Renewable Resources And The Environment
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by: ConnorCooper | Total views: 17 | Word Count: 620
We are now at a critical juncture of human history, and what happens next has a lot to do with how we handle our renewable resources. That might sound overly dramatic, but global warming threatens some very dramatic consequences.
The Problem of Climate Change
With all of the news stories that have come out on the threat of global warming, by now just about everyone should at least of heard of it. Even with that being the case, however, we are still going to go over it again as not all of the most important aspects are highlighted.
The coverage that global warming gets is often focused on the possibility that polar ice caps are going to melt. While this would be an extremely serious, even catastrophic event for many, it is not actually the most serious threat which is posed by global warming.
Something that could have an even bigger effect is if the increased temperatures lead to ecosystems operating in a different way. If that happens then the way that we grow food now may not be possible anymore, leading to mass starvation.
Given that this is so serious a situation that we are in, perhaps you are thinking that the best thing to do would be to just immediately cut it off at the source. That is, stop burning fossil fuels. And while it would seem to be a good suggestion, that would lead to an economic collapse from which recovery would be impossible.
For this reason we are forced to come up with an alternative to fossil fuels before we stop using them. And the good news, of course, is that we do have those available in the form of renewable resources. There are many different forms, such as heat pumps or solar panels, and they can all be used in conjunction to come up with an overall solution.
The result of making this switch is that we will be able to slowly, gradually, stop burning fossil fuels. The reason that we have to do that, of course, is that they emit CO2 into the atmosphere, and as a greenhouse gas this is causing the climate change that we are seeing.
The Finances of Renewable Energy
As we cannot afford to ignore the economic consequences of the energy we use, or don't use, it is in the economic sphere that renewable resources are going to have to succeed if they are to have a large effect on the environment.
When considering the natural way that you make money with renewable energy at the moment, that is through the savings that you make on your energy bills, the situation is not very good. It normally takes about the life term of solar panels to get back the money that you spend on the installation, which is about 25 years.
For this reason then, not many people could afford to use solar panels. Only the people who could afford to treat them as a consumer item, rather than as an investment, could afford to get them. However the UK government is helping to correct this situation by introducing the feed in tariff.
The government scheme known as the feed in tariff pays you for every unit of renewable energy that you produce. The consequence of this is that, while it doesn't help with the initial installation cost, it does mean that you can afford to treat solar panels as an investment. It usually takes 10 years to pay off the installation costs, instead of the 25 years without it.
This means that for people who can actually afford the initial cost of a solar installation in the first place will now be able to make money off it. That is why many people are now choosing to get solar panels installed.
About the Author
To learn details regarding solar panels, Connor Clarke writes a lot more on the subject at http://www.renewableresources.org.uk. Find out additional information regarding the way it all functions, such as how much money you can make, and get a free quote for an installation.
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