Citizen Power

Let’s get back to the basics, and look at the differences between fossil fuels, clean fuels, renewable energy, and alternative energy.

There are many types of real renewable energy.  Renewable energy means it comes from a source that renews, and will not run out — a natural source that is more or less infinite and free,  like energy from the sun and the wind and water.  Non-renewable energy comes from oil and gas and coal, and because they are running out, they are finite.  Makes sense, right?  We might have less than 50 years worth of coal left.  It’s finite.  So is oil and gas. We might have reached the other side of “peak oil” already and as demand is increasing due to the short-sightedness of car makers and humans in general, oil, gas, and coal will probably all run out in a few decades as use increases. That’s just a fact.   These things will run out during the lifetimes of many people alive right now.  And then what?  We might as well start to use real renewable energy now and save what oil is left for plastics and other things future generations will need it for. Oil is used in hundreds of products, not just for energy.

It may surprise some people that renewable energy does not mean “natural gas” as the current misinformation from some politicians (Nancy Pelosi) and oil men billionaires (T. Boone Pickens) would have you believe.  Even more astounding, the new GOP budget contains much talk of renewable energy as being offshore oil drilling!  It’s on page 11 if you care to download that ridiculous document from the GOP website**.  (See quote below.)

Examples of real renewable energy are geothermal, wind power, solar power,  biofuels and more.  Alternative energy is a phrase that is often interchangable with renewable energy, but not always. Alternative energy can be batteries in cars, or hydrogen fuel cells for cars, or energy sources that are on the drawing board but not quite there yet, like Generation IV nuclear plants that can re-use their nuclear waste.  Alternative energy is also used to describe renewable energy like solar and wind.   These are all under-used forms of natural energy, so they are alternative.

Over-used forms of energy are the fossil fuels, and using them is causing climate change.  Climate scientists are in about 99% agreement on this.  So, to help solve climate change and get on the track of stopping our dependence on foreign sources of fossil fuels we should be building the smart grid and getting off fossil fuels. That includes all fossil fuels, including the falsely claimed “clean” natural gas.*

I thought everyone knew this but it’s clear some people — mostly politicians — do not.

Here are the main clean, alternative forms of energy available right now:

• 1) solar power
• 2) wind power
• 3) hydro-electric power
• 4) geothermal power
• 5) biofuels
• 6) ocean (wave) power

All we need to do is use them.  Some are more advanced than others, but they are here and available to Americans right now.

I would include nuclear power on  this list, but it produces radioactive waste that must be stored, so it’s not “clean” even though it emits no CO2.  There is work being done on nuclear power that I’ll cover soon.  Nuclear power is something I am not against because it does not produce CO2 and because it doesn’t put out other pollutants like coal plants do.  Coal plants also produce more radioactive waste and other toxic waste material than nuclear plants do.  The main drawbacks to nuclear power seem to be cost and their huge use of water.

*Natural gas is not “clean” or “renewable” as some of our more uninformed politicians believe.  Please, somebody tell the people in Congress this simple fact.  They are very confused on this and some of them are even calling natural gas “renewable” in public documents and on their websites — which is what Sarah Palin called it during her campaign for vice president!  They could not be more wrong.  Natural gas is a finite fossil fuel that emits CO2 when it is burned (at least 50% as much as burning gasoline, by some estimates more than that) and the drilling process itself uses toxins that cause cancer and can be deadly.  (See post below for more on that).

** Quote from the Republican budget document (page 11):

 ”Democrats continue to restrict the exploration of
alternative energy sources. For example, the
Administration has already taken steps to hinder the
leasing of the Outer Continental Shelf (OCS), which is
estimated to hold at least 19 billion barrels of oil, and
Democrats have long championed the prohibition on
drilling in the Arctic Coastal Plain—which is estimated to
hold 10.4 billion barrels of oil.”

So, to Republicans — an alternative energy source is — OIL!

Yeah, it’s funny, but funny in a sad way.

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