Renewable with Rushil

The speaker talks about their experience in an AP Environmental Science class and how it sparked their interest in renewable energy. They discuss the differing viewpoints on renewable energy in America based on political beliefs. They explain the negative impacts of non-renewable energy, particularly carbon dioxide emissions and climate change. The speaker then explores the potential of biomass as a renewable energy source in countries like Bangladesh and India. They also discuss the popularity and efficiency of solar energy in the United States. The speaker highlights the need for government support and subsidies for renewable energy. They mention the possibility of replacing non-renewable energy sources with renewable alternatives and discuss the influence of environmental laws in the US. I walked into my AP Environmental Science class like I normally would. I would see my friends, talk with them for a little bit, and then I would take my seat when the bell rang. Throughout the class period, I wasn't paying much attention to what the teacher was talking about, as I was talking to my good friends, Lucas and Srikanth. Then my teacher, Mrs. McGee, said something that caught my attention. She was explaining our chapter notes, and then she said, Renewable Energy. Now this caught my attention because I knew that I had solar panels at my house, but it got me to thinking, what are other people's viewpoints on renewable energy, and perhaps what are other countries' viewpoints on renewable energy? What can we as Americans do to help make the shift to renewable energy? Well these questions made me think, maybe renewable energy has the potential to replace non-renewable energy, and alongside that, it has many positive benefits to it. Well, most Americans have differing opinions regarding renewable energy due to their political beliefs. Our country has two political parties, Republicans and Democrats. Those who are Republicans are likely to be against renewable energy, and those who are Democrats are likely to support renewable energy. Being a young American, it's astonishing to think that there are still people in America who don't support renewable energy sources. It's found that only 31% of Americans want to completely get rid of fossil fuels, and the rest are opting for a neutral combination. Knowing what these fossil fuels are capable of, and how they have negative impacts on the environment, why do people still want to keep them? This is Renewable with Ruchiyo, and here we'll try and answer the questions above, so sit back, relax, and enjoy the show. Follow along as we delve into the prospects of renewable energy and the possible impacts it may have opposed to non-renewable energy. This podcast is about renewable energy, but first let's see how bad non-renewable energy can be. I mean, it can't be the worst thing that ever happened to this world, right? That's how many people thought about it before they were provided with the correct scientific information that they needed in order to get their true opinion. In fact, science itself claimed that non-renewable energy would be good, just a mere 70 years ago. Now, this all may seem comical for those who still believe that non-renewable energy is good, but here's the scientific evidence that I found to support my claim. I want to talk about the Keeling curve, which is a curve that demonstrates the carbon dioxide concentration in the world. In this curve, there are seasonal fluctuations, which led many people to believe that it was normal for concentrations to rise, as eventually it would come back down. What many didn't realize is that over time, concentrations began to rise very highly, to a point where it was at a dangerous level. Scientists once thought that we would never exceed 400 parts per million, but here we are now, way past it and continually rising. I brought this up just to show you an understanding of the impacts that many non-renewable energy sources have had in the past. As talked about earlier, the biggest concern with non-renewable energy is that most of the time, they emit harmful emissions, the main one being carbon dioxide. There are other harmful emissions, but carbon dioxide is the most talked about because it's anthropogenic. Don't worry, anthropogenic isn't some fancy term, it just means that it's caused by humans. Now why does this happen and what's so bad about it? Carbon dioxide itself isn't the worst thing ever, it's found naturally roaming in the atmosphere. The only concern with it is when there's too much of it in the atmosphere. This poses a great threat as excess amounts of carbon dioxide, which if you didn't know is a greenhouse gas, can quicken the process of climate change. With a quickened climate change, we'll see glaciers melting, sea levels rising, and most importantly, temperatures rising. This means that Boston will soon transform into North Carolina and those precious polar bears that all of us love will soon perish from the face of the earth. Let's take a quick break and resume in around 5 seconds. After this break, I'm going to be talking about what types of renewable energy there are and what possible impacts they may have. I'm going to be talking about the types of renewable energy there are and what possible impacts they may have. Most renewable energy is found in all countries around the world, but energy made from biomass is found in very few. One country I wanted to look at that has good potential to make energy from biomass was Bangladesh and the prospect of bioethanol being created there. All bioethanol means is just another form of diesel. Bangladesh, like most other Asian countries, relies heavily on agriculture, whether that be for the economy or for basic necessities. Out of all the things that are produced in Bangladesh, most of them create this residue that is potentially usable as a form of energy. And Bangladesh amasses around 46.5 million metric tons of residue in just one year. This means that about 19.325 gigaliters of bioethanol can be created from those residues alone. To put that in context, 1 gigaliter equates to almost 1 billion liters. That means the bioethanol created from these residues can power so many things and it can be sustainable for a pretty long time. And nothing in life comes easy, right? Deriving this bioethanol has some challenges, some being not having enough efficient technology to carry out the procedures to make it. This poses a challenge not only in Bangladesh, but other developing countries. This is also one of the main reasons that developing countries aren't seen progressing as quickly due to the lack of proper technology and resources that other developed countries have. Like