Energy crisis is one of the most important problems faced by people these days. As petroleum products are not renewable energy sources, we have to look beyond them. Even though there are plenty of these resources inside the earth, no one knows when we lose it completely. Besides that, they are very harmful to environment as they produce a lot of greenhouse gases. So let us have a look at the wonderful alternatives that we have in the form of renewable energy sources.
1) Ethanol
Ethanol is also famous as bio diesel. This is produced in large amounts these days because of its various advantages over other fuels. Ethanol can be produced by bagasse of sugarcane, maize and many other food crops. Besides that, there are other bio fuels like Jathrofa oil and many other different types of fuels which were obtained from different plants. Even though their efficiency is somewhat low compared to petroleum fuels, you can’t neglect them completely, because they are eco-friendly.
2) Electricity
Electric cars are on the rise these days. Electricity is harmless compared to petroleum, provided that they are produced by eco-friendly methods. Cars and scooters run by electricity are on the rise these days and they are perfectly soundless and have improved their performance by leaps and bounds after they were discovered for the first time. Almost every work that we do with the help of petroleum fuels can be done now with the help of electricity also. This includes cooking, water heating and many other things that we normally do with the help of petrol, diesel or kerosene.
3) Hydrogen
This is another cleanest and most efficient fuel. The energy produced by a given quantity of hydrogen is almost three times the energy produced by the same quantity of petroleum fuels. Besides that, burning of hydrogen emits no harmful gases into the atmosphere. But rather than directly burning, if ever it is possible to fuse the hydrogen, i.e. to start thermonuclear fusion reaction of hydrogen; it is like an almost endless source of energy for us. Actually it is the same process that takes place inside the core of sun and providing energy to all of us today. But the problem is that it needs millions of degree Celsius of temperature to start this reaction and no crucible on earth is capable of tolerating that temperature.
4) Biogas
Biogas is yet another cleanest and cheapest source of energy. It is a mixture of a number of alkanes like methane, ethane etc and they are all perfectly safe sources of energy. You can produce biogas with the help of animal excreta such as cow dung. Waste biodegradable products like rotting food materials, animal and plant wastes. So it serves a dual purpose. On the one hand, you will get harmless and eco friendly fuel and on the other end, you can make good use of waste materials.
Thus by using the alternative energy sources, you can decrease the environmental pollution to a great extent and thus save both your own valuable money and our environment.
Harry is passionate about technologies and science. He works as a engineer responsible for designing new construction equipment technologies to improve performance and workers’ productivity.
First of all we have to understand this truth, that we cannot rely on a single alternative source for sustainable energy.
We need to depend on a couple or more of alternative energy sources to get a sustainable energy for us as well as for our future generations.
The choice of the alternative energy source is completely dependent on the geography of the region.
Wind Farms, Hydrothermal, Solar – all these are proven to be providing power. Though all these requires high cost, it seems to be the only option left for our future.
Agricultural residues (non-edible), Forest wastes, Food waste from Large-scale Industries, etc., can be used to produce gases, oils, biochars – which can be used to produce heat and electricity.
Energy from biomass can be obtained with most of the advantages you have mentioned, only thing is we have to keep on growing more trees and practice intense agriculture.