Presidential Scholars Theses (1990 – 2006)

Awards/Availabilty

Open Access Presidential Scholars Thesis

Keywords

Fossil fuels--Environmental aspects; Renewable energy sources--Law and legislation;

Abstract

We lie at a unique place in history, one where humanity's drive to industrialize has created an environmental crisis that may threaten the very existence of the planet. The new challenges posed by environmental crises are becoming shockingly apparent. Scientists are discovering, and illustrating to policy-makers, new ways in which we are destroying the earth and its surrounding atmosphere. Although these kinds of revelations are by no means new, the scale of destruction in these scenarios is immensely greater. Warming of the atmosphere due to the greenhouse effect, depletion of the ozone layer, destruction of forests, acid rain, air pollution, and many other problems are often discussed in policy-making arenas and throughout the associated literature.

Energy is intimately intertwined in all of these issues. Any comprehensive attempt to deal with these challenges necessitates a change in consumption of fossil fuels. Such a change must involve greater energy efficiency in the short term and a move to renewable energies as the foundation of our economy. Renewable energy should be seen as more than just "an environmental policy," but as an energy alternative which permeates all levels of the economy. This paper will attempt to combine reasons given from a public policy standpoint with economic justifications for the transition to renewable energy, and finally offer a solution to fuel this process successfully.

Date of Award

1993

Department

Department of Political Science

Presidential Scholar Designation

A paper submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the designation Presidential Scholar

Comments

If you are the rightful copyright holder of this Presidential Scholars thesis and wish to have it removed from the Open Access Collection, please submit an email request to scholarworks@uni.edu. Include your name and clearly identify the thesis by full title and author as shown on the work.

Date Original

1993

Object Description

1 PDF file (17 pages)

Date Digital

1-18-2018

Copyright

©1993 - Dean Eyler

Type

document

Language

EN

File Format

application_pdf

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