Renewable Energy Essay for Teen Ink

"Our dependence on fossil fuels amounts to global pyromania and the only fire extinguisher we have at our disposal is renewable energy." – Hermann Scheer, President of Eurosolar (The European Association for Renewable Energy) and General Chairman of the World Council for Renewable Energy.

"There is one forecast of which you can already be sure: someday renewable energy will be the only way for people to satisfy their energy needs.” – Herman Scheer

“Once the renewable infrastructure is built, the fuel is free forever. Unlike carbon-based fuels, the wind and the sun and the earth itself provide fuel that is free, in amounts that are effectively limitless." – Al Gore, Vice President to Bill Clinton.

Due to the growing issues with the fossil fuels we use today, many are considering and using different energy sources that are new, clean, and everlasting.  The popular forms of renewable energy today are solar, wind, and water (hydro).  These are the forms of energy that will support us for the rest of our lives.  From reading the quotes above many opinions can be taken, but one thing is for sure, oil isn’t going to be the answer to our energy necessities for much longer.  One day all of the oil is going to disappear and we are going to be forced to switch to renewable energy. To make life easier on future generations we should start moving away from oil now and towards renewable energy’s. 

One major advantage of renewable energy’s is that they are unlimited. They are therefore sustainable and so will never run out. They are unlimited because the source of their power is from nature which will be present as long as earth can sustain life.  A second advantage is because renewable energy is clean energy the equipment generally requires much less maintenance than traditional oil processing. Since there is no fuel involved in renewable energy it reduces the costs of operation.

Even more importantly, renewable energy produces little or no waste products such as carbon dioxide or other chemical pollutants, so it has minimal impact on the environment.  The elimination of these byproducts will lead to a cleaner environment and reduced global warming.

There is also a very big disadvantage from the use of fossil fuels, global warming.  Global warming is when the pollutants from our cars, trucks and any other engine reach the protective ozone layer that shields us from the sun’s harmful rays.  The pollutants break up and destroy this ozone layer letting those harmful rays through. Those rays then heat the earth and are now causing the polar ice caps to melt which can cause major global flooding in years from now.  This is also why 2012 was the hottest year ever recorded, on average, in U.S. history.

Through our experience with oil for the past hundred years it is now clear that an alternative source of energy is required for us to maintain our way of life.  Renewable energy is the best long term source for power because it is unlimited, clean and freely available all around the earth.  Renewable energy is the only hope for the future of the world and every single person that lives on it.

http://www.solarschools.net/resources/stuff/advantages_and_disadvantages.aspx

http://grist.org/news/2012-the-hottest-year-in-u-s-history-was-one-of-the-coldest-years-this-century/