The firm’s premise is Climate Change is real, but if you do not believe this is the case, it still makes sense to embrace clean, renewable energy sources and energy efficiency measures. Discuss your understanding of:
- renewable energy,
- energy efficiency.
The major difference between renewable energy the non-renewable one is that it cannot run out someday. The word “renewable” means infinite (“Energy” para. 1). Comparing to non-renewable sources of energy, i.e., fossil or nuclear fuels which were accumulated in the Earth’s interior for a significant period and which people mine to produce energy, the infinite sources, e.g., wind, solar, tidal, etc., are always available and can be used for an unlimited time.
Energy efficiency is defined as “a way of managing and restraining the growth in energy consumption” (International Energy Agency para. 1). Overall, the term may be used to describe ecologically friendly behavior and a conscious attitude towards energy consumption and nature as a whole. The concept includes the measures aimed to reduce the waste of energy at all levels: the individual, the organizational, the national, and the global ones.
Give 2 examples of clean energy success stories from the movie
Two of the most commonly used renewable energy sources are wind and the sun’s heat. In the movie, we can see the benefits associated with both of them. For instance, Windmills are efficiently implemented in West Texas because the strong winds blow there almost constantly. Although the wind power industry is localized and produces a relatively small amount of energy, it allows the farmers who live in the region to maintain their households and business. Another advantage of the industry development is the creation of new jobs and the attraction of younger people to the state. The solar energy industry has a similar effect. The sun’s heat has the potential to produce about 86.000 terawatts a year. Nowadays, in California, the local government and organizations attempt to set up thousands of solar panels on rooftops. It can help to improve ecology and economy simultaneously. Additionally, the widespread use of solar energy by the local organizations helps to reduce the costs for it. In this way, this type of energy becomes more affordable for home runners.
What are some examples of steps taken in your home/school/community to reduce your CO2 footprint? Were these steps taken out of concern for climate change or other reasons?
It is possible to say that the energy efficiency measures taken in my home are taken out of concern for ecology and economy at the same time. Although the purchase of solar power systems may be hard to afford, there are still many other simple ways that help to be more both eco-friendly and cost-efficient. For instance, we use compact fluorescent light bulbs instead of regular ones because they use less energy and are more enduring. Nowadays, some technology producers provide many energy-efficient options, and we try to purchase only “green” technologies which function according to the same principle as the CFL bulbs.
What role should government and businesses play in energy production?
The total emissions from transportation and electricity consumption are much higher than the sum of emissions from all other sources. And the contribution to greenhouse gas pollution is much bigger on the corporate level than the individual one. Even though environmental protection represents a significant public concern, many organizations prefer to adhere to the traditional and familiar forms of operation. But according to the recent research findings, enterprises may gain many tangible and intangible benefits by implementing ecological initiatives including increased competitiveness, an improved organizational image, cost efficiency, etc. (Marchet, Melacini, and Perotti 775). Therefore, the government should strive to promote the culture of environmental protection among different companies (especially large commercial enterprises and manufacturers) and control their activities through national and state regulations and taxation on excess carbon use, etc.
What did you learn from watching the film that you didn’t know before?
I may say I was familiar with the information represented in the movie, but it helped me to evaluate the significance of energy efficiency once again. The movie perfectly shows the world’s current dependence on fossil fuels and also their negative impacts on the economy, international relations, nature, etc. The interesting thing is there are enough resources to shift towards renewable energy sources. However, it may now be more difficult to do at the individual level because the prices are high. Thus, the governmental support of green initiatives is essential to the promotion of energy efficiency.
Works Cited
“Energy.” BBC, Web.
International Energy Agency. “Energy Efficiency.” IEA, Web.
Marchet, Gino, Marco Melacini, and Sara Perotti. “Environmental Sustainability in Logistics and Freight Transportation.” Journal of Manufacturing Technology Management, vol. 25, no. 6, 2014, pp. 775-811.