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Caleb Adcock Dr. Rand ENGL 1102 March 27, 2014 The Future of Energy Power has become the backbone of our society. It keeps our world bright which allows us to function and stay awake at night. It transports us around by train, plane, car, and boat. It runs our businesses and keeps hot food on our table. Power makes machines able to keep people alive in the hospital and home without constant surveillance. The way we have learn to use energy has allowed us to move all over the world and enables us to be the dominate being on the planet. Almost everything we have is reliant on power now and the demand is only growing. I believe it safe to say we could not live without power. If this statement is true then we have a crisis on our hands. The vast majority of our energy comes from fossil fuels, or resources that are limited. This means we will only be able to produce so much energy before the resources we have will run out and the world demand for energy cannot be met. So what changes can we expect to see in regards to energy in the future? Currently fossil fuels supply most of the energy produced in the world. Examples of fossil fuels would be: oil, natural gas, and coal. These are all great producers of energy, but they are limited on this planet. These fossil fuels are burned to create energy. However, when they are burned they release harmful gases into the environment ("Energy Resources: Fossil Fuels"). These gases can harm plants and pollute the water supply. I believe we do not need to farther any research and money towards this energy source. Fossil fuels are great producers of

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energy, but have more negative effects then positive ones. They have been running the world since the turn of the Industrial Era. In our past these resource have been very influential to our infrastructure. Now, however, they have become more harmful as our need for power increases. Regardless fossil fuels are limited which makes us need to find an alternate source of energy that will be able to produce the growing need for power. The push for renewable energy sources has become an important topic in the last decade. Renewable energy comes from a sources that is able to keep producing energy over and over again ("Types of Renewable Energy"). This is done by the physical process of taking the world around us by using natural occurrences for energy. It is well known and accepted that fossil fuels cannot produce our energy forever, but the latest debate is what direction should renewable energy be pushed. All renewable energy have their positives and negative and the perfect renewable energy source has yet to be created. After researching many different types of energy I believe the best types come down to wind, hydroelectric, and solar. I believe the future is going to rely on these to create the mass majority of power. A lot of scientists, engineers, and investors have been involved in the development of these resources and their outcome should be greatly beneficial to the growing demand for energy. Wind power is the fairly simple process of using wind turbines to create energy. The turbines are huge metal propellers that catch the wind and turn. As these propellers turn they began to turn gears. The gears go from the largest to the smallest and ultimately create a very fast spinning copper bar that is converted to energy. Then energy is first stored in a small generator where it is turned to AC power. The last step getting to the power to the grid by a system of wires ("Wind Power"). I am a big fan of these wind turbines because I think it can be

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put to great use in rural areas with farms. These turbines are becoming more common around farms and help farmers increase their income. Many farmers in the United States receive a subsidized income in order to keep the prices of crops low. If these farmers were able to invest in wind turbines they could increase their income and rely less on the government. However the wind turbines do have their drawbacks. The initial startup cost of turbines are quite high and are limited to certain areas. Wind turbines are not practical for residential areas because they can take up a lot of space. They also need a lot of wind to keep them efficient. I believe we should push more in making these efficient in rural areas and find ways to lower cost. I think wind turbines have great potential in changing the world to renewable energy sources and would love to see more of them in use. Hydroelectric power is the largest scale renewable energy source in use today. Hydroelectric power is the use of dams to create massive amounts of pressure that works with gravity which is then pushed through a series of turbines to create power ("Hydroelectric Power Water Use"). This renewable energy is able to produce enough power for towns. The negative sides to this, however, are the cost, the amount of area it takes up, and environmental problems. Although this source of energy is by far the most productive its cost is substantial. To build a productive dam all the land has to be bought up for the flood plain. Then the river has to be rerouted so the dam can be built on dry land ("Hydroelectric Power Water Use"). This process can take years to carry out. Since the cost is so high it can only be done by governments and very large corporations. It is also largely limited to where it can be built. The dams need to be place on river big enough to produce the amount of energy they are looking for. Lastly creating large lakes can hurt the fishs migration patterns and create murky water. This limits

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the fish ability to look for food and thrive. Also there are a lot of land habits that is destroyed when the river is flooded. I know this renewable energy sources is greatly beneficial in production of energy, but I feel as if the negatives almost outweigh the positives. I believe dams will have to be capitalized on in the future, but do not believe they should be the main source of energy. I also believe that not every river should be dammed up for energy needs, but certain rivers can be dammed up with multiple hydroelectric dams. Solar power is probably my favorite renewable energy source. Solar power comes from using the suns ultra violate rays and creating chemical reaction with the cells of the panel to produce energy ("Types of Renewable Energy"). I just love the practicality of this; taking the sun that rises every day and turning it to energy. Its simple and it can be as big and as small as needed. In the past, the cost of solar panels have been quite high, however, with more research and more technology I believe solar power will be the way of the future. The negative sides of solar panels are that they only work when the sun is out. This means if it is night or raining or cloudy outside, the solar panels will not produce any power. I think if we keep researching solar panels we will be able to get enough power on sunny days stored to run all night as well as cloudy days. I dont think we will be able to solely rely on solar power to solve our energy crisis, but I personally believe it should take the bulk of the work. A new technology has been research resonantly to possibly replace normal windows with windows that can store energy from the sun ("Top DIY Solar Panels Review"). Imagine every sky scraper in New York City able to produce energy from its windows. It would almost be able to power city. The possibility with solar power are just too good to pass up. I think this technology could change the way we

