The Need for a Switch to 

Renewable Energy  
Clean Energy Research Paper 

Marco Doumer 
09.13.2018 
Writing 109 ST 
 
 
 

 
 Table of Contents 
 
Abstract 2 

Introduction 2 

Data 8 

Results 14 

Conclusion 16 

References 17 

Author’s Note 20 

 
 

1   
Abstract 

This research paper will go over the importance of renewable energy in today’s societies 
across the globe and its need to be implemented promptly to halt or reverse the effects of 
climate change. A brief background of the world’s energy need, issues, and possible 
solutions is present to give a general summary of the topic at hand. Data and results that 
were found do show that renewables have a strong case of being used in the future. This 
paper will go over various statistics and numbers to help convince the general public 
that renewable energy will not be costly and be more efficient compared to fossil fuels. 

Introduction 

It is no secret that humans are progressing at an astronomical rate with all kinds of 
modern advancements. However, with such a rapid pace of new ideas and technology, 
many more problems come to be as a result and these issues need to be resolved. One of 
the issues that Noble Prize Winner Richard Smalley noted to be most concerned about is 
energy. ​“​Energy is the single most important problem facing humanity today – not just the 
U.S., but also worldwide.” ​(14) ​Energy is what keeps humans achieve basically everything 
and is very essential to daily lives of every single being in the world. There is a need for 
constant, reliable energy sources but, it is also time to switch up on what type of energy 
should we want to live sustainably as we progress.   

Concerns with Energy Usage 

In 2015, the world’s nations met up for a historic and important event. It was 
known as the Paris Climate Agreement. This moment was huge since it was an 
agreement from all nations involved that there needs to be a collective effort on slowing 
down the pace of climate change. The main goal that this agreement aimed for was to 
combat climate change by keeping the global average temperature from rising past two 
degrees Celsius within this century. (24) One of the main contributors to the temperature 
rising around the world that this agreement pointed to was most assuredly greenhouse 
gas emissions.  

Greenhouse gases have always existed but, have never been emitted at the rate 
that’s evident in our modern era. Greenhouse gases are compounds that trap heat in our 
atmosphere that include carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide, and fluorinated gases. 
(13) The exponential rate at which these compounds are being emitted in the air has 

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never been seen until recently in history starting from the industrial revolution. This 
rate has been peaking recently however with countries, such as China, India, and the 
USA, industrializing at an incredible rate that require a lot of energy. The big greenhouse 
gas that’s being emitted in the world is carbon dioxide which China, USA, Europe, and 
India is responsible for 30%, 15%, 9%, and 7% respectively. (15) China and India have 
been industrializing extremely fast by using fossil fuels to fuel their industries and the 
emissions from both countries could very well keep going up unless there is an 
immediate change. 

Americans should also be concerned and take a closer look at our energy situation 
and issues with greenhouse gases. One of these concerns should be Trump making it 
clear that he plans on pulling out the country from the Paris Climate Agreement which 
was received with a nationwide backlash. Being a country that is the second biggest 
contributor of greenhouse gases in the world, the United States needs to take precaution 
and participate on the global effort of managing the average temperature. The main 
sources of greenhouse gas emissions in the United States arise from transportation, 
electricity production, industry, and commercial and residential sectors. (13) 
Transportation and electricity both add up to contributing 58.9% of all emissions in the 
year 2016 in the country which is a massive amount. (13) If one were to look at these 
sources more closely, the common source of fuel for many, if not all, of these areas are 
the same; fossil fuels. 

Fossil Fuels 

The most common source of fuel for energy across the globe is fossil fuels and it 
has been this way for a couple hundred years. From powering huge cities with a high 
energy demand such as Las Vegas or even powering a lightbulb in a single residential 
home, humans have become reliant on fossil fuels to meet the demands for energy. As 
we use up fossil fuels, not everyone tends to think about the costs of doing so. Of course, 
they look at the dollar signs when paying energy bills but, the costs on using fossil fuels 
need to be seen on a different perspective. The main concern that needs to be seen is the 
external costs of using fossil fuels. Fossil fuel usage is the main culprit of climate change 
as mentioned before with everything that it causes across the globe from environmental 
degradation, health issues, and endangerment of many species.  

