How can alternative sources of energy be harnessed effectively?

How can alternative sources of energy be harnessed effectively? Finding Alternative energy sources is a significant issue from all over the world. In contemporary society, due to the lack of fossil fuels and environmental problems like air pollution, alternative sources of energy have being utilized widely for different domestic and industrial applications. Biogas is one of the alternative energy which instead of fossil fuels. This essay will focus on how to harness biogas effectively and it will highlight biogas as an important alternative energy plays an important role in saving natural resources and protecting environment.

Biogas is a renewable energy source and it can be produced from raw materials such as human, animal and plant waste. In order to harness biogas effectively, it is important to use advance technology to improve the efficiency of using biogas. Two American utilities have found the purification technology that turn organic waste and gas from sewage plants into natural-gas which can serve the local people. (Rosenthal, E. 2010) On the one hand, using advanced purification technology can produce more efficient biogas so that it provides an alternative of fossil fuels that help the utilities meet the local people’s energy need.

On the other hand, the advanced technology that transforms the waste into biogas, it is effective in recycling waste and weakening the impact of waste on the environment. However, the technology of transform the waste into biogas still needs to be questioned. Because the high cost of the technology may result in the implement becomes more difficult. Also, it is unclear whether the purification technology is mature enough to produce efficient biogas.

Another approach to harness biogas is to get government’s support on establishing an effective mechanism that encourages people use biogas as a fuel for cars. For example, the city planners in Kristianstad, a city in Sweden, want to use biogas as a fuel for transportation system and they hope to build a city produce no emissions at all in the future. (Rosenthal, E.2010). In order to promote biogas instead of gasoline, it means government needs to take some measures that give more support on using biogas. One of the measures is that government needs to give a part of the tax exemption for the drivers who buy a biogas or dual-fuel car.

In addition, more attention should be given to increasing production of the biogas effectively and government needs to give financial support for building specialized biogas factories. However, municipal vehicles and private cars run on local biogas still face some problems. Although biogas fuel costs about 20 percent less than gasoline, consumers are reluctant to spend much money on a new biogas or dual-fuel car because the expenditure for a new car could not offset the savings on conventional fuel. (Rosenthal, E. 2010) Furthermore, it is uncertain whether the biogas or dual-fuel private cars are as feasible and stable as the conventional ones.

In conclusion, according to the above measures in the essay, harnessing biogas energy effectively is to need use advanced technology and get support from government. Advance technology provides basic support for the development of biogas. Government plays an important role in the harnessing biogas, it needs to establish an effective mechanism that encourages people use biogas as a fuel for cars and build specialized biogas factories to increase production of the biogas effectively. It is necessary to take action to harness alternative sources of energy now.

Bibliography:
Rosenthal,E. (2010). Using waste, Swedish city cuts its fossil fuel use. The New York Times, December 11. Retrieved May9, 2011, from www.nytimes.com/2010/12/11/science/earth/11fossil.html