A pedestal on Bioenergetics, a Snippet of One’s Rational Thought

John Shenon Uy
Boom! Crackle! All sounds of bursts of energy. In the world today, energy is
a much-needed necessity. Without energy, the world as we know it would be
held in a standstill. Trains would stop running, airplanes woul stop flying, lighthouses
would stop lighting, the world would go dark and the life we are currently living
would cease to exist. Humanity would take a step backward and renounce the
progress it has built up so far.

Although energy is a much-needed necessity, it is more or less taken for

granted because it is readily available. It may not seem like it right now, but our
current way of producing energy actually has a negative impact on the
environment. According to statistics from 2017, 29.9% of the electric energy we
produce comes from coal. When we burn coal, greenhouse gases like carbon
dioxide and methane get released into the atmosphere, contributing to global
warming and calamities caused by human intervention like acid rain.

Multiple alternatives have been introduced to reduce the impact of coal

on the environment like wind turbines, nuclear reactors, dams and geothermal
reactors, but so far none of these alternatives have produced energy as efficiently
as coal does, with the exception of nuclear reactors.

Nuclear Reactors are 8000 times more efficient than coal and does not
produce greenhouse gases that are lethal to the environment. Nuclear reactors
have lesser accidents with 57 disasters compared to the coal mining industry's 157
disasters. With all this said, why do countries ignore these facts and still go on and
use coal?

For one, although nuclear reactors are 8000 times more efficient than goal,
and are factually safer to use. If ever an accident might happen, nuclear reactors
will have much more of an impact, and are harder to clean up compared to coal
disasters. Due to this, most countries have avoided nuclear reactors as they are
'risky.' The Philippines, for example, only has one nuclear power plant found in
Bataan. Nuclear-free zones like Austria, Canada, Japan and New Zealand have
banned nuclear weapons and nuclear power plants due to concerns regarding
their safety. With all the above said, should we still use nuclear reactors to produce
energy?

In current times, it is still up to the country whether to take the risks or not,
but the nuclear industry is a highly underrated one.