Energy Policy Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words - 3

Energy Policy - Essay Example This discussion will also help to draw a conclusion about whether it is beneficial to go ahead and promote these sources of energy. Renewable energy sources are beneficial in that they release less carbon dioxide (CO2) than fossil fuels. For example, wind releases 0.02-0.04 pounds of CO2 per kilowatt hour (kWh) and solar energy releases 0.07-0.2 pounds of CO2/kWh: compared to coal, which produces 1.4-3.6 pounds of CO2/kWh (Hester, & Harrison, 2010). These statistics indicate that fossil fuels emit a lot of carbon dioxide to the atmosphere. This gas causes global warming that makes the earth to be unbearable to the life of animals, human beings, and plants. This data also indicates that although renewable sources of energy are beneficial, they still pollute the environment with carbon dioxide. This means that these sources of power are not a perfect solution to the problem of emission of carbon to the atmosphere. Sources of energy such as wind, natural gas, and the sun promote health to the society compared to non-renewable sources of power such as coal (In Develi, & In Kaynak, 2012). Coal produces air that leads to health problems such as cancer, neurological damage, heart attacks, and respiratory difficulties. These problems are eliminated when the public uses natural gas, water, the sun, and geothermal. However, wind power remains to be a problem because it releases strong turbulent air that kills birds in the atmosphere (Haugen, & Musser, 2012). This means that the lives of birds especially the endangered species are risked when the public uses wind power. Therefore, not all renewable sources of energy are beneficial to the lives of living things. Renewable sources of energy are also inexhaustible and they create jobs more jobs for the public than fossil fuels. For example, wind uses more manpower than machines to produce heat and light (Jakab, 2010). This creates more