As mentioned in the previous section, the United States contributes 15% of the 
world’s greenhouse gases with the sources being from the transportation, electricity 
production, industry, and commercial/residential sectors. (13) The country still relies 
heavily on fossil fuels such as coal and oil to power the majority of the nation’s energy 

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demand. Transportation being the biggest with the heavy usage of petroleum fuels to 
power cars, trucks, ships, trains, and planes. In terms of electricity production in the 
nation, approximately 68% of the electricity comes from burning fossil fuels and natural 
gas. (13) The industries also rely on fossil fuels and chemical processes to produce goods 
and resources. Companies and residential communities are next on the list since 
businesses and homes since fossil fuels are burned for heat and using products that 
release certain greenhouse gases. The nation’s power plants produce 1.925 billion metric 
tons of air pollution while the average passenger vehicle produces 4.75 metric tons of 
pollutants every year. (16) 

These air pollutants that are being released in the air is not only a contributor for 
the rising of global temperatures but, it is also very harmful for the world’s inhabitants 
and the environment. The air pollution that is to be blamed for is compounds that are 
released from the burning of fuels such as oil or coal. These compounds consist of black 
carbon gases like nitrogen oxides, ozone, and sulfur dioxide. “Air pollution is one of the 
world’s largest killers, responsible for 6.4 million deaths per year (1 in 9 deaths). This is 
three times higher than the number of deaths from AIDS, Malaria and tuberculosis 
combined.” (7) A statistic like that should not be taken lightly when looking at the well 
being of others. 

As of now, these issues are slowly fading away but, there needs to be a change of 
pace. The Paris Climate Agreement was a good start and now people are playing a bigger 
role on attacking climate change. So, what must the human civilization do to combat or 
reverse these already present issues at a faster rate?  

The Answer: Renewables 

Short answer to that would be to switch from fossil fuels to renewable energy 
sources such as solar, wind, hydro, geothermal, etc… The options are available today and 
ready in many forms that would help reverse climate change and its terrible effects. 
With solar there is many new forms of PV cell technology that continues to become 
better and more efficient. In terms of wind, there are huge wind turbines that can be 
installed anywhere that has a usual flow of wind such as the coasts, oceans, deserts, etc… 
Energy can also be generated by using water with dam, ocean currents, etc… As evident, 
there are many different ways that energy can be generated without the usage of fossil 
fuels which can be better for the environment and society. 

The many issues that are seen with greenhouse gases and any form of emissions 
can be resolved or greatly decreased by substituting in renewable energy technology. 

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The biggest areas of concern for the United States is transportation. It is not unusual for 
the average American citizen to own a car to complete their daily routines which, in 
turn, contributes a lot to these harmful emissions. The first step would be to make all 
electric vehicles more accessible and to create an incentive to have car companies 
produce more. Companies such as Tesla and Toyota have been working on this greatly, 
especially with Tesla since they have been making their cars easily attainable to average 
households as the technology improves. The new fuel for these cars are obviously 
electricity which would take fossil fuels out of the picture. The next move would be 
installing ways to generate electricity to supply this new form of transportation and in 
order to do this, there must be a change in the grid infrastructure The very first move 
could be installing solar PV cells everywhere in metropolitan areas, different residential 
communities, and deserts. These PV cells could of course be costly to make and install 
but, in the long run, the return on investment will be huge. Wind turbines could also 
help solar PV cells with the production of electricity. The great thing about wind energy 
technology is that it takes up very little land so creating a wind farm could be very 
possible. The only down part to both solar technology and wind is that these technologies 
will only work in the presence of the sun shining and the wind blowing.  

This is when hydropower would come into play. Water can be retained in rivers, 
oceans, or in reservoirs with dams and these can be used at any time. (22) Water in 
rivers could be diverted to go through turbines for electricity production at any time. 
Oceans are always moving with currents and with modern technology, it has become 
much easier for humans to access those current to generate electricity by putting in 
underwater “wind” turbines. These turbine would take up no land and could be constant 
all the time for coastal cities. Reservoirs and dams could be used at any time to produce a 
huge amount of energy by using gravity and the height of water at the reservoir. This 
water would run down at a fast rate through the turbines in the dams that would 
instantly generate electricity ready to be disbursed anywhere. Technology like this could 
be seen on a massive scale with the Hoover Dam as it powers the huge needs of Las 
Vegas. 

