The Return to Alternative Energy
You hear more and more about alternative energies these days a lot of people have different ideas about just what it is. I wrote this article to try to clear 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.
Our current perspective blinds us to the fact that the emergence of fossil fuels as the dominant form of energy happened only recently in world history. Wind, animals and hydropower were the dominant sources of energy until the mid-19th century.
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
Early in the 20th century nearly 1/3rd of homes in Florida used solar hot water. The availability of cheap electricity in the 1940’s changed that. At one point electric companies were even giving away hot water heaters to encourage consumption.
As you consider the above and similar facts I think you can see that the dominance of fossil fuels has been very brief and very recent. As it becomes harder and more expensive to meet our energy needs with fossil fuel, we need to return to other sources.
Having said all that, let me give you my current definition of alternative energy: energy that comes from a source other than fossil fuels
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.
Concern for the environment has made people aware of the impact of burning fossil fuels. While price fluctuations and occasional interruptions and supplies makes it clear that we are also running out a fossil fuel. Factors such as these have led to the increased interest in returning to alternative energy sources.
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.