Alternative Energy Assignment: Replacement Of Fossil Fuels

Question

Task: The objective of this assignment is to build students’ abilities to structure arguments based on evidence and structured reasoning, including identify consensus methods for identifying coherent group arguments.
As a group, you are expected to choose any one of the following debating topics.
• A sugar tax can fix obesity problems
• Artificial intelligence more harm than good
• Rich people and large corporations should pay more taxes
• Housewives and mothers should be paid for housework
• Men are better in sciences while women are better in the humanities
• Monetary incentives and benefits provide the highest level of motivation in the company
• A low minimum wage creates more employment
• Australia should allow more refugees to enter
• Global warming is not a crisis
• A carbon tax can fix climate change
• People should be legally required to get vaccines
• Alternative energy can effectively replace fossil fuels
You will then need to identify what would be a good response from both sides. That is, you need to simulate what would be good arrangements that the affirmative and the negative teams are likely to provide based on extensive research using a minimum of 6 peer-reviewed journal articles as references. You will need to organise your arguments in an argumentative essay. Then, you will need to put on a presentation/debate/show in class illustrating the entire arguments featuring both sides. Students are to be assigned into groups of two (2) or three (3) people. You will present the information that you developed and wrote in the essay. Do not simply cut and paste each persons’ contribution. The group needs to make sure that all the parts fit cohesively together and read as one document.

Answer

Introduction
According to the research on alternative energy assignment, in the modern environment, the alternative energy source refers to the energy source which could be renewed over the years and does not utilize fossil fuels. However, in modern science and technology, the alternative sources of energy that are already in use are solar, geothermal and wind energy along with hydroelectricity biomass, tidal, and hydrogen. Thus, the present study developed in the alternative energy assignment debates about the topic of whether alternative sources of energy can replace fossil fuels. Both the positive and negative arguments are framed along with strong evidence. 

Framed argument in favor of usage of alternative energy
As stated by Ak and Demirbas (2016) within this alternative energy assignment, the alternative or renewable energy resources such as geothermal, solar, biofuels and nuclear energy are gaining prominence over the fossil fuels such as coal and petroleum, in modern times, as fossil fuels are inefficient, environmentally destructive, unsustainable and are also the primary contributors of the change in global climate. However, as per this, context the renewable sources of energy are the viable and the immediately needed alternative to the use of fossil fuels which can majorly boost up the economy of a country and reduces their dependency upon the foreign sources of energy. Thus, it might take more than 3 to 4 decades for leaving behind fossil fuels, but the transition can require cost, not just regulation and money but also the changes in the behavior and expectation of human beings and will help in fundamental changes in the way of living. The convenient way of kick starting the transition is by replacing the coal with wind power and solar energy for generating electricity. As opined by Arutyunov and Lisichkin (2017), the primary benefit of the alternative source of energy lies in the ready availability of the sources utilized for the production of these energies like the sun, water, wind and compost, among others. These renewable sources provided in the present segment of alternative energy assignment are tapped utilizing instruments and modern technologies, for the production of electricity. The debris from the landscaping like the branches and grass clipping can also produce the energies from the biomass processes, which mimic the natural decomposition and are hence termed, biogas. Thus, the business would tap these sources of energy with the solar panels, water turbines, and the windmills if they have running water or the tidal wave nearby. 

The main disadvantages of the fossil fuels outlined in this section of alternative energy assignment relates to its chemical problems as the operation burns the fuel which then releases the hydrocarbon that gets mixed up with the environment and generates the greenhouse gases like the pollution or carbon dioxide that includes the sulfur dioxide which is the cause of the acid rain. Secondly, the elimination of the fossil fuels proves to be detrimental and disastrous to the environment such as from the operation of strip mining to the oil spills and thus, as the distribution is uneven worldwide that is frequently in the nation with less political stability hence, the companies suffer from the flow interruptions and the price rise. Moreover, as evidenced by Ashok, Raj, Nanthagopal, Krishnan &Subbarao (2017), there are certain environmental and economic benefits of utilizing the alternative sources of energies. Some of them are discussed below within this alternative energy assignment,

• The production of alternative energy sources helps in the generation of no emission of greenhouse gas as compared to the fossil fuel ads also helps in the reduction of certain types of air pollutants. 
• The source of alternative energy helps in the diversification of the energy supply as well as in the reduction of the dependency upon the imported fuels.
• The on-site projects for generating or implementing the renewable alternative source of energy help in the creation of economic development and employment even in the manufacturing and installation centers. 