Electricity production could also be offset with the same said technologies 
mentioned before. This would also greatly displace the need to burn fossil fuels in power 
plants. There is of course times where electricity is needed more and times where it isn’t 
needed as much and this is where the “Duck Curve” comes into play. The “Duck Curve” is 
a graph that visualizes the variable needs of electricity throughout the day and it is given 
the name duck since the curve has a similar shape. This graph can be seen on page ten. 
In times where energy is not needed, electricity could be produced and stored. Once 

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people start heading home, the energy that has been stored can now be released 
wherever in the grid that needs it. Using renewables is not only about getting energy 
cleaner but, also using it smarter. It is up to new smart technology and a great 
infrastructure to ensure a better way of having this cleaner tomorrow. 

The process from transitioning from different energy sources would be gradual 
but, incredibly fruitful. Of course this transition will require capital and resources for a 
successful implementation of cleaner technology but, it will all be paid off in the future 
from the amounts of savings. The government has also been subsidizing solar panels, 
wind turbines, and hydropower technology to make a push for cleaner energy (5,6) Also, 
some states such as California is now making any new building to require solar PV cells 
on every roof starting in the year 2019. (12) This was a huge complaint for many but, it is 
shown that the return on investment with cheaper electricity will pay off as early as in 
25 years!  

The purpose of this research paper is to show that the transition from fossil fuels 
to renewable energy is necessary and to show how these many forms of renewable 
energy cost while proving to be good for the environment.   

6   
Methods 

This research paper has been worked on gradually over the time scale of six weeks. The 
idea for this paper was also discussed in peer groups to gather interest this topic. 

This paper was worked on at the University of California, Santa Barbara for the 
class “Writing 109: Scientific and Technical Communication.” The format used for this 
paper was with the IMRAD method explained on Jianguo Wu article “Improving the 
writing of research papers: IMRAD and beyond.” 

For this research paper, all the information was gathered from from prior 
environmental classes, scholarly articles, and various websites. Prior classes in which 
information was gathered from were Energy and the Environment and Solar, Renewable 
Energy with Professor Quentin Gee. Scholarly articles were found by using the 
university’s library search which provided an endless amount of well written pieces with 
valuable data. The websites used varies from energy companies, educational sites, and 
many published op-ed pieces.  

Once these sources were gathered, the next step was to analyze each source and 
pick out data that would be essential for this research paper. Illustrations and 
infographics were also obtained from these sources to help visualize some key aspects. 
Once all the data was gathered, results and conclusion followed. 

7   
Data 

Graph 1 

Photo from: 
https://www.epa.gov/ghgemissions/inventory-us-greenhouse-gas-emissions-and-sinks 

This pie chart shows the different Greenhouse gases that were emitted in the USA in the 
year 2016. Carbon dioxide is shown with 81% of the total emitted, followed by Methane 
at 10%, then Nitrous Oxide at 6%, and finally with Fluorinated Gases at 3%. 

8   
Graph 2 

Photo from: 

https://www.epa.gov/ghgemissions/inventory-us-greenhouse-gas-emissions-and-sinks 

This graph illustrates the different economic sectors in the US and how much of the total 
greenhouse gases that were emitted came from a specific sector in the year 2016. 
Transportation and electricity are the biggest contributors at 28% each, then the industry 
sector at 22%, followed by commercial/residential at 11%, and lastly the agriculture 
sector with 9%.  

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Graph 3 

Photo from: 
https://www.vox.com/2018/5/9/17336330/duck-curve-solar-energy-supply-demand-proble
m-caiso-nrel 

Duck chart illustrate the demands of electricity on a grid a certain times of the day. Peak 
load demand would be around 6-10 pm which is around the time use up a lot of 
electricity at their homes. The demand is at its least from around 9-5 pm where energy 
would most likely be stored to output during later hours.  

