For over a century, fossil fuels like coal, oil and natural gas have been the dominant sources of energy powering homes, transportation and industry across America and around the world. However, these non-renewable resources come with significant costs and risks to the environment and climate that jeopardize our future well-being. That’s why, according to the folk over at Commonwealth, clean, renewable energy solutions are crucial for building a truly sustainable way of living.
What is Renewable Energy?
Renewable energy refers to power sources that are naturally replenished and never run out. Common examples include solar, wind, hydroelectric, geothermal and certain biofuels like ethanol or biodiesel. These stand in contrast to fossil fuels, which are finite resources we need to mine or extract from the earth.
Fossil fuels are created naturally from decayed plants and animals over millions of years, but they cannot be renewed or replenished in a human lifetime once depleted. Since the Industrial Revolution, humanity has burned through hundreds of years’ worth of these reserves concentrated underground as coal, oil and natural gas.
Reasons Renewable Energy Matters
As fossil fuel supplies diminish and global energy demands continue growing, developing clean, renewable energy solutions becomes increasingly vital for several reasons:
Environmental Protection
Burning fossil fuels creates emissions of carbon dioxide, methane and other greenhouse gases that contribute to global climate change. These emissions also pollute the air, land and water with particulates and toxic substances harmful to human health and ecosystems. Renewable energy sources produce little to no emissions and have a much lower overall environmental impact.
Energy Independence
Because of the geographical concentration of fossil fuel deposits, most countries depend heavily on imports of oil, coal, or natural gas from foreign sources. Tapping domestic renewable resources like solar, wind, hydroelectric, and geothermal gives nations greater energy self-sufficiency and security.
Sustainability
Fossil fuels are, by definition, unsustainable since they are non-renewable resources that will eventually be depleted after continued consumption. In contrast, renewable energy is derived from natural elements like sunshine, wind and water that will be available indefinitely for powering human activities.
Economic Benefits
While transitioning away from fossil fuels requires major investments, development of renewable energy technologies and infrastructure creates significant new economic opportunities and employment in manufacturing, construction and operation of wind farms, solar power plants and more.
Types of Renewable Energy
There are several well-established sources of renewable energy already in use around the world:
- Solar Power: Capturing radiant energy from the sun, either through photovoltaic solar panels or solar-thermal collectors, is currently the fastest growing form of renewable power generation globally.
- Wind Power: Harnessing the kinetic motion of wind to spin turbines and generate electricity on both land-based wind farms and offshore in oceans and lakes.
- Hydroelectric Power: Utilizing the energy of flowing water from rivers and reservoirs to spin turbines and drive generators has been a significant source of renewable electricity for over a century.
- Geothermal Power: Extracting heat energy from below Earth’s surface to produce steam for electricity generation and direct heating applications.
- Biofuels and Biomass: Converting organic materials like agricultural waste, landfill gases and even trash into renewable liquid or gas fuels as well as sources of thermal energy.
Conclusion
Many projections suggest renewables could realistically supply over 50% of American power needs by 2050. Achieving such ambitious goals requires continued improvements in renewable technologies and energy storage methods along with major investments in new renewable power plants, transmission grids and supporting infrastructure. But the potential environmental, economic and geopolitical benefits of shifting away from finite fossil fuels make developing renewable energy vitally important for creating a sustainable future.
