A Guide to Renewable Energy from American Power and Gas

Climate change has become a hot button issue for our times. There can be no one left who doesn’t appreciate the significance of the fight we have on our hands to prevent the disastrous effects of runaway climate change. As individuals, most of us have become more environmentally conscious as the effects of climate change have begun to manifest.

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Unfortunately, many businesses and industries have been slow to react to the shift in attitudes towards this. With climate change being an issue that most people now recognize as a serious existential threat, businesses should have all the motivation they need to begin taking their obligations to protect the environment more seriously.

American Power and Gasis a rapidly growing energy company who aims to provide Americans with energy that is affordable for the consumer and proves beneficial to environment. Prioritizing renewable energy sources isn’t just a case of taking our environmental obligations seriously, it also makes good business sense. Consumers are increasingly demanding that the businesses they spend their money with do their part to protect the environment.

There are numerous avenues which the United States government has sought to incentivize other businesses and individuals to invest in renewable energy. Tax cuts and tax credits are offered at both the federal and state level to incentivize businesses. As more energy providers like American Power and Gas take advantage of these measures, and thus help to spur further investment and innovation in renewable energy solutions, so too are the costs of purchasing the necessary infrastructure.

As is often the case, one of the most powerful weapons that we have against climate change is education. The more the general public knows about the effects of climate change, and how we can make use of renewable energy to combat this, the more pressure businesses will be under to show that they are taking their environmental commitments seriously.

Here is a guide to the most common types of renewable energy, these are the energy sources which will help us to satisfy the global demand for energy while simultaneously minimizing the resulting environmental damage.

Solar

Solar energy is the energy which is harvested from sunlight. The Sun, like all stars, outputs a phenomenal amount of energy every second. This is the energy which provides all the plants on Earth, and by extension all other life, with the energy they need to survive.

Plants use photosynthesis to harvest energy from sunlight, which they use to generate energy by splitting water molecules apart. The way that they do this is not fully understood, but modern solar energy cells aim to replicate this process in some form. By using this, and other methods, engineers have devised a number of devices which are able to harvest energy from the Sun.

Wind

The surface of the Earth is covered by different types of land and water, each of which absorbs and emits heat in a different way. This means that the heat transferred from the Sun to the Earth is distributed unevenly across its surface.Alternatively, the use of wind power is another powerful form of renewable energy. Wind turbines use the energy produced by the movement of air to turn propellers, this in turn is used to generate electricity and can be used to provide sustainable energy to largely populated areas.

Biomass

Biomass is renewable energy that is sourced from either animals or plants. Living things, in other words. In a roundabout sort of way, biomass energy is solar energy, it’s just that the solar energy is being stored within the living thing being used. Biomass is usually burned directly, but sometimes it is turned into other types of fuel. One example of this would be turning crops into ethanol.

Biomass is likely to play a significant role in energy production in the future. Burning is the simplest way of releasing the energy stored within biomass, but this approach can come with its own problems, not least of all the effects of combusting a material and releasing the products into the atmosphere.

One of the most prominent problems we have with waste disposal today is that an accumulation of biomass and other waste in landfills leads to the production of landfill gas, one component of which is methane. Methane is a potent greenhouse gas, as such we should want to limit its release into our atmosphere. However, methane can also be used as an energy source. Therefore, special containers, called digesters, are filled with landfill waste, and as the waste decomposes methane is released and collected by the digester.

Renewable energy is a crucial area of scientific research. Through investing in renewable energy solutions and surrounding technologies, that we can hope to preserve out planet’s natural habitats. The potential ecological and societal consequences of climate change demand that we start taking the issue seriously.