 |  Environmental Science: A Global Concern, 7/e William P. Cunningham,
University of Minnesota
Mary Ann Cunningham,
Vassar College
Barbara Woodworth Saigo,
St. Cloud State University
Sustainable Energy
Chapter Overview
There are two principal problems with the fossil fuels on which the modern world so heavily relies: The environmental costs are simply too high, and the supplies of coal, oil, and natural gas are finite and diminishing. The premise of this chapter is that significant alternatives are available that address both those drawbacks.
The best alternative of all is also the cheapest one—use less energy and use what we do use much more efficiently. The concept of the negawatt is both clever and sensible. If the rest of the developed world can figure out how to have a standard of living equivalent to ours on half the energy, surely we can too.
Most of the renewable energy sources described in the chapter are both sustainable and, in one way or another, dependent on sunlight: biomass, wind, and hydropower.
While these alternatives are much less environmentally intrusive than fossil fuel use, none of them is totally benign, especially when exploited via massive projects. A world powered by the sun, wind, and other renewables, in which energy conservation and efficiency is the first rule, seems likely to lead the way to a sustainable energy future.
|
|
2003 McGraw-Hill Higher Education