This week we looked at different kinds of energy sources and how they affect the environment. We also learned about the rule of what you put into a source (money wise) needs to have at least a double output for it to be worth it (energy output). Below are questions given by my instructor. 1) How do you depend on mined resources? As you go through your day, list all the things that you use/ come in contact with that had resources that needed to be mined. I think my house is fully dependent on mind resources, Rocky Mountain Power is our power company and even though they had wind and solar options for your home, I don't think we participate in any of that. And even though I've been driving less I still drive a car that is solely dependent on fossil fuels to run, but I am thinking about starting to bike to work. 2) Pick one resource that is mined that you use and discuss the environmental, economic, and/or societal impact of the mines that are used to get the resources that you depend on. The energy for my house most likely comes from coal, this has a negative effect on the environment because the land is torn up and ruined to look for it. Then when it is burned it has a negative effect on the air. Oil and gas are the same, these materials are drilled rather than mined but it still ruins the area around it to get to the source. 3) If you were given supreme power, how would you design the energy resource mixture here in Utah? What limitations are there to going from where we are at now to how you would like to see our energy usage? I would like to implement a lot more solar panels, we are a desert and as such we get a lot of sun in the summertime. But it's expensive to implement solar panels and they only really work if the sun is shining and if they're not covered up by snow or debris. But the benefits could be that they provide shaded parking at amusement parks or zoos. Ultimately though I think no matter what we do, as long as we try to implement other sources it's a good thing. 4) Describe your photo and why you chose to take and post that particular photo and what is it's connection to the topic of the week. I chose these pictures because we just bought a new dishwasher and this one is a lot more energy-efficient and conserves a lot more water than our old dishwasher. You can see on the yellow tag it has the Energy Star logo which helps you know it is an energy-saving appliance.
5) What was one thing that you found particularly interesting this week? I enjoyed playing the game, I knew what I wanted to do to make the energy more environmentally friendly but it wasn't always that easy. It also helped me put into perspective the amount of energy that is really acquired from re-new able sources like wind. It's a lot less than what I wish it was.
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