There’s a lot more news about alternative energies recently. Different people have different ideas about just what it is. They also have different ideas about how long alternative energy has been around. I wrote this article to give my perspective on
alternative energy is commonly used to refer to sources of energy that are an alternative to coal, oil and natural gas. These fossil fuels have been the most common source of our energy for generations.
However our reliance on fossil fuels is relatively recent. It wasn’t that long ago that ships were powered by sales and horses move goods and people on land.
I’m sure you seen a picture of a ranch house in the American West with the windmill next to the homestead. They originally were used to pump water. Later they were actually used to generate a small amount of electric power (say, enough to power of crystal radio) in the days before rural electrification
Early in the 20th century nearly 1/3rd of homes in Florida used solar hot water. The availability of cheap electricity in the 1940’s changed that. At one point electric companies were even giving away hot water heaters to encourage consumption.
I think you can see that our dependence on fossil fuels is relatively recent. Rather than something completely new, using alternative energies is a return to an older practice.
With that background, here’s my working definition of alternative energy: energy from a source other than the burning of fossil fuels (again coal, oil and its derivatives and natural gas).
While many people automatically assume that alternative energy sources are renewable, that isn’t necessarily so. For example, burning peat for heat is an alternative energy, but it is neither clean nor renewable.
Concern for the environment has made people aware of the impact of burning fossil fuels. While price fluctuations and occasional interruptions and supplies makes it clear that we are also running out a fossil fuel. Factors such as these have led to the increased interest in returning to alternative energy sources.
When people think about alternative energy solar panels and windmills are probably the most common things that come to mind. However there are many other forms of alternative energy are ready available (for example geothermal and biomass) and researchers are exploring some entirely new possibilities
My expectation is that in the not-too-distant future the tables will turn: what we consider “alternative” today will be the standard tomorrow. Burning fossil fuels will be oddball alternative.
