Alternative Energy is a Viable Solution

In my last post, I posited that I think alternative energy sources and technoscientific innovation can play a major role in solving our energy crisis.  They are not the sole solutions, but we should not dismiss them as easily as the authors of The Energy Reader, Tom Butler, Daniel Lerch, and George Wuerthner seem to have.

There are clearly a lot of barriers at present to using renewables.  Since lack of infrastructure is one of the primary challenges, we must commit to building the infrastructure required for them.  As I write this, the US Senate is voting on a bill that would approve the building of the Keystone XL pipeline.  So, clearly, the idea of building new energy infrastructure is already on the table.  Hopefully, we will choose to build infrastructure for renewables instead.

We can also expand renewable energy gathering in the form of micropower, as Butler, Lerch, and Wuerthner mentioned.  We should use programs like Solarize Troy to empower homeowners to put solar panels on their houses.  Butler, Lerch, and Wuerthner state that “algal biofuel needs just the right mix of sun, water, and nutrients and may be difficult to produce at industrial scales.”  While this is likely true, algal biofuel  could be used as a form of micropower in places where it grows easily.  For instance, Kibbutz Ketura in Southern Israel produces algae, so they could use it as a source of micropower.

Most of the possible location for large-scale hydropower are already in use, but what about small-scale hydropower production?  There may be places where there used to be hydropower (such as mills), but it is no longer there.  For instance, on this Poestenkill (a brook south of the RPI campus, in Troy), there used to be several mills powered by the water, but now the Mount Ida Hydroelectric Plant is the facility that uses it for power.  More could be built, and the same holds true for other locations.

Nuclear power is also a promising option.  At some point, we will have safer nuclear reactors.  I realize that people have been saying this for years and yet it has not happened, but I think that eventually it will.  There are still issues with nuclear power, but far fewer than with fossil fuels.

I also don’t think we should give up on the idea of technoscientific innovation helping.  It can’t provide all of the answers, but it can provide some.  Perhaps we will invent solar panels that don’t require such rare materials.  Perhaps we’ll find new ways of harnessing the sun’s energy.  Perhaps we’ll be able to harness energy from as yet unused sources, such as lightning.  And we will hopefully continue to find ways to use energy more efficiently, and perhaps to recapture energy that is currently being lost. 

Of course, we still need to reduce our energy usage and find a way to make sure population does not continue to increase exponentially, but I think that alternative energy sources and technoscientific innovation are a viable primary solution.