The Future Of Renewable Energy

Most of the energy that we use comes from fossil fuels like petroleum and coal that provide electricity and gas to power our growing energy needs. These fossil fuels, currently providing most of our home energy needs are finite resources, which mean that, they will eventually run out. Furthermore, the world’s population is growing rapidly. Countries are becoming more industrialised and are using notable amount of energy. Individuals are consuming nearly twice as much as energy as they were using 30 years ago. In Australia itself, the total amount of energy consumed by households has increased over the past two decades and is forecast to increase. This could be due to the dependence of our standard of living on easily available energy. Between

As we go throughout life, we use various kinds of energy sources for our needs. Whether it be from solar energy to wind energy, there is a multitude of sources that allow us to do the things we do each and every day. Throughout the world, however, coal and nuclear power have risen to the

Our energy use has dramatically improved our lives , but this energy is derived mostly from fossil fuels and has resulted in environmental change , and depletion of fossil fuels (Shahriar 181 ). This leads to continuing military conflict . This resulted in developing and using alternate resources for the increasing energy demand.

The development of science and technology has led to people considering using alternative fuels to generate electricity. There are many alternative fuels that can generate electricity, such as natural gas, nuclear energy, wind energy, hydraulic power and so on (Fossil Fuels Used to Generate Electricity Power Plant Emissions of North America). According to the statistics by the U.S. Energy Information Administration in 2009, the usage of coal was still the largest source to generate the power. Sources of electricity in the United States were generated by 44.9% of coal, 20.3% of nuclear, 23.4% of natural gas, 1% of petroleum, 6.9% of hydroelectric conventional and 3.6% of others (Electric Power Monthly with Data for February 2014). Coal

The Industrial Revolution created a society and energy consumption based on coal. However, in a more traditional society, natural gas has been obtained through oil drilling. While

Our society has faced two major energy related problems since the Industrial Revolution. The first is where our future energy resources are going to come from. The United States both consumes and produces an immense

Renewable energy sources started increase at early 1800 to late 1800s, being mainly wood. Water mills played also important part at this growth. As energy source it reached peak around 1875, and started decreasing when coal took his place as United states main energy source. Usage of renewable energy sources decreased slowly till 1975 when new technology was developed. This new wave of inventions brought for us solar, wind, geothermal and other new renewable energy sources. Usage raised little and levelled off after 1975, still being least used source of energy with hydroelectric power.

Examples of renewable energy sources are, solar, hydroelectric, geothermal, biomass, and wind. Renewable energy is expensive to produce but due to the high price of oil and natural gas, it has become cost-effective. Additionally the federal government has offered tax credits to encourage the development of more renewable energy sources. The Energy Information Administration (2008) states that the United States is the second largest country to produce renewable electricity. Specifically hydroelectric power is the most abundant renewable source of energy at this time. Wind turbine technology has improved in the past few years. Wind turbines produce electricity to be sent to people’s homes. In 2006 wind produced 4% of the United States energy supply (Energy Information Administration, 2008). As more and more wind farms are constructed that percentage will go up. The more energy that can be produced by renewable sources, will allow the United States to use natural gas for transportation rather than powering the homes of the American people. Every energy source the United States can use will help with the dependence on foreign oil.

What exactly is renewable energy? In the terms of The Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC, 2015), renewable energy comes from sources that can be replenished easily. Solar power, wind energy, hydroelectricity, geothermal, and biomass energy are all examples of this. All of these sources can be replenished, or renewed naturally. Wind energy is free of pollution and costs about the same as electricity from coal. Solar energy is growing cheaper, and is used in many every day appliances. Biomass energy uses materials such as wood, corn, soy, and sometimes animal waste. It takes time for biomass energy to grow, but it is a critical renewable resource. Hydroelectricity is energy produced by flowing water and accounts for six percent of America’s electric supply (NRDC, 2015). If we can make the transition to a future of cleaner energy sources, we can eliminate our dependence on fossil

There is no doubt energy is an important resource. We use energy in every aspect of our lives. In the year 2010 the whole world used a total of 511 quadrillion British thermal units of energy and of the 511 quadrillion “The United States' primary energy consumption was nearly 98 quadrillion Btu, nearly 19% of world total primary energy consumption” (U.S. Energy Information Admin.). To put things into perspective 1 quadrillion Btu equals 45 million tons of coal or about 172 million barrels of crude oil. So the United Sates would have used 4.4 billion tons of coal or about 17 billion barrels of crude oil in 2010 alone. As population grows the demand for “energy consumption will grow by 56 percent between 2010 and 2040” (U.S. E.I.A.). With demand expected to grow that much within the next 30 years, it is essential we build a sturdy foundation to prepare us for the future.

The Industrial Revolution sparked a need for large sources of energy. Human and animal labor could not provide the power necessary to power industrial machinery, railroads, and ships. The steam engine and later the internal combustion engine provided the bulk of the energy required by the industrial age. Today most nations are still heavily reliant on energy that comes from combustion. Usually coal, petrolium, and natural gas are used. Some hydroelectric, wind power, and nuclear fission sources are used, but in the US they accounted for less than 20% of the total energy consumption in 1997 (1). Many experts are worried that natural resources such as coal and petrolium are being depleted faster than they are being replenished, which could

Energy is the ability for something to do work, create heat, or emit light. By this definition, energy can be anything from a sandwich to uranium. However, for the sake of simplification, this essay will focus on the United States’ consumption of fossil fuels (oil, coal, and gas), which constitute eighty-six percent of American energy (Lehrman 2). That is a lot of energy, however it becomes an even larger amount when taken into consideration that even though America accounts for only five

Figure above shows the percentage of electric energy in the U.S. Over 50% of the energy is from coal. This year nuclear energy use was increasing; however, it creates radioactive. Natural gas will pollute the air and caused global warming. According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, wind is the fastest growing energy resource. It increased by 46.6 percent by 2005.

By the late 1800s, the world’s first coal powered electric generator was made, the world’s first electric light was used, and the world’s first hydroelectric plant was utilized. A few years later a new type of fuel was becoming well-known, petroleum. Initially it had been an inconvenience for polluting water but by the end of the century oil, turned into gasoline, powered up engines. With the spread of economical gas cars and electricity, society’s energy use rapidly increased. Power plants became massive and power lines stretched out from hundreds of miles between cities, even during The Great Depression. After World War II, the use of energy was quickly doubling every 10 years and it concerned no one.

Renewable energy is energy generated from natural resources such as sunlight, wind, rain, tides and geothermal heat. Renewable energy technologies range from solar power, wind power, hydroelectricity/micro hydro, biomass and biofuels for transportation. Solar power is recently becoming more popular across the United