Week 9 Environmental Science Final Project

Every day that we live on this planet poses a threat to our species; our issue is the environment; specifically energy conservation in association with solar energy. Energy conservation is "reduction in the amount of energy consumed in a process or system, or by an organization or society, through economy, elimination of waste, and rational use" (Business Dictionary, 2012, para.1). Some people believe that solar energy is one of the most important forms of energy conservation, considering that it is renewable. The website called Conserve Energy Future (2009-2012, para. 1) stated it the best "the fact that it is available in plenty and free and does not belong to anybody makes it one of the most important of the non-conventional sources of energy" and Golden (1999-2012, para.6) "by comparison, solar power is still the clear winner, according to ecology.com, in terms of being more environmentally friendly". Our issue is that we waste an abundant amount of energy; one reason is our population growth. Our population is growing at a rate where if we do not conserve our energy there will not be enough or any for our future generation. The biggest contributor to wasted energy is human beings; we can make the most significant change to affect this issue. We tend to keep all our electronics plugged in at once, which using plenty of energy as well have not having the right appliances in your home. Another factor that affects energy conservation is that we want everything at to be quick which in turn causes many negative effects. Humans sometimes do not think about anyone, but there selves and that is one of our biggest issues; maybe if we thought about others we would be more enthused to help with energy conservation. We can aid in with this issue by deriving a sustainable plan to help energy conservation with the help of our government, our community, and everyone else. Humans are smart people and if we are educated about the issue or problem we can make a huge impact.

Energy conservation is a major concern to us; if we are not careful we can use all the energy we have available and not have enough for our future generation. The problem is that we need energy for everything we do and we need to find alternative forms of energy that is renewable. An immense renewable form of energy is solar energy. Solar energy is from the sun, and it gives us heat and light. There are two forms of solar energy heating; passive and active solar energy. Both are used for heating buildings and water. Passive solar heating is when buildings are heated without the use of pumps or fans and active solar heating is panels on top of a roof that captures solar energy (Berg, Hager, & Hassenzahl, 2011). Energy conservation is not an overnight issue; there are factors that contributes to this problem both nonliving and living.

First, let us discuss the nonliving factor that contributes to this issue. Non-renewable energy is a nonliving factor that contributes to this issue. Non-renewable energy such as coal and oil pollutes the air and are very harmful to humans. They can cause a human to get sick and potentially die; that is why solar energy is so important. It does not distribute as much pollution in the air or harm humans as much as the coal or oil. Golden stated it the best "the obvious effect of solar energy production is that there is no direct emission of gases or pollutants" (1999-2012, para. 2). A living factor that contributes to conserving energy is human beings. In the past the United States was not as populated as it is today and because of overpopulation we are using energy in abundance as well as wasting it. According to Science Daily (2009, para.1) "overpopulation is the world's top environmental issue". The more people that are alive requires more energy to live. Even though human's population is a negative effect on energy conservation, they also have positive effects.

Humans effect energy conservation in many ways; we can be the cause of using all earth's energy, and we also can help to restore earth's energy. Humans use energy as if it is unlimited; these types of energy that are limited are called nonrenewable energy, because once they are depleted they cannot be reproduce (Berg, Hager, & Hassenzahl, 2011). We use energy to take a shower, open the refrigerator door, and to use all our appliances. The way we can aid in energy conservation is by taking shorter showers, knowing what we need out of the refrigerator before we open it, and plug out appliances we are not using. Making such simple efforts can go a long way when it pertains to energy conservation. Another important factor on how humans effect energy conservation in a positive way is buying energy conservation appliances for their home. It maybe a little bit more expensive in the short-run, but in the long-run it will be beneficial. Energy efficient appliances are not the only way for us to conserve energy; they are also energy sustainability strategies and solution.

There are numerous sustainability strategies and solution for conserving energy; some people suggest changing our appliances, using appliances less often, and creating energy conserving building. According to Chen and Huang (2012, p.1652), people spend majority of their time doing indoor activities and they suggest that "ensuring that equipment operation can simultaneously maximize environmental health and achieve minimum equipment energy consumption". Basically they are saying that we need to maximize every opportunity we have to use less energy. The state of Minnesota has an agency to help conserve energy; they are called the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency which created a state agency sustainability action plan, they have issued an order that states:

Executive Order 11-12 requires agencies with operational control over state buildings to achieve an aggregate 20 percent reduction in energy use from the baseline data entered into the B3 Energy Benchmarking tool or the year immediately before the agency initiated their energy improvements, whichever is later (Minnesota Pollution Control Agency, 2012, para.2)

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) suggests