Pros and Cons of green technology Essay

Green technology is a term that is being was from the time when Mother Nature started to reflect the consequences of the human’s actions. Since the global population start to grow rapidly, the demand of services and products have grow as well, so the human have to had to think more about how to do a better use of the nonrenewable resources. This problem has carried the continuous development of methods and materials that do not affect the environment. Nowadays expertise, companies and government are working hard on the generation of mechanisms and techniques to avoid and diminish environmental contamination. However, green technology has some disadvantages that do not allow people to afford it, and support more this environmental cause. The origin of the use of green technology start when according to Walsh, Mayor Michael Bloomberg tried to force those drivers to go hybrid before New York City ever had its yellow fleet of gas-guzzling taxis. There was a thriving electric-taxi company at the turn of the 20th century that served the entire metropolis, and green technology was considered something of the future. By that time there to clean up an economy that has been inexorably built on fossil fuels on coal, oil and gasoline-powered automobiles. However, today big businesses do care about the future of the world if any measurable actions are not taken care, and executed. The first advantage of using green technology is that with the use of renewable resources future generations are not going to be threatening for the lack of natural and clean resources, like clean air and clean water. Implementing sustainable materials and methods that meet society needs in manners that do not deplete natural resources, guarantee the life of the planet. This new kind of technology brings the creation of sustainable materials that reduce the impact on the environment. These materials improve indoor air quality, energy efficiency, water conservation, and affordability. Talk about sustainable materials includes green buildings. The requirements that build green building includes energy efficiency, renewable energy water, water efficiency, environmentally building materials and specifications, waste reductions, toxics reduction,  indoor air quality and smart growth and sustainable development. Stated in (Energy in Green Building) buildings in United States involve 35 percent of direct energy use, of that 35 percent, 64 percent goes into heating, ventilation, and air conditioning; 24 percent heats hot water; 13 percent provides lighting; and electrical appliances are beginning to cut a significant wedge into the pie. In terms of carbon dioxide production, in total, buildings are responsible for 48% of all greenhouse gasses. Strategically placing windows and skylights can eliminate the need for electrical lighting during the day and reduce from 20 to 30 percent the energy use. The creation of sustainable materials is one of those challenges of the companies nowadays. In fact all the products of manufacturing companies need to have a conformity certification, and that guaranty to the costumer a product with quality. This is an job of Underwriters Laboratories (UL) is one of the labs that awards manufactured products to be within the standards parameters, now is bestowing a sustainable materials certificate. Supplies such as pencils of reforested certified wood by Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) assure people that this pencil was from a renewable resource, also the crayons made petroleum free. Environmentalists suggest using paper rolls and paper pad recycled. Also using paper bags from recycle paper helps the environment. Besides there are different supplies made from organic cotton that are free of pesticides and synthetic fertilizers. Eco friendly paints are a good option not only for the environment but also for the people that live in this house or apartment. Paint free of VOC will reduce the pollution in the house due to the poisonous gases that the paint gives off even when is dry, and cause an immense destruction to the environment. Another good decision is a cork floor is an inexpensive and durable material. Green technology has carried a lot of innovation of technology that does not affect the environment, and also has cause changes in patterns of production and consumption. Going green is also an advantage in a difficult economy when the recycle is place in practice, for example, According to NRDC, Bank of America reduced the weight of its ATM receipts from 20 pounds to 15 pounds, saving paper, transportation, storing and handling costs, to the tune of $500,000 a year. Coca-Cola’s efforts to cut down on packaging saved it $100 million. The use of renewable energy is economically and environmentally viable. In the United States, wind farms are going up across the nation, providing electricity at the competitive wholesale rate of three to five cents per kilowatt-hour (Energy in Green Building). Shell Oil estimated that for the â€Å"by 2010 commercial energy from biomass could provide five percent of the world’s power.