Should Renewable Energy Replace Fossil Fuels

Should renewable energy replace fossil fuels?

Amer Sharbek

Intro- In this essay presentation I will be discussing about renewable energy replacing fossil fuels, also what this replacement can do for the whole world and what it can not. I will present two perspectives and explain them fully, I will also state counter arguments for both perspectives.

Opinion- My opinion is that renewable energy should replace fossil fuels because fossil fuels has damaged the environment causing many problems (e.g. Climate Change). I believe that if we decrease the usage of fossil fuels then there might be a way in which the environment could slightly recover from the damages made. Rising temperatures are changing weather and vegetation patterns across the globe

Environment-

The replacement of fossil fuels with renewable energy (UCSUSA, 2013) will cause a decrease in CO2 emissions which will decrease pollution. By using renewable energy sources like solar energy, we also reduce our dependence on fossil fuel gas and oil reserves, which are becoming more expensive and difficult to find. It also reduces our dependence on imported fossil fuels, improving our energy security.

Economic-

Renewable energy development outperforms fossil fuels (UCSUSA, 2013) in two important ways when it comes to driving job growth, first of all renewable energy development is relatively labour intensive, so it creates more jobs per dollar invested than fossil fuel resources and Installing renewable energy facilities uses primarily local workers, so investment dollars are kept in local communities.

Local landowners benefit from renewable energy development. When wind turbines (UCSUSA, 2013) are installed on privately owned land, the land owners typically receive payments in the form of lease, royalty, or right-of-way payments. These payments can be an important source of income for rural

Politics-

Perspective 2: Renewable energy should not replace fossil fuels because of its many benefits.

Environment-

When fossil fuels (Oil, Coal etc.) burn, they release many pollutants into the atmosphere and they also release carbon which mixes with oxygen to make carbon dioxide (CO2). The only thing that CO2 is good for is plants in general, because plants absorb CO2 in the day to produce oxygen. Economic-

Fossil fuels are very important for the world economy as they take a large percentage of exports. Saudi Arabia (OEC) has a total of 83% of its exports of just crude petroleum, That is $526 Billion from just crude petroleum.

The total exports of crude petroleum add up to $1.84 trillion.

Crude Petroleum is the top export (OEC) of Saudi Arabia, Russia, Canada, Mexico, the United Arab Emirates, Norway, Venezuela, Kuwait, Nigeria and Iraq. These countries economy are made up of mostly petroleum.

There are also many jobs in the fossil fuel industry that decrease unemployment and increase tax income for many countries.