Alternative Fuels: Unavoidale Necessity

Alternative Fuels: Unavoidale Necessity

  • Submitted By: morbiddk
  • Date Submitted: 02/18/2009 12:57 PM
  • Category: English
  • Words: 470
  • Page: 2
  • Views: 462

The use of alternative fuels in the United States has become an unavoidable necessity. Alternative fuels, such as Ethanol, Hydrogen, and Fuel Cells, will help reduce the release of greenhouse gas emissions into the atmosphere. Greenhouse gases are gases within the atmosphere that trap the heat from solar radiation which is then reradiated onto the planet, warming it.  While some greenhouse gases are emitted naturally into the atmosphere, the burning of fossil fuels like coal, natural gas and oil have resulted in these naturally occurring gases to increase in density. The increase of these gases, consisting of Carbon Dioxide, Methane and Nitrous Oxide, is the leading cause for the increase of temperature on the earth’s surface of 33ºF over the last century. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) indicates that 86.1% of all greenhouse gas emissions resulted from energy-related activities, combustion of fossil fuels being the largest contributor at 82% of total emissions. As well as reducing harmful emissions into the atmosphere, increasing production and use of alternative fuels, the United States can reduce its dependency on foreign oil and other fossil fuels. Reducing the dependency on foreign oil will ensure that the United States will not have to worry about production being cut by OPEC in efforts to control the price of crude oil. Using locally produced and locally grown fuels will also increase the amount of available jobs for hard working Americans, thereby aiding in the lowering of unemployment in the country. Lowering the unemployment rate and investing in technologies that will provide fuel for the United States will reduce the cost of these fuels due to no longer importing these fuels from otherwise hostile nations across the world. As well as helping the US economy by increasing the number of available jobs, the goal is that once wide spread production of locally grown and produced fuels and an abundant supply is available that prices for these...

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