Renewable energy (RE) is the most appropriate fuel source; it is environmental friendly, increases energy source and promotes economic and social development. Over the last decades the world has been strategizing on reducing anthropogenic activities that contribute to global warming and shifting to renewable energy will help achieve this goal. The resource can be consumed in large quantities compared to its replenishing capacity and have little negative effects on the environment.
Machines require energy just like human beings to control movement and apply force when performing an action. The daily tasks and operations of human activity require continuous energy from different sources to ensure completion. These sources are classified into two; renewable and non-renewable sources of energy. The former identifies the sources obtained from natural resources such as the wind, tides, geothermal, and sunlight. They can easily be replaced, and extensive use will not lead to their depletion. On the other hand, non-renewable sources also occur naturally, but cannot be replaced or their renewal process is much slower. These sources include fossil fuels, natural gas, and nuclear chemicals. While these sources can help provide adequate energy to serve the needs of the human population, their instability and pollution caused make them undesirable. Concerns about global warming and climate change have made renewable energy as the most appropriate fuel source as opposed to the non-renewable energy (Shafiei & Salim, 2014).
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Renewable energy will help serve the needs of the human population without negatively affecting the environment. The emissions from renewable energy sources are minimal. According to Denholm & Kulcinski (2004), t he entire process of installation, production, operation, transmissions and decommissioning of renewable energy produces little to zero greenhouse gases. For instance, solar energy is an extensively available clean energy (the source contributes zero emission) resource that can be used for lighting and heating without being depleted; the amount of heat released by the sun in a second is more than the entire human race would require for survival. Nations have shifted to geothermal energy as a source of electrical power due to its advantages; the resource is completely renewable because the underground keeps warming and there is no energy required to harness it from beneath. Wind and water are also sources of energy that emit little greenhouse gases and can be used generate energy for numerous functions.
Despite the emphasis on shifting to alternative energy sources, Non-renewable energy continues to be the most used source of power and extensively serves the energy needs of the human activities. Petroleum accounts for a large percentage of the energy used globally to power vehicles and machinery in various industries among other uses. Despite the potential for depletion, non-renewable energy sources are abundant in different areas and are popular because their availability is not influenced by climatic conditions. Some scientists have argued that all energy sources including solar, wind, biomass, water and geothermal have negative environmental impacts and some of the effects are significant ( Tsoutsos et al., 2005) . The intensity and type of impacts depend on geographic location and technology used among other factors. For instance, solar power generation includes loss of habitat, land use change, and hazardous material use in the production process. It must however be noted that the magnitude of the effects depends on size of the project and technology used ranging from solar cells to solar thermal plants.
The non-renewable energy sources cause harm to the environment as their combustion leads to emission of poisonous gases as opposed to renewable energy sources. Fossil fuels are burnt to produce energy; for instance coal is burnt to release heat that is used to turn water to steam which then activates turbines that turn on generators producing electricity. Coal has large stocks of carbon and when they are burnt, they combine with oxygen to form carbon dioxide, a greenhouse gas that contributes to climate change. In addition, carbon IV oxide is responsible for acid rain that destroys buildings and contributes to biodiversity loss (Dogan & Seker, 2016). The extraction of fossil fuels has increased over the years to meet the demands of the ever rising population, despite the negative effects associated with their consumption, which has resulted in ecological imbalance and environmental degradation. The planet still contains huge quantities of fossil fuels but is estimated that the stocks will not last for the next fifty years if people do not shift to clean energy sources. The issue of scarcity has been compounded with the ever rising prices of fossil fuels.
Accidents of non-renewable energy such as fossil fuels can be disastrous and often result to massive damage unlike those related to renewable energy such as wind and solar. The demand for fossil fuels is high meaning they are always being transported to different locations through ship, train, airplane and truck. Quite often, there are cases of ships that drown into the sea carrying these fuels or oil spillage from tankers. The contents of crude oil are hazardous and when mixed with water, it reduces the amount of oxygen threatening aquatic life. Such problems associated with non-renewable energy have triggered nations to seek alternative energy technologies.
Discussions of shifting from non-renewable to alternative energy sources date back to the 1990s when oil prices began to hike (Abbasi & Abbasi, 2011). The topic became a heated one when scientists conducted extensive studies that evidenced fossil fuels were contributing significantly to global warming and environmental degradation. Results of the studies evidenced that the shift to geothermal energy, bioenergy, tidal energy, solar energy, wind power and hydropower will gradually help attain environmental sustainability. Intergovernmental agencies, governments, private sector, and interested parties have held a number of conferences over the last decades and they have indicated there is future for a sustainable development if the opportunities for renewable energy are exploited; replacing fossil fuel sources with clean energy alternatives. Industrial and technological development should go together with more exploitation of clean energy. It is estimated that by 2050, renewable energy sources could supply up to a fifth of electrical power worldwide, resulting in massive reduction of carbon emissions and enhancing environmental management (Solangi et al., 2011) . However, to control the rising global temperatures, the shift to clean renewable sources must happen faster and not only in generating power but also in transport and heating.
The adoption of renewable energy is the major solution for current and future challenges associated with use of non-renewable energy sources. They are environmental friendly and more exploitation will reduce environmental impacts, generate little secondary waste and are self-regenerating. Optimal use of renewable technologies is an opportunity for curbing global warming and reducing emission of greenhouse gases by providing an alternative to conventional energy sources.
References
Abbasi, T., & Abbasi, S. A. (2011). Renewable energy sources: their impact on global warming and pollution . PHI Learning Pvt. Ltd.
Denholm, P., & Kulcinski, G. L. (2004). Life cycle energy requirements and greenhouse gas emissions from large scale energy storage systems. Energy Conversion and Management , 45 (13-14), 2153-2172.
Dogan, E., & Seker, F. (2016). Determinants of CO2 emissions in the European Union: The role of renewable and non-renewable energy. Renewable Energy, 94 , 429-439.
Shafiei, S., & Salim, R. A. (2014). Non-renewable and renewable energy consumption and CO2 emissions in OECD countries: A comparative analysis. Energy Policy, 66 , 547-556.
Solangi, K. H., Islam, M. R., Saidur, R., Rahim, N. A., & Fayaz, H. (2011). A review on global solar energy policy. Renewable and sustainable energy reviews , 15 (4), 2149-2163.
Tsoutsos, T., Frantzeskaki, N., & Gekas, V. (2005). Environmental impacts from the solar energy technologies. Energy Policy , 33 (3), 289-296.
