Search for Alternative Fuels

As the American economy grows and more and more cars are on the road, the search for alternative fuels has become very intense. Many people feel that renewable fuels are the future of the heating and automotive industries. Many arguments have been made for and against the benefits of renewable fuels. In the article, “Renewable Energy is Expensive and Will Not Prevent Pollution,” Jerry Taylor argues that wind power and other types of renewable energy have significant economic and environmental drawbacks by using the poisoning the well fallacy, statistics, sarcasm, and others.
One of the tools that Taylor uses is the tactic of poisoning the well. In his opening paragraph, he says, “The Senate passed an energy bill that is 5 parts corporate welfare to 1 part Soviet-style central planning.” By associating the energy bill with the communism, Taylor is trying to convince his readers that the government should not be so involved with the regulation of energy. Because many of the renewable energy sources require government funding to survive, this tactic is aimed at getting the readers to prevent such funding.
Another tool that the author used in his argument is sarcasm. The last line reads, “but simply ordering the electricity sector around as if the Senate were the Politburo and private utilities were arms of the state will benefit neither the economy nor the environment.” This is another reference to communism, but by using a sarcastic tone Taylor changes the connotation and leaves the reader feeling like the government is being over dramatic.


One idea I have about my issues paper is the impact that improved agricultural techniques could have on the environment in developing countries.