Climate Change

At this point, most people are aware of the environmental reasons for using alternative energy sources instead of fossil fuels. However, what about the financial benefits? They have to be there as well if it is going to be a long-lasting alternative.

The Environmental Concerns

Although most people already know what the environmental reasons are behind using alternative energy sources, it doesn’t hurt to go over them again. And actually not everyone is aware of what the most threatening consequences of global warming might be.

The problem arises from the fact that when we burn fossil fuels in order to cater to our energy needs this leads to emissions of carbon dioxide. This drives global warming, leading to the Earth warming up past the point that it should.

One of the most dramatic effects of global warming could be that the polar ice caps melt. If they do, and the sea level rises, then lots of what is land is at the moment could end up underwater. Something that might be even more serious though is if the ecosystems are disrupted and we can’t grow enough food anymore.

The problem is therefore very clear, if at the moment still unproven (in terms of the consequences). It is certainly something that we should be dealing with in any case, but how?

Dealing with the Problem of Climate Change

Given that this is a very serious situation that we are facing, and that if we continue to pump carbon dioxide in to the atmosphere we might end up not being able to inhabit the planet, why not just stop doing that right away? Unfortunately if we did just turn off the oil spigot, then the economy would collapse right away.

If the economy collapsed then many people wouldn’t have the money that they need in order to buy things like food, and all of the other things that they need to survive. So this would produce the sort of suffering that we are trying to avoid.

All that we can hope to do, then, is replace the energy that we get from fossil fuels with alternative energy sources that will provide clean and renewable energy. And of course we do have the technology available to do that, so why hasn’t it happened yet?

The Economics of Alternative Energy

The real problem with renewable energy right now is that it is too expensive. It’s cheaper to use conventional energy than it is to use renewable energy, that is the problem. When that problem is solved, we will have solved the problem of global warming as well.

In order to help with this situation, the UK government has introduced the feed in tariff. Now, this does not actually help with the cost of the installation, but what it does do is make solar panels in to a much better investment.

They also have the renewable heat incentive coming out soon which is going to make getting things like heat pumps and solar thermal systems in to a better investment. These schemes, while not making the initial installation cheaper, do make them better investments. So there have been more solar installations since the feed in tariff came in to effect.

What the effect of bringing in incentives of these kind is having is that more people are purchasing the technology. That is, demand is increasing. In order to cash in on the profits, more companies are going to get involved on the supply side. A greater supply means a lower price, and that is the way that the technology will eventually become affordable to most people.

At the moment then it is necessary to subsidise renewable energy, but in the future that should not be necessary. In fact eventually it should even be able to survive taxation.

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This article is going to take you through alternative energy sources, first of all by explaining what they are an alternative to and why they are beneficial. Then by showing that now there are financial as well as environmental benefits to using things like solar energy.

Fossil Fuels V Renewable Energy

The reason that alternative energy sources are necessary is that the energy that we get from fossil fuels we extract from burning them. That goes for everything from natural gas to coal to oil. One of the main reasons that we burn these things is so that we can bring about electricity production.

We need the heat that we get from burning fossil fuels in order to heat water, which then creates steam, and that steam goes on to make turbines spin. The spinning turbines create electricity because they have an electromagnet inside and that’s what spinning electromagnets do: they generate electricity.

The problem, of course, is not with the electricity production itself, or even with the way that it is done. Indeed, with wind energy it’s the wind that turns the turbines. And with a geothermal power plant, it works the same way with heating water to create steam. It’s just that the heat to do that comes from the ground rather than from burning fossil fuels.

Then you have electricity which is produced in an entirely different way, with no turbines involved. This is how solar energy works for example. In that case you have light hitting the solar cells, and this creates a flow of electrons (electricity) directly in ways that we do not have space to go in to here.

Environmental Advantages

The problem with burning fossil fuels for our electricity production is that as a by-product carbon dioxide is released. And the reason that is such a problem is because it is a greenhouse gas, meaning that the more of it there is in the atmosphere, the warmer the planet will become. And beyond a certain point that could become extremely problematic.

When it comes to global warming, nobody really knows precisely what the results are going to be. However, predictions have been made which say that the polar ice caps are going to melt and this is going to result in massive sea level rises. What could be even more dangerous though is if the rise in temperatures means that ecosystems do not function anymore, meaning that we cannot grow enough food.

With alternative energy sources though, no carbon is released in to the atmosphere, so it doesn’t cause a problem with global warming. Indeed, no pollution is created at all, aside from that created with the manufacturing of the equipment needed for it. And eventually that should all be able to be made with renewable energy as well.

