Comparison Of Nuclear Power And Fossil Fuels Environmental Sciences Essay

Comparison Of Nuclear Power And Fossil Fuels Environmental Sciences Essay In todays world there are various ways of producing energy. In the past most of the energy came from fossil fuels; fossil fuels were always used to produce energy because they were cheap and available in vast amounts. Nowadays, because of the limited amount of fossil fuels around the world and the high prices people have started to utilize other ways of producing energy. Nuclear power is one of the many resources now being used in order to keep the use of fossil fuels down. In this paper I will discuss fossil fuels, nuclear power and the advantages and disadvantages of both. What are fossil fuels? Coal, gas, and oil are the three main fossil fuels. They have been formed from the organic remains of prehistoric plants and animals more than 300 million years ago. According to Energy and the Environment, fuel refers to anything that can be burned as a source of energy; therefore, fossil fuels are the remains of animals and plants that have formed into materials that can be burned. The type of fossil fuel created depends on the kind of plants or animals and the amount of heat and pressure. The energy stored in fossil fuels originally came from the sun. When we burn fossil fuels, we release that stored energy. All the across world fossil fuels are the most widely used type of energy; fossil fuels have been used to generate power for almost everything that one uses. Among all of the fossil fuels, natural gas and oil are more commonly used because they are rather easy to transport, they have low emissions, and are easy to handle. It has been said that, except fo r coal, the supply of the other fossil fuels are sure to be depleted in a few decades. As of right now, according to Wikipedia- Fossil fuels supply close to 86% of the worlds energy. This is a large percentage of energy to be supplied by just fossil fuels. As I have already stated, we are currently in an energy crisis and fossil fuels are the lifeblood of our society and for many others around the world. Our supply is slowly coming to an end, which is why we have become more than willing to go to war for it and make friends with those whom we really hate. Lately the former Soviet Union and many of the countries in the Middle East are in our good favor strictly because of the oil reserves that they have. Our foreign aid has a legitimate purpose. Even though we have befriended our enemies, fossil fuels will run out and the use of them will soon take the lives of many people. These are important reasons to find other means of getting the energy we need to continue our society as we know it. So what options do we have? Alternative forms of energy are currently under development even though most of them are only in their initial stages. With more help from the government and public support, we may be able to speed up the development of these technologies and help free ourselves from the mast amount of usage of fossil fuels. http://www.myclimatechange.net/UserImage/3/Definition/WorldEnergyConcemption19652005-1.jpg This is definitely a serious problem, and as inhabitants of the world we must all come together and try to resolve the problem at hand. Even though some scientist put a time span on how much longer they think that fossil fuels are going to last, no one really knows. It will all depend on how well we manage our energy demands along with how well we can develop and use renewable energy sources. Nuclear power is energy which is produced with the use of a controlled nuclear reaction. Many nations use nuclear power plants to generate electricity for both civilian and military use, and some nations also utilize nuclear power to run parts of their naval fleets, especially submarines. Some people favor an expansion of nuclear power plants because this form of energy is considered cleaner than fossil fuels such as coal. Nuclear power does indeed come with a number of proble.ms that must be addressed, most importantly being the safe disposal of radioactive waste products. According to Energy and the Environment, The entire physical world is made of atoms; the word atom is derived from the Greek word atomos which means invisible. Atoms, the smallest component of any element, contains enormous energy. When it is split a process called fission, this energy is released in the forms of tremendous heat and light. It is this energy that was released on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Japan, by two separate atom bombs in 1945 that led to the conclusion of World War II. This horrific scene created by those two bombs led the international community to condemn any further use of atomic weapons. Still, engineers, governments and scientists realized that if the atoms energy could be controlled and harnessed, it would revolutionize the worlds energy markets and provide significant electricity reserves to help meet the worlds energy demands. It was even envisioned that it could one day replace the need for fossil fuels. As a result, the first usable electricity from nuclear fission was produced at the Idaho National Engineering Laboratory in 1951. Nuclear energy requires sources of radioactive elements found naturally in our environment and manmade with which to create the nuclear fission process that splits the atoms. Uranium is the most common and