Global warming. Climate change. These words have become prominent recently especially with our country’s most recent election. All of the different parties in the election took a stance on the topic and created a plan of action to aid in this issue. The world and environment is deteriorating and it is becoming more aware to the public. Carbon emissions that are being released into the air are creating a bubble around the earth causing it to stay warmer. However, there have been multiple talks about how to fix this issue. Renewable energy versus nonrenewable energy was included within this debate due to renewable energy being able to prevent global warming. This source of energy is collected from renewable resources that are naturally replenished from the earth. There are many different types of renewable energy sources including wind, solar, geothermal, biomass, and hydroelectric. Two sources that have recently become more popular is wind and solar energy. Windmills and solar panels have been used in different places around the world in help to provide clean and secure energy. Nonetheless, the United States as a whole still relies on nonrenewable resources such as oil and coal, which are damaging to the environment. Therefore, wind and solar energy use needs to be increased in the United States in order to provide a safe and healthy environment. 

The use of renewable energy should be increased because it is far less damaging to the earth than nonrenewable sources are. Renewable energy resources rely on the natural forces of the earth which include internal heat, gravitational pull, tidal power, solar radiation, and the wind. These sources use materials and energy coming directly from the earth and create little to no global warming emissions. Fossil fuels on the other hand, release carbon dioxide into the air producing bad emissions into the environment. This has become the major source of global warming in the world. About 25% of total United States global warming emissions is just generated from coal-fired power plants (Benefits of Renewable Energy Use). However, even though these sources are bad for the environment, the United States relies on them. 90 percent of the energy used in the United States is from burning fossil fuels. That other 10 percent is left for renewable energy sources which are a lot cleaner and healthier for the environment (Institute for Energy Research). In a few hundreds of years, if coal and oil are still being used as they are today, the world may not be healthy enough to live on, which is why renewable energy should be increased starting with wind and solar energy.

A rise in wind and solar power in the United States has a majority of benefits between the environment and the economy. First, it can stimulate an improved public health and an improved environmental health. Because there is a reduced amount of pollution between the air and water, a healthier environment is produced. Additionally, with renewable energy resources, there is more energy security throughout the nation. Wind and solar energy generates large amounts of energy that it will never run out, causing this energy to be more consistent and reliable. Furthermore, with new manufacturing and handling of technology of wind and solar power, it creates new job opportunities, new investors, and new business startups which all benefit the economy. Lastly, since wind and solar energy are starting to become more widely popular, these resources are starting to become cheaper among the nation and other countries. With all of these benefits taken into consideration, the United States has to come up with a plan for implementing these resources.

The major reason these energy sources should be pushed is for the enhanced health of the pubic and the environmental benefits. Nonrenewable resources go against these advantages. The air pollution created by the emissions of coal and natural gas can be linked to different problems within the human body. The emissions produced and that are put into the air, can be associated to immune problems, neurological damage, heart attacks, and cancer (Benefits of Renewable Energy Use). Renewable energy resources do not have that kind of effect on the human body since they do not release harmful emissions into the air and water. These resources operate without all of the harmful technology. Wind and solar systems are able to generate electricity and cause no air pollution. Additionally, wind and solar energy requires no water to operate and therefore do not pollute water supply also. On the other side, natural gas drilling can pollute drinking water supplies since it requires a large amount of water to operate. Furthermore, the pollution created by gasoline-powered cars are damaging to the air as well. With electric-powered cars drawing electricity from wind and solar energy plants, this air pollution can be thoroughly decreased.  In the long run, wind and solar have more benefits to the public and the environment than nonrenewable resources. This should be the major concern with not transitioning from nonrenewable resources, since they are harmful to the health of the public.

Another reason for the increase in wind and solar energy is renewable energy resources create more energy security, especially wind and solar. The earth will never run out of wind or the sun, however there is a potential to run out of coal and oil. In the past 200 years, the world is burning fossil fuels at an incredible amount. Globally, the world consumes about 11 billion tonnes of oil in fossil fuels every year. If this rate continues, then the oil deposits will be gone by 2052 (The End of Fossil Fuels). Since the United States relies on 90 percent of oil and other natural gases, they are going to run into a huge problem. For this reason, there becomes a lack of energy security and can cause increase in prices on the current sources of energy. 

Contrary to nonrenewable sources, renewable resources are more reliable and efficient. Throughout many parts of the U.S. there are places that have really strong winds and super sunny skies, which can provide a great amount of constant, consistent energy. This vast amount of renewable energy supply could potentially create enough energy to provide electricity to the whole nation. For example, in 2012, the National Renewable Energy Laboratory found that wind and solar combined has the potential to supply 11,089 percent of electricity use. This amount is a lot higher than the amount of electricity the nation already consumes, and that is just with wind and solar energy (Benefits of Renewable Energy Use). Furthermore, according to an environmental researcher, solar power alone could provide energy for more than one billion people by 2020 and 26 percent of the global energy needs by 2040 (Diverse Alternative Energy Sources Will Be Essential). This is just one source of renewable energy creating so much energy for the world as a whole. Furthermore, since wind and solar energy create so much excess energy, there needs to be storage units or some sort of back up supply. These storage units act as batteries to these energy sources. When the resources are reserving a lot of energy, the excess goes into the batteries. When enough energy is not being supplied, then energy can come from these storage units, especially when the weather is not at its normal state or there is some issue with the technology being used. Overall, there is much more energy security generated from the use of wind and solar resources than the resources being used in the United States today. 

