Valentine 1
Brittany J Valentine
Professor H. Bown
English 2010
11 March 2011
Position/Proposal
POSITION:
Building in today’s market is a lot different than it was a hundred years ago. By necessity, the times we currently operate in require that we take different factors into consideration than we did in previous times. Today, when we are making decisions regarding purchasing or renovating a building we’re worried about such things as how energy efficient a building is and how much it is going to cost to run all the needed utilities to make the building habitable. As a community, we don’t want to change the look of the older buildings and don’t enjoy knocking down historical buildings. What are the differences between buildings that have gone through the changes of becoming energy efficient and those that haven’t been changed since the turn of the century? The answers to this question are multi-faceted.
It would be helpful if more organizations would be aware of their carbon footprint and what use of certain non-renewable energy sources does not only to our environment but what it can possibly do to us and our children. All actions should be aimed at preventing death as a result of environmental pollutants so that inhabitants live a healthy and happy life. In order to maintain the public health and welfare, we will have to change the way we are currently heating and/or cooling buildings. There are many alternative to coal - natural gas, oil, etc. I’m going to weigh renewable energy’s pros and cons versus non-renewable energy’s pros and cons.
RENEWABLE ENERGY:
There are a lot of different ways that a building can become energy- efficient. Not all of the options are expensive, but there is potential for such a project to become costly. all of the major renewable energy source such as wind, water, and sun, and explain within each category what the pros and cons of each one are. In short, I want to show how much better it would be to use renewable energy products when building in the future than currently uses. It would not only help our future generations, but would also ensure environmental sustainability.
Wind:
The pros of wind power include: lessening the effects of pollution on the environment; establishing use of an energy source that can be used for centuries without having to worry about affecting future generations; and reduced production of waste as wind power does not result in harmful waste products being dispersed into the environment. “Using a single wind turbine can prevent the emission of 5,000 tons of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere each year.” ("Wind Power").
In “2005, students at the University of Utah established a fund that allows 10% of the University’s electricity to be purchased from wind-generated sources.” Since the University has made that change, they have saved a total of “2,856,466.53 yearly and a cumulative of 38,641,033.35.” ("Facilities"). As you can see from the picture below, there aren’t a lot of areas that produce good wind power in the United States. There should be more drive for wind power so that we can create a more non-polluted community.
Wind power has its cons also. They include: Creation of extreme noise levels that could be too much for some people; known interference with television reception due to wind turbines; susceptibility to damage on account of area thunderstorms; and placement of turbines in areas where the strength of the wind is insufficient to generate needed power. It becomes apparent that the pros definitely outweigh the cons in a lot of ways.
Water:
Water is the quickest way to produce electricity due to its origin from moving water sources such as dams, rivers, and water falls. “The most common method of using energy from water is a hydroelectric dam, where water coming down through an area causes turbines to rotate and the energy is captured to run a generator.” ("Hydro"). The use of water for electricity will allow for a constant energy source that does not deplete over time and self-replenishes. With water, you don’t have to worry about any emissions going into the atmosphereas it’s a clean way to produce electricity.
The cons of using water for electricity include: possible destruction of native species such as fish and the possibility of incurring extreme costs as a result of building dams thereby causing increased wait times to see returns on investments. I’m not sure if I would ever want to build another dam to create electricity from water if there are ones already in process. I have a hard time supporting this use just because the current environment would have to be destroyed in order to build dams. The overall concept is good, though, because water doesn’t put any hazardous material into the environment
Sun:
Solar panels are becoming more and more popular today than ever before. Some pros of using solar panels are: They are really helpful in producing electricity and safer than traditional energy sources; the source is clean and renewable and allows for transition from purchasing electricity from a grid; and solar panels can be built to specifications.
Some cons of using solar panels include: solar panels are costly to purchase and take a long time to get the full investment back; are not so great if you don’t live in a place that has a lot of sun; and can be harmful for the environment but better than burning coal.
NON-RENEWABLE ENERGY:
The non-renewable energy sources that we have are limited in amount. We have no way to make non-renewable energy again. Not only is the burning and use of chemicals in oil, coal, and natural gas harming our environment, but it leaves harsh chemicals in the air for all of us to breathe. The three biggest contributors to pollution are oil, coal, and natural gas. In 2008, the biggest contributor to pollution was coal. It shows that we have a lot of work to do.
