Life Without Sustainable Power
What happens when the oil prices and production costs get too high? What if our fossil fuel supply runs out? What will happen then? Actually, to fully appreciate sustainable power, these aren’t the only questions we should be asking. Perhaps we should inquire: Where does that extra unseen 20 percent of our electricity supply come from? How are far off towns furnished with power? You see, sustainable power is not just for the future. It is here and it is now.
What is Sustainable Power Anyway?
By sustainable power, I mean
the full gammut of alternative energy sources. Everything from solar power, wind power, hydroelectrical power, through to biomass and geothermal power. Anything that we can derive energy from that does not degrade our planet in its extraction and use. Some might argue that nuclear power might count amongst this group, but in truth, with the massive amounts of water it requires and the huge problems that it leaves behind in terms of its containment, this is far from a sustainable power source. We can only hope we can maintain sufficient resources to contain its radioactive pollutants for the thousand or so years that it will take to neutralise. Already we are seeing nucleay reactors being left in submarines in the Baltic Sea by the Russian government who simply cannot afford to maintain them securely.
The Real Deal
The thing about sustainable power is that it elicits argument from politicians and nongovernmental organizations alike. Those opposing the movement towards sustainable power suggest they have certain grounds for pronouncing that sustainable power does not work or that it is a bad thing after all.
Perhaps we should begin by specifying what sustainable power actually is. To sustain means to support, maintain, to hold back from diminishing. So sustainable power is unlimited power, in other words, a resource without end. These days, sustainable power means endless power supply with no disadvantageous consequences or harmful effects on our fragile environment.
It’s Not Sustainable – It’s the Alternative
Put more accurately however, we are not saying that sustainable power causes the conflict. It is the “alternative” aspect of energy that creates the conflict. Many people contend that alternative energy resources are just too new a resource to be really trusted to be safe.
Other authoritative people on the matter of energy say that alternative energy resources are simply not strong enough to be able to meet the world demand. Irrespective of which way we debate it, alternative energy resources are part of sustainable power and sustainable power means humans have a chance to continue living as a species ad infinitum.
The human race has always faced monumental challenges relating to its survival. This current one is merely another in our continued quest to survive as a species. To do so, we need to become more environmentally aware and to act decisively on that awareness.
It’s Here, It’s There, It’s Everywhere!
Natural alternative energy resources have been applied and used from as long ago as the time of the pharaohs. Today, alternative energy resources are spread out all over the world. You can see activity occurring from the richest countries to the developing nations. In NorthWest Europe, wind farms are abundant. Australia, New Zealand, the Philippines, Kenya, Germany, Canada, Turkey, Mexico, and even the United States of America take advantage of geothermal plants to add a percentage of their electrical energy. Hydroelectric power so beloved by the US and China, can generate enough electrical energy to power villages, even small towns. This helps to power the huge electrical demands of a city like Las Vegas.
It’s Now and It Can’t Be Denied
If you believe that Planet Earth is already so polluted and in jeopardy, then there is no point. We might as well make money while we are alive and to hell with the future generations. However, history says that with every challenge humanity has ever faced, we have managed to create and invent our way out of the crisis.
In alternative energy resources lies our hope for a healthy buoyant vibrant future for everyone with no one left out. This could be conceived as merely another blip in out evolutionary growth, one that we will overcome, just as we have all the other ones previously.
That does not mean that we can therefore put out feet up and relax. There is much to do, many developments, many breakthroughs to be made, but be thankful for sustainable power and be a supporter not only in words but in action as well.
Pic via: iStockPhoto
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