Environment Essay: Alternative Fuels are the Solution to Environmental Problems

The environment is a hotly debated topic in today's society. Some of the subtopics that are going to be discussed are going to be those related to the way technology is changing, what industries are doing to help prevent further pollution, some of the methods used in paper recycling, and some discussion of renewable energy sources. For the most part, this section of the research paper, unlike the other sections, is going to attempt to discuss some of the ways the public has been dealing with, and are finding new ways to deal with environmental problems that we are presently facing.

There are currently three main sources of pollution: they are, water pollution, waste pollution, and air pollution. Of these three forms of pollution, the one that affects our health most directly is air pollution. Scientists believe that all cities with populations exceeding 50,000 have some degree of air pollution.1 Some sources of air pollution include emissions of sulfur dioxide and other noxious gases by electric power plants that burn high-sulfur coal or oil.2 Air pollution can range from factory emissions, to auto emissions, and even house hold product emissions such as chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs), once found in abundance in spray containers and has been drastically reduced in these products.

Air Pollution has been that target of some of the most complicated legislation ever discussed. In 1970, the United States Congress passed legislation aimed at curbing sources of air pollution and setting standards for air quality.3

One of the strongest weapons against industrial pollution that many factories are currently using to combat air pollution is a scrubber. A scrubber is a series of filters placed in sm...

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...te simple because the kinetic energy of water is what is being utilized. Water is first damned up, and then allowed to flow over turbines which spin and thus form energy. The rate at which water passes by these turbines can be controlled. One of the major drawbacks of this form of energy is the damage it can do to surrounding ecosystems. Lowlands behind damns now become lakes, and fish have a harder time of getting up streams to reproduce. "Nature's" natural balance can be altered quite severely but new methods of getting around these problems have been, or are currently being developed.

Hopefully this paper has been able to give you, the reader, more insight on some of the possible solutions to today's environmental problems. As one can see, there are clearly many alternatives. It is just a matter of acting upon them and instating these alternatives.