Traditional and alternative

sources of energy.

Cheremisin K.
• Traditional energy, otherwise known
as 'dirty energy', is the energy thats
source comes from fossil fuels.
There are three main fossil fuels
that provide the vast amount of
electricity: coal, oil and natural.
These traditional sources of
electricity are more abundant today
because renewable resources have
had higher costs throughout history.
• Up until now fossil fuels were the cheapest way
to power all of the country. The landscape is now
changing with the advancements in technology
and towards renewables. The issue with the
traditional sources of electricity is that the
supplies are limited, at some point we will run
out of the earth’s supply of coal, oil, and natural
gas. No one knows when this will happen but in
long term we need an alternative. Additionally,
the traditional sources of electricity have caused
an immense amount of damage to the planet.
These sources cause damage to the air when the
fuels are burned and to the land when the
sources are being extrapolated from the earth. 
• When fossil fuels are burnt, either at a power
generation plant or from your car, carbon dioxide
is released. An increase in the carbon dioxide
levels of the earth leads to polluted air and
increases the earth's temperature levels, leading
to a vast amount of issues like rise in seawater
and increase intensity of storms. When coal is
extracted from the earth they sometimes use a
technique called mountaintop removal. They
shave off layers of mountains to have better
access to the fossil fuels underneath. This
destroys rivers, forests, and mountains while also
leaving the land scarred.
• Renewable energy sources are abundant
and have an unlimited life. The renewable
sources are solar, wind, geothermal and
hydro power. This power comes from
earth's natural forces the sun, the wind,
and flowing rivers. This type of energy has
minimal negative impact on the
environment. One issue with certain
renewable energy resources, such as solar
energy, is that there is no way to store this
energy. In other words, at night when there
is no sun, you can’t get any solar energy so
you aren’t guaranteed energy 24/7. 
• It is tough to become solely dependant on
solar energy unless there is a way to store
enough energy incase there is no sun for a
significant amount of time. There have been
great advancements in the energy storage
field, but to store enough energy to power,
for instance, New York city for 6 hours would
nearly impossible at this point. Right now, we
need to increase the amount of renewable
energy generation facilities that we have
while shutting down the worst traditional
sources (coal powered plants). As technology
develops we will be able to fully rely on
renewable resources to get our power.