Dear Future President,

I would like to address you on the major impacts of nonrenewable energy, and what the world, in specific the U.S, can do to reform the ways we create energy. This country and much of the world nowadays rely on nonrenewable energies, the majority being fossil fuels; coal, oil, natural gas. However, these sources of energy are not everlasting. Fossil fuels are limited in supply, as they cannot be replenished in a single lifetime or even longer. As the human population continues to grow, more and more of these nonrenewable resources are being used making resources run out sooner, and are taking much longer to replenish. Also, as humans become more and more dependent on fossil fuels, it can be even more difficult to decrease the use of them, and move to alternative energy sources. In addition to the extreme difficulty of trying to sustain consumption of fossil fuels, an even greater problem as a result of these nonrenewable energy sources, is the pollution caused by the burning of fossil fuels. The burning of fossil fuels, a widely used method of energy generation throughout the world, creates a harmful toxic waste affecting the environment around it. This pollution badly affects clean water and air, often harming the animals interacting with the poor conditions in these areas of the environment. However, as strategy advances as time goes on, the more and more people are starting to introduce renewable energies, or resources that are nonpolluting and able to be replenished quickly.

The U.S should start using more renewable sources of energy and moving away from nonrenewable because many great things come with these sources. Examples of renewable energies include, wind power, hydroelectric, solar power, geothermal, etc, (PennState Extension, Daniel Ciolkosz). Unlike the fact that there are only so many fossil fuels, that take hundreds and more years to replenish, renewable energies are very reliable because they can be replenished much faster. For example, solar power is replenished because the sun gives light to the earth, even sometimes not that much light, everyday. In addition, the natural processes of nuclear power (atomic reactions), geothermal electricity (heat from inside earth), and hydroelectric power (energy replenished through water cycle) are renewable resources able to be replenished much faster than the natural buildup of dead remains creating fossil fuels. Also, the majority of renewable energy sources are not burned to create electricity. In sequence, no pollution is created, therefore creating a noncontributing factor to the poor cleanliness of air and water, and the health of animals, like fossil fuels often contribute to. Maybe not converting to, but mixing in more renewable energies in the near future would help with the factors of pollution and reliability.

On the contrary some people think that although there are many good outcomes of renewable resources, they would say that these resources are very expensive and not worthwhile. Even though that is partly true the author of the book, Going Green said that, “still the costs are coming down as more and more people are buying them” (Bjornlund 63). Also according to NRDC’s chief energy economist, Ashok Gupta, the cost of, “most renewable energies are increasingly affordable.” Famous actor/celebrity, Brad Pitt also believes that the costs of energy efficient systems should be reduced by 75% (Bjornlund 63).

Overall, every opponent of every aspect of the economy and or environment will have its advantages and disadvantages. In this case, despite a minor expense that is becoming less and less of a problem, renewable energies should be considered to play a huge part in the way the U.S. creates energy because they are natural, quickly able to be replenished, nonpolluting, efficient sources. Please consider rethinking the amount of renewable sources we use for the best outcome of America.

Sincerely,

Claudia R.