If I Were Leader of the Free World

If I were leader of the Free World, the first issue I would address would be......

Christopher Wilder

Imagine a world with no electricity. Picture yourself in a room late at night, no electricity for lights, TV, computers... nothing. Imagine a world with no fossil fuels. No fossil fuels mean no gas. No gas means no transportation. Imagine a world with all this plus we are all choking on all of the pollution. Our world could be just like this one day, unless we take immediate action! Everyone needs to do their part to help change the way the United States produces electricity!

The United States of America as a whole has many problems with energy, power, and pollution. The United States is becoming far too independent on foreign oil and fossil fuels. This is putting our country's environment at risk. Once these resources are diminished, they will not be replaced for millions of years! Therefore, we need to find a way to create energy without using any or very little oil and fossil fuels. There are many reasons why we need to discover new clean, renewable energy resources. One of the most important reasons is pollution. Pollution is a huge problem in the United States! About 50% of air pollution is caused by automobiles. The United States needs to reverse this situation... and FAST! Many acts have been passed to help reduce pollution in the United States.

Al Gore once said, "I think the price of energy will come down once we make this change to renewable energy." There are many energy types that we are able to switch to. In my opinion, the best options would be either solar or hydrogen power. Solar energy is free, and can be used to provide heat, lighting, mechanical power and electricity. Another great thing about solar energy is that it cannot be affected by rising energy prices. Solar energy is available to be used anywhere on Earth. Hydrogen cannot produce energy, unless it passes through a device called a hydrogen fuel cell. The hydrogen fuel cell converts the hydrogen into usable electric energy. The United States would also be able to switch to wind power as an alternative energy source, but there are some downsides to using wind power. First, wind turbines require a constant wind speed of 12 ½ MPH to generate electricity properly and cost-efficiently. One wind turbine costs approximately 2 million dollars. This is a lot of money to spend up front, but it will save much more money in the long-run.

Hydroelectricity is another great, cheap alternative energy source. People have been using hydroelectric power plants to produce inexpensive electricity for at least two centuries. Dams utilize natural flowing waterways, such as the Wateree River, to turn giant turbines to generate electricity. One more alternative energy source that could be used is geothermal energy, which is simply tapping into the Earth's