Solar sector will move forward in 2012

Solar energy sector should expect good things to come its way in 2012, even despite the so much talked about Solyndra bankrupty. This is because solar energy industry is the fastest job generator in nation, and therefore one of the few bright spots in overall very dark economy.

The last thing US government needs right now is yet another industry going down the drain and this is exactly what will happen if government fails to show continuous support to solar power in 2012.

Is solar energy the best renewable energy option?

To most people solar energy seems like the best possible renewable energy option because Sun is the most abundant form of energy available on our planet. The major problem with solar energy is the fact that solar power technologies are still very expensive, even despite the recent decline in prices. Solar energy is also an intermittent source of energy because sunlight isn't available all the time, and is therefore in need of some cheap energy storage solution.

World will eventually fully go solar, and solar energy will rule the world in years to come, if not for anything else then because fossil fuels will eventually be depleted.
The Sun should shine for approximately 5 more billion years, more than enough time to harness solar energy on much wider scale :)

Don't worry, solar energy will still rule the world

If some company, not matter how big this company is, goes to bankruptcy this doesn't necessarily mean that everything in this sector is doomed for failure. Particularly not if we are talking about the solar energy industry, the only sector that is showing growth, and the one that is able to resist the overall economic slowdown.

Our Sun is the most abundant source of energy available in our planet, solar panels are becoming cheaper, and science is making them more efficient. Above everything solar energy has the biggest popularity of all other renewable energy sources so everything is there for future success.

The solar revolution has just started. There is much much more to come in years to follow. Let it shine :)

Go for renewables, forget about oil

Instead of focusing on how to ensure rapid renewable energy development world looks more worried about the fact that oil reserves are running out, in fact major oil companies are already planning massive oil exploration in Arctic.

Of course, the environmental price of this hunger for more oil will be enormous but this will mean very little to oil companies in their search for high profits.

The billions of dollars used for oil exploration of Arctic area would be more wisely used for developing new renewable energy technologies but politicians care very little about this. After all, oil lobbies are the ones controlling the global politics.

Renewable energy will decide the fight against climate change

Will our fight against climate change be successful or not? Well, the answer to this question mostly depends whether world makes quick transition to renewable energy. The sooner we make transition to renewable energy the better because otherwise carbon dioxide emissions will continue to grow and this will lead climate change to run out of control.

Renewable energy is growing fast but still represents only a small portion of world total energy use. Solar and wind energy sectors are developing really fast but are still far behind coal, oil and natural gas and this situation will likely remain the same for at least next two decades if not more.

Renewable energy technologies still need to mature and become more cost-competitive with fossil fuels. The science is working really hard to ensure equity between renewables and fossil fuels in terms of efficiency and costs, and although there is still a large gap between these two renewable energy is looking better and better with each new year.

Hopefully, there'll be enough time left to tackle climate change once these technologies become fully developed.

Is renewable energy better option than going nuclear?

Nuclear energy is not renewable energy source like some believe it is nor it is clean energy source like some suggest it is. How can nuclear energy be considered a clean energy source with such serious safety issues in form of radioactive waste and possible explosions.

You can never be 100% sure with nuclear energy in terms of safety regardless of different safety measures as the recent nuclear disaster in Japan clearly points out.

This is the main reason why our energy future shouldn't be based on nuclear power but wherever possible on renewable energy, nuclear power should be really considered as an logical energy option only in those areas where possible renewable energy solutions would be connected with huge complications or extremely high costs, though it also has to be said how the construction of nuclear power plants is anything but cheap.

Radioactive nuclear waste remains radioactive for more than 5000 years. That's a very long time to wait, especially with the current nuclear waste storage facilities, so it's no wonder that many consider this issue as a disaster waiting to happen.

Offshore wind energy looking good in Germany

Offshore wind energy is becoming increasingly popular around the globe, and one of the global offshore wind energy leaders could soon become Germany, especially since in 2010 Norbert Röttgen, German Federal Environment Minister, announced that offshore wind power companies can rely on debt guarantees from the government to secure the financing of "10 mega projects" wind turbines in the North and Baltic seas up until the end of 2011.

This may seem as a surprise because very few energy experts expected such a strong support for offshore wind energy in Germany.

According to this new plan for offshore wind power expansion, 10,000 MW of offshore wind farm capacity should be built within the next 10 years, and 25,000 MW in the next 20 years, meaning that offshore wind power should play key energy role in ensuring clean energy future for Germany.

