Ethical Energy Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words - 3

Ethical Energy - Essay Example In that, non-renewable resources are against the rights approach, the justice theory and the obligations to future generations approach used in environmental ethics. Renewable resources, on the other hand, present a clean alternative for energy production. Though the land required may be large, such land is available to the state of Belina. The high costs per unit are justified by the low social cost per unit. Therefore, it is recommended that Belina take up a combination of the wind power and biomass energy bids to supply the needs of its population. Renewable resources are energy sources that come from the natural environment (Renewable Energy and Sustainable Development, 1997). The other options to energy sources include use of fossil fuels and nuclear energy. Fossil fuels are finite, expensive to extract, and cause air, water and soil pollution, and produce greenhouse gases that contribute to global warming. Renewable resources are cleaner alternatives to the problems of pollution and the social inequality that the pollution creates. These resources are also renewable – therefore, they will never run out (West, 2008). Some people are of the view that the connection between economic growth and environmental deterioration is inevitable. Hesburgh (1992) recognizes that the connection between human energy needs and environmental deterioration is as old as human civilization. As man used wood for shelter and warmth, it caused harm to the environment. However, Hesburgh (1992) also explains that the ‘primitive societies were so small and fragile in comparison with the forces of nature with which they contended that their impacts were minimal’. Ausubel (2007) argues that renewable resources for the production of energy may be renewable but they are not green and they are almost as destructive or more destructive for the environment than the non-renewable sources of energy.