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Graph 4 

Photo from: ​Gee, Quentin “Environmental Studies 105: Solar, Renewable Energy” Spring 
Quarter 

This chart is illustrating the amount of greenhouse gas emissions each electric 
generation technology would produce while producing energy. On the left of the white 
line is renewables and on the right is non-renewables.  

11   
 

Graph 5 

Photo from: ​Gee, Quentin “Environmental Studies 105: Solar, Renewable Energy” Spring 
Quarter 

This graph shows the price of wind technology by cents/kWh over the course of 22 years. 
The y axis is the cents per kilowatt hours ( a measure of electrical energy equivalent to a 
power consumption of 1,000 watts for 1 hour) and the x axis is time in years.  

12   
Graph 6 

Photo from: ​Gee, Quentin “Environmental Studies 105: Solar, Renewable Energy” Spring 
Quarter 

The y-axis on these two graphs are dollars per Watt of installed capacity (The installed 
capacity, or ICAP, of a power system represents the maximum capacity that the system is 
designed to run at. It’s also known as “peak installed capacity” or “rated capacity.”) [8] 
and the x-axis is labeled with years. These graphs both illustrate that over time in both 
the residential and commercial sectors, PV cells are being increasingly more accessible 
due to the decreasing of prices. 

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Results 

As seen with the data, the solution that renewable energy is the way of the future 
becomes more relevant to anyone. Graphs 1 and 2 clearly show the negative effects of 
using fossil fuels for energy. Graph 1 shows just how much greenhouse gases are emitted 
by using fossil fuels and especially shows how much carbon dioxide is released which 
can arguably be the worst of them all. Graph 2 shows the many areas that the United 
States needs to focus on to combat the greenhouse gas emissions. Clearly, transportation 
and electricity production are the biggest concerns and should be worked on 
immediately.  

Graph 3 is known as the duck curve. This chart illustrate the ramping needs of 
electricity from the grid. Peak load demand and base load demand terms used to 
describe the two big differences of grid usage. Base load is used to describe when the 
grid isn’t being used as much, which would be around times of sleep and times at which 
people are normally at work. Peak load is during times at which people head back home 
and use their house appliances which increase the demand for electricity. This is shown 
to illustrate the rampant need of electricity going into peak load which could be offset by 
sources such as hydropower that could be turned on in an instant. Also, a lot of energy 
could be generated by solar and wind to then be stored during base load hours. Once the 
grid is need for more energy, that electricity would have already been produced and 
then used.  

Graph 4 illustrates the many different technologies used to generate electricity 

along with how much greenhouse gases are emitted from each. This graph is very 
helpful to visualize the major difference between renewables and nonrenewables. The 
difference can be seen and calculated such that non renewables have the ability to 
produce almost 4-5 times as much emissions compared to renewables. This amount 
should leave viewers shocked at the differnce. Clearly, renewables would be the better 
choice to help globally on slowing down the effects of climate change and keep the global 
average temperature change under 2 degrees Celsius. 

Graph 5 shows how much the cost of wind technology and energy production 
from these turbines have changed over the years. It clearly shows that the cost of wind 
has changed for the better and more affordable to install and use. It has gone from 

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almost 40 cents per kilowatt hour to below 5 cents per kilowatt hour. This has made 
wind power a very attractive technology to invest in for the future. 

Graph 6 illustrates both residential and commercial costs of installed PV solar 

cells. Solar cells have been growing in popularity and have become the choice of 
renewable energy for the future for reasons shown in these two charts. For residential 
PV cells, the cost at 2010 was seven dollars and twenty four cents per kilowatt of installed 
capacity to two dollars and eighty cents per kilowatt installed capacity in 2017. That is a 
stunning four dollar difference in seven years! For commercial PV cells, the price in 2010 
was five dollars and thirty six cents and in 2017 it went down to one dollar and eighty 
five cents per kilowatt installed capacity! In both sectors, the price of solar PV technology 
has been increasingly cheaper which is a great thing for the way we get our electricity in 
the future. 

