Alternative energy sources in Japan: solar power

Oil is the principal energy source these days, especially in Japan. No other substance can be equivalent to the use of oil to many people all around the world. Oil is found under various, refined forms: gasoline, kerosene, diesel fuel…It has many functions and uses. These include a current availability in abundance, a currently high net energy recovery, and ease of transportation, relative safety and great versatility in end use. This substance is also useful as more than an energy source. It is the basis for the manufacture of petrochemical products including plastics, medicines, paints and myriads other useful materials. The roads all around the world on which travel cars run by fuels were converted from muddy trails by oil refineries. However, as discovered a few years ago, like all other fossil fuels, oil is a finite resource. This will cause a major problem in Japan as Japan has to import all of its contents. It has very few natural sources and must import everything else such as its food, sources, raw material… Although there will always be oil in the Earth, eventually the cost to recover what remains will exceed the value of oil and will therefore be useless to recover.

. . .

Let us concentrate on the solar alternative energy. Yet, although the sun will exist for a long time, the Earth’s surface only receives a certain amount of sunlight: only so much is received.

So the question asked is “What other alternative energy sources are there?”

There are two types of energy sources:

Non-renewable energy sources or renewable energy sources

Non-renewable energy sources include oil sands, heavy oil, natural gas, coal, shale oil, gas hydrates, nuclear fission and geothermal (except when used for space heating in which case is renewable). It is concluded that renewable energy sources will not be able to sustain present rich world levels of energy use and that a sustainable world order must be based on acceptance of much lower levels of energy use. Nevertheless, the question will be, “Will it be done with intelligence and foresight or will it be done by harsh natural forces?” It seems likely that maintainable energy mix will be broader than that it is today where oil and natural gas make up more than 50% of our supplies. However, the amount of electricity which can be generated by that method is not as great as that compared with the energy on demand. That is why solar power will be a much better energy source: Japan will not need to import or buy this new supply as it already has it and always will have it. This is not nearly enough of a replacement fro oils. Although the renewable power must be the individual source in a sustainable society, major difficulties become evident when adaptation, storage and supply for high latitudes are considered.

As Japan relies on many other countries to supply its resources, oil will cause a major problem as it is not only running out but without oil, Japan’s economy will fall because its products and exports are chiefly manufactured goods from refined oils. This problem remains unsolved and because of this, solar energy can not be used as a dependable base load. The alteration to this wider diversity of energy source will eventually and slowly lead to being dependant on what regional resources are available. Another problem is that the end product is only electricity and maybe, in the near future, a replacement fro oils in cars and vehicles.

Figures usually quoted on costs of generating energy from renewable sources give the impression that it will be possible to switch to renewable as the foundation for the continuation of industrial societies with high material living standards.

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Approximate Word count = 974
Approximate Pages = 4 (250 words per page double spaced)

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