Advantages Financially

There are some people, given the seriousness of the situation, who would like to see us stop using fossil fuels for our energy all together. They say we should go over to renewable energy straight away. Of course there is a problem with doing that though, which is that it does not make financial sense for everyone to do that yet.

However, conventional energy prices are rising all the time, and the price of things like solar energy are coming down. In addition to that, governments (including the UK government) are incentivising renewable energy with things like the feed in tariff.

The UK government introduced the feed in tariff in April 2010 in order to encourage more people to use solar energy for electricity production. Through the scheme, if you get solar panels installed on your roof, you get paid for every unit of energy that they produce. That is with you using the energy as well, so you are also saving on conventional energy costs.

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One of the main alternative energy sources is solar energy, and yet this is not really an “alternative” in one sense because all of the energy that we have comes from the sun ultimately. It’s what makes the plants grow, which provides us with something to eat (or something for the animals to eat, that we eat). Even oil got its energy from the sun, because it comes from plants that have come under very specific conditions to create oil. Such is the case with all fossil fuels in fact.

Energy From Fossil Fuels

Fossil fuels have got a bad name these days, but we shouldn’t forget that without them we could never have had an industrial revolution and most of us would still be peasants. Instead, we are living in ways that kings of the past could never have dreamed of. However, there are a couple of problems with it. One is that it is going to run out.

The other problem with this kind of energy source is that it releases pollutants in to the atmosphere. It’s not really fair to call carbon dioxide a pollutant because we do need it, after all that’s what plants use to create oxygen, which we need to breathe. However with too much of it, it creates global warming as it is also a greenhouse gas.

Actually though the process of global warming is actually something that allows us to survive on the planet. It’s just one of those cases where too much of a good thing can be a problem. Without greenhouse gases though, trapping the heat from the sun as it bounces off the earth, then the world would be far too cold to be able to support life. Too much though promises to cause problems.

While the focus that is often put on global warming has to do with the polar ice caps melting and the sea levels rising, that is not actually the biggest issue. What should be of much greater concern is the fact that ecosystems could be disrupted around the world. If that happens, we may not be able to continue to grow enough food to feed the population.

For these reasons then, we need a clean and renewable form of energy if we are going to survive in to the future as a species. This is where alternative energy sources come in.

Renewable Energy

It seems like, however, that we have already gone most of the way to solving our energy sources. After we have all sorts of alternative energy sources, from solar energy to wind energy to geothermal energy. Just about every natural process on the planet can be utilised in a way to create energy.

So what would it take for things like solar energy to take over from oil? Well, for one thing we’d need a lot more solar panels. In theory this is not difficult, in fact it’s been shown that if we covered a significant part of the Sahara Desert with solar panels, that would create enough electricity for the whole world.

When it comes to practical matters then it becomes a lot more difficult. What has to happen is that it is actually cheaper to use solar energy, or some other source of renewable energy, than it is to use fossil fuels. And that doesn’t look like it is going to happen any time soon.

Another alternative that some people think would be viable is for the government to simply force the issue. That is, that they should invest in alternative energy sources. However that is a socialist option really, and that is not going to work. What they do, then, is try to manipulate the market by imitating conditions.

There is something that lots of governments have got involved in though, which is artificially creating the conditions in which solar panels are going to be more in demand. That is, they have made them a better investment by applying a feed in tariff to energy created by solar panels, meaning that you get paid for every unit of energy produced in this way.

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It can be apparent to us that the best form of alternate provider of energy is the solar energy present today and could become use of for our household function. Setting up a solar power system at your house will be the first thing to do, if you need to be benefited by the renewable source of energy.

The most beneficial aspect of the DIY home solar panels is that they save you the lots of money that you just would’ve otherwise spent on some professional. Should you build the system yourself, then when something goes wrong you can consider solving the challenge yourself.

These systems can be purchased in the market in the form of packaged kits, which can be brought back as well as used to build the solar power system. Before you decide to make this happen you need to look into the place on the top that gets the majority of sunlight, because the DIY home solar panels like all the others is ideal whenever they receive direct sunlight for extended durations.

When you search it through the net you would find several dealers or retailers, who are more than willing to provide you with the DIY home solar panels. Further, if you notice carefully you’d observe that the whole solar panel kit could be offered for as low as $600. Nevertheless, you will need to decide on which merchant you’re planning to take the equipment from. In many of the instances this is the most vital choice that you should take, since a true retailer would usually offer you good products.

Always make sure that you check out the warranty period they are offering you, along with that check into the individual you’re to contact for any warranty relevant matters. In most of the situations additionally they offer you technical support on the telephone, to assist you proceed with the set up or repair the problem immediately after installation.

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