Topic: Environment
Author: Hallidae Thomason
As we face the ever present hot-topic of global warming that is
constantly shoved in our face with videos of glacial melting on
the peak of Mount Kilimanjaro to the graphs with that predict
the height of sea level over the tallest building in LA by the
year 2050. Sensational? Yes. Accurate? The jury is still out
for sure. What doesn’t hurt either way is to focus on energy
conservation which is just good practice if not world saving.
It is important to note that when I talk about energy
conservation I am not referring to sacrificing comfort or
productivity for the sake of saving money. I am talking about
improving the efficiency of the work that we do through
improved systems engineering, use of alternate fuels, and
better engine technology. This saves money and time (which is
money) and is a good use of the natural and limited resources
that we still have on this lonely planet.
It is amazing what can be done to improve a situation in terms
of motivation. With the proper motivation a couch potato can
sprint away from a large toothy beast that is attacking them,
or a company can clean up emissions if threatened to be
shutdown if noncompliant, you get the idea. It’s too bad that
this motivation has to be negative in the majority of cases but
if it produces something positive than so be it. That is how I
view all this global warming fervor. If it is true than that is
scary and we had better do something to improve our energy
conservation skills. If it isn’t true than let’s just pretend
it is anyway in order to have motivation to do something that
will be good in so many more ways than just saving our lives.
So how are we trying to promote energy conservation here in
this country? Well with the rising oil prices we are looking to
alternate fuel and energy sources. Some cool possibilities in
the near future are the hydrogen cell with a nearly endless
supply and it’s only emission being water. Another renewable
energy source is ethanol which will create a clean relatively
cheap in costs (more than just money), and a major boon to the
struggling farming industry. We are seeing great advances in
electric/gas hybrid and completely electric automobile engines
as well as alternate power sources like hydroelectric and wind
turbine electricity production. All very exciting making this a
great time to be alive.
About The Author: Being a technology junkie, Julee Mitchelsin
loves when she gets assignments like this to research and write
about technology in energy conservation. If you are a tech
junkie too you should check out
http://www.energyconservationtimes.info/.
[global warming] [energy] [conservation] [environment]