Thus, the above-mentioned advantages of alternative energy sources try to prove it to be cost-effective and easily implemented in areas of requirement which can successfully replace the use of fossil fuel and would be helpful for future needs as it can be renewable and can be used with abundance. 

Framed argument from the negative side
As argued by Barreto (2018) in regards to the case scenario of alternative energy assignment, the present power distribution and generation models operate upon the fossil fuels and have done for centuries. The fossil fuels are essentially the most portable energy sources that help the business companies in their easy storage as well as transportation until the energy requires to be utilized whether the coal in the coal plant or delivery vehicle for the gasoline engine, or the fuel oil for the furnace. Thus, the ease regarding storage and transportation means that the fuel could be extracted where it doeslies which is processed at the separate locations and can be transported to where there is the need for the power. Thus, this claim that fossil fuel is extremely efficient in generating enormous amounts of energy like oil, which suppose that 95% of the overall demands of the fuel within the sector of transportation, and in each of the transport mode that relies entirely upon the petroleum fuels. As evidenced by Milano et al., (2016), it is also depicted in the present context of alternative energy assignment that the proponent of all the renewable future seems to be stuck within the time warp as the reality is that the decline in the price of international oil ranges from $40 per barrel and the dramatic slump within the coal prices and the natural gas in many of the areas has absolutely meant that these kinds of hydrocarbon has the far better position as compared to the sources of alternative energy. However, in developed countries like the USA and Australia, 33% of electricity generation is from coal, the 33% is from natural gas and 20% is from nuclear energy and thus, during this steady rise, there is only 13% of renewable energy use. 

Moreover, the price of natural gas and oil has fallen adversely with the utilization of horizontal drilling and the other contemporary technologies that makes it difficult for the other fuel source to compete with fossil fuel economy and much less is able to capture the market. As contradicted by Ren and Lützen (2017), the renewable sources of energy incurs many weaknesses such as solar panels and the windmills incur large tracts of space for collection of energy as it is diluted within the environment. Secondly, the renewable source of energy shares the caprice of nature along with flow and ebbs and if the sky cloud overs or the wind dies then the energy gets weakened and when the business company is in need of the energy there will be hindrance caused. Therefore the renewable energies even require storage for containing the energy between the production and consumption stage and especially during the time of transferring this for the rural areas to the urban settings. Thus, there are certain advantages of using fossil fuel as mentioned in the next section of alternative energy assignment, 

• The fossil fuels help in generating a large amount of electricity within the single location
• Theses energy sources are food easily and are very much cost-effective
• The transportation of the gas and oil can be done by the pipelines
• These have develeped into safer over the time and despite being the finite sources, they are available in abundance. 

Conclusion
Therefore, from the above-mentioned arguments presenting both the affirmative and negative side of the topic explored in the alternative energy assignment it can be claimed that the alternative energy sources are much more cleaner, can be expanded more rapidly, easier for sustaining over time, and are harmless to the environment as compared to that of fossil fuels. Even though fossil fuel consists of a huge area in the regular lifestyle of human beings and also the economy of a country, it is still of higher prices and can result in climate change which devastates the entire nature and atmosphere of the earth and is not renewable once over. Thus, it can be stated herein alternative energy assignment that using of alternative sources will be cheaper and can be renewable over the time and appears to be more competitive than fossil fuels.

Reference
Ak, N., &Demirbas, A. (2016). Promising sources of energy in the near future. Energy Sources, Part A: Recovery, Utilization, and Environmental Effects, 38(12), 1730-1738.

Arutyunov, V. S., &Lisichkin, G. V. (2017). Energy resources of the 21st century: problems and forecasts. Can renewable energy sources replace fossil fuels?. Russian Chemical Reviews, 86(8), 777.

Ashok, B., Raj, R. T. K., Nanthagopal, K., Krishnan, R., &Subbarao, R. (2017). Lemon peel oil–A novel renewable alternative energy source for diesel engine. Alternative energy assignment Energy conversion and management, 139, 110-121.

Barreto, R. A. (2018). Fossil fuels, alternative energy and economic growth. Economic Modelling, 75, 196-220.

Milano, J., Ong, H. C., Masjuki, H. H., Chong, W. T., Lam, M. K., Loh, P. K., &Vellayan, V. (2016). Microalgae biofuels as an alternative to fossil fuel for power generation. Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, 58, 180-197.

Ren, J., &Lützen, M. (2017). Selection of sustainable alternative energy source for shipping: Multi-criteria decision making under incomplete information. Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, 74, 1003-1019.