1. Magill, B., & @bobbymagill, F. (2014, August 28). Coal Plants Lock in 300 Billion Tons ofCO2 Emissions.

Background: This article analyzes coal-based power plants. The author spends most of the text to describe the dangers of coal power plants and how much carbon dioxide they release into the environment. The article also states statistics on how much greenhouse gases these power plants release into the atmosphere. The article then goes into describing climate change and how there needs to be a change in the power industry.

How I used it: I used this article to put the dangers of coal-based power plants in perspective. I used a quote from the article the offers a statistic that explains how much carbon dioxide these coal power plants release into the environment. This helped set an introduction for the danger of coal power plants.

2. MacMillan, A. (2020, March 9). Global Warming 101.

Background: This article mostly focuses on what global warming really is and describing it. The article follows a question and answer format, where it describes questions such as, “What is global warming.” The article not only describes what global warming is but describes what causes global warming and what global warming can cause.

How I used it: I used this article to put global warming in perspective and help define what global warming is. I specifically used it to describe to the reader how global warming is the global temperature increasing.

3. How Do Wind Turbines Work? (n.d.).

Background: This article describes the how wind turbines operate. The article goes onto explain how they work technically, describing how wind turbines generate power. The article also describes other operations involve in wind turbines like wind patterns.

How I used it: I used this article to describe how wind turbines are a valuable renewable energy source. I also used a quote from the article to help describe how a wind turbine operates. This helped strengthen my detention of renewable sources of power.

4. How Do Solar Panels Work? (n.d.).

Background: This article goes into a lot of detail in explaining how solar panels operate. The article explains how harnessing the power of the sun can be used to create power. Even though the article mostly explains how the most common solar panels operates, photovoltaic solar panels, it also mentions other types of solar panels, solar thermal and concentrated solar power.

How I used it: I used this article to help define renewable sources of energy specifically solar panels. This article proved to be useful in defining the technical aspect of a solar panel. This was used to strengthen my overall definition of renewables and solar panels.

5. How a Nuclear Reactor Works. (n.d.).

Background: This article goes into detail explaining nuclear power. The article goes over the different types of reactors, primarily the ones used in the United States. The author also explains the process in how nuclear reactors produce energy. Technologic advancements of nuclear reactors are also described in this article.

How I used it: I used this article to help strengthen my definition of clean power sources, more specifically nuclear. I was able to use this article to help describe how a nuclear reactor generates power.

6. Jenkins, J. D., Zhou, Z., Ponciroli, R., Vilim, R. B., Ganda, F., Sisternes, F. de, & Botterud, A. (2018, April 24). The benefits of nuclear flexibility in power system operations with renewable energy.

Background: This article describes how nuclear reactors usually operate a maximum capacity but can be operated more flexible. The article goes onto explain how operating a nuclear reactor with more flexibility is safer and more efficient.

How I used it: I used this article to help argue that nuclear reactors are safer than most people think. I described that nuclear reactors can operate more flexible and because of this makes them safer. This article helped me argue that with a lower production output we can make nuclear reactors safer than they already are.

7. McPharlin, K. (2019, November 22). Is Nuclear Energy Safe?

Background: This article spends time going through and agreeing how nuclear reactors are safe. The author arguers that nuclear reactors have high safety standards and safety protocols that make it extremely unlikely for a disaster to happen. The author also goes onto argue that nuclear power plants are regulated frequently making them even more safe.

How I used it: I used this article to help argue that nuclear power plants are a lot safer than people may think. I described the safety layers described in the article, which strengthened my argument in nuclear power safety.

8. Shellenberger, M. (n.d.). Why renewables can’t save the planet: Michael Shellenberger:TEDxDanubia.

Background: In this Ted Talk Micheal Shellenberger spends most of the time describing the issues of renewables. He spends a large portion talking about the geographical issues renewables impose. He also argues that solar panels take up large spaces of land, killing off animals in the process.

How I used it: I used this article to help argue how renewables can not generate all of the words power without nuclear power. I described how if we were to only use renewables, we would have to take up large amounts of land, killing animals.

9. Suman, S. (2018, February 1). Hybrid nuclear-renewable energy systems: A review.

Background: This article starts off describing the issues of renewables and nuclear power plants operating individually. But the author explains how a power grid with nuclear and renewables would be more efficient. The author describes that utilizing both would reduce climate change and give energy security.

How I used it: I used this article to help argue that renewable sources of energy are not efficient enough to operate on their own. This article helped me argue how renewables depend on geographical locations and weather conditions. Making them inefficient by themselves.\

10. Renewable Energy: Why Don’t We Use It More If It’s So Great? (2015, February 13).

Background: This article starts off by introducing renewables and giving a brief overview on how the energy industry needs to change soon. The article the n goes onto explain the benefits of renewable sources but also explains the cons of renewable sources of power.

How I used it: I used this article to battle the argument of just using renewables for our main source of power. This argue was used to strengthen my argument in that renewables are not always reliable, and they require perfect conditions to operate at max efficiency, making them inefficient in providing power for our growing power usage.

11. Pielke, R. (2020, March 10). Every Day 10,000 People Die Due To Air Pollution From Fossil Fuels.

Background: This article focuses on going over the problems of burning fossil fuels. The article does not just focus on climate change but explain how burning fossil fuels kill people every day. The article also describes how climate change is affecting the word.

How I used it: I used this article to argue that nuclear power is a lot safer than some climate deniers believe. I used a statistic from the article to put how many people die from burring fossil fuels to prove nuclear power is a much safer form of energy production.

12. France: A Study of French Nuclear Policy After Fukushima. (2012, July 17).

Background: This article gives a overview of the nuclear power history of France. The article explains how France has been using nuclear power for their main source of power for a large majority of time. The article also describes how France reacted to other nuclear reactor disasters that happened elsewhere and how they improved their own.

How I used it: I used this article to strengthen my argument of nuclear power safety. I used France as an example, in how they have been using nuclear power for a large majority of time. I used the fact they haven’t had many disasters as my main argument with this source.

13. Steinberg, D., Bielen, D., Eichman, J., Eurek, K., Logan, J., Mai, T., … Wilson, E. (2017). Electrification and Decarbonization: Exploring U.S. Energy Use and Greenhouse Gas Emissions in Scenarios with Widespread Electrification and Power Sector Decarbonization. doi: 10.2172/1372620

Background: This article is a large overview of greenhouse gases andsources of power. This article spends a large majority of time describing both greenhouse gases and what caused carbon emissions. The article also goes over overall power usage and predictions of power usage in the future.

How I used it: I used this article to help argue how power consumption is increasing every day and the renewables will not be reliable enough to keep up with energy consumption. But the usage of renewable and nuclear will prove to be sufficient.