Evolution of Different Types of Alternative Energy and Their Uses in Our Society

Sources of energy which are exploitable or usable upon research are considered to be alternative forms of energy. There are a variety of sources of alternative methods of energy which can replace ordinary sources. When these alternative sources of energy can be used for each is home is depends on changes over time.
The most basic source of energy is wood. Long ago, wood was originally used to heat wood stoves and cooking. In today's times, wood is becoming harder to find and people are looking for new ways to replace the use of wood. Coal is often substituted as an alternative source of energy. Coal is very abundant. By merely creating a coal mine, coal will be present.

Another alternative energy source is petroleum. Whale oil was once used during the 19th century but has since been replaced with petroleum. The whale oils were typically used for lamp fuel and lubricants. Petroleum is not used because it is much cheaper to produce.

As previously stated, petroleum is the very best alternative method rather than using whale oil. Petroleum is becoming more limited these days and other alternatives are being sought after. Coal gasification has been used many times in replacement of petroleum. By using coal gasification, gas is produced from coal.
Alcohol is considered to be an excellent alternative energy source. A long time ago, people used to use fossil fuels instead of alcohol. Fossil fuels became very scarce as well as expensive. In 1917, the use of alcohol was implemented an alternative to energy. The benefit of using alcohol is the fact that by building an ethanol plant makes the process very successful.

Zero carbon alternatives are another source. In many countries where the climate changes often and storing energy is difficult, the use of biomass combustion and hydrogen is being used. This is derived from the use of natural gas and is not present in any alternatives which are available because the world wide use is not common at all.

There are a few countries who treat the use of natural gases as an effective and alternative energy source. When compared to using petroleum, natural gas is effective to use an alternative. Some of the potential sources of energy of natural gases include the decomposing of landfill waste, waste materials of the agricultural industry, and any plant or manure parts which are unused.

There are also many more..
In our evolving age of advancement and technology growth, there are many countries who are now resorting to using geothermal and hydro plants in the production of energy. This type of energy is considered to be renewable. There are many other examples such as solar energy resources.

 Solar energy is energy which is produced from wind mills and the ocean. The use of solar energy is considered to be the very best alternative rather than the use of fossil fuels, coal or petroleum. These energy sources are renewable because energy is produced without combusting or wasting anything. The source of renewable energy is being used as an alternative in today's times because this source remains unlimited and very accessible.

America and Germany Getting Their Clean Energy Just Desserts

Germany is the unquestioned world leader in renewable energy. By mid-2011, the European nation generated over 20 percent of its electricity from wind and solar power alone, and had created over 400,000 jobs in the industry.

The sweet German success is no accident, however, and the following pie chart illustrates the results of a carefully crafted recipe for renewable energy.

As the chart illustrates, more than half of Germany’s enormous renewable energy generation is in the hands of “ordinary people,” according to the German Renewable Energy Agency. This outcome is more than golden in color, but has been a gold-clad economic opportunity for the German people, who have used the opportunity to become renewable energy producers and improve their economic security in a time of world economic crisis.

The policy recipe behind this golden success is called a feed-in tariff and its basis premise is that anyone can become a renewable energy producer. Under a feed-in tariff, electric grid operators are required to buy all renewable electricity under a long-term contract, and to offer a price for the renewable electricity that provides a modest return on investment. The feed-in tariff is responsible for two-thirds of the world’s wind power capacity, and nearly 90 percent of the world’s solar power.

The feed-in tariff is Germany’s complete energy policy recipe because it’s an incentive for generating renewable energy, but also has a democratizing effect – broadening the source and ownership of energy production. Crucially, the feed-in tariff builds a political constituency for more renewable energy production in a way that America’s half-baked energy policy does not.

The following chart illustrates a recent study of support for more nearby wind power in two German towns, each with a local wind farm. The difference is ownership, with one adjacent wind farm absentee owned and the other locally owned; and the difference is a massive shift in public support for more wind power. (I’ve generalized this to renewable energy).

The political importance of democratizing participation in the energy system can be boiled down to a simple example: a residential solar installation may add 3-5 kilowatts of new renewable energy to the grid, but more importantly it adds two new solar voters to the rolls. It may be marginally less cost-effective to allow a broad base of residential solar installations under their clean energy policy, for example, but the Germans have realized that the political payoff far outweighs the fractions of a cent added to electricity bills.

In practical terms, it explains why Germans are ahead of their targets for renewable energy production and can consider replacing their entire nuclear power industry with clean power while the United States lags behind, mired in a debate about extending the federal cash grant program and with an energy market balkanized by 50 distinct state policies.

The success of Germany’s renewable energy policy, in contrast to America’s, is a case of just desserts. Germany’s policy expands the energy pie and also divides it more evenly among its citizens, resulting in a groundswell of public support for more renewable energy.

American energy policy is half-baked, and its energy future is less appetizing.

The dominate energy policy in the U.S. is federal tax credits, policies that prevents vast swaths of America from being energy producers simply because they lack sufficient tax liability and forcing public institutions like cities and schools into awkward public-private partnerships to access them. The use of the tax code leaves the renewable energy industry heavily reliant on large financial institutions to help them sop up the credits, siphoning off scarce dollars to pad Wall Street accounts and effectively capping the growth of the industry. Marshal Salant, managing director of Citigroup Global Markets Inc., said in a recent interview: “There’s more demand for tax equity to finance renewable energy projects than we will ever have in the way of supply.” And Wall Street banks don’t love clean energy, only money. Unlike citizen energy producers, the banks won’t provide crucial political support when renewable energy policy is before the Congress.

Critics that contrast a feed-in tariff with other energy policy options like tax incentives, REC markets, or renewable portfolio standards miss the point. The latter are ingredients in a clean energy future, but the former is a complete recipe for the political, economic, and financial future of the renewable energy industry. Without a similar comprehensive approach in the United States, our energy future may not be so sweet.