† The value of that energy production could be over $20 billion. The environment pollution in the use of fossil fuels is causing sicknesses and diseases in the human health. â€Å"Air pollution is causing more deaths than HIV or malaria combined,† Kandeh Yumkella, director general of the U.N. Industrial Development Organization said. A 2012 World Health Organization (WHO) study found that 3.5 million people die early annually from indoor air pollution and 3.3 million from outdoor air pollution. Toxic particles shorten lives by causing diseases such as pneumonia or cancer. â€Å"Still, it means more than 6 million deaths every year caused by air pollution,† said Neira. â€Å"The horrible thing is that this will be growing† because of rising use of fossil fuels. On the contrary part green technology has some disadvantages. The first reason why no many people or industries choose green technology is for the highest production cost that this represents. Eco-friendly products need new research and technology that might be invested in the searched of new materials and ways of production that do not affect to the nature. The higher cost is due to the small amount of eco-friendly products on the market, so for the manufacturers complicated the cost-cutting. For example Consumer Search estimates that you will pay about $1,000 more for a furnace that’s 90 percent efficient than one that’s 80 percent efficient. Over the life of the furnace however, you will likely save much more than $1,000 in fuel costs if you choose the more efficient unit. According to MSN, a fuel-efficient vehicle costs up to $4,000 more upfront than vehicles with standard fuel efficiency. Even though more efficient vehicles can lower fuel costs for years and help protect the environment, many buyers are just not willing to invest in efficient (Cost of Going Green). Stated by Jon Kaplan, owner of Greenworks Cabinetry, a Florida company that manufactures eco-friendly furniture products, he must get many of his building materials from the West Coast and even Asia, which  leads to higher prices for the consumer. Since the 2008 a company named Nstar initiated a program that supplied energy coming from wind farms in Maine and upstate New York. At the beginning of the program customers decided to paid 1.4 cents more per kilowatt per hour, increase the price of the kilowatt from 12.5 to 13.9. At the beginning the number of customers was 8,368 customers in January 2010, but this number that decreased to 6,163 people using the NStar Green service. Some green alternatives like environment-friendly toiletries, wood furniture and organic materials cost more than non-green products. The use of bio-fuel can provide a number of advantages over conventional forms of energy. Meanwhile using fossil fuel increase the greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and in the United States (GHG) represent about a third of total U.S. emissions of carbon dioxide, the use of bio-fuels can reduce significantly the greenhouse effect. On a full fuel-cycle basis, corn ethanol has the potential to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by as much as 52% over petroleum-based fuels using bio-fuels such as coal, natural gas, and biomass will reduce however this can represent a problem due to the raise of the prices of certain kind of food. Using food crops to produce ethanol will raise the nutritional problems (â€Å"Environmental Benefits of Bio-fuels†). According to the World Health Organization, nearly 60 percent of the people on earth are currently malnourished. This means that the use of corn for ethanol production will increase the price of the beef, eggs, white meat and fish. Pimentel States that the hungry problem rise in the mid –century from 8 to 9 million because the lack of food because it was burned more grain as fuel. Another fact that can be attributing to the use of bio-fuel is the inconsistence of some of the available renewable options of fuels is inconsistent. For example if it is wanted to produce energy from the wind, the space require to install wind turbines need to be large, this will reduce the space dedicated for harvest and food production, and cattle. Moreover there are certain places where the wind is not as good for energy production, as if the turbines are installed near the ocean, this will restrict the tourism growth, and at least 16 feet waves are required for the turbines’ efficiency. Wind energy is also noisy and that’s the reason why they are constructed in areas far away of human life. This is a threat to the wild life. The use of solar energy is very expensive and only works during the day. Photovoltaic batteries can be used,  but the price of them are increasing, and also the location of the solar panels is very important, so they must be installed in areas where the shadows of other buildings do not affect its efficacy. The third con of going green is in put up in green buildings. Likewise green buildings have a high cost in its construction, it is contradictory that the main purpose of it it is the money saving. Thus this is because most of the materials are not available in America, so the importations increase the price of them immediately. Nevertheless not only this, green buildings do not affect directly to the environment but for the people inside the building it does. This is because basically all the recycle materials used have harmful chemical products that emit toxins and affect the indoor air. For example the fluorescent lights used emit radiations which affect the health. Work Cited Beach, Emely â€Å"Cons of going green† Apr 29, 2011, Web. Apr. 17, 2013. Doyle, Alyster. â€Å"Air pollution scourge underestimated, green energy can help: U.N.† Web Apr 17, 2013 < http://www.reuters.com> Walsh, Bryan. â€Å"The Surprisingly Long History of Green Energy† Apr. 06, 2011 http://www.buzzle.com/articles/what-are-the-disadvantages-of-green-buildings.html The Disadvantages of Going Green for a Corporation by Chris Joseph, Demand Media http://smallbusiness.chron.com/disadvantages-going-green-corporation-3318.html The high cost of going green Premium for NStar wind program rises sharply BY: Bruce Mohl November 29, 2012 Greening Business Earthshare.org. http://www.earthshare.org/greening-business.html