Energy Options for a Sustainable Future
We can either choose from our options to take control of our energy and environmental problems or we can fail to choose and leave a shameful legacy of pollution, global warming and energy depletion.
Fossil Fuels
We have two very large problems with fossil fuel use, not counting wars and geopolitical conflict that are being caused by the struggle to control oil production. Perhaps the most pressing problem at this time is global warming which is primarily caused by the use of fossil fuels. The only immediately available option to combat global warming is to severely limit our use of fossil fuels. Sequestering of carbon dioxide in the deep ocean or underground my become an option in the future, but at this time we are years away from having the infrastructure to make this a practical option. The other big problem with fossil fuels is that the supply is finite, and the demand is without limit.
Find More Fossil Fuels
No doubt this is an option that will eventually be exercised, unfortunately even if we access every drop of oil and every lump of coal in existence we will still exhaust the available supply within the foreseeable future. Perhaps this won’t happen in the lifetime of those of us who are now living but it will happen. Even if we stopped burning petroleum for fuel it would still be a very valuable commodity, because it is in everything that we use – plastics, pharmaceuticals, cosmetics, clothing, paint, building materials, and even food. Petroleum has become the most widely used raw material in history. Eventually it will just be too valuable to burn. We owe it to our grand children to leave some for their needs.
Coal
Coal is just another fossil fuel. The only problem that coal doesn’t have as far as we are concerned is that the U.S. has enough of it at for now, and we don’t have to meddle in world politics to get it. Nonetheless, it won’t last forever, and coal based energy production is a huge source of pollution and greenhouse gasses. Realistically we will probably be using coal for a long time to come, unless we develop cheap fusion technology, which doesn’t look likely right now.
Biofuels
Biofuels are the favorite energy option of agribusiness. These options include all burnable products and by products of living things, both plants and animals. Biodiesel, gasohol, methane, switchgrass, firewood, camel dung etc all have some degree of practical use, but share similar problems. Biofuels are primarily agricultural products, and we don’t have enough agricultural production capacity for biofuels to satisfy our current energy consumption. Also, over reliance on biofuels could lead to deforestation, and could cause farmland that is currently being used to produce food to be converted to fuel production. Additionally, currently used intensive commercial agricultural methods rely on large inputs of petroleum fuel for tractors and transportation, and fertilizer that is also a petroleum product (made primarily from natural gas). The upside to biofuels includes the fact that non-agricultural biofuels (wood, and cellulose-based alcohol for example) wouldn’t result in a net addition of carbon to the atmosphere if produced in a sustainable manner. Unfortunately, sustainable production is very limited for all biofuels. If petroleum fuel and fertilizer is removed from the biofuel equation then production is severely limited. By the way, the total cost of agricultural products is much higher than we realize, but is difficult to see because of federal subsidies. Of course if you included the cost of oil motivated warfare at the pump then gasoline prices would be much higher too. In any event, biofuels won’t be a substantial part of the solution.
Hydrogen Fuel
This technology could be a very important part of our energy future. The byproducts of using hydrogen fuel are primarily water and energy, and hydrogen could conceivably replace petroleum fuel in all applications. There is a safety issue, but not an insurmountable one. Unfortunately, hydrogen technology is not a method for producing energy, but rather a way of storing it. Hydrogen can be produced in several ways, but all of them require another source of energy. Nonetheless, hydrogen technology or something like it could be a key in continuing to enjoy our energy intensive lifestyles.
Nuclear
Nuclear energy production has it’s obvious downsides – safety issues and nuclear waste, but the biggest problem with nuclear fission technology is that it always produces byproducts which can be used to manufacture atomic weapons. If we don’t work with the world governments to outlaw the use of nuclear fission worldwide, it is inevitable that atomic weapons will be used again sooner or later in warfare or by terrorists. Even if it were possible to keep nuclear energy technology for the sole use of ourselves and our allies, eventually some madman will use them for destruction. Nuclear proliferation in the form of atomic power plants is not a good option for the human race.
Solar and Wind Power
I am putting these two together because they have so much in common. Both are completely sustainable, inherently unreliable, and non-polluting (to the extent that non-polluting is possible), and we need to embrace them fully. The fact that solar and wind can be used to produce energy near the point of use also helps to mitigate power outages. Solar and wind power won’t solve our energy problems, but they will take a big bite out of it. The main drawback at this time is relative cost. That is not to say that they are too expensive (they aren’t) but only that they are more expensive than fossil fuels. There should be a solar installation on every rooftop in America.
Fusion
Nuclear fusion could well be the magic bullet for our energy future. The fuel is sufficiently available. It’s safe – fusion reactors can’t melt down, or start a chain reaction. It’s clean – no nasty byproducts are produced. And best of all, it doesn’t look like it will make a practical weapon at all. Unfortunately, we have not yet been able to build a fusion reactor that produces more energy than it consumes. However, the only reason that we haven’t done so is that we haven’t really tried. Don’t get me wrong, scientists have been working on fusion technology for years and have made great progress. As a matter of fact the technology has become accessible enough that a Canadian high school student built a fusion reactor in his garage in 2006 using some hardware that he got off of ebay. No kidding, this really happened. The only reason that we don’t have commercial fusion energy is that too many people are making too much money off of oil. When we invest some real money into research we will soon have fusion as an energy option.
Conservation
For some reason, it appears that this is the option of last resort. We could probably reduce our total energy usage in America by as much as 30% without substantially effecting our quality of life. Our houses and cars are too big and their efficiency is too low. Developers are planning to build an indoor ski resort in Texas so that people can snow ski in the middle of the summer. We eat food that is produced thousands of miles away and is flown in on airplanes so that we can have grapes in the middle of the winter. We choose to live many miles away from our work and then spend hundreds of hours driving back and forth. We have pools and hot tubs that we run continuously and use only occasionally. We have big lush over fertilized yards that we mow with riding lawnmowers. We drive around and round the parking lot to avoid walking a few steps farther. Our lifestyles are founded on wanton waste of cheap energy, and future generations may curse our memory for it.