One concern that there is with the transfer from nonrenewable energy to renewables is job loss. Since there are so many jobs created with the nonrenewable energy industry, there is that concern of jobs being lost. However, with new renewable energy technologies, it creates its own business and economic industry. Businesses, investors, and jobs itself are all created from the increased use of renewables alone. Between wind and solar, there are various amounts of jobs created with each unit of energy. In 2011, the wind energy industry employed about 75,000 full-time employees between manufacturing, development, installation, maintenance, transportation, and financial services. Additionally, in 2011, the solar industry employed about 100,000 either on a part time or full time basis with jobs dealing with installation, manufacturing, and sales (Benefits of Renewable Energy Use). If the U.S. increases its use of renewables than what it is just now, then even more jobs will be created within the industry. Even world leaders have illustrated that renewable energy sources would create jobs. Former President Jimmy Carter, an advocate for a solar panel project, stated that if President Donald Trump embraced solar and wind technologies, millions of jobs could be created (Sanz). Furthermore, with the growth in this industry, it can create other positive economic effects, including an increase in household and business incomes. More households and businesses will be interested in the use of wind power or solar panels for their own use of electricity. 

As jobs increase, it creates economic benefits. Within each state, local governments collect property and income taxes from renewable energy owners. These collections can then help support certain public services, especially of community projects in need. Additionally, owners of land where wind turbines are built or solar panels are placed, receive lease payments and power line payments, which is a good source of income for these land owners. Union of Concerned Scientists found that by 2025, national renewable electricity, can stimulate over $200 billion of new capital investment in these energy technologies as well as over 13 billion in new landowner income (Benefits of Renewable Energy Use). These energy projects just maintain money circulating within the economy. 

As well as renewable energy sources creating money, they are also less money to purchase. This used to be the major counterargument for investing in renewable technology, but now the prices of wind and solar technology are starting to fall. Between 2009 to 2015, The average global cost for generating electricity from solar panels dropped 61 percent, and 14 percent for wind turbines (Sanz). Furthermore, in Amory Lovins’ TED Talk, he explains how an energy system relying on mostly renewable energy could save the U.S. economy five trillion dollars than compared to today’s use of coal and oil. These falling prices not only save money for the economy, but for a local house owner or land owner financing in these technologies. It helps out the people and the government as well. 

As there are all of these advantages to wind and solar energy, there are a few impacts that they create. Since solar and wind technology require large amounts of land due to solar panels and wind turbines, there can be some habitat loss. Even though solar panels can be put on buildings, wind turbines demand a vast amount of land in order fully operate. Also, since wind and solar technologies rely on the wind and sun, certain sites are limited. Solar panels will be most efficient in sunnier areas, and wind turbines are most effective in windier areas, making places limited to these devices. Solar panels also have to account for sun moving throughout the day. There needs to be careful consideration of how to place the solar panels to make them most applicable. However, as there are these risks to using these technologies, the environmental benefits thoroughly outweigh these risks. 

With all of these benefits demonstrated, there still needs to be a plan of how to start incorporating these energy sources into the economy, since the United States does not rely on them. However, many other countries around the world are already a step ahead and began making a plan to make the transition. For example, Europe has set energy transition goals to achieve by 2030 (Bointner). Raphael Bointner explains how he plans out different scenarios and predictions based on different research done by European public. Additionally, emerging countries like China, India, and Brazil has invested billions of dollars into wind and solar technologies (Sanz). Furthermore, states in the U.S. have already made the leap to attempt to increase renewable technologies. Colorado and Montana officials have developed land use policies that deal with renewable energy resources, specifically wind and solar energy (Davis). Overall, between different countries and different states, there have been plans moving forward toward implementing wind and solar resources. The U.S. as a whole just needs to make one big step together. The government, especially President Donald Trump, need to recognize these steps taken by other countries, and they need to start to make a plan of their own. The government also needs to recognize how much nonrenewable resources are damaging the earth and not going to be a secure source of energy for that much longer. 

A plan that could be taken to increase wind and solar energy in America is to definitely create goals by a certain deadline, just like Europe. This way there is a sense of urgency to make the transition. Additionally, there could be certain laws put into place. Only a certain amount of nonrenewable resources can be used in one year, or a certain amount of renewable resource technologies need to be put into place. Furthermore, land policies could be developed since turbines and solar panels will use up a lot of land. As well as land taxes, or decisions of the best land for these technologies. However, something needs to be done soon, because 2050, when coal and oil are projected to run out, is not that far away. Future generations of the world need to have a safe and healthy environment in order to survive. The nation needs to think ahead.  

In recent years, renewable energy resources have become more well-known to be able to create a healthy environment. Especially windmills and solar panels have been illustrated as major energy resources within renewable energy. Since these resources do not generate carbon emissions, they do not cause air or water pollution. Therefore, this helps improve the health of the public and the environment. Also, wind and solar energy provide more energy security since renewable energy is not going to run out, unlike nonrenewable resources. Furthermore, with the growth of a new industry, new jobs are created and new businesses are started, which is all beneficial for the growing economy. Wind and solar energy resources are also becoming cheaper as they are becoming more widely known. These advantages demonstrate that they can be good for the U.S., but there needs to be a law or a plan to help apply these resources. As the world becomes environmentally worse, there needs to be a big change to help it in the right direction. More states need to start making their own plans, but as well as the government as a whole. By making a transition to renewable energy not only would severely benefit the environment, but the economy as well. 