Megan Daugherty

SAEL 200-013

Making a Case

The world we have known is changing and not in a good way. As a result of global

warming and climate change, the world and our lives are being negatively impacted. There are

large changes in precipitation patterns, more severe and frequent hurricanes, more people

experiencing extreme drought or heat, more polluted air and water, and the rising of sea levels.

At some point, the damage done to the environment will be irreversible. Before we get to that

point, we need to make some changes to our lifestyle. The main cause of climate change is the

emission of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases into the atmosphere. Fossil fuels are the

main causes of carbon emissions, and our daily usage of them is causing the climate to change.

On the other hand, when it comes to switching to renewable resources, there are several

concerns that people have. Fossil fuels are cheaper and more reliable than renewable energy, and

renewable energy typically requires an abundance of resources in order to be effective.

Additionally, a drastic change in our lifestyles is not exactly possible or convenient. With these

limitations, it is extremely difficult to come up with a plan that everyone will be okay with, but

we absolutely have to come up with one. In order to reduce our usage of fossil fuels, it is vital we

make a plan to switch to using renewable resources to power our country.

Fortunately, there are countries that are successful in making the switch to using mainly

renewable energy. The main four types of renewable energy that other countries use are

geothermal, hydropower, wind, and solar energy. In Iceland, over 85% of the population

currently uses geothermal and hydropower energy for heat and electricity in their homes. Iceland

began using geothermal energy when farmers discovered hot water in the ground in the
beginning of the 1900s, and throughout the rest of the century, they continued to make

advancements and started using hydropower energy from rivers. Eventually, the government

began incentivizing the use of geothermal energy and began funding the research and

development of hydropower energy. Because of a combination of the abundance of renewable

resources, the independent innovation from farmers, and the support of the government, Iceland

was successful in creating a country-wide system to generate energy from mainly renewable

resources. Because of their success, other countries can use Iceland as an example to help

improve their own technologies and make plans to switch to renewable energy.

With the right technology and research, the United States can follow in Iceland’s

footsteps. The majority of geothermal fields in the United States are located on the west coast,

and just like in Iceland, California took advantage of geothermal energy from geysers, and now

there are geothermal plants powering parts of California. Also, there are several states, like

Washington, California, and New York, who are using hydropower plants in rivers to generate

energy. Geothermal and hydropower energy is available in the United States just like in Iceland,

but the location and availability is limited, making it difficult to coordinate with the entire

country. Also, the current power grid in the United States is not suited for transporting this

energy beyond where it is generated. In order for geothermal and hydropower energy to reach the

rest of the country, transmission lines need to be upgraded to support the power from renewable

energy. The technology is possible to create, but it could be a billion-dollar investment.

Currently, in Sweden, around 55% of their power comes from a mixture of renewable

resources, but they mainly use wind and solar energy. They began to switch to using renewable

energy in 1991 when they placed a taxation on carbon emissions. The carbon tax is what fueled

their investment into renewable and alternative energy sources, and it has so far been successful.
As their usage of renewable energy increases, costs of development and installation have

declined and their amount of carbon emissions have decreased. Once again, this successful

implementation in Sweden shows that it can be possible to implement in other places as well.

The United States can use Sweden as an example when creating a plan for our country.

In the United States, we already use solar panels and windmills in some places.

Currently, Texas is the leading state when it comes to wind energy, and they are increasing their

solar energy usage as well. They have developed their own power grid that they use to transport

this energy around the state. The United States has the technology possible to implement solar

and wind energy nationwide, but there are some concerns involved with using solar and wind

energy that need to be addressed.

The main issue with using them is that their usage is heavily reliant on the weather. Solar

panels do not work when there is limited light, and windmills need strong winds to work, but if

they are too strong, they won’t work either. Fortunately, there are places in this country where

sunlight and wind are fairly reliable, but we run into the same problem as we did with

geothermal and hydropower energy. Our country’s power grid needs to be upgraded, and

transmission lines need to be developed in order to bring renewable energy around the nation.

In both Iceland and Sweden, their success came from starting small with independent

development before the government got involved to unite the country and make the energy

available nationwide. Incentivizing renewable energy and taxing the use of fossil fuels and their

carbon emissions has been proven to be an efficient catalyst for the switch from fossil fuels to

renewable energy. In the United States, we have already developed small scale systems for

geothermal, hydropower, wind, and solar energy. Now we need to get the government involved

to make it nationwide. Since using incentives and taxations was effective in other countries, it
would be a good place to start here as well. Currently, the United States has implemented

different incentives for using renewable energy, but no significant taxes on fossil fuels. We need

to write and urge politicians to strengthen the taxation on fossil fuels and create a plan to invest

in the development of renewable energy technology and to introduce it across the country. By

doing this, we can join the rest of the world in the fight against climate change, and we can do

our part to reduce carbon emissions.