Homework Help Forum: Geography

Posted by mysterychicken on Wednesday, August 26, 2009 at 6:04pm.

I have to write a short essay for this topic: Compare and contrast the various sources of energy. This is what I have, but the only problem is I don't think this is comparing and contrasting. I'm just giving the facts out. Can someone please help me by letting me know how I can compare all of these?: Modern industrial cities use energy for mostly everything in their everyday life. The main energy source is non-renewable fossil fuels. Nearly all modern developed countries depend heavily on fossil fuels. Most have to import much of what they use because few of these nations have sufficient supplies to meet their needs. Oil and natural gas reserves are spread unevenly around the world; over half of the world’s oil supply is located in Southwest Asia. At the current rate of use, the world’s oil is expected to run out in less than a century and that is why today people are searching for new energy sources.

• Geography - mysterychicken, Wednesday, August 26, 2009 at 6:05pm

  Coal is also an energy source and the United States, Russia, and China have rich deposits of it. The world’s reserves of coal are thought to be enough for two hundred years but it has its drawbacks because burning coal can create air pollution such as acid rain. Another source of energy is nuclear energy, which is produced by fission. This source has many questions and concerns and it also uses uranium, which is a limited and non-renewable source.

  
  

• Geography - mysterychicken, Wednesday, August 26, 2009 at 6:05pm

  Another source of energy is nuclear energy, which is produced by fission. This source has many questions and concerns and it also uses uranium, which is a limited and non-renewable source.

  
  

• Geography - mysterychicken, Wednesday, August 26, 2009 at 6:06pm

  A very old source of energy, water power, uses the energy of falling water to move machinery or create electricity. Water power is a renewable energy source, which is why it can be a good source to use.

  
  

• Geography - mysterychicken, Wednesday, August 26, 2009 at 6:06pm

  Geothermal energy is energy that comes from the earth’s inner heat. This type of energy is used in areas with volcanic activity; Iceland, Italy, Japan, and New Zealand all make use of geothermal energy. The last type of energy, solar energy, is energy produced by the sun. Systems to gather and store the sun’s energy have been used for years, but generating electricity from solar energy has been hard. All the same, solar radiation is the best renewable energy source.

  
  

• Geography - Ms. Sue, Wednesday, August 26, 2009 at 6:10pm

  In your discussion of each energy source, you need to give the positives and negatives. For instance, we use a lot of oil and gas because it's efficient and relatively cheap. However, the supplies are limited and we will run out some day. In addition, we have to depend on foreign countries, some of which have onerous political systems for much of our oil and gas.

  
  

• Geography - mysterychicken, Wednesday, August 26, 2009 at 6:12pm

  OK, but will doing that to all of them compare them? -MC

  
  

• Geography - Writeacher, Wednesday, August 26, 2009 at 6:17pm

  The following directions are for comparing/contrasting only two ideas or items. You'll need to expand from two to six to deal with this assignment. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Whenever you are writing a comparison/contrast paper (paragraph, essay, research paper), you need to plan it out very carefully on paper first. Try this: 1. Write all the information about one of your topics on one page. 2. Write all the information about the other topic on another page. 3. Then put them together in this order: 1. Intro 2. All about topic A ~~~2A. detail 1 ~~~2B. detail 2 ~~~2C. detail 3 ~~~2D. detail 4 ~~~2E. detail 5 3. All about topic B ~~~3A. detail 1 ~~~3B. detail 2 ~~~3C. detail 3 ~~~3D. detail 4 ~~~3E. detail 5 4. Concl. The number of details for each topic will vary depending on your main points. I would include comparisons (how they are similar) in the introduction and conclusion, but sections 2 and 3 and all those details will be stating and explaining how they are different. There are two recognized patterns for writing comparison/contrast papers. One is casually referred to as "zig-zag,” but can be very confusing for the reader if you don’t use transitions effectively. The other is topic-by-topic (which is what I've outlined above) and is much easier for the reader to follow. See http://leo.stcloudstate.edu/acadwrite/comparcontrast.html for further help with comparison/contrast writing. Once you have organized your information, please repost if you’d like feedback from someone here.

  
  

• Geography - Ms. Sue, Wednesday, August 26, 2009 at 6:18pm

  Yes. You'll also want to point out which are renewable and which are nonrenewable resources.

  
  

• Geography - mysterychicken, Wednesday, August 26, 2009 at 6:21pm

  Thanks guys! -MC

  
  

• Geography - Writeacher, Wednesday, August 26, 2009 at 6:29pm

  If you want to post your outline before you start drafting the paragraphs, we can comment before you get too invested in the drafting!

  
  

• Geography - mysterychicken, Wednesday, August 26, 2009 at 6:30pm

  As soon as I get it done I will, but I think I'm going to work on it tomorrow since I've already done an essay today! -MC

  
  

• Geography - Writeacher, Wednesday, August 26, 2009 at 6:31pm

  That's fine. =)

  
  

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