Ideas for an Essay on Renewable Energy or Alternative Energy Essay

Which Source of Renewable Energy Is More Relevant to Use in Your Region – the Solar Energy or Winds’ Energy?

The world ecological condition is a phenomenon that worries many people around the globe. One of the most important issue in the context of an environmental state of the planet is energy sources. There are two main problems related to them. The first problem is pollution caused by the extraction and using some of the energy sources. The next question is that extraction of some sources has increased dramatically in recent years, which leads to their depletion. In this way, there appeared a necessity to find green and renewable energy sources. Some of them, like solar or winds’ energy, is known and successfully used in Massachusetts. It must be noticed that in Massachusetts are used different sources of renewable energy, their usage by the government and it is even discussing and planning to switch Massachusetts on usage sources of renewable energy completely. Even though both solar energy or winds’ energy is used in Massachusetts, solar power is more relevant to use because of the possibility of local use and equal potential of energetic throughout all area.

Considering renewable energy sources, one can notice that both, solar and wind energy are used in Massachusetts. One can see that in the state it is in general encouraged сlean energy politic and using renewable energy sources. Clean energy has become an economic driver in Massachusetts, with more than ten thousand clean-energy jobs created (Calter and Geehern). One can say that winds’ energy is quite useful for the state. There was onshore commercial wind development along the coast in Massachusetts. There are large projects related to winds’ energy in the mountains near the state’s northwestern border. Ridge crests in the mountains in the west of the state have good wind potential. Coastal regions and offshore areas have Massachusetts’ highest wind resource potential of wind energy. (“Massachusetts. State Energy Profile Analysis”). All these facts clearly show that Massachusetts has a high potential for using different types of wind’s energy, and, moreover, this industry is already being used and processed.

What is more, winds’ energy in the state can be useful not only because of ecological and geographical reasons but also because of economic benefit. Offshore wind is roughly 16 cents per kilowatt-hour, according to an industry report, and the cost for onshore wind is even lower (Calter and Geehern). It can be considered as positive for the ecology that government of Massachusetts understood all its potential and economic benefits of clean energy. Massachusetts already issued its first comprehensive Ocean Management Plan for state waters in 2009, identifying areas appropriate for offshore wind development (“Massachusetts. State Energy Profile Analysis”). This shows that winds’ energy has considerable potential in Massachusetts and is already used and being developed in the state.

However, even though the winds’ energy has a great potential that has already begun to be used in Massachusetts, more relevant to use in the state is solar energy. Such a state of affairs is related to three points. The first one is that using of winds’ energy depend on areas and regions – as it was noticed above, there are areas more and less suitable for the generation of this type of energy. It was mentioned that finding land near population areas for winds’ energy stations are getting difficult and there is a little public appetite for large transmission lines – even for green power (Calter, Thomas J., and Christopher P. Geehern). In this way, the advantage of solar energy is in the fact that it can be used in all the state without differences of the geographical and other specificities of the area. The next important point is in the constancy of generated energy. The wind is more erratic than solar panels which generate a certain amount of electricity even on cloudy days (Kramer). Thus, solar energy is the more constant energy source than winds’ energy for Massachusetts. The last point is that solar panels can produce more energy than the wind turbines. As shown the experiment of comparing solar and wind energy, “during the first 13 days of January, Inland Power’s solar panels produced 35 kilowatt-hours of electricity, compared with 10 kilowatt-hours from wind generation” (Kramer). In this way, solar energy sources are more profitable for Massachusetts than winds’ energy sources. One can notice that these facts are clear for state’s government because Massachusetts ranked sixth in the nation in combined utility-scale and distributed solar PV electricity generation by 2016 (“Massachusetts. State Energy Profile Analysis”). Thus, solar energy is more relevant to use in Massachusetts.

The facts shown above allowed one to make a conclusion that Massachusetts has an effective environmental policy, including the use of renewable energy sources. The winds’ energy has a quite high potential and is already used in the state. However, because of the list of evidence, such as independence from the area for using, the constancy of generated energy, and profitability, solar power is more relevant to use in Massachusetts.

Works Cited

Calter, Thomas J., and Christopher P. Geehern. “Should Massachusetts Commit Itself To 100 Percent Renewable Energy?.” BostonGlobe.com, The Boston Globe, 17 Mar. 2017, www.bostonglobe.com/metro/regionals/south/2017/03/17/should-massachusetts-commit-itself-percent-renewable-energy/fp0PmIhFzbRf6A3VMhiuEP/story.html. Accessed 27 Aug. 2017.

Kramer, Becky. “Solar Takes Wind In Test.” Spokesman.com, The Spokesman-Review, 19 Jan. 2011, www.spokesman.com/stories/2011/jan/19/solar-takes-wind-in-test/#/0. Accessed 27 Aug. 2017.

“Massachusetts. State Energy Profile Analysis.” U.S. Energy Information Administration, www.eia.gov/state/analysis.php?sid=MA. Accessed 27 Aug. 2017.