Posts Tagged ‘alternative energy’

The United States is the country that leads all others in the use of fossil fuels.  Fossil fuels are those that are formed in the ground over a period of millions of years from dead plants and animals.  Oil, natural gas, and coal are fossil fuels and we use a lot of them!

Fossil fuel use by humans is the largest source of emissions of carbon dioxide which is one of the greenhouse gases that allows radiative forcing and contributes to global warming.  When you burn fossil fuels, they let out a large amount of carbon dioxide.  The atmospheric concentration of CO2, a greenhouse gas, is increasing.  This raises concerns that solar heat will be trapped and the average surface temperature of the Earth will rise in response.

We use fossil fuels to power our vehicles, heat and cool our houses, and generate electricity.  As we said, it takes millions of years to form certain fossil fuels and over-use of them has resulted in a concern that we will soon deplete our supply.  Fossil fuels are non-renewable sources of energy, so once they are used up, they are gone.

In the United States, we use about twelve barrels of oil – the most valuable fossil fuel -   per person per year.  That is why we are so dependent on foreign oil to meet our energy needs.  While the United States does have its own supply of oil, it doesn’t compare to what the Middle East has to offer.  So in order to meet the demand, we have to increase the supply.  Pretty much the only way to do that is to buy it from other countries – usually places like Venezuela or Saudi Arabia.

The increased levels of fossil fuel use in this country has given birth to the green movement urging people to start exploring alternative forms of energy to avoid depleting our fossil fuel supplies completely.  But a bigger reason is because the greenhouse gas emissions are causing global warming that can have a huge effect on the lives of people all over the world – not just in the United States.

If we can reduce our use of fossil fuels and start looking at alternate sources of energy, we not only improve the quality of the environment, but we also reduce our dependence on other countries for our energy resources.  The phrase “American Made” has always meant something in the U.S., but when it comes to decreasing our fossil fuel use and becoming self-sufficient with alternative fuels, it can mean so much more!

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Right now in the United States, there is a huge push for people to use alternative fuels as opposed to gasoline.  There are many reasons for this push.  Generally, it’s because alternative fuels are kinder to the environment and can help to combat the ever-growing problem of global warming.

The price of driving a car is rising at an alarming rate.  It has become very expensive to drive a car, so people are looking out for ways to save money on their fuel.  Scientists are developing alternative fuels that can help not only the environment, but also the consumer’s checkbook.  The new alternative fuels offer advantages in so many ways that people are really starting to take a look at these as an option over paying astronomical gasoline prices.

When consumers use alternative fuels both to gas up their car as well as heat and cool their homes, they are helping the environment as well as helping themselves.  The toxins that are released into the air when we burn gasoline and other fuels have shown to contribute to global warming and before we know it, winter will be as warm as summer.

In the simplest form, an alternative fuel is one that is not produced by using crude oil.  They are simply fuels that replace conventional gasoline as a means of powering vehicles.  Alternative fuels have desirable energy efficiency and pollution reduction features. The 1990 Clean Air Act encourages development and sale of alternative fuels.

There are many different kinds of alternative fuels – the most prominent one as well as the one that has been around the longest is ethanol.  Ethanol is made from corn which is a great help to our farmers as well as to consumers and the environment.  Ethanol is sometimes called grain alcohol.  It can also be made from organic materials including agricultural crops and waste, plant material left from logging, and trash including paper.

The alcohol found in alcoholic beverages is ethanol. However, the ethanol used for motor fuel is denatured, which means poison has been added so people can’t drink it. Some people believe that producing ethanol takes more energy than it gives back and for the most part, this is true.  However, technologies have evolved in such a way that it is possible to increase the efficiency of producing ethanol.

The growing trend toward alternative fuels will probably grow as we become more and more conscious of how we are damaging our environment through our habits and products we use.  New alternative fuels are being developed all the time and having a choice will certainly be a nice alternative itself.

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The trend toward homes that are powered by alternative energy sources, ranging from wind turbines and solar collection cells to hydrogen fuel cells and biomass gases, is one that needs to continue in the 21st century and beyond. We have great need of becoming more energy independent, and not having to rely on the supply of fossil fuels from unstable nations who are often hostile towards us and our interests. But even beyond this factor, we as individuals need to get “off the grid” and stop having to be so reliant on government-lobbying giant oil corporations who, while they are not really involved in any covert conspiracy, nevertheless have a stranglehold on people when it comes to heating their  homes (and if not through oil, then heat usually supplied by grid-driven electricity, another stranglehold).

As Remi Wilkinson, Senior Analyst with Carbon Free, puts it, inevitably, the growth of distributed generation will lead to the restructuring of the retail electricity market and the generation, transmission and distribution infrastructure. The power providers may have to diversify their business to make up for revenues lost through household energy microgeneration. She is referring to the conclusions by a group of UK analysts, herself included among them, who call themselves Carbon Free. Carbon Free has been studying the ever-growing trend toward alternative energy-using homes in England and the West. This trend is being driven by ever-more government recommendation and sometimes backing of alternative energy research and development, the rising cost of oil and other fossil fuels, concern about environmental degradation, and desires to be energy independent. Carbon Free concludes that, assuming traditional energy prices remain at their current level or rise, microgeneration (meeting all of one’s home’s energy needs by installing alternative energy technology such as solar panels or wind turbines) will become to home energy supply what the Internet became to home communications and data gathering, and eventually this will have deep effects on the businesses of the existing energy supply companies.

Carbon Free’s analysis also show that energy companies themselves have jumped in on the game  and seek to leverage microgeneration to their own advantage by opening up new markets for themselves. Carbon Free cites the example of electricity companies (in the UK) reporting that they are seriously researching and developing ideas for new geothermal energy facilities, as these companies see geothermal energy production as a highly profitable wave of the future. Another conclusion of Carbon Free is that solar energy hot water heating technology is an efficient technology for reducing home water heating costs in the long run, although it is initially somewhat expensive to install.  However, solar power is not yet cost-effective for corporations, as they require too much in the way of specialized plumbing to implement solar energy hot water heating. Lastly, Carbon Free tells us that installing wind turbines is an efficient way of reducing home electricity costs, while also being more independent. However, again this is initially a very expensive thing to have installed, and companies would do well to begin slashing their prices on these devices or they could find themselves losing market share.

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