Running Head: TOPIC PROPOSAL 1

Topic Proposal

Sebastian Miki-Silva

University of Texas at El Paso

Running Head: TOPIC PROPOSAL 2

Questions:

1.- How much electricity is produced in the US annually?

In 2015, 4,077,601 thousand Megawatthours were produced.

2.- Whats the environmental impact of creating this energy?

The main source for producing electricity is coal, which releases tons of carbon dioxide

gas into the atmospheres, which is known one of the contributors for the greenhouse effect.

3.- How could the use of solar energy reduce this impact?

Table 3.1.A. Net Generation by Energy Source: Total (All Sectors), 2005 - 2015. (n.d.).

Retrieved October 26, 2017, from https://www.eia.gov/electricity/annual/html/epa_03_01_a.html

Provides information of the net electricity generation annually, from 2005 to 2015. Also

provides information about the amount of electricity generated by different sources, including

coal, nuclear, solar, etc. We can observe how the amount produced each year changes. From the

source, now we know that the amount of electricity produced by the US in the year 2015 was

4,077,601 thousand Megawatthours, which answers the first question. The biggest sources are

coal and natural gas, followed by nuclear. Smallest source is petroleum coke.

Table 2.1.A. Coal: Consumption for Electricity Generation, by Sector, 2007-August 2017

(Thousand Tons). (n.d.). Retrieved October 26, 2017, from

https://www.eia.gov/electricity/monthly/epm_table_grapher.php?t=epmt_2_01_a
Running Head: TOPIC PROPOSAL 3

Provides information about the amount of coal used in thousand tons to produce

electricity annually, from 2007 to 2016. Shows how much coal is used in the different sectors of

electricity production. Because the information is presented annually, we can observe easily the

changes of coal consumption over the years. From the source, we know that the coal production

has been decreasingly dramatically over the years. In 2016, there was 678,005 thousand tons

used for electricity production, almost 40% less than in 2007. From this numbers, we can

estimate the environmental impact caused by the burning of coal, which would respond question

2.