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Breyhauna Johnson

Instructor: Malcolm Campbell

English 1102

January 22, 2014

Topic Proposal: A Green World Awaits

Introduction/Overview

I have been studying renewable energy for a couple of years now with a focus of solar

panels. My research has mainly been about the implementation of solar panels for residential use

and the economics of solar panels/ PV systems. I went into depth about how solar panels work,

how the PV systems operate, etc. For my inquiry project this semester, I’d like to focus a little

more on renewable energy as a whole. Although I have studied renewable energy, I want to

research the current impact of renewable energy globally and the role it may play in the future. I

will be researching the economics of renewable energy now and the projected values. I will

research the current usage of renewable energy and the future usage. I will explain how we as

supporting members of the “green world” will help implement these renewable energies. I will

do this by comparing the renewable energy sources to the nonrenewable energy sources. I will

be advocating for renewable energy, but I will give both the pros and cons of renewable energy

versus nonrenewable energy. I will be studying the on-going controversy of renewable energy

and why some critics believe it is a horrible idea. This will provide me with the information I

need to form a report on the current impact of renewable energy and the future potential it could

provide.

Renewable energy is not widely incorporated into our system of energy production.

According to the U.S. Energy Information Administration, only about ten percent of world

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energy consumption is from renewable energy sources. Countries like Brazil, China and

Germany make up most of this worldly percentage. These countries have seen the advantages

that renewable energy production brings versus nonrenewable energies and are taking steps to a

cleaner world.

I have spoken to many of my peers and faculty members here at UNC Charlotte and at

NC State about this topic. This has provided me with a lot of the information I have about

renewable energy. I have visited many online sites including the EIA.gov, and Ren21.net which

provides several status reports about renewable energy. The library has so many books about

renewable energy and specific books that compare nonrenewable energy sources to renewable

ones. There is also one specific book called The future for renewable energy: prospects and

directions which has provided to be very helpful while researching the future potential for

renewable energy.

The concept of renewable energy is quite a large controversy worldwide. Some critics

believe it may be too expensive, while others say we won’t be able to solely rely on renewable

sources to provide our energy needs. Renewableenergyworld.com has articles and lists the most

popular topics that people have talked about when debating renewable energy. TED Talk

provides questions, debates and ideas that people have about renewable energy.

Theconversation.com has a whole topic section on renewable energy where people can start

conversations and ask questions like TED Talk.

Initial Inquiry Question(s)

Why haven’t we implemented a bigger worldwide usage of renewable energy resources

for our energy production?

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My Interest in this Topic

I’m interested in renewable energy because I’d like to pursue my career working with and

researching it. My first interests with renewable energy came in the summer of 2012 when I

completed an engineering research project on solar homes at NC State University. This was a

well-paid summer program that taught me about renewable energy, mainly solar panels/ PV

systems, and mentored me while I completed and presented my project. This was sponsored by

the National Science Foundation and I earned a NSF Young Scholar certificate for completing

this program. Ever since that summer I’ve wanted to work with renewable energy and solar

panels. I wanted to continue my research throughout school and hope to learn so much more

about it through this project.

I know what renewable energy is and the difference between renewable and

nonrenewable sources. I already know that renewable energy doesn’t make up much of the

world’s energy consumption. I know about several renewable energy sources and have an idea

about how each one works, but could learn more about this. I know some about nonrenewable

resources and the dangers of nonrenewable resources today. I know some about where

renewable energy started and how it has gotten so far today. I hope to learn more information

about every one of these questions though. I also hope to learn about other countries’ decisions

on renewable energy and why countries other than the U.S. (a first world country) are

implementing it while the U.S. isn’t.

Next Steps

I will be going to the Atkins library on campus to find other interesting books about

renewable energy. I will also be visiting the TED Talk page to look at all the conversations and

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debates that are happening. I will also be looking for speakers and various conferences held on

renewable energy. I will also be studying more questions I have on renewable energy like: What

effects do our current energy sources have in the future of our energy production? Does current

renewable energy usage play a role in future renewable energy usage?