Search Results

To Listen to Audio click the Play Button [beneath each segment] which varies based on the browser you are using.

March 25, 2015

Title: Fossil Fuels, Mother Earth, and Mankind
Topic: Fossil Fuels

Discussed by Dr. Mark J. Perry
with American Enterprise Institute (www.AEI.org)

We all need energy. Everyone – across the globe – uses some form of energy every day. Whether that energy comes from coal, gas, wind, solar, or good ol’ fashion burnin’ wood…We all need energy. Until the use of coal was discovered, we cut down trees to heat our homes. To cook. To clean.

Then entered fossil fuels. The discovery of coal literally saved the deforestation of Europe and America. “It was a huge turning point in energy development,” Dr. Perry says. Oil halted the killing of whales and seals, and fertilizer also had a hand in moving things forward. How? Dr. Perry explains how these were other positive improvements to the world’s economy.

Now, switching to other forms of energy: solar and wind energy. Dr. Perry says experts agree that “Solar and wind energy farms are far too expensive and take up too much room. Twenty-five years from now, fossil fuels will still be providing over 80% of our energy needs.” The environmentalists and those in DC, however, keep pushing the EPA to issue mandates to lower the use of fossil fuels – or ban them completely. Is it all about the money?

Dr. Mark J. Perry is a Professor of Economics and Finance in the School of Management at the Flint Campus of The University of Michigan. He is also a resident scholar at the American Enterprise Institute. You can follow Dr. Perry’s blog [here].

More from this Guest      More on this Topic      More from this Organization