most used of these elements. The only other available sources that are used for nuclear energy is Plutonium and Thorium. Plutonium is not naturally occurring. Thus, the Plutonium used in nuclear reactors is man-made, coming from a nuclear reactor. According to the Ecology Global Network, Thorium, though not yet a mainstream nuclear energy supply source, is being heavily studied and applied as a safer, cleaner alternative to Uranium. Still, Uranium is king as the premiere provider of nuclear energy. Perhaps the greatest challenge facing nuclear energy production after any potential for nuclear disasters similar to the 1986 Chernobyl event is the disposal of the highly radioactive wastes. Because it can take up to 10,000 years for these materials to fully break down into harmless elements the challenge is to store them safely for at least that length of time. Even though it is possible, where and how are still major issues. Exploitable Uranium supplies still pose some short-term challenges. According to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, the worlds economically exploitable Uranium reserves are likely to last between 35 and 63 years, depending on whether demand is such as to justify the higher cost of mining less easily exploitable reserves. Still, in consideration of the power that can be generated by Uranium and the burgeoning global energy demands, many governments are placing more emphasis on nuclear energy. The largest user of nuclear energy is the United States, followed by France, Japan, Germany and the Russian Federation. In the US alone, the nations 103 nuclear power plants each generate an average of around 20 tons of radioactive spent fuel a year. Spent fuel now sits in cooling pools and temporary storage areas waiting for somebody to figure out what to do with it. When you begin to compare fossil fuels to nuclear energy you are able to see that there are many advantages and disadvantages of both. Just because we have used fossil fuels for most of the worlds energy doesnt mean that we should continue to use what supply of it we have left. Even though nuclear energy is not yet as popular as the use of fossil fuels there definitely has been and will continue to be, a rise in its use. Advantage of Fossil Fuels Disadvantages of Fossil Fuels Easily distributed Probable contributor to global warming Inexpensive production Cause of acid rain Capacity to generate huge amounts of electricity in just a single location Questionable availability of some fuels Simple combustion process can directly heat or generate electricity Major increase in prices Compared to: Advantages of Nuclear power Disadvantages of Nuclear Power No Greenhouse Gases High initial cost because plant requires containment safeguards No Criteria Pollutants Waste products can be used to manufacture weapons Lowest impacts on the environment Possibility of nuclear meltdown from uncontrolled reaction Lowest cost producer of base load electricity Nuclear reactors only last for about forty to fifty years. After we look at and analyze both fossil fuels, and nuclear energy we notice that both types of energies have their pros and cons. There is no way that anyone could say that there is a major difference in the two that would lead one to believe that one is better than the other. As I have already stated, fossil fuels are definitely a great energy producer. When large amounts of fossil fuels such as coal, gas, and oil are available production can be easily done at a low cost with little or no problems. But as we know, because the availability of fossil fuels is now lessening, we have no other choice than to find alternative energy sources, thus being the case nuclear energy is a very good choice. According to the Nuclear Energy Institute Clean Air Energy, Nuclear energy is Americas largest source of clean-air, carbon-free electricity, producing no greenhouse gases or air pollutants, nuclear power plants aid compliance with the Clean Air Act of 1970, which set standards to improve the nations air quality. This statement says a lot about Nuclear Energy and is really able to show readers just how effective using nuclear energy can be. In conclusion, even though I believe that fossil fuels have served us greatly while they have been around in a plentiful supply; I think we now need to come out from the state we are in, one that relies fully on fossil fuels alone. We need to venture out and try new means of energy production; new means such as nuclear power. I believe that even though nuclear power may have some high initial costs it is well worth it. As Ross Garnaut said, A revolution in humanitys use of fossil fuel-based energy would be necessary sooner or later to sustain and to extend modern standards of living. It will be required sooner if we are to hold the risks of climate change to acceptable levels. The costs that we bear in making an early adjustment will bring forward, and reduce for future times, the costs of the inevitable eventual adjustment away from fossil fuels. Reference Page Cohen, Bernard L. The Nuclear Energy Option. Plenum, 1990. The Ecology Global Network | Ecology News and Information for Residents of Planet Earth. Web. 16 Nov. 2009. . Nuclear Energy Institute Clean-Air Energy. Web. 16 Nov. 2009. . Toossi, Reza. Energy and the Environment-Sources, technologies, and impacts. 2nd ed. Los Angeles, CA: VerVe Inc., 2008 Wikipedia. Web. 16 Nov. 2009. .

