Geothermal

Geothermal technology looks appears that it could really be the power of the future. It is easy to install and requires little to no maintenance. It is more efficient then the conventional way of cooling and heating your house. My question is why has it taken so long to use this technology if it is really as great as it sounds why have I not really heard of this before a few years ago when Washington College put in the technology. Could it be a large conspiracy from the power and oil companies to try and hide this technology away. Or is it that we were just to lazy to get away from our conventional technology. Looking at the price break down its a wonder that very few people have used this technology. Very little maintenance is needed for geothermal but if there is a problem how large of an issue is it to fix it. I would imagine that it would not be a large operation to fix something on the box that is in the house, but something happened to the pipe going into the ground that could be a large problem. What would happen if the pipe had a leak you would have to drill all the way down and replace that pipe. It would be interesting to see the down side of geothermal. What kind of environmental impact would there would there be? Obviously there would be an impact from the drilling and the machines having to drill but most of that could be fixed or replaced very quickly. But would there be any impact with having a pipe in the ground, for small borrowing animals, plants roots systems, insects and other bugs? To me it looks like a great way to conserve energy and lower your power bill and should be used in all houses as much as possible.

Evaluatng consumption

Today more then ever we as a nation and a world need to evaluate the amount of things we consume whether it be food, power or material objects. Everything that we consume some how goes back to the amount of power that is needed to produce whatever it is you want or need. The amount of things that we consume here in the Untied States is unprecidented we are use to having a type of lifestyle and expect to live that way and if we dont we get upset. Now there are things that we need everyday so that we are able to survive that require energy but do we really need eight tvs in our houses each with 300 cable channels most of which you dont even use. Because we have not been able to find a resource that is renewable and does not have an impact on the environment we need to be more aware of the amount of evergy we are consuming. Currently our country is in a bit of a crisis and it is really a good time to analyze our current situation. If we are able to cut back on the amount of things that we want or need we can begin to cut back on the amount of energy that we use and thuse improve the environment.

Balance of power and conservation

I am currently writing a thesis on water conservation and how water is becoming one of the most valuable resources in the world. The use of dams for power are used all over the world and because it is a renewable resource it has done great job in cutting the use of coal. The World Bank and the IMF have proposed hundreds of dams all over the world many of which would be placed in the Amazon Basin. These dams do have there benefits but do they out weigh the negatives. As world population continues to grow the need for power increases and we cannot continue to use fossil fuels because they are finite so we find alternatives like dams. The amount of damage that these dams cause to the surrounding environment is huge and it destroys habitat and kills wild life. As we dam up these rivers we are cutting water off to people that live further down the river. This water sits behind these huge walls allowing it to evaporate and not allowing us to use it in a fashion that would benefit us in more ways. Power is something that has become a necessity and in many ways we need it to survive. But is it worth the destruction of the environment and the limiting of water to people. Many of the worlds rivers to do not even make it to the ocean any more because people diverting it, damming it or using it for various other reasons. If we were to recharge many of these rivers we would have to destroy the dams and allow the water to flow free again. Unfortunately I do not think that we can have our cake and eat it too, there are sacrifices that are going to have to be made if we are to get away from fossil fuels. I think that we will have to have some dams that destroy habitat but I do not think we need to have the amount of dams that are proposed to be built. I think that if we need wind farms and they destroy the landscape then we are just going to have to deal with it because we only have so many options to choose from. However this does not mean that we should not continue to look and explore other ways because we then may be able to have our cake and eat it too.