1. Alternative Energy. (n.d.). Retrieved November 2, 2015, from http://www.tc.umn.edu/~dama0023/biofuels.html
The article “Alternative Energy” agrees that biofuels are an ideal alternative energy to fossil fuels. It introduces the definition of biofuels and the background that people today pay more attention on biofuels due to substantially rising gas and oil prices. It also lists advantages and disadvantages of biofuels. After contrasting them both, it is clear that we should use biofuels instead of fossil fuels.
The definition of biofuels will be used in my background paragraph for those readers who are not familiar with this specialized area. Listed advantages of high sustainability, safer national security and low carbon production in terms of biofuels will help me strengthen my supporting arguments. When writing about counter arguments, I will use examples from disadvantages of nonrenewable machinery for biofuels and global hunger triggered by the increasing use of biomass.
2. The Global Impact of Rising Oil Prices. (2005, May 10). Retrieved November 16, 2015, from http://knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu/article/the-global-impact-of-rising-oil-prices/
The article “The Global Impact of Rising Oil Prices” agrees that skyrocketing oil prices have some major impacts on the global market such as the stock market. It discusses the current situation of unstable oil prices and then analyzes the case by giving the facts about the international role and influences of China in a negative way. After that, it also discusses the crisis taking place in Europe and forecasts the future oil market in Latin America. According to the article, if oil prices continue to grow, the situation will get worse and cause more harm to not only the developed countries but also the underdeveloped countries eventually.
In my background paragraph, I will use the example of how certain professional groups such as taxi drivers and transportation workers who require higher wages to cover the loss of incremental oil prices affect the economic market. The example from this article will contribute to explain why today’s society is gaining more attention to rising oil prices. Due to the consequence, we should reduce our reliance on fossil fuels such as the petroleum.
3. Biofuels and Sustainable Development. (2008, May 19). Retrieved November 16, 2015, from http://www.environment.harvard.edu/docs/faculty_pubs/lee_biofuels.pdf
The article “Biofuels and Sustainable Development” has a positive attitude toward biofuels. It first indicates reasons for biofuels referring to scarce fossil fuel energy, global warming by the factor of increasing emissions of Carbon Dioxide and unstable economic development. Then it lists what to be concerned about in terms of increasing food prices, greenhouse gases released from the production of biofuels, harm to the ecosystem and the not evenly distributed land use. After that, it gives solutions to the problem listed and concludes that it is still ideal to replace fossil fuels with biofuels in the future after addressing the possible problems.
In the second supporting argument, I will use the statistics of how much global Carbon Dioxide to be produced by transportation in order to strengthen my point that biofuels are the significant solution to huge emissions of Carbon Dioxide in transport. Since biodiesel can efficiently substitute for most of fossil fuels such as petroleum, reducing emissions of Carbon Dioxide will be remarkably effective.