Analyzing Rhetorical Strategies in "Is nuclear fusion the best way to support rising energy demands?"

Rhetorical strategies are used by authors to connect with his or her's audience so the message the article, book, poem, paper or any opinion based piece is illustrated as effectively as possible. Without connecting with audience the entire piece of literature can become dull and unread by its intended audience which is not the intended effect. Below are the strategies used Steven Cowley in his article about nuclear fusion (Find it here).

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Appeals to Credibility

1. Dr. Cowley uses his knowledge of nuclear fusion technology and he appealed to belief that people have about the need for renewable energy to become a major producer of our energy needs. He used these strategies so the reader knows that the author understands what he is writing about. Also, by appealing to his audience's belief that renewable energy is necessary helps the author because audiences are more likely to find him credible.
2. The audience is first introduced to the author through his knowledge of world events surrounding renewable energy and his knowledge of experiments being done by a conglomerate of scientists funded by the biggest nations in the world. His knowledge of fusion reactions is unparalleled and that is noticeable through his ability to explain what is going in this field.
3. The use of Dr. Cowley's knowledge in the post and his use of the audiences belief is effective because it draws the audience in to the article. Once the audience is there, Cowley uses his knowledge to inform his readers of new developments in fusion reactions and why these so important. Without his vast knowledge and his well placed position in life to be in the know about certain events in the nuclear fusion reaction world the article would not be as effective.
4. Dr. Cowley is bias because his job is the head of atomic energy in the UK. Without the large amounts of money being funded to nuclear fusion research there would be no job for him. So his appeal in the article that nuclear fusion is the way forward in the move from fossil fuels to renewable energy in our global economy is a bias statement by him even if it is true.

Appeals to Emotion

1. Dr. Cowley uses shocking statistics about nuclear fusion's cost, some of the variables necessary to create nuclear fusion and the amount of time it has taken to get to this point in nuclear fusion technology. Cowley also uses a tone in the latter part of the article to instill some hope and fear regarding nuclear fusion and how it is a dream which cuts both ways.
2. Dr. Cowley is attempting to create a sense of hope about nuclear fusion but also a sense of despair regarding a reality where fossil fuels are no longer in great supply and a majority of our economy energy comes solar and wind which is not as reliable as power plants continually creating energy.
3. There is definitely a sense of wonder and hope that is brought up when nuclear fusion is talked about in this article. The amount of money and time spent on nuclear fusion is staggering but Cowley couples these two facts with the potential nuclear fusion has. 
4. This emotion is effective in the article because the audience is looking for why they should support nuclear fusion. Nuclear fusion has been an unreachable goal for so long that this positive look at the possibility of nuclear fusion is exciting.
5. The emotional aspect of the article does not noticeable affect the credibility of author because the article is written with a certain level of formality that it never strays from. There is no humor in the article either so the emotional aspect is the only human touch the article has. The opinions have the emotion and it keeps the article credible because the facts are not misinterpreted by his emotion.

Appeals to Logic

1. As I mentioned before, Cowley uses a variety of statistics to help the reader comprehend nuclear fusion technology. He also uses a logical flow in his article to transition from a global conference on renewable energy, to the acquisition of funds for a variety of publicly funded nuclear fusion to project, to privately funded nuclear fusion project and finally, to why should we care about nuclear fusion and its potential. At each one of these topics, Cowley describes what is going and why its important which helps the reader understand what is going on with  nuclear fusion in the next few years.
2. He is trying to inform his readers of the future of nuclear fusion and how scientists are going to accomplishments their goals to advance nuclear fusion into the next major energy producer. He also wants to inform his readers about the pros of using nuclear fusion technology. So, by using a logical flow in the article. Readers will be informed of upcoming nuclear fusion projects, what is driving the increased experiments into nuclear fusion and why all this money is being spent on nuclear fusion. By the end of the article Cowley wants his readers to be excited about fusion and wanting their legislators to spend more money on it.
3. The actual result is the readers of the article are informed about new goals put out by the UN to combat climate change, new experiments being done to create nuclear fusion reactors that can cheaply provide clean energy and why we need to have clean energy in surplus and why it has to come from nuclear fusion reactors. However, I think he does little to excite his readers about nuclear fusion beyond its extreme upsides which he mentions briefly all considering. 
4. The strategy is effective because numbers engage these particular readers quite well I believe simply because someone reading about new nuclear fusion experiments will have an interest in science and therefore I can assume they know how to read numbers. Finally, the use of tone in the opinion portions of the article are the most effective because they draw the reader into Cowley's opinion about the need for nuclear fusion reactors to power humanity into a clean energy based economy.

Edit:
Cynthia and Tyler posts were interesting and informative. Reading through Cynthia's post I thought she did a great job explaining the author's credibility and how it was validating through various rhetorical strategies. Looking through my own post, I could of providing some actual evidence to the rhetorical strategies used the author to determine his credibility. Also, she found a lot more rhetorical strategies. If I was to go through my post again I would find some more rhetorical strategies that my author used validate his credibility. Tyler also did some great analysis of strategies used to appeal to the emotion of the audience. What I really liked though and what I will do is examine whether or not Pathos, Ethos or Logos were even a major part of the article. Great job to both of them!