November 13th, 2020
To what extent can the US economy be impacted by shifting to renewable energy?
Currently, I'm reading different studies from articles I've found. I've only ever done research in this way so I thought I might try something new and watch some videos as well. I've found two videos, which are both over an hour long and haven't yet decided which one is more relevant to my topic. Most of the sources I've found explore the possibility of economic growth within renewable energy. For example, a study done by the CSIS shows data on how workers in the renewable energy industry make more money than workers in the coal or mining industry. This could help reduce the drastic wage gap in the US and increase the social mobility index. The majority of the studies I'm looking into point out the fall in coal usage within the United States. This has been due to the shift to natural gas, acquired through dangerous technique such as fracking. This is done so that companies can reach underground deposits that were too expensive to tap in previous years. However, there's a lot of wasted energy with fossil fuels. Studies show that only 34.5% of energy used by the electric power industry reaches the homes of people as electricity. This means that over 60% of the energy made using fossil fuels is wasted through it's generation, transmission, and distribution. One interesting thing I might look into now is if the energy generated renewably is more efficient and not lost to things like heat exhaust from cars or just the transmission from the electricity generator to the homes.
One important thing to note about fossil fuels is that the US economy generates a lot of money from fossil fuels. It's currently the largest oil and gas producer in the world, making a lot of money off of these exports, and makes a lot of money domestically as well (it was about $1400 per person for gas alone in 2014 which equates about $430 billion). However, there are inevitable spikes and losses within the fossil fuel industry, making it less stable. Multiple studies and articles, specifically this one, talk of the stability found within renewable energy.
I think all of these sources do connect directly to my question on the US economy and fossil fuels vs. renewable energy. I'll find more and link them in my working bibliography (just not sure how to cite studies that are pdfs).
Bibliography (since I'm not sure which of the two videos I'll watch yet, I included the two links as the last two. I'll cite them better after I decide which one I'll watch):
https://www.seia.org/sites/default/files/resources/Grid-Econ-Benefits-Briefing-Paper_5-16-17.pdf
DeSilver, Drew. “Renewable Energy Is Growing Fast in the U.S., but Fossil Fuels Still Dominate.” Pew Research Center, Pew Research Center, 30 May 2020, www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2020/01/15/renewable-energy-is-growing-fast-in-the-u-s-but-fossil-fuels-still-dominate/.