Saving the Environment with Renewable Energy
In our quest for energy independence, we need to be able to rely on a source of energy to provide us with all the power to fulfill our energy needs. Some sources of energy, like coal, oil, and nuclear fuel, are all non-renewable sources of energy. That is to say that they cannot be re-used over and over, and nature does not keep on supplying more of that material (or if it does, it is a very slow process which occurs only over the period of millennia). On the other hand, governments have been looking at so called renewable energy over the past few decades to give themselves true energy independence.
Renewable and Non-Renewable
The main difference between non-renewable and renewable energy is that the latter is for all intents and purposes a limitless supply of fuel for empowering our energy needs. You might ask how a fuel can be limitless, which is a genuine concern for many people. The answer lies in the types of fuels. The main types of renewable energy are solar, wind, hydroelectric, and geothermal energy. Solar, as the name implies, uses sunlight, directly converting that sunlight into electricity by using panels of photovoltaic cells. Wind energy uses wind to spin turbines, and hydroelectric power uses the energy of rivers and ultimately the Earth's water cycle to create electricity. Lastly, geothermal energy uses the Earth's heat reserves from its mantle layer to generate power. Obviously, the sun isn't going to stop burning for billions of years, and that enables the other forms of renewable energy mentioned above.
On the other hand, non-renewable sources of energy such as coal and oil are fairly inefficient in comparison, and they are extremely bad for the environment, spewing forth all types of air and sometimes even water pollution. Even nuclear energy, which is a very clean form of energy, leaves spent fuel rods which are very radioactive and need to be disposed of miles beneath the surface of the ground and as far away from any populated areas as possible. Not only that, but non-renewable energy has a finite amount of fuel which will eventually be depleted if we keep on using it. The main advantages that non-renewable energy (at least in the case of coal and oil) offered were that they were cheaper and easier to extract from the Earth, but that is no longer the case with advances in technology. Now, renewable energy is in many cases cheaper (especially as the power plants don't need refueled) and much better for the environment.
Non-renewable energy will soon be phased out completely in favor of renewable energy for the environmental perks and efficiency that it offers. Ultimately, this decision will help provide every last person on the Earth with cheap, clean electricity, and many scientists hope that it will usher in a new golden age for mankind.
