What is Renewable Energy?
The news media has been abuzz about international conferences discussing climate and renewable energy. What is renewable energy?
First, let’s talk about what isn’t renewable energy.
Energy is important to modern life. We need it to light our houses, refrigerate our food, and transport people and goods around the globe. Energy is what gets us to work and school, and it’s what gets our 2-day shipped items to us.
Most of our energy (over 60% in the US) comes from fossil fuels. That includes natural gas (40.5%), coal (19.3%), and other petroleum products. Fossil fuels are so named because they are made when organic matter (including dead animals and plant material) is compressed deep under Earth’s surface for millions and millions of years. These fossil fuels are then pumped out of the ground and burned to make power for our cars, houses, and factories.
One big problem with fossil fuels is that they take millions of years to be created, but can be pumped out of the ground so much faster than that. Scientists estimate our sources of fossil fuels will run out in the next 50-100 years! That means we need to figure out something else, fast.
There are also other problems with burning fossil fuels for energy. In addition to harmful pollution, they also are the primary contributor to Global Climate Change.
What’s the alternative? We need sources of energy that can be replaced as fast as we can use them, which is what we call renewable energy. Renewable energy comes from sources like running water, wind, and the sun. Nearly 20% of energy in the US comes from renewable sources. Renewable also has the advantage of producing far less pollution and carbon dioxide emissions.
Even though it sounds so useful, there’s a reason we’re not using more renewable energy: currently, renewable energy technology just isn’t good enough to power our entire country. Although there is plenty of sunlight and wind, it takes quite a bit of effort to collect the energy, store it, and transport it to where it’s needed.
What we need now is research and development into renewable energy, so it can power our planet more safely and, hopefully, indefinitely.
Sources:
https://www.eia.gov/tools/faqs/faq.php?id=427&t=3
https://www.nationalgeographic.org/encyclopedia/fossil-fuels/
https://mahb.stanford.edu/library-item/fossil-fuels-run/
https://www.nrdc.org/stories/renewable-energy-clean-facts