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Please rate the argument of an issue - Energy conservation

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Please rate the argument of an issue - Energy conservation

by netigen » Fri Jun 06, 2008 12:09 pm
“It is unrealistic to expect individual nations to make, independently, the sacrifices necessary to conserve energy. International leadership and worldwide cooperation are essential if we expect to protect the world’s energy resources for future generations.”

Discuss the extent to which you agree or disagree with the opinion stated above. Support your views with reasons and/or examples from your own experience, observations, or reading.

The issue of having a global consensus and international leadership before making sacrifices necessary to conserve energy is a controversial one. On the one hand the more a nation delays action, the greater the situation deteriorates. On the other hand making independent sacrifices affects a nations ability to compete in the international market place. In this essay, I will argue that it is not unrealistic to expect individual nations to make individual sacrifices necessary to conserve energy. I will use the example of United States as an example of an independent nation to drive my point.

Main reason for my belief hinges on the fact that there is a huge imbalance in use of enegry among nations in the world. For e.g. USA is one of the major consumers of energy. Average US household consumes 19 times more energy that a similar household in a an emerging third world country like India or China. USA can go a long way in closing this gap by taking concrete steps at political level for e.g. laws that support and favor greener buildings, nationwide campaigns that preach energy conservation.

Another reason for my view is the potential to conserve. Some nations have higher potential to conserve than others. This is true because the wastage index (measure of how much energy is wasted than used) is higher for most developed nations. Even within developed nations there is a huge gap for e.g. Consumers in USA favor large gas guzzler trucks and SUVs while consumers in Europe favor much smaller Minis and Ikons.

Furthermore, I belive that with great powers come great responsibilities hence power houses of the world such as G8 group need to take leadership and not wait for a global consensus. Countries like USA need to show the path to conservation and the World will follow in its footsteps.

Many people still argue about the economic aspect and cost of such an endeavor but they fail to realize that countries who emerge as the leaders in this initiative will gain a lot because of the new technologies that they will develop and master in the process. These technologies will lead to future economic progress for the leaders.

I have argued that it is not unrealistic to expect developed countries to make sacrifices necessary to conserve energy. Correct and timely actions by the developed nations will show everyone a path to energy conservation and will create a much needed foundation to eventually achieve the worldwide cooperation on this issue.
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by VP_Jim » Sun Jun 08, 2008 6:47 pm
This one is pretty good. Try to make your examples even more specific, though - rather than saying that Americans like SUVs, say something like "recent data shows that 60% of all automobiles sold in the USA get less than 20 miles per gallon of gas."

Also, avoid using "I" in your essays.

Good job overall - 4.
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by njohari » Mon Sep 06, 2010 3:07 am
Many people feel that it is unrealistic for a single nation to conserve energy. Thus, we could form an organization which would integrate all the countries together. On the other hand, it is also noted that there are various differences in many nations and uniting them would be very difficult. I shall present the argument favouring the former statement and refuting the latter statement.

if the world doesn't act as a whole, the steps taken by the nation may be using more energy to accelerate economic growth. Like China being the biggest consumer of energy, the per capita usage is much lower than the developed world is becoming the biggest producer of renewable energy. Even though the country is trying various programs to conserve energy it has not yielded any significant savings.

International leadership is very essential as one need to lay the path on how to conserve energy and save it for our future generations. Alternatively, the world is so diversified that having a single leader is almost impossible. Like the Kyoto protocol summit the whole world came together to reduce emission of green house gases, the whole world came together except for United States. Thus to establish a body who would regulate and find out alternate ways to conserve energy would be very difficult.

Man is paralyzed without energy, our lives revolve around it. We need energy in various forms like electricity, gasoline, petrol etc. It was estimated by the Energy Information Administration that in 2007 primary sources of energy consisted of petroleum 36.0%, coal 27.4%, and natural gas 23.0%, amounting to an 86.4% share for fossil fuels in primary energy consumption in the world. Non-fossil sources in 2006 included hydroelectric 6.3%, nuclear 8.5%, and (geothermal, solar, tide, wind, wood, waste) amounting 0.9 percent. World energy consumption was growing about 2.3% per year. This means that our dependence on fossil fuel is very high. It is stated by many analyst that our consumption of fossil fuel will double by 2050, thus increasing the dependence on fossil fuel even further.

Many people, who see that energy conservation is a role performed by one nation, should understand that nature doesn't divide the world in nations and it is the role of the entire world to cooperate in energy conservation.

plz rate!!!!
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by saketk » Sun Jun 19, 2011 11:19 am
Please rate this---
"It is unrealistic to expect individual nations to make, independently, the sacrifices necessary to conserve energy. International leadership and worldwide cooperation are essential if we expect to protect the world's energy resources for future generations."

Discuss the extent to which you agree or disagree with the opinion stated above. Support your views with reasons and/or examples from your own experience, observations, or reading.

----


It has always been taught to us that we should conserve energy if we want to make sure that we do not run out of our natural resources of energy and our future generations can also get to use it as per the needs. But, as we are progressing forward our basic needs are increasing day by day hence the consumption of energy is also increasing manifolds.

Petrol, nuclear fuel, wood etc are all non renewable sources of energy which means that one day these sources will extinct. It is of everybody concern that these resources should be used with austerity, hence it is rightly said that it is unrealistic to expect individual nations to make, independently, the sacrifices necessary to conserve energy because the needs for energy differs from developed countries to poor countries. It should be a combined effort from every nation to make potent strategies to protect the world's energy resources for future generations. Having said that, there are few crucial factors to be considered in order to formalise a strategy, there cannot be a one solution for every nation, for example, if all the nations are advised to cut down on their usage of natural resources this may directly impact the nation's progress. It will not be a prudent decision to conserve energy on the account of nation's progress and vice versa. Hence there needs to be a careful strategy defined in accordance to every nation. From a recent summit of developed like USA, Russia not only agreed to cut down their carbon footprints strategically over the next decade to a great extend but also agreed to provide financial aids to the developing countries so that those countries can also contribute and at the same time their progress is not hindered.

If the needs of developed nations for energy are compared with developing or poor countries we will find that there is a huge imbalance. Developed countries like USA, Russia are more dependent on their industries whereas the developing countries like India, Sri Lanka have different needs for example India, where major population still lives in villages, is more dependent on Agriculture. The lifestyle of people of developed countries is also different from the people in developing countries. A careful observation of different sector will tell us where the consumption of natural resources can be reduced, one such area is the automobile sector, in India and USA data shows that people in America prefer bigger and powerful SUV's whereas Indians prefer cars with better performance and hence consume lesser fuel. There are many other areas like this which should be carefully studied and gaps should be found where the consumptions can be reduced.

One of the major concerns for all countries is the division of natural resources; for example: Gulf countries are gifted with oil in abundance but lack in crucial other resources like water. India, on the other hand imports oil to fulfil its basic needs. Similarly, there are many other resources like nuclear fuel, food, water etc which are unevenly distributed. Therefore, it becomes the responsibility of all the countries to carefully use these natural resources and also share with their fellow nations so that they do not affected with such scarcity and can survive comfortably. A collective effort from each nation is required wherein every nation can discuss their issues and concerns and derive possible solution to conserve energy. Proper rules and regulations can be amicably defined and all the countries can work collectively to achieve those goals.

It is not one man's concern to save the natural resources for future generation but a problem for the whole world. Hence a collective effort is required from each nation if we want to effectively control our consumption and save the natural resources for the future generation. We should always remember "Natural resources are not our property; we have borrowed it from our future generation".
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