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   Linda Markowitz: Sociology
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Energy

Living requires energy. Energy is needed to grow food, heat houses and transport people and things. From where do our energy sources come? What human and environmental consequences do our energy sources have? These are the questions that are presently hotly contested by politicians, academics and scientists.

Although there are no clear answers about which energy source is best, we do know that our human dependence on oil is problematic. But with what should oil be replaced? To answer that question, we must consider two kinds of costs associated with any energy source: production and consumption. The questions we should weigh deliberately and apolitically are:

New Energy Source Production Costs:
1) How much energy is required in making new energy source?
2) What are the environmental costs in making new energy source?
3) What are the human and animal health risks caused by production of new energy source?
4) How does the production of new energy source affect the well-being of workers?
5) What are the costs of transporting the new energy source to people who need it?
6) What are the costs of disposing waste from the new energy source production?

New Energy Source Consumption Costs:
7) What are environmental costs for using new energy source?
8) What are the costs of disposing waste from the consumption of new energy source?
9) What are human health risks as a result of consumption?

Most information about renewable energy sources focuses primaily on financial costs and environmental costs in production and consumption. However, it does not answer questions about the health and well-being of people, workers and animals.

Here are some good web-sites that try to address the conventional concerns of environmental costs:

"Energy Sources" by Andy Darvil
Alternative Energy Source.org
Alternative Energy Pro/Con.org

For kids and adults like try The Energy Story which gives simplistic information on various alternative energy sources.

Please let me know if you come across sites with great information about the costs to communities, workers and animals: lmarkow@siue.edu


 
 

 

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