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  • Essay / Wind energy as a substitute for fossil fuels - 944

    The problemEnergy is an integral part of our daily lives. While organisms get their energy from food, non-living devices such as phones, lights, cars, etc. obtain their energy from other renewable or non-renewable sources. The majority of energy consumed comes from non-renewable energy sources: fossil fuels (oil, gas and coal) and nuclear energy. In recent decades, the question of a potential “energy crisis” has arisen. Since people use large amounts of fossil fuels today, they may run out of them in the near future. Of the three fossil fuels, oil and gas are the most widely used. It is predicted that, without taking into account new reserves that may become accessible through advances in technology, the world's oil and gas reserves will be depleted in 40 and 70 years, respectively. This shortage of fossil fuels will cause a crisis because our society is extremely dependent on fossil fuels: 85% of our energy comes from their combustion. However, fossil fuels could be replaced by other energy sources, but many are skeptical about the feasibility of such a move. The reason behind this belief is not a shortage of energy on Earth. Rather, the problem is that the amount of energy that can be captured in a usable form cannot meet our demand. Additionally, global energy consumption has increased due to rapid population growth. The Earth's population has more than doubled in the past 50 years. Furthermore, advances in technology have led to its more widespread use in our daily lives, so a lot of energy is consumed this way. Finally, conflicts could restrict access to areas with abundant fossil fuel reserves. The looming shortage of fossil fuels has led people to consider using other energy sources that could fully o...... middle of paper ...... rebuilt, they are inexpensive to maintain (Gibilisco 208). However, wind power remains limited in that its construction remains relatively expensive, despite cost reductions due to technological advances. It costs about three times as much as conventional fossil fuels per unit of energy. Additionally, because most regions with enough wind to power wind farms are far from large cities, the electricity produced by them must be transported long distances, which is also expensive. Additionally, wind is intermittent and therefore cannot produce electricity constantly. This intermittency makes wind energy less profitable. This also means that wind power cannot be relied upon to provide a constant source of energy, so it must be coupled with an energy storage system or a backup generator (Ghandakly), which increases the cost of using wind energy..