It’s shocking the amount of money it costs to fill a automobile’s tank these days. Elevated fuel expense is having an effect on just about every facet of life. Food costs and various physical product prices are inflated as a direct consequence of increases in transportation and shipping. For those who drive, most Americans, disposable salary is decreased. It is hard to identify a silver lining in all of that.
However, there’s one positive side-effect. Quite similar to the oil crunch in the 1980s, the substantial cost of fuel has turned the Public’s eyes back toward renewable power and sustainable energy. In plain speak, the discomfort of fuel pricing has exceeded the complacency. There is now a greater interest in fossil fuel alternatives.
Alternative energy is most often defined as the capability to generate energy in the present without compromising that ability of our children and grandchildren to produce power. It generally describes using natural sources of energy which replenish themselves. Unlike oil, that is certain to finally be consumed entirely, other sources, like sunlight, wind, rain, and tides will last for as long as our world will.
Solar panel technology involves harnessing sunlight to either yield electrical power or heat water. The effectiveness of solar technology can vary depending on climatic conditions and location. Nonetheless, the issue can be overcome by feeding the national electric utility grid from locations with suited characteristics. For individual property owners, a key downside of solar is definitely the initial, installation costs that can be quite high, although the long-term savings and tax breaks can fully offset the initial expenditure during the lifetime of the solar energy system.
Considering the recent introduction of electrical passenger cars and automobiles with gas backup generators, solar powered energy now offers the actual possibility to replace virtually all gasoline use in non-commercial motor vehicles. The current generation of these passenger cars will run 80 to 100 miles per charge. The normal American drives under forty miles every day with work commuting.
Employing wind turbines to produce electrical energy is really a further development of a 1000 year old technology that uses windmills to pump water. It has different but similar topographical limitations to solar panels. Having said that, windmill farms in mountain traverses can create power for the nation’s power grid much like desert solar farms.
As far as water goes, technologies have evolved quite a bit since the hydro-electric dam. Which is still a highly viable technology that’s been around for quite some time. Presently, studies are under way to use the tidal motion in the ocean in order to create electricity with a buoy system.
The clear theme here is that alternative energy technology has been in use for a long time. Nevertheless, only the current pain of high gas costs have inspired consumers to turn from the significantly more convenient non-renewable fuels. Almost all growth includes some pain.
Check out our Solar Energy Pros and Cons report, or our Blog.