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Conclusion 

With the data, results, and overall information shown in this paper, it is very clear 
that renewable energy could and very much should be the source for the world’s energy 
needs in the future. It is evident how fossil fuels have been harming the human society 
and environment. Even more evident is how there is absolutely a need for a positive 
change for the issues to be resolved and the solution for the foreseeable future is 
renewables. Renewable energies continually get more efficient day by day while the 
costs of these technologies decrease at the same time. Not only is the technology and 
sources better but, they are also plenty. It is why that it is clear that the world should be 
more inclined than ever to make the switch for a better tomorrow. 

Many countries have also set goals to move away from all fossil fuels as early as 
2040-2050. It is very much possible but, the main thing is that the general public should 
be better educated and more informed on the topic of renewable energy for a quicker 
transition. 

Frankly, in the field studies could also prove even better that renewable energy is 
the way for the future other than researching sources with their own data. Future 
experiments and surveys should be done to further back up this argument and will be 
done hopefully soon.  

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References 
1. "Advantages and Disadvantages of Renewable Energy." ​Conserve Energy Future​. 

N.p., 15 Jan. 2017. Web. 30 Aug. 2018. 

2. "Benefits of Renewable Energy Use." ​Union of Concerned Scientists.​ N.p., n.d. Web. 

30 Aug. 2018. 

3. Clark, Pilita. "The Big Green Bang: How Renewable Energy Became Unstoppable." 

Financial Times.​ Financial Times, 18 May 2017. Web. 30 Aug. 2018. 

4. "Fossils Fuels vs. Renewable Energy." ​Ecology Global Network​. N.p., 18 May 2014. 

Web. 30 Aug. 2018. 

5. Gee, Quentin “Environmental Studies 105: Solar, Renewable Energy” Spring 

Quarter 

6. Gee, Quentin “Environmental Studies 115: Energy and The Environment” Winter 

Quarter 

7. “Health Impacts of Air Pollution.” ​Environmental Defense Fund​, 

www.edf.org/health/health-impacts-air-pollution​. 

8. “Installed Capacity.” Irish Environment Installed Capacity Comments, 

www.irishenvironment.com/iepedia/installed-capacity/. 

9. Kerr, Johnson, & Weir. (2017). Understanding community benefit payments from 

renewable energy development. Energy Policy, 105, 202-211. 

10. Kammen, D., & Sunter, D. (2016). City-integrated renewable energy for urban 

sustainability. Science (New York, N.Y.), 352(6288), 922-8. 

11. "Learning About Renewable Energy." ​Research Team Engineers a Better 

Plastic-Degrading Enzyme | News | NREL​. N.p., n.d. Web. 30 Aug. 2018. 

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 12. Nace, Trevor. "California Goes All In -- 100% Renewable Energy By 2045." ​Forbes​. 

Forbes Magazine, 15 Aug. 2017. Web. 30 Aug. 2018. 

13. “Overview of Greenhouse Gases.” ​EPA​, Environmental Protection Agency, 11 Apr. 

2018, www.epa.gov/ghgemissions/overview-greenhouse-gases. 

14. Our Energy Challenge. (n.d.). Retrieved from 

http://www.americanenergyindependence.com/energychallenge.aspx 

15. Patel, Aakar. “It's Time We Quit Fossil Fuels.” ​Https://Www.deccanchronicle.com/,​  

Deccan Chronicle, 3 June 2017, 

www.deccanchronicle.com/opinion/op-ed/040617/its-time-we-quit-fossil-fuels.html 

16. “Reasons to Move Away from Fossil Fuels.” ​The Northern Express​, 

www.northernexpress.com/news/opinion/reasons-to-move-away-from-fossil-fuels/ 

17. “Renewable Energy Can Provide 80 Percent of U.S. Electricity by 2050.” ​Union of 

Concerned Scientists​, 

www.ucsusa.org/clean_energy/smart-energy-solutions/increase-renewables/rene

wable-energy-80-percent-us-electricity.html#.W5cuGpNKjGJ. 

18. "Renewable Energy Has Many Benefits For People, The Economy, & The 

Environment." ​CleanTechnica​. N.p., 11 Jan. 2018. Web. 30 Aug. 2018. 

