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Izeiah Karl Jior Medalle November 19, 2011 I-Einstein Reaction Paper It fuelled the industrial revolution, and it still generates half of the electricity in the U. S. Recent increases in electricity demand have led utilities across the nation to propose 150 new coal plants, which would commit the U. S. to coal generation as its dominant source of??electricity for the next half century. Coal and utility corporations are among the largest and most politically influential in the U. S.
Their obligations to shareholders lead them to deploy a massive network of public and political influence in support of policy decisions that support shareholder value, enhance profits and preserve their dominance in the electricity generation sector. These policies are not necessarily the best choices in terms of public health, environmental protection, Global Warming mitigation, or delivering the most affordable electricity over the long run. It can be challenging, wading through the sometimes conflicting information on global warming available in the media.
If you are not entirely convinced that global warming is real, that human activities play a significant role, or that the consequences of not taking action now to address the issue could lead to extremely dire consequences, you are not alone. In fact, it’s by design. Energy Efficiency doesn’t get much press so is not well understood or appreciated. Electricity was relatively cheap and plentiful in the last half of the 20th century, so American’s have become accustomed to wasting it. If rates went up significantly, you would quickly figure out exactly how much power every appliance in the home used.
Most Americans are unaware of where the energy that comes into their homes is wasted. A major component of efficiency is finding the places in homes and buildings where spending some extra money now will reduce the electric bill each month thereafter. Many of these measures are cheap and simple and will earn the consumer a profit over a few years. With efficiency, every kilowatt of consumption saved has the same effect as building a new kilowatt of generation capacity ??? there is one more kilowatt of electricity floating around in the grid that you are no longer using.
This increases the electric supply and costs about half as much as increasing the supply by building a new coal plant. The U. S. could fulfill most, if not all, of the increase in electric demand for the next decade through implementing a broad range of efficiency measures, at a lower cost than building new plants, and without the air pollution, greenhouse gas emissions, or more decapitating of mountains in Appalachia that come with building new plants.