Alternate Sources of Energy: Ideas and Possibilities

Alternate Sources of Energy: Ideas and Possibilities

Abstract: Due to the economical and environmental costs of fossil fuels, as well as to the fuels limited supply, people are striving for renewable alternate sources of energy. Some energy possibilities for the future include the extraction of energy from solid waste, from highway winds, from nuclear fusion, and the earth's own inner heat.

As the next century approaches, the world must confront many questions regarding energy. Information from recent research has found that the present energy conditions cannot and must not remain. The world has witnessed massive oil spills that have grossly contaminated ocean waters, while killing immense numbers of marine life and causing immeasurable damage to the oceanic habitat. Scientists around the globe now preach that the released carbon dioxide from the burning of fossil fuels has accumulated in such large amounts that the global climate is changing. The increased amounts of the gas act as a blanket around earth, resulting in the phenomenon most know as Global Warming. Each year, the world consumes an increased quantity of the limited amount fossil fuels on this planet; this practice cannot sustain itself forever. Scientists argue about the date of fossil fuel depletion, but they all realize that there is not an infinite supply. It is clear that the our means of harnessing energy must change in order to solve existing problems and to prevent those that could occur in the future.

A major portion of today's scientific realm devotes itself to the research for alternate means of energy. Types such as nuclear fission power and solar power have gained respect and popularity; however, the future may primarily involve other, less known, approaches to energy. In order to obtain the desired amounts of energy, the future may hold the conjunction of an array of these approaches. Some energy possibilities include the extraction of energy from solid waste, from highway winds, from nuclear fusion, and from the earth's own inner heat.

The thought of retrieving energy from municipal solid waste is not new. The Energy Information Administration (EIA) states that the United States has used this industry for a century. Recent concern for the environment and for energy has increased interest in this field. Using incinerators, a city is able to reduce its volume of waste otherwise deposited in landfills, as well to provide electricity. The burning of the waste produces heat, which in turn produces steam, which then is able to produce electricity.