This discussion will focus on climate change and energy resources in the United States, and give you a chance to express your views on current US energy policy. Please answer all parts of all 4 questions. For the questions that ask what you think of certain practices, please back your opinions up with evidence. A simple “yes” or “no” answer will not receive full credit. Cite references where incorporated into your discussion.
1) Humans are releasing about 10 Gigatons of carbon into the atmosphere in the form of carbon dioxide (36 Gt of CO2) a year. List 3 impacts of this release and provide evidence for how the impacts are related to CO2 (for example, wildfires are related to drought which is caused by increased evaporation due to warmer global and regional temperatures related to increased atmospheric CO2). Please cite your references.
2) What are the positive and negative impacts of fracking? Should fracking be banned? How should we dispose of fracking fluids and what is the impact of disposal (Google “Oklahoma fracking”)? Should it be mandatory for government agencies to provide the public with accurate scientific information, regardless of economic consequences?
3) Is nuclear energy a safe method for energy production? Should we be building more nuclear plants as a low-carbon emission alternative for power plants? What are the major concerns with nuclear energy?
4) How do you view the development of offshore wind farms? Comment on this specific case.
Offshore of New Jersey there are plans for large-scale wind farms. Empire Wind will develop 60-80 wind turbines about 14 miles (23 km) south of Jones Beach, Long Island and 19 miles east of Long Branch, NJ in a 65,000-acre wedge-shaped area between shipping channels.
Ocean Wind is a proposed offshore wind farm to be located approximately 15 miles (24 km) off the coast of Atlantic City, New Jersey. As many as 90 turbines 853 feet (260 m) tall with a rotor blade diameter of 722 feet (220 m) will be constructed by rsted US Offshore Wind in conjunction with PSE&G. The wind farm will be built in prime fishing areas. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ocean_Wind (Links to an external site.)
It should be noted that NJ State government has given strong bipartisan support for offshore wind farms, both the previous Christie and current Murphy administrations (though Ciattarelli is not a fan of offshore windCiattarelli said the focus on offshore wind was an example of moving too fast, too much and too soon.
https://www.njspotlightnews.org/2021/10/ciattarelli-gop-challenger-nj-governor-climate-change-alternative-energy-solar-power-offshore-wind/ (Links to an external site.)
Offshore wind efforts are opposed by some Green organization such as Clean Ocean Action (COA).
https://cleanoceanaction.org/fileadmin/editor_group1/Issues/Wind/OSW-COATalkingPoints-GENERAL.pdf (Links to an external site.)
This advocacy group (COA) is known for its very strong Not-Offshore-of-My Back Yard approach no ocean development. They advocate for building wind farms onshore. Please feel free to explore their website, but we suggest keeping a skeptical eye to spin.
You have a vote, please make it and then defend your vote.
_____ No, offshore wind, it harms the ocean and fishing.
_____ Yes, keep up the progress of moving NJs electrical grid to sustainable offshore wind
_____ Slow it down, we need more time to study the problem (which means we will burn more coal, natural gas, and bunker fuel to generate NJs electricity.
Last Completed Projects
| topic title | academic level | Writer | delivered |
|---|