What Will Be The World's Next Major Fuel Source?
Wind-farms on hillsides, domestic turbines, hydroelectric power and many other sources of renewable energy are slowly but surely becoming more day-to-day and accepted as viable energy supplies, but what's got many experts talking is the matter of what will the world's next fuel source be? As fossil fuels start to run out and even fuels that are in current use, like the water and hybrid powered cars, raise questions amongst the energy industry, experts are coming up with various means of creating energy in the near future.
The most base-level example of a possible energy source could well be microbes. In a process that is quite similar to distilling alcohol, some scientists have suggested that creating ethanol from plant waste could be the solution to dwindling oil supplies as microbes found in termites and various other jungle insects can easily process plant matter into sugar which, through a distillation process, can become ethanol. Though the process has been proven to work so far, with around 4 billion barrels of the product produced in the US last year, compared to about 140 billion barrels of gasoline used in the US, experts have warned that the excessive amount of Midwestern cornmeal needed to create the fuel could easily outweigh America's supply for both the dinner table and farm livestock.
Another consideration for a fuel of the future is algae, the green marine plant matter that sustains ocean life. The diverse and multi-cellular matter can produce an oil which, if used properly, scientists and futurologists are predicting it could be one of the biggest economic breakthroughs of the 21st century. Algae is not only incredibly resilient and can therefore grow in almost any amount of tepid water, but it also grows and regenerates at a remarkable rate, so can easily be harvested in a man-made environment, as opposed to stripping natural essential algae from the oceans. Also, an eco-friendly bi-product of algae is that the organism absorbs carbon dioxide, shrinking the greenhouse effect. Other biofuels can be used and reproduced in similarly man-made ways, including vegetable oil; however fuels like these have been criticised for requiring more energy to make than they end up producing. However biofuels recently got a much-deserved PR push after a Continental Airlines flight flew biofuels solely, with about 2% algae oil.
If scientists can't find a cost-effective way to produce algae oil and other natural biofuels, then perhaps they might have to look towards household waste for an answer. It is widely reported that the world's oceans are full of plastic rubbish, which forms giants flotillas which are not only bad for sea-life but have also recently been attributed to difficulties in locating planes and boats that have crashed or sunk in open water. Some believe that unwanted rubbish could be turned into an energy source. In fact, it's already being done: The Honolulu Derelict Net Recycling Program already collects discarded fishing nets and processes them to produce a crude oil and, if the system is proven to work it could see the biggest clean up the world's ever witnessed, as well as creating new power generation and transmission bi-products.
Paul Buchanan writes for a digital marketing agency. This article has been commissioned by a client of said agency. This article is not designed to promote, but should be considered professional content.
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Tags: Renewable Energy, Turbine, Wind