Sustaining Life – Sustainable Power
When we speak of energy, power, and development, we all think development, industrialization, advancement; all these leads to pollution and degradation of the environment. You hear advocates say that our environment was a lot purer in long gone ages because people do not use energy.
Who’s Liable?
That is not necessarily true; you see ancient man used fire to cook things, and then the sun to warm them up. Even humanity itself uses energy to be able to move and go about life each day. We cannot survive without energy and yet we blame it for the destruction of our planet. It is us who use energy to no ends, it is us who abuse its use therefore we are liable to find the solution to pollution. It is our responsibility to our selves and the future generation to seek ways of supporting our way of life without harming the environment.
The Scope and Definition of Sustainable Power
Generally sustainable power is thought to be any renewable kind of energy. Meaning it is any puissance whose source cannot be depleted and does not contaminate the environment on a long term basis.
Although sustainable power maybe confused with alternate or green energy the two are distinctly different. Sustainable power is conducive to nature but it is set apart from green or alternate energy because its source is unending, it cannot be exhausted.
Power Source
Sources of sustainable energy vary. It can be as simple as hydrogen to as complex as nuclear energy. When we speak of sustainable development we must consider the basics before heading of to the complex, after all we haven’t used the newly scientifically discovered energy long enough to know its possible effects. The first things to consider are those that nature itself supplies; like the air, wind, solar, tidal, and water resources.
Techno Speak
With all the media hype surrounding this idealism you’d think that we aren’t already using sustainable energy! Yes, we already are using alternate energy resources. We have water dams, the waterfall power plants, wind mills, geothermal plants, and the nuclear power plants.
There are three technological classifications for the technologies that help us attain sustainable power; these include biomass combustion, hydropower, and geothermal plants. First generation power automatons arose during the industrial revolution. This is the time where people discovered that manufacturing will become faster thru the use of machines, and faster output means larger sales. In a way sustainable power was researched and invented not for the future but for the moment; to improve lives, industry and the economy.
Second Generation energy resources comprise wind power, various forms of modern bioenergy, solar photovoltaics, and solar energy. These technologies emerged from the need to depend on oil so much. Research and Development was massively funded during the 1980’s and we are now reaping the benefits.
Third Generation sustainable energy resources are those that relatively new; biorefinery technologies, ocean energy, hot dry rock energy, biomass gasification, concentrating solar thermal power and even nanotechnology may make future appearances that will hopefully end our quest for continuous energy sources. On the stage of research and experimentation these resources are still under development but raise the hopes of those who continually seek sustainable power.
All that have been mentioned are technological advances and discoveries of everlasting energy source, but in the end like everything in our lives, the future is in our hands. Even when we are provided with more nature friendly energy resources if we don’t conserve and use it wisely we will still end up damaging the very planet on whose existence and well being we very much depend on.
Darkness Ahead
A looming danger is ahead, darkness everywhere, no electricity, no oil. What happens to us when oil runs out? Can you imagine nothing to fuel our cars, airplanes, tractors, a decline in farming, a decline in food production? The future seems gloom, everybody’s predicting that humanity itself will fall into decline. The richer countries siphoning of crops from third world countries to create bio-fuel; the third world countries slowly fading in hunger. We need to find sustainable power and we need it fast; our very existence depends upon it.
Solar Power
When we think of alternative energy resources, solar power immediately comes to mind. Evidently when we talk of solar power, we speak of harnessing the suns god given energy. This solar energy is transformed into electric current with the use of photovoltaics, concentrating solar power and other various technologies which are currently in the developmental and experimental stage. Solar energy works well for domestic electricity supply.
Wind Power
Employed for ages with remnants of its bygone past still evident in Northwestern Europe, the Wind Mill is making a come back. The best thing about the power of the wind is that it can never be depleted. It is natural, all around us and all we have to do is construct wind farms and then everything’s done. Economically utilizing the power of the wind makes sense. It literally has no maintenance and overhead costs.
Tropical countries use hydroelectricity as their source of power, using the waters gravitational force which comes from a high source. This is a great alternative for energy, it is a whole lot cheaper and it is environmentally safe because hydroelectric plants do not emit dangerous substances in the air nor the waters. It is pure nature. Fossil fuel driven power plants emit dangerous gases into the air while plants that are hydroelectrically driven are proven to emit a much lesser degree of greenhouse grass.
Nuclear Energy
Another source of alternative energy is nuclear energy. Nuclear energy together with other kinds of nuclear technology can harness energy. Nuclear reactors can generate steam energy by heating the water thus converting water into steam and then converting the steam into electricity. Nuclear energy are widely used in vessels and ships from all over the world.
Geothermal Power
Geothermal power is the heat that is being amassed down below from the earth’s surface. This is another way of making conventional power than that of fossil driven plants which is very much costly. This power is much feasible and also another environmental friendly alternative source of power driven by nature itself.
One big geothermal plant can power up to one whole urban community, supplying all the power it needs while a small geothermal plant can power up a small village and small buildings. One good thing about natural sources such as this one is that a geothermal power plant does not harm the air or the ozone layer because they do not emit poisonous gasses while in operation.
