Alternative Energy For Renewable Energy Sources

Everyone uses a lot of power for lighting, heating, machines, movements, and so much more. All of that energy has to come from an energy supply. Some energy resources are renewable, while others are non-renewable. Energy has various forms and is a very essential part of our everyday lives.

What if there was an up and coming fuel that has the properties of normal oil, but its side effects were not nearly as bad? Would you support it? Well there is such a thing. It has been around for a few years, but only in the near future does it have the potential to do good on a worldwide scale. This innovation is called algae biofuel. Algae biofuel is a fuel just like gasoline or diesel, but instead of being mined from the ground, causing irreparable damage, it grows in a pond and actually has positive side effects on the environment. Algae Biomass Organization states, “Algae-derived biofuel can reduce life cycle CO2 emissions by 50 to 70 percent compared to petroleum fuels.” Algae biofuel could be one of the solutions to our polluted atmosphere.

The article explains how biofuels isn’t something that is just discovered, hence, the algae biofuel has been put in a place of fossil fuel today. There have be a lot of companies as well as government agencies that are finding several ways in reducing the cost of producing algae biofuel to make profit from the source of fuel.

Increased energy demands, the need for dependence on oil imports, and rising oil prices have created a new found interest in renewable, biomass fuels. The U.S. Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007 (EISA) added onto the Renewable Fuel Standard that required that all U.S. transportation fuels contain at least 36 billion gallons of renewable fuels by 2022. Algae biofuels have the potential to make a significant contribution to achieving these goals and having our nation become an energy independent country. The U.S. federal government has invested over $800 million in biofuels research as part of the American Recovery and Renewal Act. These funds have been given to the Department of Energy - Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy’s Biomass Program to invest in research, development, and finding ways to create an algae-to-biomass a commercialized farm and product. A few private companies are also making substantial investments in the algae to biomass area. With all the interest in algae as biomass, it is possible that algae could become the best sustainable oil option for the United States.

At the current rate of consumption, it’s not going to take long before we have used up all of what we have become so dependent upon. That is why the world is looking at a new source of energy. A very small and unexpected source that most would not even have considered an option; algae. Using biodiesel fuels harvested from algae is not only helpful for the environment, but is a smarter way to produce alternative energy, save money, create jobs and eliminate America’s dependency on foreign oil.

Biofuels have been used as a source of energy for thousands of years. Wood was the first biofuel to be used as a means to create fires for cooking. Since that time we have discovered numerous ways to use them and the various forms of biofuels that are available for use. Presently our use of biofuels consists largely of additives to gasoline in the form of ethanol. Ethanol is found in almost all of our gasoline products today, in which about 10% is typically mixed as an additive. Some gas stations are now offering nearly pure ethanol fuel known as E85 which is 85% ethanol. This makes ethanol the most common biofuel used worldwide. In response to this, farmers around the world have increased biofuel plant production as a means to meet the new growing demand for it. As time goes on, more modern farming practices are expected to continue to increase the output at which farmers can grow corn and other ethanol producing plants thereby “fueling” the biofuel gas industry. With more resources available to use, ethanol will be an even cheaper additive than it is now.

Energy shortage problem has emerged as a result of development. Traditional energy sources, petroleum and coal, are estimated to deplete within this century, therefore, as an important substitute, biofuel is intensively studied now. Current technologies to produce biofuel from animal fats and plants are well-developed, however, these production methods rely on a significant land area for plant growth, which will affect the food supplement, leading to food price and safety issues. Many algae have high oil-producing potential and they require minimum land to grow compared with plants. They also showed good productivity and environmental-friendly character, thus, research on algae biofuel production is a hot focus. Arthrospira, Chlorella, Dunaliella, Haematococcus and some other algae species have been showed good potential in biofuel production.

New advancements in renewable energy are great ideas. However, while all the kinks of these new advancements are being worked out, global warming is still hurting the earth. So what do we do in the mean time? Several brilliant minds have been working on this. Instead of looking for entirely new advancements, they are taking what already exists and making it better. For example, burning coal in a cleaner manner.

and pumping water. It gave farmers a constant power source no matter the time of year, without having

Now the microalgae is considered as the third generation biomass and can be used in many fields such as food supplement, wastewater treatment, hydrogen production and biofuels. Researches focus on the green

Are alternative energy sources the answer to ending human dependence on oil? Right now there is no one substitute for oil because we use it for a variety of things. We can use alternative sources in areas to preserve or conserve our usage of oil. We use to use wood for fires and light. Then in the industrial revolution we began to use coal. “Coal can provide much more energy over longer periods than wood or any other biomass product. Forests were also diminishing in many regions because they were being consumed for fuel.” (Eric McLamb). Edwin L. Drake drilled the world’s first oil well in 1859 and launched the petroleum industry. Bach then

These energy sources are very efficient in the way they work and provide for our needs. Unfortunately, there are two immense disadvantages for fossil fuels and non-renewable resources. They are named non renewable for a reason, the process that these resources go through literally takes millions of years for them to be useful for our needs. “We have to recognize there is a finite planetary quantity of each nonrenewable resource that can be recovered economically. In theory, it is possible to calculate when the world will run out of a particular resource” (Fred Magdoff 2013). These resources are also not eco-friendly and are the main factor of many problems arising such as global warming which threatens the human race. Some examples include Metal ores, minerals, oils, and gas.

Biofuel is Fuel produced from renewable resources, especially plant biomass, vegetable oils, and treated municipal and industrial wastes. Every time we drive in a vehicle we are using nonrenewable resources that are bad for the environment. Using gasoline or diesel release chemicals called green house gasses into the environment. Because of theses harmful chemicals people have started to use biofuels. There are two types of biofuels, ethanol and biodiesel. Biofuel is Fuel produced from renewable resources, especially plant biomass, vegetable oils, and treated municipal and industrial wastes.

Nowadays the most common energy resources come from Fossil Fuel, which according to research it shows that more of 85% of all energy that is consumed in the United States. It takes millions of years for the Fossil Fuel to actually develop and ready to be used, and the main concern of Fossil Fuel is that it cannot be consumed over and over again or reused. Through this analysis it can be assumed that because it takes millions of years for the fossil fuel to develop, and we came up with two assumptions that would lead the innovation of producing energy using different resources. The first assumption is that there is more fossil fuel that is used rather than what is provided or reserved by the nature. This act

Over the past years, scientist began thinking deeper into the possibilities for energy that is renewable. They mostly looked into the sun as there number one source, the wind and other renewable options. Indeed, the sun for many years has provided heat for the earth whereby the energy it produces warms the earth directly and also indirectly. By so doing the heat makes water to evaporate lakes and other water sources like rivers and streams that eventually falls back to the earth and then filters into the ground.