Alternative Energy

Alternative energy is an important factor to help maintain a sustainable world. Without energy, the world would collapse. Everything a sustainable society needs to survive relies heavily on fossil fuels, and because of this, the worlds fossil fuel supply is depleting rapidly. New energy sources need to be tested and used immediately or the fossil fuels will run out permanently and cause the world's infrastructure to collapse.

Fossil fuels such as oil, coal, and natural gas supply most of the energy consumed today. Due to the easy combustion process used to gain energy from these sources, fossil fuels are relatively cheap to produce, which is why they are the most widely used fuel. Fossil fuels, unfortunately, are non-renewable resources, and one the worlds supply is finally consumed, there is nothing left. While fairly cheap to extract, fossil fuels are becoming ever so dangerous to remove. As the population grows, so does the demand for fuel, which leads to deeper, and more dangerous, coal mines. Coal mines cause extreme damage to land due to the strip mining, and mountaintop removal processes. These fuels are also one of the leading contributors to global warming, and acid rain. Without a change, we will inevitably run out of fuel.

Research towards new, renewable energy resources needs to be done soon to prevent the collapse of the words entire economic structure. One option is solar power. Solar power is the most environmentally friendly renewable resource that has been created. Solar power uses cells, that take the heat from the suns rays and converts it into useful energy. These cells can convert about 20% of the energy of sunlight to electrical energy. If the government harnesses the power of solar cells, the entire world's energy consumption could be supplied with the use of just 1% of the land used for crops and pastures [2].

[1] http://energy.cr.usgs.gov/energy/stats_ctry/Stat1.html

[2] http://physicsweb.org/articles/world/14/6/2/1

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