Abstract
Henry Ford may have been a bit ahead of his time, but he was right about one thing: the energy of the future will have to come increasingly from renewable energy. Over the past 250 years, humans have consumed an ever-increasing amount of fossil resources like coal, oil, and natural gas. But as these resources are depleted, the world must transition to renewable sources of energy.
The fuel of the future is going to come from fruit like that sumac out by the road or from apples, weeds, sawdust—almost anything. There is fuel in every bit of vegetable matter that can be fermented. There’s enough alcohol in one year’s yield of an acre of potatoes to drive the machinery necessary to cultivate the fields for a hundred years. Henry Ford, 1925
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Preview
Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.
References
Renewable Energy Policy Network for the 21st Century (REN21), Renewables 2011 Global Status Report (GSR), July 12, 2011, http://www.ren21.net/Portals/97/documents/GSR/REN21_GSR2011.pdf.
Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations, “Wood Energy,” last updated January 25, 2012, http://www.fao.org/forestry /energy/en/.
U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE), “Wood and Pellet Heating,” last updated February 9, 2011, http://www.energysavers.gov/your_home /space_heating_cooling/index.cfm/mytopic=12570.
Kirk R. Smith et al., “Indoor Air Pollution in Developing Countries and Acute Lower Respiratory Infections in Children,” Thorax 55, no. 6 (June 2000): 518–532.
Daniel deB. Richter Jr. et al., “Wood Energy in America,” Science 323 (March 2009): 1432–1433.
Christopher Bodeen, “China Plans to Relocate Millions near Gorges Dam,” Associated Press, October 13, 2007, http://articles.boston.com /2007-10-13/news/29225490_1_china-plans-three-gorges-dam-landslides.
International Energy Agency (IEA) Wind, IEA Wind 2010 Annual Report, July 2011, http://www.ieawind.org/IndexPagePOSTINGS/IEA Wind 2010 AR _cover.pdf.
Robert Bryce, “Windmills Are Killing Our Birds,” Wall Street Journal, Opinion page, September 7, 2009, http://online.wsj.com/article /SB10001424052970203706604574376543308399048.html#articleTabs%3D article.
Wallace P. Erickson, Gregory D. Johnson, and David P. Young Jr., “A Summary and Comparison of Bird Mortality from Anthropogenic Causes with an Emphasis on Collisions,” USDA Forest Service, 2005, http://www.fs.fed.us/psw/publications/documents/psw_gtr191/Asilomar /pdfs/1029-1042.pdf.
Zachary Shahan, “World’s First Molten Salt Concentrating Solar Power Plant Opens,” CleanTechnica, July 26, 2010, http://cleantechnica.com/2010 /07/26/worlds-first-molten-salt-concentrating-solar-power-plant-opens/.
International Energy Agency, “Technology Roadmap: Concentrating Solar Power,” 2010, http://www.iea.org/papers/2010/csp_roadmap.pdf.
U.S. Energy Information Administration, DOE/EIA-0383(2011), Annual Energy Outlook 2011, April 2011, http://www.eia.gov/forecasts/aeo /pdf/0383(2011).pdf.
Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), The Future of Geothermal Energy, 2006, http://geothermal.inel.gov/publications/future_of_geothermal _energy.pdf.
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2012 Robert Rapier
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Rapier, R. (2012). Renewable Energy. In: Power Plays. Apress. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4302-4087-7_3
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4302-4087-7_3
Publisher Name: Apress
Print ISBN: 978-1-4302-4086-0
Online ISBN: 978-1-4302-4087-7
eBook Packages: Business and EconomicsBusiness and Management (R0)Apress Access Books