Communication and Basic Interpersonal Needs Essay

In, today society we communicate in several ways through verbal communication, text or email, listening and even body language. I would say our most common communication is demonstrated through body language. Interpersonal communication and conflicts tend to happen in our daily lives with emotional connections to anyone we would meet. Everyone has point’s in time that a conflict of interest, points of view are difference in the way one should behave. According to K.Sole, interpersonal communication is the process of exchanging messages, usually between two people, to create and share meaning. † In the movie â€Å"Hitch† one is shown that    through nonverbal communication, how the characters listen to themselves as well as one another and through the changing perceptions of the characters. At the beginning of the movie we are introduced to Alex Hitchens who is considered the â€Å"date doctor†; he gives a narrative on how we as women may say one thing with our mouth but in our head and hearts we want the guy to try harder to make a stronger connection in the relationship . In the first examples of the opposite sex interactions we see three different men who have tried to get the interest of three different women but have failed on their own. Hitch, teaches the men how to have confidence, play to their characteristics, and to really listen to what the women are really saying with their objections and to go beyond the normal to sweep you love interest off her feet. The main interpersonal conflict in the movie Hitch is the miscommunication and misunderstanding between the characters and their relationships: Sarah and Alex and Allegra and Albert. In the beginning Hitch states how sixty percent of all our communication is told through our body language along with how communication is the most important aspect of any relationship and how communication builds the relationship or how the of lack of communication can destroy the relationship. â€Å"Hitch† demonstrates how relationships can be complicated, but by expanding our knowledge and learning of new skills. We can improve our lives with interpersonal relationships. There are three basic interpersonal needs that are satisfied through interactions with others. These needs are becoming involved with others, affection or ,holding emotions for a person, and having control to influence others. These needs can be fulfilled through a complementary or symmetrical relationship. A complementary relationship, â€Å"is a relationship between people who are unequal in status or authority and a symmetrical relationship are relationship where the participants are equal to each other, or are highly similar†, and the differences in communication people tend to develop interpersonal conflicts. Romantic relationships have aspects of both relationship styles. Throughout the movie interpersonal conflict is demonstrated within the relationships of Alex and Sarah. In the movie their relationship takes a turn for the end when Sarah discovers that he is the so-called date doctor and whom she believes is responsible for her best friend being dumped. After, that she sets out to expose him which causes some friction in his most recent client’s Albert’s relationship with Allegra. Sarah felt that Hitch was giving the men on advice how to hide their real intentions when dating the women only to falsely cause the women to fall in love with men. The conflict continues when Hitch tries to explain exactly what he does is only prepare the men on how to communicate effectively with the opposite sex. I do believe if Sarah and Hitch would have only listened to one another that a great deal of their conflict could have been avoided. If you are going to be in a relationship you need to be prepared to communicate your thoughts and feelings to have any successful relationship.

Andrew Jackson A Man of Contradition Essay - 2210 Words

Andrew Jackson has been described as a great hero of his time and a man who was atrocious and would destroy the Union. Andrew Jackson accomplished a great number of things during his life but some of his actions were quite questionable. Looking from the present to the past gives insight into areas where the events can be examined more objectively. However, it is vital when examining past events to keep in mind the mindsets of the past. People had a different point of view and a different perspective than the current one. This must be kept in the forward part of the mind to understand the actions of those in the past. This paper will serve as a guide into the life of Andrew Jackson, his trials and tribulations, decisions and contradictions.†¦show more content†¦The officer raised his sword and aimed for his face, Jackson blocked with an arm and would carry that scar with him forever. After the war, Jackson began looking for his own way and jumped on the westward expansion tow ard Kentucky and Tennessee. Jackson apprenticed under a lawyer and later became a lawyer himself. While this might lead one to believe that he was becoming a calm man, this just was not true. Andrew Jackson was a wild child, complete with duels and gambling. He engaged in a duel with Charles Dickinson where he was shot but mortally wounded his opponent. Jackson was not without a heart. He fell in love with a woman who was already married to another man. Her name was Rachel Donelson. It is important to remember that women of this time, could not just divorce their spouses as they had no rights or property. The two young lovers ran away for six months and returned home and were married in the eyes of most. Except for her former spouse, who went to the courts and sued her for divorce, the first in Kentucky history. Rachel was the love of Andrew Jackson’s life and she kept him centered. The next period of his life would involve more war and Jackson would become â€Å"Old Hickor y† to his men and the world. â€Å"His men could think of no other word to describe him than ‘tough.’Tough as hickory, which was about as hard as anyone