Oil:
Oil is a very important source for energy. The pros of oil are very few, but include: oil can be used for many different things such as cooking, our cars, heaters, ovens, and creating everyday things such as plastics and lotions and oil is easier to mine since it’s a liquid and can just be pumped through pipes. The cons of oil make up a much longer list that includes our oil supply is drastically decreasing and cannot be recycled; mining oil leads to irreversible damages to the environment; oil spills can result in massive environmental disasters; and the burning of oil produces carbon dioxide, a major cause of global warming. One can see by the cons that oil isn’t the best material to be using and is not helpful to our environment in any ways. The United States is so much more dependent on oil than any other country.
Coal:
The pros of coal are: coal is inexpensive, plentiful, and very versatile. However, the pros are largely outweighed by the cons, which include increased pollution; health hazards; and lack of renew ability when compared to other fossil fuels. The University of Utah has found that most of the planet’s mercury pollution is from when coal is fired, causing more pollution in the air. “Coal-fired electricity plants are the largest source of mercury pollution, releasing 48 tons of mercury each year in the US. The pollution would cease if coal-generated electricity were replaced with wind power.” ("Mercury Pollution")
Natural Gas:
Natural Gas pros are: burns cleaner than other fossil fuels (such as oil and coal), is more economical than electricity, can be supplied to your home by way of underground piping (in some places), is faster when used in cooking and water heating, and natural gas is lighter than air and will dissipate if there is a leak. The cons are: the possibility of resultant explosion due to leaks; possible large expenses due to inadequate installation; and contributions to greenhouse emissions since it is made mostly of methane.
Proposal:
It quickly becomes apparent that we as a community should be pushing for our schools to become more energy efficient. Not only will it be safer to the environment that we live in, but it will help us to lower our pollution levels for future generations. “On Capitol Hill, a bipartisan coalition is growing to show federal leadership in creating incentives for Green school construction and retrofits across the country.” (“Katz”). Usually just some small changes in the way things are done can make a huge difference and provide a benefit to those around us. Also, in being more eco-friendly we could be reducing the carbon footprint that we have printed on the world.
It would be great if Salt Lake Community College, along with other universities and colleges, became more eco-friendly. This would not only save money, but would enable us to
stand the test of time. Schools are now entering into the LEED program, which is Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design. “With one school a day now registering with the year-old LEED for Schools program, the message is clear: American’s want more green schools.” (Katz) Obtaining the LEED stamp on a campus would really change how people look at our mission and be helpful to both students and the environment. The LEED program should be able to, with the government’s approval, set higher standards for buildings with long-term use. Since program standards would be used more than any others, it would help to change prevailing building standards. It would be great if we as a community could really step away from fossil fuels and learn to live without them. Because they are not always going to be here at our disposal, it would be better to find out other ways to live now before it’s too late.
Colleges need to be willing to accept change since things can’t stay the same way forever. Since technology gets better with time, colleges need to learn how to adapt to make it so they aren’t spending as much money to heat/cool or use electricity on many campuses around the United States and beyond. Would it be possible to reconfigure the way we’re heating and/or cooling the buildings that students and facility go to daily?
It would be great if Salt Lake Community College could adopt some of the University of Utah’s ideas and become more eco-friendly. For example, SLCC could have every student pay $2.50 per semester to purchase wind shares or motivate students to share ideas they have to help the campus become more eco-friendly. Not only will this information help the campus, but it will give that student that much more life experience to use within his/her profession. I know that we are good about recycling at Salt Lake Community College, but it would be nice to expand to other things that would help the environment also.
Work cited
"Energy-Related Carbon dioxide Emissions by Fuel and End-Use Sector ." Web. 26 Feb 2011. <
"Facilities Management The University of Utah ." Energy Savings . N.p., 2010.Web.26Feb2011.<
"Hydro Energy." Hydro Energy. N.p., 2011. Web. 27 Feb 2011. <
Katz, Ashley. "LEED FOR SCHOOLS: ROI FOR THE NEXT GENERATION." Environmental Design & Construction 11.7 (2008): s30-s32. GreenFILE. EBSCO. Web. 17 Feb. 2011"State Begins Funding "Green" Schools Program." Environmental Design & Construction 5.3 (2002): 22. GreenFILE. EBSCO. Web. 17 Feb. 2011.
"Pros and Cons of Hydropower ." Archive for the . 05 Oct 2010. Web. 27 Feb 2011. <
Ritholtz, Barry. "Oil Consumption Around the World." The Big Picture, 11 Jun 2010. Web. 26 Feb 2011. <
Blue, Jessica "Solar Panel Pros & Cons." Web. 24 Feb 2011. <
U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC). N.p., 2011. Web. 22 Feb 2011. <
"Wind Power." Advantages of Wind Power. N.p., 2008. Web. 27 Feb 2011. <
"Wind Power Classification ." Wind & Water Power Program. 30 Oct 08. Web. 24 Feb 2011. < >.