Why Is It Important to Find Alternative Energy Sources?

Alternative energy has reached the point where it’s a mainstream talking point and a common household concern. Once only the concern of technologists and doomsaying environmentalists, alternative energy is now a shared governmental and societal mission. You’re probably wondering: why is it important to find alternative energy sources? There are manifold reasons, but we can break these down into a handful of main categories, including ecological and biological ones as well as business interests.

Ecological & Biological Reasons for Alternative Energy Sources

There is every reason to believe, based on evidence and warnings from the scientific community, that climate change is a real and present danger. Some reports suggest human civilization is quickly approaching a series of climate “tipping points.”

The World Economic Forum uses the word “dominoes” to describe the interwoven ecological disasters unfolding due to anthropogenic (human-caused) climate change, including frequent droughts and coral die-offs.

However, one needn’t subscribe to the worst-case scenario to believe alternative energy yields positive ecological and biological results.

Ecological

Fossil fuels cause damage to the natural environment in ways most people don’t appreciate while they heat their homes and drive their cars.

The extraction of coal, oil, and natural gas directly threatens species’ habitats and sometimes destroys entire food supplies. We rightly describe nature as a “chain” — and compromising even one link in this chain can have devastating consequences.

Aging fossil-fuel infrastructure poses a constant and long-term threat to ecology and biodiversity. Compromised pipelines regularly spill up to 85% of their contents directly into the environment. This sickens various species as well as the animals that rely on them in turn, including humans.

If nothing else, the mistreatment of huge tracts of land sold off for drilling, fracking, or strip-mining should give citizens pause. Companies may utilize leased lands for a limited time, but they leave behind a wasteland stripped of animal and plant life without the basic soil nutrients required for the environment to recover or to serve other human interests.

Biological

Human health benefits when our infrastructure runs on alternative energy sources. There are numerous deleterious health effects traceable to the burning of fossil fuels, including coal. Many of these affect the respiratory tract but may involve almost any body system and can result in various cancers.

We’re still investigating how fossil fuels have affected our biology. Even scientists don’t fully understand the link between pollution and human health, including its possible influence on IQ.

Business Interests & Energy Savings

Again, one needn’t subscribe to the worst-case doomsday scenario regarding fossil fuels and global warming to believe a change is due. In simple English, pivoting to renewable fuel sources is good business.

The National Resources Defense Council (NRDC) recognizes renewable energies as the cheapest, cleanest, and most abundant source of power. The organization’s research suggests the alternative energy sector could support up to 10 times as many jobs as drilling for oil and gas.

Individual businesses also stand to gain much from the transition to alternative energies. The U.S. Office of Energy Efficiency & Renewable Energy observes that small businesses which receive grants for energy-efficiency upgrades enjoy 15% higher revenue in some cases.

Even without direct financial assistance or incentives from the government, small-business owners stand to save on their energy bills each month by switching to solar, wind, geothermal, or another alternative energy source. Becoming energy-independent delivers the potential to stay operational during outages that render competitors immobile.

The monthly savings on utilities outlays could be breathtaking depending on the company and its ability to take advantage of solar power. Installing panels could reduce ongoing power bills by 75% in some cases.

Renewable Energy Is a Global Upgrade for the Better

Clearly, for businesses and individuals who can afford it, alternative energies represent an appealing opportunity. Lower power costs over time add up to huge savings, and clean energy is not as vulnerable to external factors — such as distant geopolitical events — that affect the price of oil.

Human decisions made at this scale must always serve the planet as a primary obligation, however. The call to expand investments in renewable energies across the globe is a direct response to warning signs from our planet that something must change.

From growing and transporting our food to manufacturing material goods and maintaining supply chains during extreme events, we need energy to keep humans clothed and fed. If the population is to continue growing — as well as serving the needs of its current citizens — we must make these essential industrial activities as efficient and waste-free as possible.

Why is it important to find alternative energy sources? Because we’ve exhausted the potential of our existing energy sources, and we’re flirting with exhausting our own in the bargain.