Moving from Fossil Fuels to Alternative Energy Sources

This paper argues that moving from fossil fuels to alternative energy sources is the best way to prevent global warming and protect the environment. Firstly, the paper considers that moving to renewable energies would reduce the climate changes which are highly affected. Secondly, the paper argues that renewable energy is sustainable thus making it more advantageous than non-renewable energy.

Alternative Energy Sources
MOVING FROM FOSSIL FUELS TO ALTERNATIVE ENERGY SOURCES
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"Moving from fossil fuels to alternative energy sources is the best way to prevent global
warming and protect the environment "

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Introduction
Energy is an important factor for both human and economic development. Its significance
has come due to industrialization and major invention for satisfying human economic and social
development. However, for the past few decades, the reliance on non-renewable sources of
energy has created global complication. The use of non-renewable sources has been stated as a
cause of the rising rate of carbon dioxide, heat, climatic changes, and other issues connected to
global warming. Alternative sources of energy are required to mitigate these complications while
still satisfying the rising needs of energy. This paper argues that moving from fossil fuels to
alternative energy sources is the best way to prevent global warming and protect the
environment. Firstly, the paper considers that moving to renewable energies would reduce the
climate changes which are highly affected. Secondly, the paper argues that renewable energy is
sustainable thus making it more advantageous than non-renewable energy.
Renewable Energy Reduce Climate Changes
According to (Jain, 2015), developing effective mechanisms for utilization of natural
resources is fundamental to meeting societal needs. In the 2012 Global Energy Assessment
(GEA Writing Team, 2012), the report stated that the current issues of health are the result of
direct effects on climate change. These effects are caused by the increasing heat waves and rising
sea levels. Increased heat waves lead to a rise in temperatures and humidity. The higher
temperatures cause the formation of ozone which then causes negative outcomes on
cardiovascular and respiratory health. Even though climate changes were experienced even
centuries ago, the rapid change in recent years is alarming. Apart from higher temperatures, there
is also an alarming rise in carbon dioxide.

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Increase in industrialization and the use of fossil fuel for the past decades have led to an
increase in carbon dioxide (Asumadu-Sarkodie and Owusu, 2016). The United Nations
Framework Convention on Climate Change defined climate change as an outcome that results
directly or indirectly from human activities that adjusts the global atmosphere (Fräss-Ehrfeld,
2009). For the past decades, there have been international debates to maintaining global warming
to less than 2 °C (Rogelj et al., 2013). According to (Jacobson and Delucchi, 2011), a solution
to the current air pollution, climate change, energy insecurity and water pollution and people to
move to clean and reliable energy which has low costs and will increase the energy efficiency. A
few states have shown that renewable technologies are possible with China making a significant
move towards green energy (Cabré, Gallagher and Li, 2018). The U.S also predicted that the
development of technologies for exploitation of nuclear energy could be possible solution for the
climatic problems (Mez, 2012).
Renewable sources are considered clean and have optimal use. Besides, a reduction in the
use of fossil fuel will lead to an increase in renewable energy. This is because a reduction of
fossil fuel will lead to less production of carbon dioxide, which will lower the environmental
impacts. In a study conducted in (Mohanty, 2012), the authors sought to examine the sources of
renewable energy for enhancement of the development towards green energy in the mitigation of
the energy crisis climate change and current energy crisis. The finding of this study revealed that
an increased emphasis on the renewable sources of energy in countries within the Pacific Island
would help in the current fuel crisis and climatic changes. In (Masson et al., 2014), the authors
also found that solar energy not only reduced global warming, but also the urban heat island. The
authors found that the shading of solar roofs reduced heat to an extent where people needed to

