Have you ever thought about the amount of electricity each individual household uses in a day? How about the amount that is used in a month, or a year? We are so accustomed to having electricity that there is a lack of concern. Just think about how vital electricity is in our day to day lifestyles. Where is all of this energy coming from? Studies show that 90% of our energy comes from coal. We, the United States, spend one billion dollars a day on foreign oil.
Solar and wind energy has become more common, but it is so expensive, and creates such a small percentage of energy that we are still decades away from widespread use (“Solar Energy”). Is there any other solution for the energy crisis we are facing? Nuclear energy could help the world in so many ways because it provides baseload energy, fuels for nuclear reactors will far outlast coal, and it puts off no harmful emissions (Fanning).
In the United States, we spend one billion dollars a day just on coal to burn for electricity, and yet 1 in 10 people don’t have electricity(Fanning)! It seems that we are spending too much money on coal for ELECTRICITY for people in America to not have electricity. Is it worth supporting foreign countries with billions of dollars a week when they could potentially be a threat to us? A billion dollars must buy a lot of coal, right? Well think about the pollution we are putting off by burning all of that coal. Coal pollution is affecting our world in various ways (Eaves). It plays a big role in global warming, and if we don’t put a stop to natural fossil fuels, sea levels will rise, and deaths due to pollution will rise.
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Annually, about 6.5 million people die due to air pollution and acidic waters (Eaves). Nuclear power from nuclear power plants put off no harmful emissions (Eaves). Experts suggest that an 80% drop in carbon emission will be needed to stop some of those effects (Eaves), and by the time we start using nuclear energy, percentages will drop that much. Nuclear power plants can provide baseload energy and also work around the clock without having to worry about weather or time of the day(Sandra). Many people wonder why we haven’t started using solar power and wind power as our main energy source since it is totally renewable energy.
The problem with that is, solar and wind energy do not provide the amounts of energy we need. Also, the amount of energy that they put out depends on time of day and weather (“Solar Energy”). Storing the energy is another thing, it would cost too much money to build enough windmills, solar panels and to make all of the batteries that would be needed to store the amounts of energy we will need (Brenduhn 16).
If we waste money by putting in a whole field of windmills or solar panels in and they are not effective, then we are just in the hole. It cost about three times as much money to build a nuclear power plant than a coal plant, but in the long run, it will cost less because we won’t be spending billions on coal(Wiggins). During the buildings of nuclear power plants in America, more than 3,000 new jobs will be created, and 800 will be permanent due to staffing of these units(Fanning). One main reason we haven’t started moving forward in using nuclear energy as our main energy source, is the fact that everybody is concerned of the dangers that nuclear energy is capable of (Wiggins).
When people hear nuclear, they think of what happened in Japan when the United States dropped two nukes over there (Sandra). Researchers and scientists have been studying and working for years to make nuclear reactors safer. With new technology and nuclear reactors, it is almost 100% safe (Fanning). There will be no more leaks, meltdowns, or explosions in these reactors. Just the fact that we do not need electricity to shut down these reactors, will make it a million times safer (Fanning).I think we have come to the conclusion that we need to do something about our energy crisis now, because if we don’t, electricity demand is going to continue to rise, and we are going to be forced to use more coal.
If we do that, pollution rates will be crazy, sea levels will continue to rise, and people will continue getting sick from pollution. We will be out of coal to burn soon, so we need to do something NOW. Is there a way we can use other types of energy? Is there another solution for the energy crisis we are facing? Nuclear energy could help the world in so many ways because fuels for nuclear reactors will far outlast coal, it provides baseload energy, and puts off no harmful emissions.
