Documents
Conclusions
Global warming is occurring in the world today and that fossil fuels are to be blamed is a political reality. The Sierra Club, NRDC and other environmental organizations are advocating a moratorium on the construction of fossil fuel power generating plants and their coordinated offensive has been successful.
A total of 138 GW of fossil fuel electrical generation has been canceled or postponed at a time when America's need for electrical energy is continuing to grow.
At the same time that this electrical generation is being removed, the North American Electric Reliability Corp. warns that the United States will be dropping below its capacity margin levels within the next eight years unless more generating capacity is added. The unintended consequences of canceling fossil fuel plants to reduce greenhouse gases and not replacing this lost electrical energy immediately is that at least 35 states could experience electrical power interruptions within the next eight years.
Environmental organizations are stating that fossil fuel- generated electrical power can be replaced with energy conservation, renewable and clean forms of energy. This article has investigated this premise and has found that the U.S. can and should, indeed, increase its use of renewable and clean energy.
But the inconvenient reality is that the nation cannot replace fossil fuel energy with renewable and clean energy. There are substantial environmental, technical, and political impediments to the future development of both renewable and clean fossil fuel-generated electrical energy. The American people have to be prepared to accept large areas of land dedicated to energy development and electrical transmission. They also have to be ready to pay more for this energy to reduce the generation of green house gases and, at the same time, to maintain the nation's economic vitality and our standard of living.
Recommendations
The executive and legislative branches of the federal government should have the same commitment to reducing America's carbon footprint as it had in constructing this country's interstate highway system or sending men to the moon. Both were technical and economic challenges and both succeeded.
Congress should not enact repressive tax laws to prohibit the use of fossil fuels or to pay for renewable energy development. It should support research and development of all forms of energy, proportional to the value of the energy based upon cost and environmental considerations.
The residential, commercial and industrial sectors of society can better use energy conservation and efficiency, resulting in substantial savings in electrical power. The environmental community needs to educate and lead in this area.
Industry needs to step forward and assist in the research and development of renewable and clean fossil fuel energy.
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