Solar Predictions of SunRun: In 2012 Americans Will See Solar as a Way to Save, Not a Science Project

Article was posted by a "Guest" to the website. December 14, 2011.
http://www.treehugger.com/renewable-energy/2012-americans-will-see-solar-as-way-to-save-not-science-project.html



This is a picture of a house with solar panels. With the prediction of an increase in the purchasing of solar panels


Good news in the solar panel world! The solar company by the name of SunRun is claiming that by 2012 more people will be likely to buy solar panels. They say that this will occur because by then, people will start to see solar panels in a whole new light. With the new advancements, many Americans will not see solar panels and think of it as some science project. They will realize that the solar panels are a good way to help the environment. SunRun gives a list of things that they think will be the cause for the expected increase of solar usage in 2012. Those reasons include the decreasing of the price of the panels. The price has already decreased 30% and should decrease even more. Also, many Americans are learning that to have solar panels, you do not necessarily have to own them and pay the full regular price. You can lease the panels for periods of time which makes it much cheaper for families. Another reason is that solar is being designed in a way where there are no panels. This is a cheaper and easier alternative. Lastly, the panels can give the economy billions of dollars in return. All these reasons make it look like a bright future for the spreading of solar panels in America. looking for a bright future for the solar panel industry.


Opinion/Reflection
After researching this article, I hope that SunRun is correct with their prediction. I think that a lot of people do think that solar panels are out of reach and maybe soon they will see it might actually be. If more people would be able to see that solar panels are a really wonderful way to help the environment. They may be costly, but what they give back to us is much greater. I think that if more people saw how much the solar industry is working to make the prices within their reach, that they will buy them more. They will see that solar panels are not just a science project. The industry does really want to accommodate us more so that the environment will be helped.


Questions
1. Do you agree with the predictions that SunRun is making that more people will buy solar panels?
2. If you had the option to buy solar panels before learning about the expected price decreases, would you have? If not, did this change your mind at all?
3. What do you think could be another way that they could make solar panels more in the reach of Americans?

Drill Happy

URLhttp://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/0/0b/West_Texas_Pumpjack.JPG/300px-West_Texas_Pumpjack.JPG

Picture:This is a picture of a machine drilling for oil which is occurring in many parts of the globe. This doing by the industries is hurting the environment and it is also hurting the people around the site. People need to act and and tell the governments and industries not to drill for oil. The picture also represents that people do not want these industries fracking near their homes.

Summary:

Many people across America do not want industries fracking outside their homes. Specifically, this article is talking about in Pennsylvania, how many people are living next to or near drilling operations. This is affecting them tremendously because they are constantly living with loud noises and they are breathing in toxic fumes because of the many diesel trucks coming and going from the operations. This article is also talks about the affects of drilling and fracking for oil underground. Fracking involves millions of gallons of water going through at a high pressure. It also involves mixtures of many rocks to as a result form gases. These things comes upon a great danger to out drinking water because of the fact that most of our water comes from underground. Gas companies are still doing fracking and drilling for oil even with such environmental laws like The Clean Water Act and the Safe Drinking Water Act. It has not been easy to find a link between the fracking and the contaminated water because of the fact that people who have had problems, made non disclosure settlements with the companies. In New York they are trying to provide buffer zones to protect watersheds, and other sensitive areas where there is fracking. People and the governments are realizing what is going on in as a result of the fracking and they are trying to do something about it. The article talks about how we should not only look at the problems with fracking and drilling in Pennsylvania and New York, but we should try to help with it all over the world.

Opinion/Reflection:

I believe that this issue with the fracking and the drilling is very bad and harmful. Peoples lives could be at stake because their water is being contaminated from the starting point underground. The industries and other people that are involved are being too greedy and trying too hard to get this oil that they are actually harming people. It is also very devastating that the enviornment is also getting harmed because the enviornment protects us in many different ways. For example, the watersheds do so many things for us like helping us control flooding so we don't have a disaster. In class we talked about how fracking and drilling for oil is really hurting the environment and if it keeps continuing that we will face many huge problems. The fracking and drilling that is going on in America needs to stop and I believe the citizens will take control and make it end soon.

Questions:

1) Do you think this problem with cease in the future?

2) What do you think us citizens should do to emphasize the importance of peoples water being clean?

3) Why do you think these industries keep doing the fracking and drilling for oil?

Wind Electricity to be Fully Competitive with Natural Gas by 2016

http://www.grist.org/wind-power/2011-11-14-wind-electricity-to-be-fully-competitive-with-natural-gas-by-201

Picture:

This is a picture of wind turbines. The turbines help with wind energy. This form of energy is very good for the environment, and it is less expensive than most other energy sources.

