Alternative energy

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Alternative energy is an umbrella term that refers to any source of usable energy intended to replace fuel sources without the undesired consequences of the replaced fuels^[1]. Typically, official uses of the term, such as qualification for governmental incentives, exclude fossil fuels and nuclear energy^[2][3][4] whose undesired consequences are high carbon dioxide emissions, the major contributing factor of global warming according to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, and difficulties of radioactive waste disposal. Over the years, the nature of what was regarded alternative energy sources has changed considerably, and today because of the variety of energy choices and differing goals of their advocates, defining some energy types as "alternative" is highly controversial.

The term "alternative" presupposes a set of undesirable energy technologies against which "alternative energies" are opposed. As such, the list of energy technologies excluded is an indicator of what problems that the alternative technologies are intended to address. Controversies regarding dominant forms of energy and their alternatives have a long history.

Contents 1 Definitions 2 History 2.1 Coal as an alternative to wood 2.2 Petroleum as an alternative to whale oil 2.3 Alcohol as alternative to fossil fuels 2.4 Coal gasification as alternative to expensive petroleum 2.5 Renewable Energy as alternative to non-renewable energy 3 Recent forms 3.1 Ecologically friendly alternatives 3.2 Zero carbon alternatives 3.3 Energy independence alternatives 4 Relatively new concepts for alternative energy 4.1 Floating wind farms 4.2 Bug excrement 4.3 Biogas digestion 5 Alternative energy in transportation 6 See also 7 References

[edit] Definitions

Source	Definition
Oxford Dictionary	energy fuelled in ways that do not use up natural resources or harm the environment.[5]
Princeton WordNet	energy derived from sources that do not use up natural resources or harm the environment.[6]
Responding to Climate Change 2007	energy derived from nontraditional sources (e.g., compressed natural gas, solar, hydroelectric, wind).[7]
Natural Resources Defense Council	energy that is not popularly used and is usually environmentally sound, such as solar or wind energy (as opposed to fossil fuels).[8]
Materials Management Services	Fuel sources that are other than those derived from fossil fuels. Typically used interchangeably for renewable energy. Examples include: wind, solar, biomass, wave and tidal energy.[9]
Torridge District Council	Energy generated from alternatives to fossil fuel. Need not be renewable.[10]

[edit] History

Historians of economies have studied the key transitions to alternative energies and regard the transitions as pivotal in bringing about significant economic change.^[11][12][13] Prior to shift to an alternative energy, supplies of the dominant energy type became erratic, accompanied by rapid increases in energy prices.

[edit] Coal as an alternative to wood

Historian Norman F. Cantor describes how in the late medieval period, coal was the new alternative fuel to save the society from overuse of the dominant fuel, wood:

"Europeans had lived in the midst of vast forests throughout the earlier medieval centuries. After 1250 they became so skilled at deforestation that by 1500 AD they were running short of wood for heating and cooking... By 1500 Europe was on the edge of a fuel and nutritional disaster, [from] which it was saved in the sixteenth century only by the burning of soft coal and the cultivation of potatoes and maize."^[14]

[edit] Petroleum as an alternative to whale oil

Whale oil was the dominant form of lubrication and fuel for lamps in the early 19th century, but by mid century and the depletion of the whale stocks, whale oil prices were skyrocketing and could not compete with the newly discovered source of cheap petroleum from Pennsylvania in 1859.^[15]

[edit] Alcohol as alternative to fossil fuels

In 1917, Alexander Graham Bell advocated ethanol alcohol from corn and other foodstuffs as an alternative to coal and oil, stating that the world was in measurable distance of depleting these fuels. For Bell, the problem requiring an alternative was lack of renewability of orthodox energy sources^[16].Since the 1970s, Brazil has had an ethanol fuel program which has allowed the country to become the world's second largest producer of ethanol (after the United States) and the world's largest exporter.^[17] Brazil’s ethanol fuel program uses modern equipment and cheap sugar cane as feedstock, and the residual cane-waste (bagasse) is used to process heat and power.^[18] There are no longer light vehicles in Brazil running on pure gasoline. By the end of 2008 there were 35,000 filling stations throughout Brazil with at least one ethanol pump.^[19]

Cellulosic ethanol can be produced from a diverse array of feedstocks, and involves the use of the whole crop. This new approach should increase yields and reduce the carbon footprint because the amount of energy-intensive fertilisers and fungicides will remain the same, for a higher output of usable material.^[20][21] As of 2008, there are nine commercial cellulosic ethanol plants which are either operating, or under construction, in the United States.^[22]

[edit] Coal gasification as alternative to expensive petroleum

In the 1970s, President Jimmy Carter's administration advocated coal gasification as an alternative to expensive imported oil. The program, including the Synthetic Fuels Corporation was scrapped when petroleum prices plummeted in the 1980s.

