Why do we need alternatives?
To answer this question, we begin to discuss what are fossil fuels, where they come from, how they are used and the pros and cons of each. In this context, the urgent need for alternatives becomes quite clear.
What are fossil fuels?
Most of the fossil fuels are formed from the remains of long dead animals and plants. Buried in the course of hundreds of millions of years,These carbon-based deposits are processed by heat and pressure over time in such combustible substances as crude oil, coal, natural gas, shale and tar sands. A smaller share of fossil fuels is the handful of other natural substances that contain carbon, but not come from organic sources.
Read more fossil fuels, is the creation of new topsoil filled with hydrocarbons take time and a lot of time. Since the estimates of current fossilFuels in the world, it is not possible, we can wait for the problem and make our dependence on fossil fuels to create new reserves. At current consumption, the reserves of oil and coal and other fossil fuels, not least the hundreds of years, not to mention hundreds of millions of years.
As for creating more, experts have stressed that it takes almost five centuries, an inch of topsoil as plants decay and can replace the rocks weather. But the United States, at least,Most of the topsoil has been disturbed by agriculture, the experts concluded that the more worrying are in areas once covered by prairie, the last one hundred years of agriculture caused America's "breadbasket", half of the loss of topsoil as mine thirty times faster than they can form.
The advantages of the use of fossil fuels in energy production
There are many reasons why the world has become dependent on fossil fuels, and will continue to rely on them. Egbeen relatively cheap in the short run to burn fossil fuels to generate electricity at strategic centralized network shares and supply electricity in bulk substation nearby, which in turn deliver electricity directly to consumers. These big power plants burn gas or, less efficiently, coal. Since electricity so much can go for long stretches of the transmission lost if the power supply in a region more than anything else needs to be concentrated, are the fuels in generaltransported instead to distant power plants and burned there. Liquid fuels are particularly easy to carry.
Until now, fossil fuels are abundant and easily acquired. The world's oil reserves are estimated at anywhere 1-3,5 billion barrels. Proven coal reserves at the end of 2005, as estimated by the British 909.064 million tons in the whole world. Coal is relatively cheap.
Perhaps the simplest reason why the world continues to depend on fossil fuelsis that nothing should be done now change: physical, economic, and perhaps the most difficult-psychological. The basic technology for the extraction and burning of fossil fuels is already in force, not only in large power plants, but at the consumer level. Retrofitting factories would be cost prohibitive, but perhaps also be a deterrent instead of heating in every home, factory and construction. Ultimately, however, the real strength is in our nature. We humans tend to resistChanges in general and in particular those changes that require us to abandon the long tradition must change our way of thinking and living, and learn new information and practices after generations of the belief that all "good" with the old methods .
Why do we need alternatives?
If there are many reasons for the use of fossil fuels, why even consider alternatives? Who has the slightest attention to the issue in recent decades to pay couldprobably answer this question. If anything most people had with the first and most obvious reason: fossil fuels are not permitted, for all practical purposes. At current prices, the world uses fossil fuels 100,000 times faster than they can form. The demand for them far outstrips their availability only in a few centuries or less.
And even if the technology is the extraction of fossil fuels easier and cheaper in some cases than ever, this is not alwayscase. How do we bring more easily accessible oil reserves, have found new and accessible. This means locating oil rigs to dig to reach much farther offshore or in remote areas, deeper and deeper in the soil deposits of coal or scraping off ever more layers of precious topsoil, and the entry into agreements with countries at risk and cartels with whom they may not be in our best political interests to forge such commitments.
Finally, there are people andThe environmental costs associated with the dependence on fossil fuels. Drilling for oil, tunneling into coalmines, transporting volatile liquids and explosive gases, all these can and have led to tragic incidents involving the destruction of acres of sea, coast and country to kill people as well as plant and animal life. Even when extracted and processed, fossil fuels take a toll on the atmosphere as the combustion processes release many pollutants, including sulfur dioxide, an importantComponent of acid rain. If another common emission of carbon dioxide is released into the atmosphere, it contributes to "greenhouse effect", recorded in the atmosphere and reflects the radiant energy from the surface of the earth, rather than to escape into space. Scientists agree that this can be forecast on global warming, an incremental increase in average temperatures of the models of the past has brought. This affects everything from weatherModel for the stability of the polar ice caps.
Conclusion
Obviously something must change. As with many complex problems, but the solution is to supply the growing global demand for energy is not as simple as removing all the old methods and beliefs and adopting new night. This is partly a matter of practicality, weaning will have a considerable investment in money, education and, above all, time. The main reasonis that nobody is perfect alternative energy source. Alternative that does not mean replacement.
What must change?
Sounds simple to say what really needs to change is our attitude, but in fact the basis for a good energy plan looks to the inescapable fact that we must change our thinking on the topic itself. In the old paradigm, we tried to take the opportunities enormous amounts of power and distribution to end users know thatLocality While much has been lost in the transfer to go would be great, and the advantages: power plants could, in residential areas, fuels could be provided centrally, and for consumers, the bonus was obvious convenience. It would in many cases only our personal connection with the process, the supplier of fuel oil and electricity demand and drag up to the pumps at the gas station. And the only time we would think would be the problem ifprices increased significantly, or was in power.
There are people who have tried to convince us that there is no problem, and that these trees hugging Chicken Littles who want to talk about renewable and alternative energy all of us back to nature. Most often these reasons skeptics "for the survival of this myth is divided into two categories: one, that is afraid of what they do not understand and are resistant to told what to do, or two, have some political or financial involvementenable our dependence on fossil fuels. (And sometimes both.)
The reality is that except for a change in our thinking, is not a major change, but a multitude of smaller ones. A comprehensive plan for energy and success necessarily include these things:
Supplement energy in existing plants have been produced with alternative energy and convert some of these plants to operate on different "feedstock" (fuels)
The transition from total dependence onsome plants produce energy concentrated by the addition of many new alternative sources of supply and some of the existing "grid" and provide some local or even individual needs
Residences practical and accessible, convenient ways for consumers-business users, every rule and introduction of new technologies that provide for some or all of their own energy needs
Learn how we can consume less energy ( "reduce, reuse, recycle"), thanks to technological advances andreduce to simple changes in the behavior of people, without people make major compromises or sacrifices
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