Summary:

Today, wind energy is competing with coal, gas, and nuclear energy. Environmentally, this form of energy is much safer than fossil fuels and nuclear energy. It also seems to be more economically friendly than other forms of energy. The cost of wind-generated electricity has gone down by 14% for every two instillations. It is expected that the cost will reduce another 12% by 2016. These cost reductions are due to sophisticated manufacturing, better materials, larger turbines, and more experience with plant operations and maintenance. Wind energy's major competitor is gas energy. Gas plays as an excellent back up when the wind is not blowing, but gas prices have also gone down substantially. There has recently been a boom in shale gas extraction which has dropped the prices of natural gas prices which is making it more difficult for wind energy to be more popular. It takes a lot of strategizing in order to reduce the prices of wind energy even more.

Opinion/Reflection:

I think that wind energy is an excellent solution to all of the issues that we are seeing when it comes to the types of energy. It does not cost a lot of money, and it is "greener" than most energy that is used. It is a good idea to have natural gas a a back up for when the wind is not blowing. We learned in class that natural gas is the best of the fossil fuels, but wind energy is still better than it. I am glad to see that people are taking iniciative and trying to make environmentally friendly energy sources available to everyone regardless of their income.

Questions:

1. Would you choose wind energy or natural gas? Why?

2. Do you think people are on board with switching to wind energy? Why?

3. In the future, do you see wind energy being our main energy source? If not, what type of energy do you think we will mainly be using? Explain.

Study Shows that High Gas Prices do Reduce Driving, Encourage Use of Alternatives

Study Shows That High Gas Prices Do Reduce Driving, Encourage Use of Alternatives

This is a picture of an exhaust pipe. This is what sends the gas into the air and causes a lot of damage. There are exhaust pipes in both public transportation and regular cars. Most public transportation sends out more pollutants that regular cars, but buses and trains hold more people than cars do.

Summary:

The article shows that student at the University of Texas, Bradley Lane has a contadiction to this issue. It shows that when there is a 10 percent increase in gas prices, public transportation increases also. People may love driving their own car, but some people just cannot afford to have to pay all of the expenses that come with it. You have to pay for gas, oil changes and other repairs for it. If you do not have insurance and you get into a car accident this could cause some pretty bad bruises to your wallet. The thing we do not know is how we can make the world greener. There are two options: increase gas prices which means less driving but more public transportation or decrease gas prices which would result with more driving and less public transporation. The big question is which is worse for the environment: a little amount public transportation or a lot of cars?

Reflection:

I think that with the new technology, we should stick with cars. People would mostly likely prefer to stay with their cars than in dirty buses or subways. Although, if Septa and other public transprotation companies have more money from the increase in passengers, they can spend the extra money on cleaning up their stations. But the new cars like Hybrids and Prius's which use less gasoline can help environment. And the Ethanol in the previous post may help the problem that gas causes. The whole situation would take a lot of thinking through and it is all based on gas prices. It is so ridiculous how one number can affect so much in our environment.

Questions:

Which option would you choose? Why?

Can you think of any other solutions? Even ones that scientists have not thought of yet?

When you are older, will you use public transportation or your car? Why?

Ethanol From Biomass

website: http://www.google.com/reader/view/hl=en&tab=wy#search/oil%20and%20gas%20prices/0

Picture:
This a picture of a corn field. It represents how ethanol comes from corn and other plants.
Summary: The article I read is about the production of ethanol. Ethanol is an alcohol based fuel that is broken down corn, palm oil, sugar cane, and other agricultural products. There is talk about using ethanol to fuel cars instead of oil. Doing this would save oil and would limit the impacts that it has on global warming. Ethanol is something that we would be able to produce here in the United States. That would limit the amount of money that we spend on importing oil from countries in the Middle East. Oil is an nonrenewable resource so we need to use it wisely. Other countries, like Brazil, are in the process of converting over to using ethanol as an alternative resource. Oil prices are so high right now that there is a struggle for people to put gas in their cars. Countries are starting to make cars that can run on ethanol. It can fuel non-diesel engines or gasoline engines. Using ethanol would be a new way to preserve oil, help our environment, and save money.  Even thought ethanol can benefit all of these things, there are some risk. A large abundance of the Amazon rainforest is being destroyed every year to create bio-fuel crops. This is causing starvation in countries in Africa. The use of this product could lead to loss in biodiversity, soil erosion, and nutrient leaching.
Response:
I think it is a smart idea to come up with an alternative resource. Considering our countries economy and environmental issues it is the right time to start preparing for a change. It is definitely something that we as a country should start preparing for. The problem that we have with oil now is something that our generation is going to have to deal with all of our lives. Even though this seems like a brilliant idea it puts us all in a very tough situation because of the risks it has. We do not really know if the effects would be long term or not. If we were to all use ethanol it could come with consequences that can not necessarily be fixed.
Questions
1. After considering the pros and cons of using ethanol would you use it? Why or why not?
2. If you have the option to use oil or ethanol in your car which one would you use? Why?
3. Do you think the United States will do something before the supply of oil plummets? Explain.

