We produce carbon dioxide every day throughout our life which will stay in the Earth’s atmosphere for hundreds of years. This will increase the warmth of our planet Earth or Gaya as I like to call it.

  Carbon dioxide is the main cause of global warming. We cannot continue poisoning our planet. We need to find alternative technologies to replace the current ones which have better or comparable performance but do not emit carbon dioxide.

  Alternative or renewable energy will need to play a bigger role in the future due to climate change, population growth, and fossil fuel depletion.

  Alternative energies have lower carbon emissions, and some of these are biomass energy, wind energy, solar energy, geothermal energy, and hydroelectric energy. Why not take advantage of what Earth gives us for free? And most important is that they will never run out., they are constantly and sustainably replenished.

  On the other side, traditional energy sources will run out, and replenishing them will be expensive as the demand of the growing population is also growing. Some of the traditional sources used today are fossil fuel, electric power, and nuclear power.
Fossil fuels are coal, oil, and natural gas. These provide over 85% of the energy consumed in the United States as electricity and transportation fuel. Oil is the blood of America’s economy.

  Oil represents 40% of our total energy demand and 99% of the fuel used for transportation. The price of oil keeps increasing it’s becoming costly to produce. The majority of easy-to-find oil was discovered and producing more will end up being costly. For every barrel of oil extracted, nearly two barrels of oil remain in the ground. To stop leaving behind so much oil we better technologies to find and produce more oil, without leaving so much of it behind.

  More than half of the electricity in the United States comes from coal which will continue to be the dominant material used for electric power production for the most part because has a low cost and is abundant, at least for now.

  Burning fossil fuel creates carbon dioxide and releases greenhouse gases into the atmosphere causing global warming. The impact of global warming is huge and affects many areas. Increasing temperatures in the Arctic and Antarctica are causing the ice to melt which will increase the level of the sea and change the composition of the sea water.

  The use of fossil also results in air, and plant pollution from smog which will result in the degradation of human health. Oil spills have destroyed many ecosystems. Coal mining has left a lot of land without its vitality.

  Many studies show that our fossil fuel will deplete within 50 to 120 years, but nobody really knows when the last drop of oil, coal, or natural gas will be collected from Earth, but we all know that that moment is inevitable. Also, the growth of the population is influencing the date that we will run out of fossil fuels as the growing population means a growing demand for energy consumption. We are overloading the planet’s capability to support us. We are overstressing Gaia to the snapping point. If we don’t stop all the damaging activities and reverse the damage we have done, the future generation will encounter many difficulties in trying to survive on planet Earth. No reserves, poisoned air and water, and unpredictable water patterns will make it impossible to live on this planet.

  Coal is a heavy polluter, and nuclear fission is costly when you add up the investment, waste control
and long-term storage of hazardous materials.

  On the other hand, we have all that our Earth is offering us for free. There is more than enough renewable energy source to supply energy needs for the whole world, forever, but the only challenge is to capture it effectively and economically, store it and use it when it’s needed.

  The world is addicted to cheap already available oil while producing renewable energy costs more. Not even the cost of producing them can stop the future. Fuel cells, electric-hybrid vehicles, high-tech energy-efficient homes, and appliances are already here. They are only the tip of the iceberg of the new energy revolution that is just around the corner.

  As of right now, renewable electricity is 13% of the total electricity used in the United States. Half of it is from hydropower, and the other half is wind, solar, biomass, and geothermal energy. United States have a state-mandated renewable energy portfolio standard, meaning that they require a fraction of the electricity must come from renewable energy. Every state has a different percentage, for example, California’s goal is to hit 33% by 2020, but the important thing is that the government realized the importance of supporting renewable, alternative energy. The price of renewable energy has also come down significantly in the last ears

  Every one of us can make a difference on this planet and not waiting for others to make it for us it the key.

  Some actions we can take in the way of using more renewable energy are switching our energy supplier to one that is using renewable energy from wind turbines or solar plants, investing in making some of our own energy, and using the resources we have more wisely.

  Investing in your own energy source could be a high upfront cost but the initial investment for turning your house into a eco home will pay itself eventually. By using less conventional energy, it will save you money in the long term.

  Some of the energy source systems you can invest in are a solar hot water system, a micro wind turbine, or a heat pump and heat insulating your home.

Also, there are some actions you can take that will result in using the resources that you have more wisely, and they don’t cost anything. For example sharing your car with a friend instead of using two cars, getting the bus or train as often as you can, turning down your thermostat, or switching to energy-efficient light bulbs are only some of them.

Read more:

• Unleashing Energy from Waste: Anaerobic Digestion
• Harnessing the Power of Life: Biomass Energy
• Harnessing Nature’s Flow: Run-of-River Hydroelectricity
• Power on Demand: Unleashing the Potential of Pumped Storage Hydropower
• Harnessing the Power of Water: Hydroelectric Power