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In a sense all energy is solar energy because all of the energy that we use comes from the sun ultimately. For example, the energy that you use to move, to even read this sentence, comes from the food that you eat. That food will either be plants that have grown from the sunlight they received, or animals that ate plants. However the sense in which we are going to be thinking about solar energy in this article is going to be as one of the alternative energy sources we have available. That is, an alternative to fossil fuels.

Energy From Fossil Fuels

Fossil fuels have got a bad name these days, but we shouldn’t forget that without them we could never have had an industrial revolution and most of us would still be peasants. Instead, we are living in ways that kings of the past could never have dreamed of. However, there are a couple of problems with it. One is that it is going to run out.

The other problem with this kind of energy source is that it releases pollutants in to the atmosphere. It’s not really fair to call carbon dioxide a pollutant because we do need it, after all that’s what plants use to create oxygen, which we need to breathe. However with too much of it, it creates global warming as it is also a greenhouse gas.

Most people understand the basic way that global warming works, but just to go over it one more time. When the heat from the sun hits the earth, most of it simply bounces off. However, some is then trapped in the atmosphere because of greenhouse gases. This is necessary to some extent, or else the planet would be too cold to live on. There are problems if there is too high a volume of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere though.

One of the main potential problems, which many people have heard about, is that if the polar ice caps melt, the sea level could rise. This could wipe out coastal communities. However a potentially larger problem that people are not generally aware of is that ecosystems could be disrupted meaning that we might not be able to grow enough food for everyone.

If we are going to avoid the catastrophes that could come about due to global warming then we are going to have to use a clean source of energy instead. Fortunately, we do have alternative energy sources that are clean.

Renewable Energy

While it is certainly good news that there are alternative energy sources available then, why is it that we are not using them more, and continue to use fossil fuels? That would be because of the bad news, which is that they are less efficient and more expensive than using things like oil.

So what would it take for things like solar energy to take over from oil? Well, for one thing we’d need a lot more solar panels. In theory this is not difficult, in fact it’s been shown that if we covered a significant part of the Sahara Desert with solar panels, that would create enough electricity for the whole world.

When it comes to practical matters then it becomes a lot more difficult. What has to happen is that it is actually cheaper to use solar energy, or some other source of renewable energy, than it is to use fossil fuels. And that doesn’t look like it is going to happen any time soon.

The reaction of many people is simply to say that governments should get involved and spend people’s money in a more wise way, thinking about the future rather than just the present. However the huge amounts of money this would require would probably ruin the economy, which is precisely what needs to be avoided.

There is something that lots of governments have got involved in though, which is artificially creating the conditions in which solar panels are going to be more in demand. That is, they have made them a better investment by applying a feed in tariff to energy created by solar panels, meaning that you get paid for every unit of energy produced in this way.

If you would like to know more about solar energy, it is possible to do so at http://www.alternativeenergysources.org.uk, where author James Wilson writes more on this subject. Also visit this site should you have an interest in getting a free quotation for a solar installation.