Policy Changes Presented by Environmental Problems
With more and more use of carbon fuels it has become difficult to manage the energy resources as consumption is increases by leaps and bounds with limited energy sources available. This has becom a big challenge for policy makers and governments.
Energy efficiency has increased but energy consumption is increasing day by day and rising to enormous proportions and there is an ever increasing demand for automobiles and appliances that run on fuel increasing the demand for energy. Resources are dwindling by the day and environmental safety has become a concern as scarce resources are being used up leading to environmental catastrophes. Newer and stringent regulations have come in place to take care of issues relating to safety, cleaner use of energy, reduction in emissions by vehicles and many issues related to air, water and land pollution.
The transportation sector accounts for the largest share of energy consumption particularly the bio fuels and hydrocarbons including natural gas which are extracted from the land and deep sea exploration. Transportation of extracted fuels is also an important issue as well as extraction of hydrocarbons from their respective sources.
The share of petroleum use in the United States has risen from 52 percent in 1970 to 66 percent in 1995 and it is expected to increase to 70 percent by 2011. The International Energy association predicts that 59 percent of the 41-million barrels per day increase in worldwide oil demand expected from 1995 to 2020 will come from petroleum products.
Energy policy is derived from security, economic and environmental goals and it is difficult to chart an energy policy path that is coherent and on consensus can be achieved. It is dependent on the ability of the market, prices, demand and availability. Particular emphasis is required to be placed on infrastructure and volatility issues that are related to the governmental and their solutions. Actions required by the government include:
1. Focus on atmospheric concentrations of greenhouse gases.
2. Energy and environmental policy that includes specific attention to carbon dioxide and incentives for reducing emissions.
3. Environmental impacts due to extraction from newer sources and displacement of forest land and ecologically sensitive areas.
4. Handling and avoiding of repetition of major environmental disasters like the Exxon and BP oil spill.
5. Legislations to demarcate boundaries between federal and state jurisdictions over environmental matters.
6. Use of alternative sources of energy which have a mild impact on the environment like solar power and wind power.
7. Environmentally friendly standards within the electric power sector.
8. Improving efficiency of power plants dependent on bio fuels and production of energy efficient vehicles.
Liked it
