Energy Comes from the Earth. 4

Energy comes from the earth. In order to make the necessary forms of energy for use, we must use the earth’s resources. Unfortunately, the earth’s resources that are being used to make energy cannot be replaced forcing us to conserve energy. Conserving energy can be achieved through energy efficiency. First we must define to conserve and energy efficiency. To conserve energy means to save as much as possible. Energy efficiency means to use our resources wisely and productively. So to save energy we must use the earth’s resources wisely and productively. Moreover there are several reasons why conserving energy is important. For instance, conserving energy leads to taking responsibility for the current and future state of the ecosystem, and humankind. If no responsibility is taken and energy is not used efficiently the ecosystem would be destroyed, food and energy supplies would run low, along with capital goods. Eventually this could lead to competition for resources, which would then lead to war among nations. Conserving energy is important for a healthier environment, economy and energy protection. Energy is stored in different ways in energy sources, which divides them into two groups; renewable and non-renewable energy sources. Renewable energy comes from sources that are able to restore the used energy and they include biomass, geothermal, solar, water energy (hydropower) and wind energy (Berg & Hager, 2007). Renewable energy is replenished because it comes from natural sources. Biomass is energy from plants, hydropower from water, geothermal energy from the inside of the earth, wind energy from the air, and solar energy from the sun (Berg & Hager, 2007). Nonetheless, we mostly use non-renewable energy which comes from sources that cannot be replenished (Berg & Hager, 2007). These sources are coal, natural gas, nuclear energy, and oil (Berg & Hager, 2007). Though we use non-renewable sources there are ways to conserve the energy we are already using. For

References: Berg, L. R., & Hager, M. C. (2007). Visualizing environmental science. Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons. Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy. (2009). Retrieved February 13, 2009 from U.S. Department of Energy http://www.eere.energy.gov/