Power for the Future - Research Proposal Example

Power for the future Proposal paragraph: In the present time, the main source of power is fossil fuel, but the sources of fossil fuels, i.e. oil, natural gas, and coal are not renewable. Consequently excessive use of fossil fuels is causing huge depletion of this vital source of power. Apart from this, important concerns that have been raised regarding the use of fossil fuel is that they are not environment friendly and causing excessive harm to the environment. So the time has come to think about different alternative sources of energies. This paper aims at discussing the future of fossil fuel as a source of power in the world and finding out different alternative sources of power, which may help, create sustainable reserves for power generation. The paper mainly places its stress on different renewable energies like solar energy, wind energy, bio-fuel energy etc. and aims at finding out how efficiently each of these sources can be used to generate power for the future.   Introduction: The present age may well be termed as the age of fossil fuel. Today more than 90 percent of the world’s energy is supplied by oil, natural gas and coal (“Energy resources and our future”). Over the years, consumption of fossil fuels has increased by a magnificent level. The twentieth century experienced the highest level of consumption of fossil fuel since it has been introduced as an important source of energy to the human civilization. Coal, oil and natural gas have been known to man for thousands of years. For example, in some parts of China, for the purpose of domestic heating, cooking and lighting, coal and natural gas were used as early as 1000 B.C. (“Energy resources and our future”). Fossil fuels, however, did not become the most important source of energy until the invention of machines running on oil, gas or coal in the industrial age. Particularly, since the mid nineteenth century fossil fuels are being used widely. Energy consumption is an important determinant of standard of living. High consumption of energy results in high standard of living. At present, people across the world are dependent on machines for most of their everyday activities. To run these machines huge amount of energy is required and enormous fossil fuels are meeting the energy gap, but for the last two to three decades, scientists have been expressing their concerns over the overuse of fossil fuels. Since coal, gas or natural energies are non-renewable and over the years, excessive use of these fuels has caused their depletion, this golden age of fossil fuel power cannot run for long. (Richards, 5-7, 13) Time has come to seriously think upon alternative sources of energy for the future, as possession of huge amount of energy is a prime requisite for a human civilization. Energy helps in building the foundation of human civilization. It is the energy which offers human being the freedom from hard labor without which there could be no hour to be spent on art, literature, or various kinds of learning that have offered human civilization a rich culture. (“Energy resources and our future”) History of human civilization shows that whenever there was a reduction in the per capital consumption of energy in any civilization, it simply led to a decline of that civilization and forced people to adopt a primitive way of living. For instance, in the past, depletion of wood (fuel) was considered to be one of the primary reasons for the decline of the Mayan civilization. Throughout the history of human civilization it has been found that the countries with low energy reserves have always been forced to depend on agriculture for livelihood. Overdependence on agriculture results in increasing poverty or a more or less stagnant economy. (“Energy resources and our future”) Since it is a widely accepted fact that standard of living is closely related to the consumption of energy, no country can show their courage to overlook the fact that the most important sources of energy of the present day, that is fossil fuels, are continuously being depleted with increasing amount of energy consumption. Hence it is now high time to take some concrete steps to reduce the extent of depletion. To avoid any kind of power shortage in future, the best way is to rely increasingly on alternate sources of energy. Many countries have realised this fact and are placing their emphasis on alternate sources of energies, like solar, wind or nuclear energy. Looking at the depletion rate of fossil fuels it has become quite evident that the future will embrace wind, solar, nuclear and other forms of renewable energies to keep the high pace of development of human civilization. Being environment friendly these energy sources will also be able to provide mankind with a more pleasant and safe environment to live in. As mentioned earlier in this paper, it is now known that coal, oil or natural gas will not last for long. Unless alternate sources are discovered and used to a greater extent, the future will experience huge power shortage. Under such circumstances, wind, solar, nuclear and other renewable sources of energy have emerged as alternatives to fuel power. Although at present, use of these alternate powers is very limited, it has immense potential to emerge as one of the main sources of power of the future world. Apart from the concern over depleting fossil fuels, there exists another huge concern over the negative impact of fossil fuels on environment. (Richards,. 8-11, 29) When fossil fuels are burnt, huge amount of carbon dioxide and other hazardous gases are emitted into the air. These gases trap heat at the lower levels of atmosphere and cause temperature of earth to rise, which produces a negative impact on human health. Taking all these concerns regarding fossil fuels into account the million-dollar question is what can be done to meet the energy needs for the future? Scientists are putting their stress on renewable energy sources. (Richards, 12, 13, 23; Maroto-Valer et al, 1-2) Wind is one of the important renewable sources of energy. With fossil fuels becoming scarce, and environmental conditions becoming worse, wind power as a renewable and environment friendly source of power holds huge promise for the future. Wind power is slowly gaining its pace in the process of shaping the life of people. Wind, the moving air, touches every human being in all corners of the world. Scientists have found out sufficient potential of this wonder of nature to be used as a great source of power. Engineers have built various kinds of wind turbines to generate energy from moving air and this wind power can be used for several practical purposes. In future, wind mills can increasingly be used for doing numerous works of everyday life, like water pumping, grinding of grains in agricultural fields, chopping of woods and running machines in factories. Windmills have immense potential to become one of the most important power sources for rural areas of the world in future. (Burton, et al. pp 1-2, 6; Morris, pp 12-14) Apart from wind, another important