Stop burning fossil fuel to save the Earth?
By faisai
@faisai (1138)
Hong Kong
May 22, 2009 1:00pm CST
There is no doubt that the discovery of fossil fuel is one of the most important one in the last century which helps the boom of industry and all sorts of things.
However, that comes with a big price tag: Global warming. It is generally accepted burning fossil fuel is one of the biggest factor contributing to global warming.
Now, would you agree that we should forbid the use of fossil fuel to save the world? Or put it another way, if we want to save the world, are we willing to pay a much much higher price for energy from sources other than fossil fuel?
For instance, cars running on gasoline can go as low as less than a dollar per kilometer. So, would you be willing to pay up to a few dollars or even 10 something dollars per kilometer for a car that runs on renewable energy instead of gasoline?
1 person likes this
3 responses
@cobrateacher (8432)
• United States
24 May 09
Faisai,
If we aren't willing to turn to alternative energy sources, we're dooming the planet, to oversimplify the situation. While renewable fuels are expensive, they become less so as advances in their use continue. We owe it to the children as yet unborn to improve the planet, and we can't let money spoil that goal.
@derlilaStern (1756)
• United States
22 May 09
I dont think that we need to make an absolute stop. The US has tons of petrolium that has already been removed from the ground. Trying to dispose of it without burning it would cause a mess of its own!
I think the key is to work towards something better. Building more wind turbines to produce electricity. Working on finding a fuel source for cars that is safe and cost effective.
In the mean time, we need to find ways to reduce our consumption. Carpooling. Using less electricity. More fuel efficient cars. These things add up too.
I dont think stopping all fossil fuel consumption at once is plausible. But I do think that something needs to be done!
@faisai (1138)
• Hong Kong
22 May 09
Thanks for your reply.
Of course it would be impossible to put it to a full stop as we are just depending on it too much already.
However, we don't actually see how the governments around the world are encourage using less fossil fuel. Granted, they are promoting clean energy sources. But then, at the same time, they are trying to maintain fossil fuel at very low prices that it makes developing clean energy sources huge investments with little return for the investors.
For instance, electric cars is nothing new concept but then will it really be widely used around the world when fossil fuel is maintained at a low price? I don't quite see how that would happen. Not unless the electric car itself together with the price of electricity (which are generated by fossil fuel in large) can go comparable to fossil fuel now.
@pelastikbintang (325)
• Malaysia
24 May 09
To stop completely the use of fossils feul is quite impossible as a lot of thing need fossil fuel to make it work. But we can reduce the usage and start using other alternative energy source like wind, bio-fuel, hydro etc..
