Alternative Energy: An Essential Pursuit

There's a lot of discussion (and, sadly, controversy) about what we call 'alternative energy.' To begin with, the very term alternative energy carries a connotation that makes it seem fringy, and that falsely lends an air of legitimacy to doubts about the great value alternative energy can provide for us all.

This unfortunate state of affairs occurred because the explosion of fossil fuel energy use during mostly the 20th Century not only made advances in what human civilization could accomplish  possible -- advances that had never been possible before -- but by doing so granted vast power and wealth to the petroleum industry and to others who had a hand in controlling this valuable source of energy. Moreover, since it was and is in the best interest of these Petroleum Barons in terms of profit to marginalize the very notion of any energy source aside from fossil fuels (hence the term 'alternative energy'), they have applied a great deal of their power and wealth to doing just that. Unfortunately, they have done this with surprising success.

If you want details or proof, you can can find them in  Corrupted Science: Fraud, ideology, and politics in science  by John Grant, and  Merchants of Doubt  by Naomi Oreskes & Erik M. Conway.

The fact is that, although there is a lot that fossil fuels have done for us, there is also a lot we now know that we didn't know when we began using them. An honest look at the consequences of our near-total reliance on fossil fuels therefore compels the intellectually honest person to admit at least the following:

1. There's nothing fossil fuels can do for us that another form of efficently used energy can't also do for us -- in many cases, better and with considerably less harm. 


2. Fossil fuels are finite and non-renewable. Some people point out that they are technically renewable, but given the geologic spans of time needed to produce crude petroleum (millions of years), for all practical purposes, this is nonsense. If nothing else, having all of our eggs in just the fossil fuels basket is foolish because the basket will inevitably be empty sooner or later. What then?


3. The by-products of fossil fuel combustion accumulate as toxic pollution, which destroys the water we drink, and even the air we breathe. As probably the most important example, what we now call greenhouse gases accumulate in the atmosphere and cause a steady rise in the mean annual temperature of the planet. This in turn dramatically alters weather patterns (most importantly by increasing the severity and frequency of weather extremes) and heavily damages the ecosystems on which we depend for our very lives. Joseph Fourier discovered the elementary physics by which this takes place in 1824, and we call it the Greenhouse Effect. It has been well understood for many decades, despite the claims of climate deniers.  

So, the long and short of it is that, when we take honest stock of the data, we can see that developing alternative energies is not only a good idea, but it is vital to the survival of our civilization. We must put aside the notion that so-called "alternative energy" is somehow a fringy, impractical pipe dream.

What smarter ways of producing power exist as an alternative to are fossil fuels. And fossil fuels are not only poisoning the one home we have access to (Earth), but they are also finite and in the process of running out. What smart investor would stake the future of their business on a single, dwindling resource that was growing more expensive by the day when they could include resources that provided the same benefit in a way that was steadily declining in cost and that didn't destroy the facility in which the business existed?

That's a rhetorical question.