Many people are growing concerned with the state the world environment is in, and with good reason. Al Gore’s documentary, ‘An Inconvenient Truth’ made the world more aware of global warming and climate change, which has caused many weather aberrations and natural disasters like flash floods and extremely powerful typhoons and hurricanes that devastate all in its path, as well as the rising of water levels all around the world, where more and more coastal town are losing coastline to the ocean, as sea levels continue to rise.
A large part of global warming and climate change can be traced to our use of energy, which not only destroys the environment but depletes out natural resources. Oil, which is the main source of fuel all around the world, is a non-renewable natural resource and will one day become depleted. Plus, the by products of gasoline use fill the air with pollution. What we need then, are clean and safe sources of energy that are renewable and are cheap as well. Fortunately for us, alternative energy research has been driven more in recent years to come up with ways for us to be able to utilize renewable energy sources the same or maybe even in bigger ways than we do with traditional sources of energy.
One example of alternative energy sources is the sun, whose heat powers solar cells. Solar cells store heat from the sun and use it to power generators, which can then produce electricity. Solar power is very good to use especially when used in tandem with the so called electric cars – cars that run on electricity. They are no less efficient compared to their gasoline or diesel fuelled counterparts, and simple require plugging into an outlet to recharge their power. Moreover, they have zero emissions, meaning no harmful gasses are blown out into the air, making it a very green and environment friendly car indeed.
Another is wind power, which is harnessed through wind turbines. Most wind turbines are located near coastal areas, since the wind there is much stronger that it is inland. These turbines use wind power to generate electricity, and is once again a source for cheap, clean, and renewable power.
Another is hydropower, which comes from the force generated by moving water. The movement again powers a generator which produces electricity.
Biomass is another renewable source of energy, where gasses, oils and fluids from rotting objects are used as fuel. And since humans periodically have lots of waste, this is one way to use garbage in a very productive manner.