Guess and Farnham discuss the demand curve in relation to whether a proposed program will be favored and affect the consumers’ willingness to purchase the output of the program. Willingness to pay issues complicate cost-benefit analysis and through surveying and hypothetical situations, the contingent valuation method is used. This method “is widely used in environmental areas, particularly to evaluate willingness to pay for nonuse or existence values of environmental goods” (Guess 325) and gives an existence value to the area as people want to preserve its pristine state.
In relation to the Farnham text, Mark Rushefsky discusses supply-side strategy and demand-side strategy in relation to the energy problem. With the supply-side strategy, …show more content…
It is common knowledge that societal development has had a negative impact on our natural environment and the multitude of adverse effects that have resulted from our actions. I believe it is important for society, as whole, to begin pursuing an eco-friendly alternative to current trends. In their book, Frederick Lutgens and Edward Tarbuck explain that “nearly 95 percent of the world’s energy needs are derived from fossil fuels, primarily oil, coal, and natural gas. Current estimates indicate that, at the present rate of consumption, we have enough fossil fuels to last about 150 years” (58). The pair suggest that the best alternatives to oil, coal, and natural gas is the use of solar and wind energy as sources of …show more content…
Rather than subsidize oil, coal, and natural gas, I agree with Rushefsky’s idea of subsidizing energy companies to research renewable energy, but also push and incentivize the reuse of abandoned oil fields to build wind turbines or photovoltaic cells that produce energy on large scales. Varying places across the globe can be used accordingly to their advantage of power production. Coastal areas could use offshore wind turbines and desalinization plants to produce energy for immediate areas. An offshore turbine field off the coast of New York could use the Westerlies as a continuous source of energy and create a more self-sustainable environment in one of America’s greatest cities rather than using coal and oil for energy. Solar panels, photovoltaic cells, and stirling dishes would greatly utilize the sun’s energy and store excess energy in rechargeable battery cells in the American southwest where the number of days with cloudless skies outnumber the few with rain. One incentive I can think of for the American southwest is paying a set monthly or annual fee for homes equipped with the capability of using rechargeable solar batteries as either a full or half source of energy, depending upon if their homes can utilize personal solar cells. This brings me
In relation to the Farnham text, Mark Rushefsky discusses supply-side strategy and demand-side strategy in relation to the energy problem. With the supply-side strategy, …show more content…
It is common knowledge that societal development has had a negative impact on our natural environment and the multitude of adverse effects that have resulted from our actions. I believe it is important for society, as whole, to begin pursuing an eco-friendly alternative to current trends. In their book, Frederick Lutgens and Edward Tarbuck explain that “nearly 95 percent of the world’s energy needs are derived from fossil fuels, primarily oil, coal, and natural gas. Current estimates indicate that, at the present rate of consumption, we have enough fossil fuels to last about 150 years” (58). The pair suggest that the best alternatives to oil, coal, and natural gas is the use of solar and wind energy as sources of …show more content…
Rather than subsidize oil, coal, and natural gas, I agree with Rushefsky’s idea of subsidizing energy companies to research renewable energy, but also push and incentivize the reuse of abandoned oil fields to build wind turbines or photovoltaic cells that produce energy on large scales. Varying places across the globe can be used accordingly to their advantage of power production. Coastal areas could use offshore wind turbines and desalinization plants to produce energy for immediate areas. An offshore turbine field off the coast of New York could use the Westerlies as a continuous source of energy and create a more self-sustainable environment in one of America’s greatest cities rather than using coal and oil for energy. Solar panels, photovoltaic cells, and stirling dishes would greatly utilize the sun’s energy and store excess energy in rechargeable battery cells in the American southwest where the number of days with cloudless skies outnumber the few with rain. One incentive I can think of for the American southwest is paying a set monthly or annual fee for homes equipped with the capability of using rechargeable solar batteries as either a full or half source of energy, depending upon if their homes can utilize personal solar cells. This brings me