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Case in Point

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Case-In-Point In this global economy, energy is an important factor to stay competitive in the world. Solar energy, wind power, water sources, and fossil fuels are available these days. Human beings need to subdue the universe and transform these sources for a better life. The Arctic National Wildlife Refuge is a sleeping reserve of fossil fuels. The Yucca Mountain is storage for nuclear waste. The Three Gorges Dam in China is the biggest sources of hydroelectricity in the world. How viable is each of sources of energy? Is the exploitation indefinite? What is the environmental impact in the ecosystem? Which one of the sources is the best based on ethical and economical issues? The Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR) is a fossil fuel and natural gas energy source located in Alaska, USA. The fossil fuels reserve is very abundant. According to the US geological survey, on a 1980 research, ANWR has 17 billions of barrels of oils and 34 trillions of Natural Gas. The environmental impact, if it exists, is minimum; only 8% of the refuge will be used, and the maximum footprint development allowed by Congress is about 2000 acres. The new technology implemented at Prudhoe Bay has made the area more environmental friendly for wildlife. In order to protect the tundra, drill sites are constructed on 4' thick gravel pads. Even if a 1" drop of crude oil drips onto the pad, workers are required to shovel it up for proper disposal. (Prudhoe Bay, 2001). Drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge will be a huge impact to the United States economy. Revenues generated will help offset the United States deficit. Billions of dollars from bonus bids, lease rentals, royalties and taxes would enhance federal revenues. Estimates on bonus bids for ANWR by the Office of Management and Budget and the Department of Interior for the first 5 years after Congressional approval are $4.2 billion. The Office of Management and Budget estimated royalty and tax estimates for the life of the 10-02 fields from $152-237 billion. (Arctic Power, n.d.). The rest of the country will profit from the exploitation of ANWR. Between 250,000 and 735,000 jobs will be created. The United States economy will be booming again. Wall Street and Main Street will enjoy a new era of prosperity. ANWR is a win factor in this slow economy. Congress and the White House should have passed a law to authorize the drilling. Drilling will reduce the importation of oil from the Middle East countries, which are always in turmoil. Yucca Mountain is storage for nuclear wastes from electrical plants and weapons. The type of energy related to Yucca Mountain is nuclear energy. Nuclear Energy is very reliable. France is one of the most advanced countries in producing nuclear electricity. Yet another advantage of nuclear power is the relative abundance of its fuel. Uranium is the heaviest of all naturally occurring elements and is present in most of the earth's crust. There is enough uranium 235, the fuel for current-day U.S. nuclear reactors, to keep them operating through most of this century. (Miller, 2004). The capacity of Yucca Mountain storage is only 42 thousand tons. When it is full, the Department of Energy will look for other facilities to store the waste of nuclear fuels. The transportation from the power plants to Yucca Mountain is highly dangerous because of terrorist threats and possibility of spill. The nuclear fuel is highly secured inside. The United States Department of Energy transports used nuclear fuel to the repository by rail and road, inside massive, sealed containers that have undergone safety and durability testing. On site, they will be no potential problems. Yucca Mountain’s climate is very dry with an annual precipitation averaging about 7.5 inches. Very little water infiltrates the mountain and reaches the repository level. Some data suggest the repository is safe from water infiltration for a few decades. Nuclear energy is relatively safe. Since the accident in Chernobyl, Russia, no safety issues have been reported in the nuclear plants. Nuclear plants emits a relatively low quantity of dioxide of carbon (CO2) and the green house gases emissions are very little; therefore nuclear powerplants contribution to global warming is very small. Nuclear plants could be an alternative for expensive fossil fuel energy. The three Gorges is one of the biggest dams in the world. Located in China, the dam crosses the Yangtze River in Hubei province. It is the world largest hydroelectric power station by its total capacity 22500 Megawatts. The type of energy used is hydroelectricity. Filled into the maximum capacity, the dam will contain about 9.43 cubic miles of water. The water will weigh more than 42 billion tons. According to National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), the dam will slow the earth rotation by 0.06 microseconds. The principal advantage of the Three Gorges is to generate power to keep China moving higher in the global economy. In 1990, China had a total power capacity of 130 million kilowatts; the country may need 580 million by 2015 to stay competitive. The dam has many advantages; it will control flood, Yangtze River kills many Chinese and destroys their villages during the rainy season. Another advantage of the hydroelectric is helping reduce the emission of sulphur dioxide and carbon dioxide. The cost of energy will be relatively cheap. The Three Gorges has also some environmental issues. More than 1.1 million people will be resettled. It will threaten the river’s wildlife; a large number of species will be affected. In a long term, the natural flow of the Yangtze will be affected. The dam will disrupt heavy silt flows in the river. It could cause rapid silt buildup in the reservoir, creating an imbalance upstream, and depriving agricultural land and fish downstream of essential nutrients. (Advantages and disadvantages of the Three Gorges Dam,). Faster and quicker is the motto in today’s world. Energy is necessary if people want to succeed. Fossil fuels, waterpower, and nuclear powers are commonly used in most of the developed countries. Each one has some impacts in the environment. Each one also has a cost of operation, which should be, pass the customers. The environmental friendly source of energy between these three is hydroelectricity. The system will not kill systematically the species in the area. Adaptation and relocation are good and favorable options for them. The water used to generate electricity is reusable. Because the system uses water as fuel, it is also very cheap to produce, apart from the cost of construction of the dam.

References
Prudhoe Bay. (2001). Environment. Retrieved from http://www.d.umn.edu/~cstroupe/archive/5230/glocal/prudhoe/www.d.umn.edu/~hoef0049/prudhoe.html
Arctic Power. (n.d.). Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. Retrieved from http://www.anwr.org/backgrnd/where.htm
Miller, D. W. (2004). Advantages of Nuclear Power. LewRockwell.com, (), . Retrieved from http://www.lewrockwell.com/miller/miller13.html
Nuclear Energy Institute. (2011). Key Issues. Retrieved from http://www.nei.org/keyissues/nuclearwastedisposal/transportation/ (2011). The Three Gorges. Retrieved from http://www.yangtze-river-cruises.com/three-gorges/pros-cons.html

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