Blog 7

This week and weekend I have been reading a lot about both SPS and OTEC, which are two of the several alternative energy plans I have had to read about for debate. I figured since I have been reading so much about these two in particular, I might as well blog about them. I have read through the majority of each file, each of which are about 100 and something pages, with cards (articles) by various authors. SPS, which stands for Solar Powered Satellites, is a plan that I had to argue in favor of this past weekend. The plan is that the US Federal Government, through NASA, will put SPS Systems into space. Some impacts that we have researched that will supposedly occur if the plan is not implemented include extinction, and trade wars, which will lead to global war and eventually nuclear war. Another plan I have read a lot about is OTEC, or Ocean Thermal Energy Conversion. This is the affirmative that I usually run, so I have learned a lot about it. The idea is that the USFG will put in these giant machines into the water that will convert the energy formed by the different water temperatures in the ocean, and turn it into useable energy. Not only will it be a very good alternative source of energy, but OTEC will also prevent extinction that would have been a result of the overfishing that is occurring in the oceans currently, and the stripping of the biodiversity of the fish, and it will also teach us a lot about space colonization. Between the two alternative energy plans, I prefer OTEC, because it has more positive side effects, and to me juts seems like a better idea overall.