Essay Sample: Amount of Energy Needed in the US

Question 1: Amount of energy needed in the US

The United States requires approximately 97.5 quadrillions Btu to power the country within one year (Dogan & Turkekul, 2016). Therefore, it means that the US needs 0.270833 quadrillions Btu to power its operations each day (Dogan, & Turkekul, 2016). Industrial and transportation sectors consume most of the energy in the US. Many industries and factories depend on fossil fuel energy to operate as well as the transportation sectors where fuel such as petrol is used to fuel cars.

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Question 2: Current source of energy

Current sources of power in the United States include petroleum that includes crude oil, natural gas, as well as plant liquids. Other sources of energy in the US include coal, renewable energy, as well as nuclear electric power. Petroleum amounts to 28 percent, 17.8 percent for fuel, and 12.7 percent for renewable energy (Dogan, & Turkekul, 2016). Nuclear energy amounts to 9.6 percent. The US uses 28 percent of its power in the transportation sector (Dogan & Turkekul, 2016). The industry includes various modes of transportation, such as personal vehicles, freight trains, ships, and airplanes.

Question 3: How various forms of energy is produced

Wind energy is produced by using a large wind turbine and propeller around a rotor, which spins a generator, thus creating electricity. Solar energy is produced by using photovoltaic cells that absorb sunlight, which later generates direct current and finally converts it to usable alternating current. Nuclear energy comes from fishing, which involves the breaking down of uranium atoms (Dogan, & Turkekul, 2016). The process causes heat and later used by a turbine generator to produce electricity. Hydroelectric power is generated by running water through a turbine that later rotates to form electricity.

Question 4: Current forms of energy in the US

Current forms of energy that can be replaced with non-fossil fuels in the US include coal, natural gas, as well as oil.

Question 5: Transition to non-fossils fuels

The government has put in place legislation that discourages the use of fossil fuels, such as policies that increase taxation of the fuels. Besides, technological impacts such as the development of electric cars help in reducing the use of fossil fuels. The need for environmental conservation and global warming impacts encourage people to use renewable sources of energy (Dogan, & Turkekul, 2016). Non-fossil forms of energy are cheaper, and therefore people are encouraged to use them. Besides, non-fossil fuels are simple to store.

Part 2

The United States must move to 100% use of non-fossil fuels by 2030 (Dogan, & Turkekul, 2016). Some of the energies that the US aims at using by 2030 include solar, wind, and hydroelectric power. Currently, the consumption of non-fossil fossils in the US is at 20%. Wind power amounts to 6.3%, solar at 8%, while 35% amounts to hydroelectric power in the US (Dogan, & Turkekul, 2016).

The government should discourage the use of fossil fuels by, for example, increasing the taxes for the fuels, thus enabling the country to achieve 100% non-fossil consumption by the year 2030.

Reference

Dogan, E., & Turkekul, B. (2016). CO 2 emissions, real output, energy consumption, trade, urbanization, and financial development: testing the EKC hypothesis for the USA. Environmental Science and Pollution Research, 23(2), 1203-1213. Retrieved from

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