Electric Vehicles and Zero-Emission Cars Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Electric Vehicles and Zero-Emission Cars - Essay Example Introduction The 21st century has ushered in a new host of problems. To a large extent one recognizes that the increasing move towards globalization has created many of these challenges. One of the most predominant difficulties is energy consumption. Energy consumption is a notable concern both for the difficulties associated with attaining overseas petroleum, as well as environmental concerns over gas emissions. While petroleum use, most scientists agree, threatens the environment, society still has maintained a strong reliance on this energy source. In recent years, however, electric vehicles and zero-emission cars have emerged that have posed a slight challenge to the petroleum hegemony. This essay considers various elements related to these vehicles and cars. Electric Vehicles and Zero-Emission Cars While most people are aware of electric and hybrid vehicles, few understand their history or cursory issues. The electric vehicle is a vehicle that implements an electric motor for it s primary power source. Within this context of recognition there are a number of different types of vehicles that implement electric power. One sort of electric vehicle uses energy that is located at an outside power source. Another form of electric vehicle operates from electric energy that was originally produced by an outside power source; one recognizes that hybrid vehicles would fall within this category as they gain their energy from an external electrical supply. The final type of electric vehicle is one that produces electric energy from an internal source (Mitchell 2010, p. 7). While most people associate electric vehicles with cars, in actuality electricity has been used to power a wide range of transportation devices. In these regards, everything from boats to planes to trains has been powered using electric energy. Electric vehicles have a long history. Indeed, one considers that by the early 18th century engineers and scientists had been experimenting with electric prop ulsion. Still, it wasn’t until the 20th century that electric vehicles were popularized within the United States. While electric vehicles were among the first types of cars produced, to a large extent electric propulsion remained marginalized to petroleum devices throughout the 20th century. Towards the end of the 20th century electric cars gained a slight resurgence. In 1990 the California Air Resources Board mandated that major automobile manufacturers produce electric vehicles for sale. Through the decade then automobile manufacturers increased production of these vehicles. Towards the end of the 1990s, however, consumers increasingly began to move towards sports utility vehicles. One of the main recognitions in these regards is that the lower-gas prices that were experienced during this period and the robust economy created a situation where electric vehicles were increasingly untenable. Still, with the on-set of the 21st century the hybrid car emerged as a trend. The 200 1 the Toyota Prius became the first mass-produced hybrid electric car. A number of other hybrid vehicles would follow. Hybrid vehicles held a number of benefits over vehicles that entirely relied on electric power.

Why the Pros out weigh the Cons of legalizing marijuana Essay

Why the Pros out weigh the Cons of legalizing marijuana - Essay Example Herein will contain the reasons why the legalization of marijuana should take place, taxes placed on it for the purpose of debt relief and the medicinal value of the plant. It is imperative that the United States pass legislation to legalize the use of marijuana, as there are many people that use the drug for recreational reasons, and those who use it for medicinal reasons as well. According to a survey conducted by the National Survey on Drug Use and Health in 2009, 16.7 million Americans over the age of 12 had used marijuana at least one time in the month before this survey was conducted. That is roughly 5% of the population in the U.S. that were honest enough to admit to marijuana use. Given that so many people use the drug, if legalization were to take place, the taxation of it alone would critically help the United States’ debt problems. Often marijuana is labeled as a ‘gateway’ drug, meaning that it is the beginning drug for people to pursue other more dange rous drugs, like cocaine or heroin. This is a false assumption, and this report will seek to prove that as well. Marijuana has been used for centuries by varying indigenous peoples throughout Europe and Asia. It is thought to be first used as an intoxicant around 1000 B.C. in India. In China, it was used to make cloth and medicine, and considered to be in use in other parts of the world prior to 500 A.D. (National Commission of Marijuana and Drug Abuse, 2010). Among the many religions that use marijuana for religious purposes, the most commonly known are the Rastafarians. They use the drug to â€Å"enhance their consciousness of the relationship between God, Creation and the individual soul.† (Marijuana Legalization Organization, [MLO] 2006). Among other religions, the Quakers, Judeo-Christian, and Shinto use marijuana for religious reasons (MLO, 2006). Marijuana should be legalized, taxed and restricted to certain age groups for use in the United States, as the reasons for l egalization far outweigh the reasons not to legalize. Methodology In order to find out the medicinal value and the reasons for taxation of marijuana, I employed a Google search, and found a multitude of articles, journals and other written outlets both for and against legalization. Marijuana has been found to relieve pain and is a safe and effective treatment of peripheral neuropathy, which is a common occurrence in HIV/AIDS patents. Caused by nerve damage, this type of pain often cannot be effectively treated with standard narcotic pain medicines, but marijuana was shown to give these sufferers relief. It has also been shown to help those suffering from hepatitis C virus to curb the nausea associated with the traditional treatments. It is also being used for sufferers of multiple sclerosis and diabetes (Kampia, 2007). Although there are many medicinal purposes for the plant, legalization and taxation of it would be of enormous benefit to the United States Economy. The costs to the United States and taxpayers are enormous to keep marijuana illegal. There are no certain numbers available due to the variability of costs of factors. Some of those factors are: Cost of law enforcement officers Cost of prosecution and defense of offenders Cost of incarceration of convicted offenders Cost of social services and foster care for children of offenders (MLO, 2006). Given these costs, which are few in the plethora of available issues concerning keeping marijuana illegal, the costs of growing the plant and taxing it are hugely different and beneficial. According to MLO (2006) estimates, the U.S. spends anywhere from $7 to $12 billion each year on drug control programs. These do no include misdemeanor cases, but it is important to note that these numbers to not allow for the expenditures on marijuana alone, as it is all