Tropical Cyclones Intensified by Rising South Air Pollution

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/e/e0/TropicalStormFranklin05.jpg/250px-TropicalStormFranklin05.jpg

This article is written by Matthew Mcdermott on November 3, 2011.
Picture: This is a picture of a cyclone hitting the tropical areas. Cyclones are very deadly natural disasters and they can affect many people living in the areas. Cyclones hand happen as an affect of many different things. One of the main reasons why cyclones occur is because of air pollution.
Summary:
This article I found is about air pollution and how it affects weather and natural disasters occurring. A lot of air pollution in Asia is causing tropical cyclones to hit the Indian Ocean. Until recently, cyclones in the seas were intended to be relatively weak storms. Now technology is advancing and scientists are figuring out that the wind speeds and circular patterns are changing. This is resulting in an increase of strong storms. The manipulation of the winds and the patterns are linked to some specific pollution. For example, coal burning, cooking fires, and old diesel engines. In some places this created smog that was 1.9 miles thick, and this changed wind patterns and rainfall. These happenings also lead to cyclones becoming more deadly and intensified. A major part of this problem of pollution relates to the major population increase in Asia, and specifically India. This population increase triggered a major amount of pollution and different gases/chemicals in the air. For example Black Carbon Pollution and Sulfate pollution are happening to the environment. However, they each have a different impact, Black Carbon is shown to have increased the warming causing glaciers to melt. The Sulfate Pollution scatters radiation. Along with all this pollution, greenhouse gases are rising as well. This issue is also having a major impact on the weather of Southern Asia and the monsoon to come. Major air pollutions are impacting Southern Asia, in terms of the climate and cyclones, and also the people that live there.
Reaction:
I am very surprised and saddened at this issue that is occurring is Southern Asia. I felt extremely bad for the people that live in Asia because it is not their fault for what is happening. The population growth is not their fault because they just want to live a normal life and have kids. This is causing drastic weather changes and patterns in the Indian Ocean as well as other seas. The poor people in Asia have to deal with the arsenic in their water, as well as this problem that has come up last year. I am very glad that technology has advanced and scientists and taking this more into consideration now. I believe that the scientists will come up with something that reduces all the harmful effects that these weather and cyclones are bringing. Many people say that we need weather changes and more water. What is happening in Asia is taking it to the very limit and it is getting to a point where it needs to reduce. I can relate this to my life because I have actually been to a county in Asia and witnessed this first hand. I have seen the so many people living and walking the streets daily and I can really understand why the cyclones are happening. I am very sad and devastated by what is happening in Asia with the pollution and the drastic weather changes.

Questions:

1) Why is the population growing at such a fast rate in Asia especially, and not other countries?

2) What can people living in the United States do to help the pollution increase in Asia?

3) Do you think the pollution in Asia will go down, and will it cause the cyclones and drastic weather changes to decrease as well?

Exploiting Groundwater in Southern Asia Could Have Poisonous Effects

http://www.treehugger.com/clean-water/exploiting-groundwater-in-southern-asia-could-have-poisonous-effects.html?campaign=th_rss

Summary:
In Southern Asia, more specifically Vietnam, the water supply is at a very low level. Their only option is to dig the wells deeper to access more water. This water has very dangerous levels of arsenic and is affecting 3 million people. No matter how deep you dig, you cannot avoid arsenic. Arsenic is becoming common in deep aquifers like it did in the shallow wells and the problem will just keep piggybacking. People thought that deeper aquifers meant no more arsenic but now they are drilling into lower sentiments. In their experiments of 512 wells, 27% of the wells violate World Health Organization standards. If the arsenic problem continues, they are going to need to start spending more money on filters. Arsenic can cause many problems including cancer and other diseases. The picture shown is what researchers use to see how contaminated each layer of the groundwater is. The map helps avoid dangerous areas but soon, that is all that is going to be left. The arsenic contamination is one of the most dangerous health threats in the world.

Opinion:
I think that that the extent of effort that people go through to get a natural resource is ridiculous and needs to change. People need water like they need oxygen and the fact the supply is depleting is scary. One thing that I found aggrivating is that when we watched the Jay-Z video in class, kids had cell phones but not clean water. If I were getting poisoned by something that I needed to live, I definitely would not spend money on something like a cell phone. America is worrying so much about all of these countries' water supplies but they need to get their priorities straight.

Questions:
What do you think people (from Asia or America) should do to avoid the arsenic problem?

Why do you think the arsenic level in Asia is so bad?

How can they get more water without spending too much money?