The Dilemma of Finding the Answer to Our Energy Problem

Jarod Gutierrez

POlI 3000 Approaches to the Study Politics

September 18th, 2021

 Since the introduction of petrol into our everyday lives from oil all the way down to the

shoes on our feet, within the proceeding years after our discovery, the problems that arises from

our decision started to become more and more evident as we went along. With that the search for

the next viable resource to provide power to our ever-growing population, the question of which

gets broader and broader every year, more promises are made, and more promises are broken.

With every passing year the complaints pile up on both sides begging for change to the social

norms as well as the prevalence of the old norms that are perpetuated by the other.

The oil industry has a well-known past of falling into the category that only provides half

of the story when it comes to the effects and side effects of its products. Recently, a key project

for them was the implementation and the use of the Keystone Pipeline, which was riddled with

inconsistencies within its project from the beginning and further delayed by the growing

realization of the environmental impacts the pipeline could have on the environment that was

separate from the emissions the oil would produce from the oil-sand pits, often arguing the

semantics of the deed often touting the pits as producing not much more greenhouse gas

emissions then conventional oil sources on the cycle of full lifetime emissions, arguing they

already have regulations in place to counter the impact, or the emission levels fall under the

current legal limit that we allow. 1However, those emission rates are constantly changing from

scrutiny launched from the side of “sustainable” energy. One newer source of retrieving natural

resources that became popular with oil was fracking. The fracking process has numerous signs of

indication to do detrimental harm to the ecosystem. There has been growing concern by

numerous countries in the world as well as the United States about the problems associated with

the hydraulic fracturing waste-build disposal and the correlated increase with seismic activity

1
Palliser, Janna. “The Keystone XL Pipeline.” Science Scope 35, no. 9 (2012): 8–13.
http://www.jstor.org/stable/43184734.
within the United States specifically Oklahoma.2 They have when questioned, they have

acknowledged that waste wells in Oklahoma are the cause but not their wastewater wells in

specific.3 Oil spills and blow outs from this form also lead to a product called dead zones within

the parts of which are contaminated where all aquatic life is in essence dismantled to the very

core. Scientists have raised the concerns stating, ““The rapid increase in shale gas production in

recent years has led to increased attention to its potential negative environmental effects,

including the risks of contaminating ground water with methane and other substances.”4

Many pro-oil people would point to the economic benefits of it due to the massive

contribution is has besides just being fuel stating, “but extracting petroleum will also make their

economies more volatile, saddle their governments with revenue management-tasks that are

exceptionally onerous, till the labor market towards jobs for men and away from jobs for women,

trigger relatively fast population growth and give incumbent politicians the power to entrench

themselves in office.”5 But often those jobs that are created are not actually from the oil industry,

rather those are usually temporary blue collared jobs aimed at finishing the production, followed

by the leaving to accomplish other various projects. Most of the time the main bulk of jobs come

2
Clary, Renee. “THE HUMAN IMPACT ON EARTHQUAKES: NATURAL FRACTURING
VERSUS FRACKING.” Science Scope 38, no. 5 (2015): 24–31.
http://www.jstor.org/stable/43184334.
3
RAIMI, DANIEL. “DOES FRACKING CAUSE EARTHQUAKES?” In The Fracking
Debate: The Risks, Benefits, and Uncertainties of the Shale Revolution, 77. Columbia
University Press, 2018. http://www.jstor.org/stable/10.7312/raim18486.8.
4
Schout, Gilian, Niels Hartog, S. Majid Hassanizadeh, and Jasper Griffioen. “Impact of an
Historic Underground Gas Well Blowout on the Current Methane Chemistry in a Shallow
Groundwater System.” Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of
America 115, no. 2 (2018): 296–301. https://www.jstor.org/stable/26506248.
5
Ross, Michael L. “Good News and Bad News about Oil.” In The Oil Curse: How Petroleum
Wealth Shapes the Development of Nations, STU-Student edition., 223–54. Princeton University
Press, 2012. http://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctt7s3wz.14.
from the economy around which those pipelines are built, then the economy is then throttled into

a place that can achieve sustained growth for however long it might be till the pipe dries up.