Bangladesh, India is also big on agriculture and the use of biomass to create renewable energy. Here I have Kishore Devaneni, whom I call dad, to talk about how his family used renewable energy in his home back in India while he was growing up. So I have a couple of questions for you. What type of house did you grow up in? I grew up in a farm in India. And what type of renewable energy sources did you have in that farm? We had cattle in the farm, so we used the cattle dung to create biogas, which is used in cooking and heating up the house. Now that you live in the United States, what type of renewable energy sources do you have here? We have solar panels installed on our roof. That gives enough power for all of our needs. Thank you so much for talking with me. Thank you. We just talked about renewable energies that were made from biomass, which means they're made from biological materials. Now, this type of renewable energy isn't as well known as others. There are more popular renewable energy sources out there in the world, one of them being solar energy. How many people have solar panels, and if they do, how efficient are they? As mentioned earlier, I myself have solar panels at my house, but what about others? Here in America, there are around 2 million solar installations, and these installations produce enough energy to power almost 12 million American homes. In terms of efficiency, that's amazing. What that statistic is implying is that for every installation of solar energy, 6 American homes can be powered sustainably. It's also projected that in 2024, 2.5% of American homes will have a solar installation. Considering how much our country hates renewable energy, I'd say that this is pretty good progress. The only downside to solar energy is that it's expensive, but this can easily be fixed if our government gives subsidies to those who install solar panels. This would reward those who support renewable energy, and encourage others to look into it too. It's a common misconception amongst many that we need non-renewable energy sources, as certain things require them. However, this misconception isn't true as many of the objects that require non-renewable energy can actually be replaced with renewable energy. Now you may be wondering how and what things we can convert to use renewable energy. I looked at an academic journal that was in regard to a hospital and how they were trying to shift towards a renewable system. Throughout this journal, it was found that it was better for the hospital if they shifted towards that renewable system, as it was going to be way more sustainable in comparison to the non-renewable system. You may be wondering that it was just one academic journal, and how can these results apply to our country? For that, we need more support from our government and our lawmakers. Well if it's that easy, they must be doing something, right? Well the government thinks otherwise. In the United States, there are certain laws that were made in the 1970s that promote the usage of non-renewable energy sources, such as coal and natural gas. There's also a section of law which is referred to as environmental law, and it dives into the legal precedence behind various environmental issues. One of the issues that is basically the main idea of this podcast was the support of non-renewable energy. United States law supports non-renewable energy, as it benefits the government with a surplus of cash flow. What that means is, they support it because it's giving them more money, not because it's for the better of the country. There are also certain aspects to these laws that prohibit prospects for renewable energy. One of the environmental laws that I wanted to talk about is the Clean Air Act. The Clean Air Act was created in 1970, and it was one of the first pieces of environmental law to be created in the United States. For many years, many people thought that this was the best thing that America could do to control pollution. But one thing this act doesn't do is, it doesn't have good emission standards. What this means is, power plants are allowed to avoid certain emission standards that are present in other countries, and what happens when they avoid them is they cause more pollution. Referring back to the first part of the podcast, when more pollution occurs, more climate change occurs. The worst part is, these plants produce non-renewable energy through coal or natural gas. As I mentioned earlier, politics and government play a big role in determining whether or not our country will be making the switch to renewable energy. I talk so much about the government because this year is when the preliminary debates occurred for the 2024 presidential elections. Personally, I have always liked the conservative candidates because we share the same interests and money policies. I liked how they tended to stray away from socialism because, at the end of the day, I want to keep the money that I earned. But there's one thing they did this year that makes me question those same candidates that I admired and loved. Vivek Ramaswamy is an Indian-American businessman who was one of the candidates that participated in this debate, and he's running for the Republican candidate. In the debate, he was my favorite person to listen to because he had an Indian heritage as me, and it was so rare to see someone who was Indian running for president. He posed to be a great role model until I heard him in this debate. For the most part, I liked what he was talking about, and I thought, he's the best person who could ever be our president. Then I heard it. Climate change is a hoax. This really shattered my heart because I thought that a smart person like him, especially being a billionaire and graduating from Harvard, would at least acknowledge the fact that climate change is a real thing. If he himself can't acknowledge a scientific fact, what good would he do to make the switch to renewable energy? This switch is in the hands of our politicians, and with all these candidates talking so rashly, who is someone that we can trust to make good decisions for us? We're the future generation, and all of these decisions lie in our hands. Do we want the Earth to be a polluted, almost artificial-looking planet, or do we want the Earth to preserve its natural beauty? As shown through this podcast, renewable energy is the answer, and it's us, the habitants of this Earth, who have to make the decision amongst ourselves regarding our future with renewable energy. This was Renewable with Ruchiyo, and I hope you enjoyed this episode. Please contact me at rdevin93 at wcpss.net for more episodes, and if you want to collaborate with me to create one. Thank you, and have a good day.