Meet Ashok Gupta, an energy expert

Ashok Gupta, the director of the air and energy program for the Natural Resources Defense Council, helps companies improve energy efficiency while saving money. He has consulted on numerous green building projects.

TFK:
Tell us about the National Resources Defense Council, or NRDC, and its connection to green building.

Gupta:
The NRDC is a national environmental group that works to protect people, the places we live and the natural resources we all depend on. Part of NRDC's work is to ensure a safe and healthy environment. That includes helping to create green buildings standards so that we live and work in buildings that are as healthy, safe and energy-efficient as possible.

TFK:
What do you do?

Gupta:
I work with companies to help them find ways to use less energy. I offer them advice on ways they can make their products green, which is another way of saying that the products will not harm the environment. I also help them find ways to green the production process for those products - or create the products in a way that is safe for the environment.

TFK:
Where do we currently get our power?

Gupta:
In the United States, we make most of our energy by burning coal, natural gas and oil in plants that generate electricity. This current process of making energy is extremely dirty. In fact, it causes a lot of the world's pollution, including the kind that is creating global warming. And to find coal and oil, we have to dig or drill into mountains, the ground, and our oceans, which causes even more pollution and also harms wildlife.

TFK:
What are the main alternative energy sources and how are they better than traditional power?

Gupta:
These forms of energy are much better than coal and oil because they are both cleaner and renewable, meaning they do not pollute the Earth and we can keep using them forever.

More and more power today comes from clean, renewable sources like wind and solar. In fact so many wind and solar facilities are popping up all across the country that they are our fastest growing source for electricity. In some places, we are also getting energy from heat trapped deep underground. This is called geothermal energy.

One source of energy that people often forget about is energy savings - investing in things like more efficient refrigerators, air conditioners, or even light bulbs so that we don't need to produce as much energy in the first place.

TFK:
What energy sources do you think offer the most potential?

Gupta:
Right now, the most developed and most promising alternative energies are wind and solar. But another important part of our energy solution that I really like is energy-efficiency technologies. These technologies produce the same result, but take far less energy to do it. For example, there is a new type of light bulb called a CFL that uses 75% less energy than a normal bulb, but creates the same amount of light. If we make efficient versions of everything, maybe someday the U.S. could use 75% less energy than it does now, without anyone noticing the difference.

TFK:
Will the changes we're making, like using solar, wind and other types of power, decrease our dependence on oil?

Gupta:
Absolutely. The more we take advantage of these clean technologies, the less we'll need the dirty ones like oil and coal. Renewable technologies like solar and wind - along with energy efficiency and biofuels - can help us reduce our dependence on oil and coal.

TFK:
Why is that important?

Gupta:
It's important for two reasons. 1) Dirty energies pollute the air and lead to global warming. In order to stop the affects of global warming we need to reduce the amount of pollution we create. 2) We have a limited supply of oil and coal. Eventually we will run out of them. We need to take advantage of energy saving technologies and new forms of energy that will never run out, such as energy from wind and the sun. Oil in particular can also be very expensive (as you might have heard your parents mention when they stop to fill up the car!).

TFK:
Is it better for each individual home to have its own power supply, or is it better that all the homes on a block or in a community share one main source?

Gupta:
The main thing is to have clean energy whether each home has its own power supply or it is shared with others. This is because some sources for powering your own home or office, like oil, are not clean as solar panels.

TFK:
What is the difference between geothermal power and a geothermal well that is used to heat or cool a house?

Gupta:
First, the term geothermal refers to energy extracted from the ground - the heat within the Earth. The difference between geothermal power and a geothermal well lies in their size and amount and type of energy each can create. Geothermal power is much bigger, needs the really hot source of heat that is located far beneath the ground, and is used to create electricity. A geothermal well is smaller, doesn't require the really hot heat, and is used to heat or cool a house, or swimming pool.

Angelique LeDoux
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