Bonus1299

From Environmental Technology

Bonus Essay Number 2

The article "Rising gas prices hit cities, school districts" explores the effect that high gas prices has on cities and schools.

Because gas is almost at three dollars a gallon, it makes keeping police patrol cars and school buses fueled up rather hard. Some of the cities and school districts mentioned in this article do not have enough money budgeted for this fiscal year for gasoline. So on one side, there is not enough money, but on the other hand, they are forced to keep running school buses, for example. Without school buses, half of the kids in the school district would not be able to come to school each day. And patrol cars are very important to keep our roads and neighborhoods safe. You would not want to call the police about something and have them say, "We're sorry, we can't make it to your house because our police cars are out of gas" So what are they to do?

Well one option is to convert the buses and police cars over to ones that can use alternative fuels such as electricity and natural gas. Some of the cities mentioned have already started doing this, and are quoted as saying that it helped cut down their fuel costs tremendously. Also, vehicles that use alternative fuels are a lot cleaner and don't pollute the environment.

So some cities are going to exceed their budgets, and some are applying for grants to help them switch over to alternative vehicles. And I bet that all of them are praying for gas prices to go down.

Bonus Essay Number 3

The article "Alternative Energy: Harnessing sun could help power Michigan" talks about the potential that using solar energy has.

Solar power is probably the most readily available method of alternative energy that there is today. Solar power is obtained by capturing light from the sun in solar panels, and can be used to heat water, and generate electricity. Those two things can save you a lot of money, especially in the long run.

This article talks about the progress that the state of Michigan is making in the world of solar power. Michigan's Energy Office is promoting solar energy, and providing PV demonstrations. Several energy companies are building solar plants, and expanding their solar panel business, which along with helping the environment is at the same time providing more jobs.

There are those who criticize the development of solar power in Michigan, however. Some people say that it would never work because the amount of sunlight that Michigan gets is not very much, and others say that solar power is too expensive compared to natural gas and coal.

I think that using solar power is a great idea, and Michigan should continue to develop it. It is the cleanest of the alternative fuels, and almost always in ready supply. Mainly, we just need to stop our dependency on oil and natural gas, because of the high prices, short and unstable supply, and the bad effect of it on the environment. In my opinion, any source of alternative energy should be seriously considered for use in the United States.