HOW TO REPLACE FOSSIL FUELS ? THAT IS THE QUESTION
So much of climate change and global warming and consequent pollution and destruction of habitat and food supplies is tied up with the use of fossil fuels and the unthinking use of hydro power that nearly every aspect of sustainability involves the derivation and use of fuel and power, Fossil fuels produce carbon dioxide when burnt. Continued use of fossil fuels will only increase the problems of global warming and consequent climate change. It is absolutely essential to drastically reduce the use of fossil fuels if any other efforts to create sustainable development are to succeed.
The reduction in the burning of fossil fuels is the first priority of any sustainable development. Fortunately there are in fact several alterative sources of heat and power ? all of them free for ever ? which are waiting to be tapped. The sun, the wind, the waves, the tides, the earth and gravity are ambient sources one place or another over the whole globe. The choice of location for a development need only take into consideration one or more of these sources to ensure sustainable heat and power. For existing settlements thought needs to be given to how to convey heat and power from sustainable sources.
The need of sustainable power to provide the propulsive force for transport is also there for the taking in the form of solar, geothermal, wind and wave produced electricity and hydrogen. These technologies are developing apace and are already producing viable results, slowed only by the protectionism of old fossil fuel producers and their transport clients, as demonstrated by the documentary "Who Killed the Electric Car?".
Nuclear power, once heralded as the power of the future, has still to fully develop, with fission having its radiation problems and fusion still to reach commercial realization, but potentially another source of secure energy supply.