Topic 1
As greenhouse gases are increasing in the world, the need for electricity that produces less harmful emissions into our atmosphere is needed. The flick of one switch to turn on a light, television, or microwave would not be possible without electricity; many of us take for granite the use of vast amounts of electricity on our planet each and every-day. There are two types of electrical power: renewable and non-renewable sources. Non-renewable sources are sources that can only be used once for power generation; these sources produce a bi-product that is released into our atmosphere, some more harmful than others. Examples of non-renewable resources are coal, natural gas, large hydro, oil, and nuclear power. Renewable sources are sources that can be reproduced naturally. However, this type of source cannot produce as much energy as non-renewable sources. Examples of renewable resources are solar, wind, biomass, geothermal, and small hydro.
Therefore, a need for less harmful, non-renewable sources are needed to power our communities. The closing of Sana Onofre nuclear Generation Station (SONGS) made an effect on all communities within the state of California. This had an effect on the unit price of electricity to California consumers, current and future workers of California, and the future of power generation as a whole.
According to the California public utilities commission, "SONGS is located in the L.A. Basin Local Area. The L.A. Basin local area has approximately 12,300 MW of generation and requires 10,600 MW to maintain reliability. SONGS, at 2,340 MW, is critically located in the southern part of the local area and aids system stability in addition to megawatts." This means that the power provided by SONGS to the local community is no longer present; this has created a gap in electrical power. In order to fill this gap, an...