One of the major issues of today is the issue of energy and saving the planet by the proper use thereof. Now what is “the solution” to this problem? We cannot say definitively that there is one solution because each of “the solutions” have major drawbacks. What may be the end result is a combination of current methods of energy independence and a collection of methods instead of one major method. In fact there is more than likely several methods which we as of yet have not found.
One of the methods I foresee as helping our energy independence and use in the future is that of human waste. Natural waste (essentially poo) has been a major problem for pollution in every society in history, from the french streets laced with fecal matter to the polluted rivers and lakes in the united states. What would happen if we could find a clean way to use this unlimited renewable resource as energy instead of wasting it? Suppose that we purify it and then use it as we would in a coal or oil energy plant but instead of releasing the gasses produced we send it through a system of pipes that would be submerged in coolant. This would lower the temperature of the gasses causing condensation in the pipes that would let out the chemicals at the end of the tubes where they would be sold to chemical companies that could use them or the chemicals could be safely disposed of in the same way we dispose of human waste now (even though we are left with this remnant of the feces it is drastically reduced and is disinfected). This method would solve two major problems.
The second method is one with which I am sure most of those reading are familiar. It is that of nuclear energy. There are many who would say that nuclear energy is an unsafe process with little energy produced. This is fundamentally untrue. It is an energy efficient process with virtually no pollution produced. In fact the only product that is produced as far as air pollution is steam which is vastly insignificant considering it could be billowing black clouds as with a coal plant. The other type of waste is nuclear sludge which is easily disposed of when condensed into solid form. Another myth concerning nuclear power is that it would cause a nuclear explosion. This is simply not true because the energy output is managed in a different way than a nuclear bomb. This in conjunction to the next solution could be our key to the future.
The sun. There is a massive fireball blazing in the sky with unlimited free energy and we have not used it to its full extent yet. Solar panels could easily be used to cover houses and buildings. This would nearly half the energy costs of most homes and businesses, allowing for a more relaxed need for other sources of energy causing energy plants to slowly disappear.
As you can see there are multiple paths to our energy future but there is no one method of energy reliance otherwise we will become dependent on it as we are with oil. There may be no way to recover all of the wasted resources throughout the ages, but there is a way to save the precious few we have left.