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heat the homes (Masson et al., 2014). In summer, the solars reduced the energy requirement for
air-conditioning by 12% (Masson et al., 2014).
Source of Sustainable Energy
According to (Santoyo-Castelazo and Azapagic, 2014), the development of sustainable
sources of energy takes three dimensions which are social, environmental, and economic
dimensions. In addition, sustainable development is all about long-term considerations. In
respect of sustainability, renewable sources of energy replenish themselves unless destroyed due
to global warming. For instance, when looking at hydropower, the energy comes from water
moving from a higher elevation to lower. The main determinant of this source would be the
availability of water. In research conducted by (Wagner et al., 2016), the analysis proved that
general change in climate will reduce precipitation, which will, in turn, reduce water runoff.
Besides, non-renewable energy sources will one time run out and will never replenish until
another million years. According to (Ehrlich, 2013, p. 29), it is currently clear that the current
fossil fuel period is destined to end at most one or two centuries in the future. Therefore, people
must turn to renewable energy before the world gets to a point where it would be costly to
implement technology for renewable energy. For example, if the use of fossil fuel leads to drying
up of rivers, there will be no source of hydropower.
Renewable energy relates directly to sustainable development in that it favors both
economic productivity and human development (Rezaei, 2013). For instance, looking at
continuous supply as energy security, renewable energy is reliable for running an economy as it
will always be available (Kruyt et al., 2009). Besides, since renewable sources are distributed
evenly around the world, the cost of energy would fall since each country can generate its own, a
factor impossible with fossils fuel. In respect of social-economic development, nations have

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always viewed energy sectors as key to a country’s economic development. According to
(Edenhofer et al., 2011), renewable energy would create employment, create gender equality,
improve education and health, and will help the world in reaching global environmental safety.
In respect of sustainability, renewable energy is perceived to be easily accessible thus
making it affordable. This is based on the fact that they are distributed across the world.
However, concerns for access need to be handled in local contexts since countries will differ in
terms of the speed of the wind, availability of rivers, geothermal heat, et.c. Also, (Brew-
Hammond, 2010) talks about the issue of the difference between rural and urban especially
regions of South Asian and sub-Saharan Africa. In the same concept, (Edenhofer et al., 2011),
states that the grid system for renewable sources of energy are normally more applicable in rural
areas where there are significant distances. Rural areas also offer substantial space for renewable
energy systems where generated energy can be transferred to urban areas.
Challenges for Renewable Energy
There are different challenges affecting the implementation of renewable sources of
energy. Firstly, if renewable systems would be used, there will be much disruption of the current
systems. In fact, most people have seen the transition from non-renewable to renewable energy
as the major issue faced in the twenty-first century (Verbruggen et al., 2010). Disruption will
happen mainly as people would be required to move from engines and systems that rely on gas to
those that would purely rely on electricity. In consideration of deep penetration and integration
of renewable sources of energies, the work (Marwali, 2012) find that economies will have to deal
with voltage issues that will affect the electric grid. Challenges arising from this penetration
involve ineffective forecasting, lack of reliable means of energy storage, lack of better energy

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management systems, poor voltage control, and issues of power stability (Shafiullah et al., 2010;
Xie et al., 2010).
The recent report of (Sajadi et al., 2019) mentions issues of interference that arise
between distribution and transmission systems. Traditionally, the process of transmission and
distribution were kept and controlled autonomously. Each was separate from another. With the
integration of renewable energy plants, this position has been altered putting them at the same
level. According to (Sajadi et al., 2019), the new integration has caused the change of the flow of
power across systems due to re-dispatching of power plants. Secondly, the integration required
power injections which resulted in replacement or displacement of the traditional arrangements.
Lastly, the new integration has come with the alteration of the topological structure of the system
(Sajadi et al., 2015). With these changes, (Sajadi et al., 2019) find that transformation to green
energy creates issues with voltage control within the distribution feeders which is greatly
affected depending on the chosen geographical location.
Conclusion
The current economy and the quality of life depends much on the availability of energy.
This has made energy important both in human development, economic growth, and social
development. However, despite much benefits from the energy, the continued use of fossil
energy sources would lead to grievous repercussion. Currently, the world has started
experiencing issues of global warming and diseases that were not there before. This is due to the
high rise in carbon dioxide and heat. A shift to renewables sources of energy will help as the
possible solution for mitigation the current issues. In addition, renewable sources are the best
solution for a sustainable future. This paper intended to demonstrate that moving from fossil

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fuels to alternative energy sources is the best way to prevent global warming and protect the
environment.

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