19. "Renewable Energy Technologies." ​Union of Concerned Scientists.​ N.p., n.d. Web. 

30 Aug. 2018. 

20. "Renewable Energy World Home." ​RenewableEnergyWorld.com​. N.p., n.d. Web. 30 

Aug. 2018. 

21. The Alternative Daily. "6 Benefits of Renewable Energy We Need to Consider." ​The 

Alternative Daily​. The Alternative Daily, 23 Mar. 2016. Web. 30 Aug. 2018. 

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 22. “Types of Hydropower.” Greenhouse Gas Emissions | International Hydropower 

Association, www.hydropower.org/types-of-hydropower. 

23. Waters, Carlos. “This ‘Duck Curve’ Is Solar Energy's Greatest Challenge.” Vox, Vox, 

9 May 2018, 

www.vox.com/2018/5/9/17336330/duck-curve-solar-energy-supply-demand-proble

m-caiso-nrel. 

24. “What Is the Paris Agreement?” ​UNFCCC​, 

unfccc.int/process-and-meetings/the-paris-agreement/what-is-the-paris-agreement 

25. Wu, J. Landscape Ecol (2011) 26: 1345. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10980-011-9674-3 

19   
Author’s Note 

The topic of this research paper came into my mind in the very first week of class. 
From the very start, I decided I would keep the topic of the paper and a lot of my 
assignments related to the topic of environmental studies. More specifically, I wanted to 
try to work on and expand my knowledge with renewable energy since I took a liking to 
it in my previous classes. Personally, I believe that renewable and clean energy is the 
way of the future since I have studied the many ways that fossil fuels can destroy our 
world. Even without studying, anyone can take note of the many instances of climate 
change, disease being more wide spread, the environment being destroyed, and much 
more. It is why I decided I wanted to better inform the readers in doing this assignment 
but, also myself. 

This progression of this paper started out with finding a good amount of resources 
to get a lead on this paper. Frankly, I struggled a bit to find the exact material that I felt 
was right so I kept going back to my class material for help. I was able to find a couple of 
websites, scholarly articles, op-eds, etc… This helped me a bit more with having more 
information on hand.  

Following this, I decided the next step was to create an intriguing title and cover 
page. I looked for the picture that would best represent my renewable energy topic so I 
chose a picture in which both solar and wind energy technology is shown. I decided to 
title it “The Need for a Switch to Renewable Energy” since I thought it would be a title 
that gets straight to the point and grab the reader’s attention. I also thought it would be 
great to have a theme of green headers and title to convey the message of going green.  

Next, I decided to make a long but, informative introduction to give a good 

summary of the many issues regarding energy, the issues with fossil fuels, and the 
possible solution of renewables. This took up most of my time and effort since I did want 
to get the message across on these important areas. In all honesty, it was frustrating at 
times getting all the information tied in with what seemed like an infinite amount of 
data.  

I then searched for a couple of graphs to back up some of the points made in the 
introduction. I found a lot of these graphs from previous classes with Professor Quentin 
Gee and also some on the web. I really liked how colorful, informative, and ease of 
reading these graphs all were and I believe that anyone could grasp the information that 
is on the charts. 

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 Lastly, I wrote my results, conclusion, and abstract to tie the whole paper in to 
itself. I concluded that the information on this paper would very much confirm the need 
to switch to renewable energy and move away from fossil fuels. In my results, I 
explained more about what the data was showing and how it tied in to my argument. 
Then the abstract I left for last to give the whole paper a short summary so I wanted to 
have the paper complete for the purpose of writing this section. 

Overall, I really struggled on tieing everything in to the main topic and finding the 
right information for the purpose of my argument. This paper was also written in the 
midst of my philosophy class which I needed to write a couple papers and take a final 
exam for so, I couldn’t put 100% focus on this paper even though I wanted it to be 
possible. I do wish that I had more time to better explain this topic since I believe it is of 
vital importance for the reader to be well informed on the topic of renewable energy. I 
do hope that the message on this paper is clear and well written even with the 
circumstances that presented itself. 

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