Tuesday, August 25, 2009

Transitioning Alternative Energy

By Dale Green

Our planet has been very abundant in offering us renewable sources of energy for our needs and providing alternative energy in many different forms. Many corners of the earth have used renewable power in one way or another but usually just where mechanical electricity, powered by petroleum, was not readily available.

The sun, wind and properties of the earth itself, will never cease to feed us the energy that we crave but we have to be willing to develop, store and generate its current form into usable power for our use. With our fossil fuel supply now being depleted, a serious approach is being taken to transitioning into alternative energy sources.

The ability to generate energy from alternative fuel sources is not complicated. This is very true when you consider the improvements that have occurred over the past century to create crude oil from fossil fuels. This crude oil can be refined into many different forms such as gas, diesel and petroleum. Millions of dollars and a great deal of time has gone into such investments and now it is time to put such effort into newer methods.

While the transition of moving into a new form of energy is very foreign to most of us, it is a necessary step if we want to preserve our world, improve our atmosphere, control global warming and continue to maintain our lifestyle as we have grown accustomed to.

One example of a renewable fuel and the price tag involved is solar electricity. The cost of purchasing all of the solar equipment is still more expensive than our present mechanically generated power. This is one of the changes that we have to learn to bear in transitioning into alternative energy. It is impossible to just stop using petroleum-based energy and replace it with solar or wind power overnight. There are going to be many changes and expenses for everyone to bear.

Generating electricity is basically the same as it was when it was first discovered in the early 1800s by British scientist Michael Faraday. There are seven different methods of changing energy into electrical energy but the most common is electromagnetic induction, transforming kinetic energy into electricity. Putting even the basics of electricity to work for us in an entirely different mode, however, takes a bit of training, education and skill.

Photovoltaic technology has been expanding at a quicker rate than what existed in the past. The main problem with photovoltaic solar panels centers on the cost which is much higher than common mechanically generated power. Capacity is said to now grow by a massive 40% in such areas as Germany, Japan, California and New Jersey. Hopefully, within a decade, the market will expand and modify this situation so that solar power becomes more feasible than petroleum.

There is a better way to create our source of power but not without facing past mistakes and learning quite a bit about new products and methods. Schools are hard at work teaching our children to appreciate the sun, the wind, and the earth for all they have to offer to mankind and why it is wrong to pollute the air that protects us. The sooner we can begin to generate alternative renewable fuel, the better off our planet and its residents will be.

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