I think that our most pressing global environmental issues that we face today is the use of fossil fuels and the impact that it is having on our environment. It is increasing the momentum of global warming by piping dangerous fumes into the atmosphere, it is draining the oils that our earth needs to cool, we are spilling crude into our oceans killing the wildlife that inhabit that world-all at an alarming rate.
If I were to be granted $100 billion dollars to address the situation I would put it all into the research and transition into biofuels, wind energy, solar energy and research into other, undiscovered rescources.
I would invest most of the grant into biofuels. Our vehicles are what is ruining our atmosphere more than the exhaust from our homes. Lee County recently opened a factory, Algenol Biofuels, that uses algea to create fuel. They are using it in the Lee Tran Buses (which they have already begun to transition into hybrid buses), this will leave a much smaller carbon footprint.
Use of methane in factories is cutting edge, but not impossible. There is an onion farm in California that uses its waste from processing the onions and turns it into methane gas to run their salsa factory. The website for Gill's Onions states that "Using biogas in the fuel cells is saving $50,000 to $60,000 per month in electricity purchases, Gill says. Another $500,000 is saved annually by eliminating the hauling and spreading of onion waste in the fields. The project is also earning money by selling the onion cake as cattle feed. Taking into account the savings, sales of by-products, self-generation credits and investment tax credits, the $9.5 million project expects payback in five years." (Greer, 2012)
Finally, I would put money into main street to grant people money to convert their vehicles to biodiesel. there would have to be rules (like the person would have to pay some of the cost, so that they take ownership in it too and they would have to sign a contract that states that they will buy cars that run on diesel to continue to use the biofuels in the future--imagine putting the oil tycoons out of work!) but without incentive people would just keep doing what they are doing. I would give it to mainstreet rather than the auto industry, the auto industry is too big of business-but if consumers were buying biodiesel cars, then they would have to change to get the business.
I would save some for the generation of wind energy, I realize that the time hasn't come for that yet, but it will. Areas that are prone to winds could benefit greatly, even generate energy to put back into the system and save using fossil fuels, it just needs to get off the ground a little more. It's time will come.
Same with solar energy, I would plug some (not much) into that industry. I would want to research ways of creating the energy in a way that would be less expensive and easier to maintain. It is too expensive for most people to buy into, at least at this time.
References:
Greer, Diane. (2012). Gill's Onions: BioCycle - Onion Grower Invests in Digester And Fuel Cells. Retrieved from http://www.gillsonions.com/node/184
No comments:
Post a Comment