by Liam Taylor
To understand the environmental benefits of alternative energy sources you have to understand what they are an alternative to. So we'll be touching on that in this article, and also what governments are doing to encourager renewable energy and how it is now financially viable to make use of it.
<b>Renewable Energy V Fossil Fuels</b>
What alternative energy sources are an alternative to are fossil fuels. Things like oil, coal and natural gas. The way we get energy from these things is by burning them. One of the most important reasons for doing this is to generate electricity.
The normal way that electricity is produces is by burning fossil fuels in order to heat water. We want to heat the water so that it creates steam, and we need the steam so that it will spin turbines. The reason we need to do that is because a spinning electromagnet creates electricity.
The problem, of course, is not with the electricity production itself, or even with the way that it is done. Indeed, with wind energy it's the wind that turns the turbines. And with a geothermal power plant, it works the same way with heating water to create steam. It's just that the heat to do that comes from the ground rather than from burning fossil fuels.
Then you have electricity which is produced in an entirely different way, with no turbines involved. This is how solar energy works for example. In that case you have light hitting the solar cells, and this creates a flow of electrons (electricity) directly in ways that we do not have space to go in to here.
<b>Environmental Benefits</b>
If it were not for the fact that when we burn fossil fuels carbon dioxide is released in to the atmosphere, there would be no problems with it. Except of course for the fact that it is non-renewable, and so will run out one day. However, as it does result in carbon emissions, which contributes to global warming, it's a big problem.
When it comes to global warming, nobody really knows precisely what the results are going to be. However, predictions have been made which say that the polar ice caps are going to melt and this is going to result in massive sea level rises. What could be even more dangerous though is if the rise in temperatures means that ecosystems do not function anymore, meaning that we cannot grow enough food.
With alternative energy sources though, no carbon is released in to the atmosphere, so it doesn't cause a problem with global warming. Indeed, no pollution is created at all, aside from that created with the manufacturing of the equipment needed for it. And eventually that should all be able to be made with renewable energy as well.
<b>Financial Benefits</b>
There are some people, given the seriousness of the situation, who would like to see us stop using fossil fuels for our energy all together. They say we should go over to renewable energy straight away. Of course there is a problem with doing that though, which is that it does not make financial sense for everyone to do that yet.
However, conventional energy prices are rising all the time, and the price of things like solar energy are coming down. In addition to that, governments (including the UK government) are incentivising renewable energy with things like the feed in tariff.
The feed in tariff is a financial incentive introduced by the UK government (as well as other governments around the world) which means that you get paid for energy that you produce through renewable means. For example, with solar panels on your roof. The result has been that there have been far more solar installations.
Isaac Roberts writes additional info on solar energy at <a href="http://www.alternativeenergysources.org.uk">Alternative energy sources</a>. Discover the amount of money it's possible to make, and how it all works. If you are interested, you can obtain a free installation quote.
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New Unique Article!
Title: What Are The Environmental Benefits Of Alternative Energy Sources?
Author: Liam Taylor
Email: chrispaddock@hotmail.co.uk
Keywords: alternative energy sources,solar energy,renewable energy,alternative energy,energy,science,energy efficiency,home improvement
Word Count: 629
Category: Science
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