Analyzing Problems Faced in Energy Consumption and Climate Change by Sophie C.

Through the use of nuclear reactors, carbon capture, and other renewable energy sources, is it possible to theoretically convert the US or even the world to renewable and clean energy, both short term and long term? It is well documented that the activities humans have been conducting since the industrial revolution (in terms of energy consumption) have been releasing a large amount of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. Indeed, this is a phenomenon that had been agreed upon by all unbiased studies over the past several decades and by the vast majority of scientists who study it. The release of carbon dioxide is most often caused by the burning of fossil fuels as a form of energy consumption. It is a common consensus among scientists that by the year 2050, humans must find alternate sources of energy before the amount of carbon in the atmosphere exceeds 550 ppm; examples of these include clean energy, such as nuclear energy, and renewable energy, such as that gotten from sunlight, wind, water, and heat. In this project, we will attempt to outline several of the general problems that are faced today in the realm of energy consumption and propose steps to overcome them, if not provide possible solutions. Specifically, we will address several aspects of the complex problem of carbon emission into the atmosphere, culminating in a short term plan to prevent the 550ppm benchmark from occurring by the year 2050, and a long term plan to prevent further climate change that will render our planet uninhabitable...Ultimately, the problem of energy consumption and climate change must be broken down into several categories – social, political, and technological. These categories can be broken down further: in the social category, a lack of awareness as well as disbelief in climate change. In the political category: every nation has differing resources available for use in reducing environmental impact, and also have different ideas about climate change. Some nation produce much more environmental pollution than others but have no plans to reduce this pollution...climate change and renewable energy sources have been studied extensively over the past several decades. We will not be able to conduct experimental research on sources of clean and renewable energy ourselves, but can use the data from these in our research, as well as data from research related to other problems addressed in this project – social, technological, and political...