Alternative Energy

Fossil fuels, coal, oil and natural gas, are a non-renewable source of energy.

Alternative energy is an umbrella term that refers to any source of usable energy intended to replace fuel sources without the undesired consequences of the replaced fuels

The stock market has a worrying message for the future. It suggests we may run out of oil a century before we have an alternative fuel ready to replace it.

Renewable energy is energy which comes from natural resources such as sunlight, wind, rain, tides, and geothermal heat, which are renewable (naturally replenished)

  

       Seven of the most promising renewable energy technologies:

·        advanced bio fuels,

·        electric vehicles (EVs),

·        concentrated solar power (CSP),

·        solar photovoltaic (PV - solar panels),

·        onshore wind power,

·        offshore wind, and so-called "clean coal" through carbon capture and sequestration (CCS) - and assesses their potential to make a market impact on cheaper, more conventional energy sources

Renewable energy sources like concentrated solar and photovoltaic solar systems are the most viable technologies likely to challenge the dominance of fossil fuel on the global energy scene, according to a report released by the Boston Consulting Group (BCG)

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  Power generation overall increased 8% during 2010 and wind and hydro accounted for 20% of total power generation in the first 9 months. Also, 9 months report for 2010 shows a 54% increase in revenue from wind and hydropower.

 Fossil fuels are of great importance because they can burned (oxidized to carbon dioxide and water) producing significant amount of energy per unit weight. Nevertheless, investors do not expect the replacement of oil-based fuels with renewable for another 100 years. Investors put far more money into the traditional oil companies than into alternative energy companies. Therefore; investors believe that in the near future the traditional oil business is going to do better and to occupy a considerably larger share of the energy market than alternative-energy companies