The Return to Alternative Energy
Alternative energy seems to be all the rage today, but a lot of people have are unsure of what it is or have different definitions. I hope this article clears things up,
One way to look at it is to consider alternative energy an alternative to “standard” energy. Since the mid-1800s standard energy has pretty much meant fossil fuels - coal, oil and natural gas.
This wasn’t always the case. In the not too distant past, sailing ships and animals powered transportation.
I’m sure you seen a picture of a ranch house in the American West with the windmill next to the homestead. They originally were used to pump water. Later they were actually used to generate a small amount of electric power (say, enough to power of crystal radio) in the days before rural electrification
Many people are surprised to learn that producing solar hot water heating systems was a commercially profitable business in the latter part of the 19th century and early 20th century.
I think you can see that our dependence on fossil fuels is relatively recent. Rather than something completely new, using alternative energies is a return to an older practice.
With that background, here’s my working definition of alternative energy: energy from a source other than the burning of fossil fuels (again coal, oil and its derivatives and natural gas).
While many people automatically assume that alternative energy sources are renewable, that isn’t necessarily so. For example, burning peat for heat is an alternative energy, but it is neither clean nor renewable.
Most sources of alternative energy have less environmental impact and burning fossil fuel. And most are renewable, meaning we don’t have to worry about running out of them. These considerations have led to the increased interest in exploring alternative energy today
When people think about alternative energy solar panels and windmills are probably the most common things that come to mind. However there are many other forms of alternative energy are ready available (for example geothermal and biomass) and researchers are exploring some entirely new possibilities
I think we can safely expect that the use of all forms of alternative energy will increase until they become the new standard.
