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.
Wind energy is definitely the way to go! It should be used more and more in today's world. It doesn't make sense to me why we don't use more environmentally friendly resources. They may be expensive at first to buy, but they pay for themselves eventually. Plus, the price of wind energy is expected to decrease in the next few years too. Natural gas on the other hand isn't good for the environment. The price may be decreasing, but it is still expensive when you add up all the times we use it. Wind energy can be tricky because the wind needs to be blowing. Thats why I think to make the best use of our natural friend we should try to put wind turbines in a lot of places where the wind strongly blows.
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2. I don't think that everyone is on board with wind energy. I think that a lot of people think that yes, it would be good for the environment, but it is expensive and less practical than gas. Then, there are the people who could care less about the environment and would rather just keep the natural gas as a primary source of energy. There are definitely still people who think it is a great idea, but at the same time wind energy has its non-believers as well.
Wind energy would be very useful way to access energy in an environmentally friendly way and and economic way. It may be more expensive in the beginning, but it is well worth it and in time, it will show that is actually less expensive. Also, it is supposed to decrease in price again which would be even better. Increasing the amount of wind turbines would be really helpful because then we would have more wind energy and would not have to depend so much on natural gas.
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We should definitely use wind energy rather than natural gas because it is all around just better. It is a lot better for then environment, safer and getting cheaper and cheaper. Like we discussed in class, wind is currently a renewable source so we have a lot of it, we just need to make sure we are not going to end up using more than what we have.
Response: I was not aware that wind energy is less than gas. I think that it is great that it is better for the environment. When we think about all of the pollution that goes into the air from using fossil fuels we should all be willing to try something that could reduce that amount. It is also an important factor to think about the amount of wind that blows everyday. You would have to figure out if wind is reliable or not. When you also think about the things that gas stations do t attract people, like rest stops, you realize that the likelihood of people using wind energy over gas is very slim. Another issue might be that people are just not educated and need to be informed about other options that can be less expensive and better for our environment.
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In the future I do not see wind energy being our main source of energy. As I mentioned before, what would happen if there is not much wind one day? Would we all have to go without electricity for a day? Or have to worry about our power going out? I think in the future a lot of things will be powered by solar power energy. I know that a lot of things are starting to be solar powered. The suns rays are so strong that I do not think that we would experience many problems with it.
Reaction: I strongly believe that wind energy is the way to go. It is probably the best solution to the issues involving what energy source should be used. Wind energy benefits the environment and it also only depends on the wind for energy to be produced. We should definitely have back up plans if the wind is not blowing or if the wind energy is not benefitting for some reason. The article says that wind energy is better than natural gas statistically, and it class we discussed that natural gas is a very good and reliable energy source so this means wind energy should be very productive. I am very happy that we are looking at an energy source in wind energy that is relies on nature to work. This is very good for the environment and in the future wind energy should be a great source. Wind energy is the best energy source because we are relying on wind and it has many benefits to it.
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Anser to question 3
Yes, In the future I believe that wind energy is going to be our main energy source. It is better than any other of the energy sources we have and it provides the environment with many benefits. I still believe that we should have a backup plan or a plan B if the wind is not going real well one day. If the wind was not bowing real well one day i believe that we should use the solar energy from the sun. Many things are already being run by solar energy, for example the solar panels on roofs of houses. If the wind is not blowing real well the sun will most likely be out and it will give us solar energy for our usage.