This was confirmed by Röttgen's words when he said how he believes that Germany can "reach nearly 100% renewable energy by 2050, and wind power will provide about 50% of this".

Such positive offshore wind energy policy will no doubt attract many investors in Germany, and Germany looks set to become one of the leaders in global clean energy race.

As said above, offshore wind energy is becoming increasingly popular around the globe, and Europe currently leads the way by constantly adding new offshore wind projects. According to the latest reports the year 2010 was exceptional for offshore wind energy in Europe as European offshore wind farm installations have exceeded all expectations since more MW have been installed in the first half of 2010 than in the same period in 2009.

The same cannot be said for United States, and latest reports indicate that US wind energy sector is somewhat stagnating, with latest reports showing that only 1.24 GW of wind energy capacity was added in the first half of this year, less than half of the capacity installed in the same period in both 2008 and 2009.

Many energy experts agree that this slowdown in adding new wind energy capacity is mostly connected with the lack of adequate renewable energy policy that would show more support for new renewable energy projects in United States.

As AWEA chief executive Denise Bode said "strong federal policy supporting the US wind energy industry has never been more important, and Congress has to act now - before time runs out this session".

However Congress is currently much more interested in finding the solution to get the nation out of the potential bankruptcy after the record economic debt which has piled over the years.

Alternative energy articles - Overview

Alternative energy articles like the name suggests are articles that discuss the impact of alternative (non-traditional) energy sources in todays world. Alternative energy sources include solar energy, wind energy, geothermal energy, hydropower, nuclear power, tidal and wave power and biofuels. On the other hand traditional energy sources are coal, oil and natural gas which are usually referred to as fossil fuels.

Our society was based on fossil fuels, and fossil fuels are still dominant sources of energy. There are two main reasons why alternative energy sources are getting so much attention in the last few years- the fact that fossil fuels are limited resources that will eventually become depleted and also the fact that fossil fuels burning creates massive damage to our environment, particularly in form of climate change.

Wind and solar energy are two the most talked about alternative energy sources though they are still far away from being able to compete with fossil fuels on global level. At this moment wind and solar energy are not even two most important alternative energy sources because nuclear power and hydropower are currently leading the alternative energy sources pack.

Still, many energy experts expect that in years to come wind and sun will become the most important sources of clean renewable energy on our planet.

Geothermal energy is currently being harnessed in only small portion of the world because it is only economically viable in certain areas, tidal and wind power are more theoretical than practical solutions and biofuels are still being heavily mentioned in food vs fuel debate.

Will the future belong to alternative energy sources? Definitely, though maybe not because of our environmental concerns but mostly because of the future energy security issue.

Introduction to renewable energy

Renewable energy will likely rule the world in future, at least this is what most energy experts say about it. This is not only because renewable energy is environmentally more friendly option when compared with fossil fuels but also because renewable energy source are not finite resources as they are constantly being replenished.

So why don't we then use more of renewable energy? Well, first of all our entire economies are based on fossil fuels which means that fossil fuels have tradition on their side. Not only that, fossil fuels are still cheaper option compared to renewable energy sources such as solar and wind.

Renewable energy still has plenty to prove to the world before reaching the wider scale of usage. I'm not only saying this because of relatively high costs connected with many renewable energy technologies but also because of intermittency issue. Solar and wind, two of the most popular renewable energy source are intermittent sources, meaning that they are not available all the time, and are in need of some energy backup option, like for instance energy storage.

The current renewable energy leader in China, not only in terms of new renewable energy jobs but also min terms of adding new renewable energy capacity. United States is currently not only well behind China but also well behind EU which means that U.S. will have to significantly change its current energy policy in order to have any chance in catching the China's lead in clean energy race. The ideal solution to give strong boost to U.S. renewable energy sector would be federal renewable energy standard but given the current political situation in United States any major renewable energy legislation looks highly unlikely on national level.

The renewable energy resources list includes not only solar and wind energy but also geothermal energy, tidal and wave energy, hydropower. Nuclear energy is not renewable energy source, it can be argues whether it is a clean energy source or not but it certainly isn't renewable energy source.

The fastest growing renewable energy sector is currently the solar energy sector. This wasn't the case in period from 2000-2010 when wind power lead the way but currently solar energy industry is one of the fastest developing industries, not only in United States, bot on the global level as well.