In response to the ever-growing concern with climate change energizing individuals and

groups across the world, so has their conviction in renewable sources, as well as the disdain for

the industry they would still have to rely on to achieve their goal. When it comes to the case for

solar, it is no stranger to the same predicaments that plague all natural resources, half-truths are

rampant amongst its followers. While the solar panel idea does account for the greenhouse

emissions produced over the lifespan of the panel versus the oil plant. However, while they don’t

affect the climate in that way. The U.S. Fish & Wildlife Energy Development says, “Commercial

solar energy facilities require a large amount of land, often thousands of acres. Before a facility

is constructed, the land is completely cleared of all vegetation. In some cases, the land must also

be graded to have minimal slope. The loss, degradation and fragmentation of habitat that result

from building a solar energy facility are concerns when considering the needs of wildlife in the

area.”6

Another issue facing the solar industry is the lack of actual resources to produce the most

efficient panels we possibly could. In his study, Dr. Christopher Rhodes points out to the lack of

actual material to produce the panels stating, “…such is the explosive growth of the solar power

industry that manufacturers of polysilicon, which is molded into a long ingot and then sliced into

thin wafer for solar cells, cannot keep up with demand for it.”7 Polysilicon is also not only used

for solar panel cells either, but also a main part of every single computing source we have today

forming a crucial part in the production of semiconductors, which range from phones all the way
6
Fish, U. S., and Wildlife Service/Ecological Services Program. “Ecological Services.” Fws.gov.
https://www.fws.gov/ecological-services/energy-development/solar.html (September 19, 2021).
7
RHODES, CHRISTOPHER J. “Solar Energy: Principles and Possibilities.” Science Progress
(1933-) 93, no. 1 (2010): 37–112. http://www.jstor.org/stable/43424235.
to the cars we are producing today. Along with the ecological concerns, an offshoot of the

problem lies within the constant growth of the human population as well as the correlated

increase in consumption of goods. Dr. Rhodes hints at this problem by stating, “… it might be

deduced that any one of solar, wind or biomass would each be sufficient to provide for our entire

human energy requirements, however, the increased use of biomass has resulted in deforestation

e.g. to grow palm-oil, and has dramatically increased food prices by turning over arable land

from food to biofuel production.”8 While the science. Behind. Solar is ever-improving, the

implementation of the newer technology lacks in scalability and efficiency outside of the lab

begins to dwindle from a remarkable 30% efficiency to a measly 10% for the average consumer.9

To combat the problem of not only where we will get our power from and what we use to

run the machines that not only mine us the materials we need but also the source that can provide

what we presume to be renewable in the sense of our lifetime. We must hold ourselves

accountable for the world we live in and work in, we cannot create the tribalistic divide within

our society we are known for and together find a way to not alienate one aspect and garner

enough from each side to meet our needs now and forever.

Reference:

8
RHODES, CHRISTOPHER J. “Solar Energy: Principles and Possibilities.” Science Progress
(1933-) 93, no. 1 (2010): 37–112. http://www.jstor.org/stable/43424235.
9
RHODES, CHRISTOPHER J. “Solar Energy: Principles and Possibilities.” Science Progress
(1933-) 93, no. 1 (2010): 37–112. http://www.jstor.org/stable/43424235.
Clary, Renee. “THE HUMAN IMPACT ON EARTHQUAKES: NATURAL
FRACTURING VERSUS FRACKING.” Science Scope 38, no. 5 (2015): 24–31.
http://www.jstor.org/stable/43184334.

Fish, U. S., and Wildlife Service/Ecological Services Program. “Ecological Services.”

Fws.gov. https://www.fws.gov/ecological-services/energy-development/solar.html
(September 19, 2021).

Palliser, Janna. “The Keystone XL Pipeline.” Science Scope 35, no. 9 (2012): 8–13.
http://www.jstor.org/stable/43184734.

RAIMI, DANIEL. “DOES FRACKING CAUSE EARTHQUAKES?” In The Fracking

Debate: The Risks, Benefits, and Uncertainties of the Shale Revolution, 77. Columbia
University Press, 2018. http://www.jstor.org/stable/10.7312/raim18486.8.

RHODES, CHRISTOPHER J. “Solar Energy: Principles and Possibilities.” Science

Progress (1933-) 93, no. 1 (2010): 37–112. http://www.jstor.org/stable/43424235.

Ross, Michael L. “Good News and Bad News about Oil.” In The Oil Curse: How
Petroleum Wealth Shapes the Development of Nations, STU-Student edition., 223–54.
Princeton University Press, 2012. http://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctt7s3wz.14.

Schout, Gilian, Niels Hartog, S. Majid Hassanizadeh, and Jasper Griffioen. “Impact of an
Historic Underground Gas Well Blowout on the Current Methane Chemistry in a Shallow
Groundwater System.” Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United
States of America 115, no. 2 (2018): 296–301. https://www.jstor.org/stable/26506248.