Examining My Community's Source of Energy Essay

Examining My Community's Source of Energy - Essay Example This paper seeks to establish the sources of energy in Hillsborough County, Florida both at the basic home level and the community level. It will look into the type of energy in use and the approximate cost of energy from the household to the community. This will also include the impacts of the energy source to the community over the time it has been in use and seek to establish new alternative sources that can effectively replace the existing sources with consideration to the effects both to the household and the environment. Sources of energy for the community Hillsborough County in Florida is a community that has several choices on the sources of energy to use. This comes as a result of the availability of several companies that specialize in provision of the different types of energy. Currently, there are around sixteen energy production companies in the area. The common types of energy source in use are coal, electricity, solar energy and wood. However, is worth noting that thes e sources of energy are mostly generated locally which leads to the centralized pollution system to the environment by the well over sixteen companies in the area. ... The coal is also used for the same reason of heat and energy production by the companies though there are a small number of households that make home use of it. Impacts of available energy sources on home and community The discussion about use of coal, wood and the production of electricity are all embroiled in the fact that to some extent, they all pollute the environment. The United States of America is one of the countries with the highest use of coal. In the locality, the disaster caused by the use of coal cannot be undermined. One effect of coal use is the radiation exposure. Coal is known to contain traces of Uranium and Thorium which are radioactive materials that occur naturally occur naturally. The coal wastes from the plants are known to be highly disastrous than the direct emissions from a nuclear plant. The other long term effects of the gases released from the use of coal are those associated with the greenhouse gas release to the environment. These greenhouse gases are of great hazard especially to the ozone layer depletion. The third negated effect of coal use is that it causes so many annual deaths. In the United States at large, the deaths resulting from the coal particulate pollution and ground level ozone without effective pollution control measures is on the increase. The deaths are caused by probable development of lung cancer, heart attacks and the acute bronchitis to the victims. Coal also when used even in traces release methyl mercury to the environment. This is a mercury emission that is very fatal to the plant and animal life. The air emissions related to use of coal in this environment is of absolute interest. There are a

The understanding of modern urban life and the place of a man in Essay

The understanding of modern urban life and the place of a man in modern city - Essay Example In this work Simmel underlined that in conditions of modern city and urban society an individual can successfully develop his skills and abilities, as the economical and political situation of modern and post-modern community promotes individual freedom and flexibility. Simmel underlined that "the city conspires to erase difference by assaulting the individual with an overwhelming and never-ending stream of visual stimuli" (Byram, 2002). This vision is inherent to the spacing theory of scientific rationalism, modern and post-modern experience that fills the space with giant cubic forms suppressing the consciousness of people and their freedom. In Simmel's opinion, our society consists of individuals who interact with each other, and this interacting forms features and specificity of our society: "While there is no perception of society until individuals begin to interact, once formed by the interaction of individuals, the society affects the individuals as an outside force" (Crow Ch. , et al., 2000). Benjamin considered modern urban experience and a new politics of vision through the development of technologies. He underlined that "because of mechanical reproduction, art loses its authenticity. Simmel also underlined that metropolis allows individuals to develop their freedom and art. But in the other hand, Simmel asserted that post-modern urban spirit threats individuality (see above). As well as Simmel, Benjamin had positive attitude to communications development: "Benjamin is positive about new technologies, emphasizing their liberating, democratising influences. Simmel gave more social approach to the communication technologies as interactions between people asserting that they form our society, but Benjamin wrote about the positive attitude to such technologies as film and photography: "New media technologies such as phonographs, epic theatre, and especially film and photography, not only destroy art's 'aura' but demystifies the process of creating art, making available rad ical new access and roles for art in mass culture" (Bicket, 2001). With the development of photography and film human perception is changed, and the understanding of modern and post-modern urban reality is also transformed. The paper has demonstrated two authors' positions on modern and post-modern urban experience and their attitude to mass media and technology development. Both Simmel and Benjamin underlined the importance of technological development and its influence on art, culture and our understanding of social environment. They underlined positive and negative approaches of modern and post-modern urban experience and explained the influence of urban life on people. Simmel's views are more approached to the negative and depressing influence of urban life on individuals, while those of Benjamin are more inclined to the positive perception of technological and cultural aspects of modern and pos