Alternative source of energy
No other problem is today
Traditionally exploited source of energy
More than 90% of the world’s energy supply comes from the burning of fossil fuels: petroleum,coal and natural gas.
• Petroleum
This is the most widely used source of energy. It supplies about 45% of the world’s requirements. However, it is an exhaustible resource, it create environmentalproblems as removing large quantities of petroleum from under the ground may cause land to sink, it can affect aquatic life in the advent of an oil spill, the burning of petroleum products also causesair pollution, resulting in global warming due to greenhouse gasses and finally in the depletion of ozone layer.
• Coal
Coal supplies about 35% of the world’s energy and just 20% of theenergy used in the USA. It is obtained from the underground or surface mines. Burning of coal creates pollution no doubt. In the 3rd world countries, people cut down trees which they burn to make coal.This contributes to deforestation. Antipollution devices have not succeeded in reducing pollution effectively.
• Natural gas
This resource supplies nearly 20% of the energy used by the world andmore than 25% of the energy consumed in the USA. Natural gas can sometimes be highly toxic and harmful for the environment and living organism.
Alternative Sources
• Nuclear energy
This source ofenergy can revolutionise the world we live in particular in terms of electricity production. This source of power is free from carbon emissions. Since the oil crisis of the early 70’s, the industrialpowers have been constructing nuclear reactors across the world for the production of electricity. There are about 500 such reactors devoted to peaceful uses.
• Biogas /biomass
It refers to thewastes of plants and criminals which are converted into energy by means of biological ad thermo chemical processes. It is a natural resource and can be used to cook food. It helps in the recycling…