renewable source of power that has huge potential to rule the future is solar energy. The two most important advantages about solar energy are that it is reformed very quickly and it leaves behind no hazardous pollutants. To meet heat and electricity needs of future, many people stress on the use of solar energy. Solar power promises a brighter and cleaner future to the mankind. Most of the countries across the world are now experimenting various ways of using solar power more efficiently. Solar technologies that convert light and heat from the sun into electric power are of two types - active solar and passive solar. Under active solar technology, heat and light from the sun are converted into electricity through various photovoltaic panels and solar thermal collectors with the application of different mechanical equipments. Solar power has immense potential to be used in a wide range of areas including urban planning, different agricultural activities, horticulture, lights, heating of water for several purposes, heating, cooling and ventilation of rooms in domestic households as well as in offices, water treatment for making water potable, cooking, generation of electricity, running vehicles, and so on. Solar power also promises to provide mankind with a relatively cheaper source of power in future. (Rooney, 37; Scheer, 62-64) While talking about alternative power sources that can replace fossil fuels and become important source of energy in future, bio-fuels should be mentioned. Bio-fuels can also become an efficient means of solving the problems of energy and pollution crisis in future. The idea of using ethanol from naturally grown plant as an alternative to depleting nonrenewable resources has started to attract more attention. Biodiesel and its by-product glycerin can also be used for several purposes. The most important advantage of bio-fuels is that they carry with them a clear image of environmental friendliness and therefore promises to the human civilization to provide a sustainable source of energy for running automobiles and other machines without causing any damage to the planet’s environment. (Kemp, 81-83) Finally, it is the nuclear power, which is supposed to become a significant source of energy in future. Today nuclear power is produced only through the method of nuclear fission. However, today scientists are putting their efforts to invent newer ways of producing nuclear power so that in future huge amount of nuclear energy can be produced and fulfill the increasing need for power when fossil fuels cannot meet the growing demands for energy. Scientists are working hard to improve safety, reliability and economical factors of nuclear powers plants for making nuclear power one of the most convenient sources of energy in future. The rate of establishment of nuclear power plants has been increasing continuously. (Bodansky, pp 43) Many countries have become very active in producing nuclear power. However, many countries across the world have been expressing some important concerns regarding the use of nuclear power. There is little doubt that nuclear power can be used for a variety of purposes that would help the mankind, but this can also be used for providing great harm to human civilization in the form of nuclear bombs. Apart from this, nuclear power is not very environment friendly like other renewable resources. Hence people have to be very careful while using nuclear power. (Greenhalgh, 1-3) Conclusion: On the basis of the above discussion, it has become clear that in future fossil fuels may no longer rule the energy sector of the world. The golden age of fossil fuels will come to an end in near future and different sorts of other power sources, particularly renewable sources, will replace fossil fuels and also play an important role in making the environment clearer. References 1. Bodansky, David. Nuclear energy: principles, practices, and prospects. Springer, 2004. The book highlights the problems of non-renewable sources of fossil fuels and the constraints of supply faced with the growing demand. It also discusses the importance of nuclear power as a carbon free source of power generation for the future. 2. “Energy resources and our future - remarks by Admiral Hyman Rickover delivered in 1957”. Energy Bulletin. 2006. retrieved on 13th April, 2009 from http://www.energybulletin.net/node/23151 The website reveals the remarks made by Hyman G. Rickover of the US navy regarding the concerns over depletion of fossil fuels and the political role play in this context. The nation with greater supply and control over power generation has a greater control over the other nations 3. Greenhalgh, Geoffrey. The future of nuclear power. Springer. 1988. The book discusses the future prospects of nuclear power and how this may be used for power generation and as an alternative source of energy. It highlights with the help of diagrams how this power is produced and what may be done to ensure a convenient generation of nuclear power. 4. Scheer, Hermann. The solar economy: renewable energy for a sustainable global future Earthscan, 2004. This book discusses how solar power can be used to meet various political, economic, and technological challenges to form a sustainable global future 5. Kemp, William H. Biodiesel: basics and beyond : a comprehensive guide to production and use for the home and farm. Aztext Press. 2006. The book outlines the processes and tools required producing biodiesel as a fuel and how it meets the standards of the farmers in their use of excess oilseeds to produce biodiesel. These farmers also use co-byproduct, which is glycerin for different purposes like soaps and body oils. 6. Morris, Neil. Wind Power. Black Rabbit Books, 2006. The book talks of the demand and functions of the energy resources of the earth and how these are exploited. It also talks about development of new sources of energy. 7. Rooney, Anne. Solar Power. ReadHowYouWant.com.2007 The book enfolds diagrammatic representations and concepts regarding energy sector and the key sources. It highlights the discussion on how each source affects global warming and also describes energy production ways. 8. Richards, Julie. Fossil Fuels. Smart Apple Media, 2003 This book talks about future energy crisis. In the book, author have discussed the dangers of over reliance on oil and also expressed his concern over the fact that in near future fossil fuel will exhaust. The book also looks at the potential of alternative sources of energy like wind, sun, water etc. 9. Maroto-Valer, Mercedes M., Song, Chunshan, and Soong, Yee. Environmental challenges and greenhouse gas control for fossil fuel utilization in the 21st century. Springer, 2002. This book talks about various environmental challenges posed by excessive use of fossil fuels and possible remedies. 10. Burton, Tony, Sharpe, David, Jenkins, Nick and Bossanyi, Ervin. Wind energy: handbook. John Wiley and Sons, 2001. The book highlights the interdisciplinary nature of wind energy research and provides a comprehensive treatment of wind energy for electricity generation. Read More