[edit] Renewable Energy as alternative to non-renewable energy

Renewable energy is energy generated from natural resources—such as sunlight^[23], wind, rain, tides and geothermal heat—which are renewable (naturally replenished). When comparing the processes for producing energy, there remain several fundamental differences between renewable energy and fossil fuels. The process of producing oil, coal, or natural gas fuel is a difficult and demanding process that requires a great deal of complex equipment, physical and chemical processes. On the other hand, alternative energy can be widely produced with basic equipment and naturally basic processes.Wood the most renewable and available so called "alternative" energy,burns the same amount of carbon it would emit if it degraded naturally.^[24]

[edit] Recent forms

[edit] Ecologically friendly alternatives

Renewable energy sources such as biomass are sometimes regarded as an alternative to ecologically harmful fossil fuels. Renewables are not inherently alternative energies for this purpose. For example, the Netherlands, once leader in use of palm oil as a biofuel, has suspended all subsidies for palm oil due to the scientific evidence that their use "may sometimes create more environmental harm than fossil fuels".^[25] The Netherlands government and environmental groups are trying to trace the origins of imported palm oil, to certify which operations produce the oil in a responsible manner.^[25]Regarding biofuels from foodstuffs, the realization that converting the entire grain harvest of the US would only produce 16% of its auto fuel needs, and the decimation of Brazil's CO₂ absorbing tropical rain forests to make way for biofuel production has made it clear that placing energy markets in competition with food markets results in higher food prices and insignificant or negative impact on energy issues such as global warming or dependence on foreign energy.^[26] Recently, alternatives to such undesirable sustainable fuels are being sought, such as commercially viable sources of cellulosic ethanol.

[edit] Zero carbon alternatives

From the perspective of the climate change issue, low carbon economy fuels are alternative sources that eliminate carbon and methane emissions. For this goal, renewable or sustainable energies such as biomass combustion, and hydrogen derived from natural gas do not present viable alternatives because they do not aggressively confront global net carbon increases. Both nuclear power and carbon capture and storage techniques such as clean coal technology are low carbon emission alternative energy technologies but are reviled by other "alternative energy" advocates who argue that these energies do not provide an alternative to harming the environment.^{[citation needed]}

[edit] Energy independence alternatives

In Europe, there is a desire to be more independent of Russia supplied energy^[27], and in the US, there is a desire to be independent from petroleum produced in countries that often are hostile to US interests. From this perspective, domestic natural gas, a fossil fuel, is an alternative energy to use of foreign petroleum as a transportation fuel. This is the point of view of T. Boone Pickens as described in his Pickens plan for energy independence, and is reflected in legislation for the state of Florida^[28]. Although natural gas is not renewable, it is regarded as an alternative energy from this point of view.

[edit] Relatively new concepts for alternative energy

[edit] Floating wind farms

Floating wind farms are similar to a regular wind farm, but the difference is that they float in the middle of the ocean. Offshore wind farms can placed in water up to 40 meters (131 feet) deep, whereas floating wind turbines can float in water up to 700 meters (2, 297 feet) deep. ^[29] The advantage of having a floating wind farm is to be able to harness the winds from the open ocean. Without any obstructions such as hills, trees and buildings, winds from the open ocean can reach up to speeds twice as fast as coastal areas. ^[29] A Norwegian energy company, StatoilHydro, will launch the first test period for the floating wind farms in autumn 2009. ^[30]

[edit] Bug excrement

Scientists have been working on methods to alter the DNA of bugs in which these bugs convert agricultural waste into fuel. The scientists envision their bug excrement as being both a renewable resource and a carbon negative, meaning that the process will remove more carbon from the atmosphere than what it outputs. ^[29] Currently, these “bugs” that the scientists are experimenting on are single-celled organisms, usually industrial yeast or a nonpathogenic strain of E.Coli. ^[31] Since crude oil is similar to the fatty acids excreted by these bugs, ^[31] it will only take a matter of time for the scientists to manipulate the DNA to be pure crude oil.

[edit] Biogas digestion

Biogas digestion deals with harnessing the methane gas that is released when waste breaks down. This gas can be retrieved from garbage or sewage systems. Biogas digesters are used to process methane gas by having bacteria break down biomass in an anaerobic environment. ^[32] The methane gas that is collected and refined can be used as an energy source for various products.

[edit] Alternative energy in transportation

Due to steadily rising gas prices in 2008 with the US national average price per gallon of regular unleaded gas rising above $4.00 at one point,^[33] there has been a steady movement towards developing higher fuel efficiency and more alternative fuel vehicles for consumers. In response, many smaller companies have rapidly increased research and development into radically different ways of powering consumer vehicles. Hybrid and battery electric vehicles are commercially available and are gaining wider industry and consumer acceptance worldwide.^[34]

[edit] See also

• Association for the Study of Peak Oil and Gas (ASPO)
• Alternative Energy Index
• Energy development
• Energy storage topics
  • Alternative fuel vehicle
  • Fuel cell
  • Fischer-Tropsch process
  • Hydrogen economy
• Green electricity in Australia
• Green energy
• Greasestock
• Renewable energy
• Sustainable energy

[edit] References