Green Energy

Sustainable Energy

Last week was "bad" energy, but there is "good" energy, generally referred to as sustainable or renewable. Sunlight can directly be utilized, but is also responsible for the winds and biogrowth. Geothermal energy is also generally recognized as okay. Direct solar can take the form of photovoltaic cells, tower/dish power devices, passive cooling and water heaters. Three important indirect alternatives are wind power, ocean energy and biomass. The USDOE link, http://www.eere.energy.gov/RE/solar.html, can be tapped for everything you want to know about renewable energy.

The world uses about 400 quads of energy each year, of which oil is 141 Q. 1 Q equals 2.52x1017 calories or 2.52x108 tons of TNT, but it's best to forget the Qs and cs. Look at relativity. If we can capture one-hundredth of one percent the available solar energy that shines on our planet, we should be fine, for now.

Consider, then, that the Sun provides Earth with as much energy each hour as humanity uses every year. The Sahara Desert can produce 450 Tera Watts of power, when the sun shines. The current global power consumption is about 13 TW. But no one lives in that desert, but they do in India, which basks in the hot sun and has the potential to produce 600 TW. Finally, the World Council for Renewable Energy reported in 2004 that renewable energy has the potential to supply 15,000 times the current annual consumption of nuclear and fossil energy. The simple story is that there is a lot of sustainable energy available.-The NYMEX Crude Future rests today at 132.97/barrel.