Using any of these alternative power sources can help us and the earth as well. It is cost effective and they are much less harmful to the earth. Using bio-fuel and using alternative power sources can be a way to save the earth and this is the future of our world.
A War Between Eating And Sustainable Power
Today climate change is a reality that is acknowledge by even the most doubtful of skeptics. The warmer temperatures in areas where its supposed to be cool, scorching summers, and bone chilling winter have become a pattern that people cannot simply ignore.
What The War About?
Funny enough it seems that people are getting desperate and all are turning to bio-fuel like it’s the savior of all mankind. So what is bio-fuel? Bio-fuel is any gaseous, solid, or liquid material derived from biological materials. The argument ensues when people talk of the future. Bio-fuel’s raw materials are usually agricultural crops that are made to undergo fermentation and certain processes in order to produce bio-fuel.
The Problem
Who is the world’s largest oil consumer? Those with the highest number of vehicles running their roads, countries like the US, England and generally most of the European nations. When you think about it bio-fuel is made from corn, sugarcane, palm oil, vegetable oil, and etc; where do these agricultural crops come from? Third World Countries.
In Mexico they have this “tortilla crisis”. Corn which is the basic ingredient of tortilla is now sold five times the price it used to be marketed for. The reason for the inflated prices? The demand of bio-fuel in highly developed countries has severely altered the business people’s sense of profit. Why sell for a dollar when you can for 5 because the demand is now higher.
Who Suffers?
The first world countries will have to export goods from the third world countries to fuel their increasing demand for energy. The third world countries are usually tropical ones located near the equator, hence a higher crop growth of corn, and all those needed to manufacture bio-fuel; but for these countries corn is food, so is sugar cane. For the first world to survive the t poorer countries must either starve in hunger or break their back working to be able to afford the price hikes of the most basic of all commodities: food.
A Compromise
So what should we do? We need to address the problems of the environment and pollution, but it is also not right that to solve a problem we must create one. Think about it if the agricultural countries go into decline because its people can’t afford food then who will till the land to supply the giants with endless bio-fuel?
Sustainable energy is geared to sustain life, not make it harder. A proposal is in order. Since the crops needed for the production of bio-fuel can only survive in tropical countries then the governments of the more well off countries will have to invest in the agricultural countries to supply their own demand. These crops must be independent from those for local consumers. Stringent rules governing pricing and distribution must be implemented to further protect the source of the energy.
Sustainable power means the world working hand in hand to create a better way of life for the future. The road to betterment is paved with hard work and dedication. The ancient Egyptian used sails to go up and down the Nile; they were patient and they reached their destination. Let us all be patient but diligent in our quest for sustainable power to sustain life.
Help Save The Environment
As the cost of living continues to rise, energy reports and broadcasts are crammed with energy saving tips and suggestions. Some energy saving tips require initial investments, some just solicit a change of lifestyle. The best energy saving tips are those that require almost nothing but changing a habit. This one is about the wise energy saving choices.
1.Limit, as much as possible, the use of water. Of course water is not that expensive (at least for now); but saving water saves energy. When cleaning the driveway, the deck or patio, using the broom instead of the hose would save several hundreds of gallons of water a year.
2.A push mower is a good idea to mow a small lawn. Aside from not using electricity or fuel to ride the mowing machine, it is also good exercise.
3.Rakes are good leaf movers. Like the push mower, you do not need energy to fuel up a machine to get the job done. There is also a sense of nostalgia in using this traditional tool.
4.Use compact fluorescent light bulbs to light up your driveway or as a security light. CFLs are one of the most handy and energy efficient products that you can have. If you are worried about bugs sticking to the light, there are yellow CFLs that are available.
5.When shopping, avoid going for the disposable ones. Disposable products need more landfills and landfills emit dangerous gasses. Go instead for items that could be used several times over. Again when shopping, go for products that are made of better quality. They might be a little more expensive but generally, quality products last longer.
6.Bring your own bags when shopping. Paper bags are made from trees; the environment can use more of them. Plastic bags on the contrary are oil based and are not biodegradable. If you bring your bag with you, you do not only help in saving energy, you could also get a discount from your store.
7.Batteries contain toxic materials. They produce heavy metal like zinc, zinc, arsenic, cadmium, mercury etc. Thus, disposal needs proper care. Once the heavy metal in batteries seeped into the ground it has a good chance of contaminating the ground. When buying products that would need batteries, pick those that are rechargeable. That way battery disposal is limited and you save on the cost of buying new batteries.
8.Good thing that SUV sales everywhere are going down (well, at least for the environment and not for car manufacturers). SUVs use much more energy than compact sedans for the same distance. While using SUV’s could be fun, there is also that tinge of indifference to the current energy issues and environmental problems we are facing. Reducing the use of SUVs on the street may not mean much in terms greenhouse gas emissions but is a signal to manufacturers to build more energy efficient vehicles.
9.The use of solar power is an excellent idea if you want to tackle the issues of energy conservation and environment protection. If there is one thing that the world needs most at this time, it is the widespread use of solar power.
10.Energy saving devices may cost a little extra but the pays offs are much more than the extra cost in terms longer life spans and energy saved.