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would build everything. Solar power is one of the renewable energy sources that is really being investigated and researched in right now. I think the future of energy in homes and residential areas will be a little different. People have the tendency to want to be independent. The idea of being off the grid is starting to become quite popular. This is an idea to be able produce all of the energy you need for your house and family. It the whole idea of being self-reliant that is becoming appealing. I could definitely see the solar panels being installed in every newly built house. With these new technologies constantly being invented and improved, being able to build houses and buildings that can produce its own energy is starting to seem quite possible. Windows and installation are already are very energy efficient and insure energy is not wasted. There would be no need to worry about power grids going down because of weather or freak accidents. Energy companies would still be greatly needed because of maintenance and the possibility upgrades. Imagine a world where power lines are obsolete and every building is able to be energy efficient. Oil demands are also becoming obsolete in cars. Tesla is a fairly new car company that specializes in building all electric cars. They are able to produce fully functioning luxury cars that are just as efficient if not more efficient than regular gas powered cars. These cars are able to get 250 miles on a single battery life ("Model S"). Then with a fifteen minute charge the car is ready to go another 250 miles. Electric cars are going to be the way of the future. Having to fill up gas every week will become unnecessary and these cars performance is better than most. Tesla Model S is able to accelerate from zero to sixty in about five seconds ("Model S"). Almost every car company has started a version of electric cars in the past five years. I am personally

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really excited about the transition from gas power vehicles to these electric ecofriendly vehicles. I strongly believe within a fifteen years electric cars will take over the market. This will eliminate the need for gas and I think will eventually lower the prices of cars in general. As technology increases the cost of all renewable energy will come down and the fossil fuel will seem obsolete. Jobs in the energy field will only increase as the demand for energy increases. Renewable energies will benefit the environment and society more than fossil fuels because they are more sustainable. I think the take over new energy producers is going to be the next big industry and is why I personally want to major in something that will allow me to get involved. I am majoring in mechanical engineering with a focus in energy. I see a huge opportunity to get involved in something that can change the world. I personally would like to be a part of this transitions of fossil fuels to renewable energy sources. The future of renewable energy is starting to look bright. We have already come so far in the last decade. Although we still greatly rely on fossil fuels now, I believe we could start to become complete independent of them. As our need for energy increase so will the technology that produces it. Our future will need a new energy sources that will allow us to fulfill our growing energy requirements. This energy crisis is starting to be solved now and will change our view on power. I have used my knowledge on energy and the research I have gathered to present what I think the future of power and energy will look like. I am excited to see where the future will take us and have a few predictions, but there is no way to know for sure. New inventions and discoveries are made every day and it is hard to know from where the future energy of the world will come. The only thing that is certain is we will change and we will adapt.

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Work Cited "Energy Resources: Fossil Fuels." Energy Resources: Fossil Fuels. N.p., n.d. Web. 20 Mar. 2014. "Hydroelectric Power Water Use." Hydroelectric Power and Water. Basic Information about Hydroelectricity, USGS Water Science for Schools. Department of Energy, n.d. Web. 19 Mar. 2014. "Model S." Tesla Motors. N.p., n.d. Web. 22 Mar. 2014. "Top DIY Solar Panels Review." Top DIY Solar Panels Review. N.p., n.d. Web. 20 Mar. 2014. "Types of Renewable Energy." Why Is Renewable Energy Important? Department of Energy, n.d. Web. 19 Mar. 2014. "Wind Power." National Geographic. N.p., n.d. Web. 19 Mar. 2014.

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Reflections questions 1. What was the most interesting thing you learned in this inquiry process? I thought telsas electric car was really cool. I havent done much research on electric cars before this project. 2. What did you struggle with during the research and/or writing process? How did you overcome this obstacle? The biggest thing I struggled with project was formatting the paper. I knew what I wanted to say from the start, but didnt know what order to go in. as I wrote the paper I played with the order until I thought that it had a nice flow. Then I worked on transitions between the paragraphs. 3. Did your inquiry question change over time? If so, how did it change, and why do you think it changed? At first my project was about what it took to be successful. After some research I decided there was no way I was going to be able to write a six page paper on that topic. I switch my topic to energy, something I was already interested in, and knew I could write a good paper about. 4. Why is it important to look at a historical view of your topic/question? For my topic knowing where we came from was a huge factor in predicting where we are going in regards to energy. 5. Do you think your analytical/evaluation skills have changed as a result of the inquiry project? If so, how? I think it is always good to practice my skills on writing. I cant say Ive noticed a huge change on my analytical/evaluation skills, but Im sure they have improved. 6. What are you most proud of in this process? I was proud about my efficiency in writing this paper. I switch my topic a couple days before the annotative bibliography was do and believe I was still able to write a quality inquiry paper. 7. What more would you like to know about this subject?

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I always like learning the new innovations in energy and think I will keep reading and learning about energy because it is something I am passionate about.