution becomes problematic when using oil and coal. Renewable energy is the energy that can be replenished by natural processes on a human timescale. Renewable energy includes wind, solar, water, or biomass (wood). Non-renewable energy means energy that can not be regenerated within a human timescale. This usually indicates the energy source needs billions of years in order to restock to the current amount. Oil, coal, natural gas and uranium (nuclear) are the leading examples. Non-renewable energy sources are often associated with pollution. This problem arises primarily due to the