Alternative Energy: Satisfying all of our Energy Needs

Alternative Energy: Satisfying All Of Our Energy Needs

Within the next few decades, our increasingly limited access to cheap, nonrenewable energy resources will present a serious economic crisis.

Even today, while the oil is still flowing with few interruptions, gasoline prices rise with every major or minor refinery disruption, causing the cost of nearly everything else to rise as well.

Virtually everything we use and consume today relies on oil. It's the diesel in the trucks that ship our food, clothing, and medicine. It's the gas in our cars that get us to work, school and the grocery store. It's used in fertilizers, cosmetics and plastics. It's the stuff that keeps the world's biggest and richest corporations running, providing employment for millions of people around the world. It's the slippery glue that keeps the world moving.

There's also the issue of coal. Supplying more than half of our power generation needs today, coal will simply not be an economically viable source of power generation by the end of the century.

In 2007, the National Academy of Sciences released a report indicating the United States probably only has enough coal to meet our needs for about 100 years. And that's assuming no consumption increases.

And according to the Energy Watch Group, in terms of energy content, the U.S. actually passed its peak of coal production in 1998. As was referenced in our book, Investing in Renewable Energy:

The distinction is based on the fact that various types of coal contain different amounts of energy. Anthracite (also known as black coal) from Appalachia and Illinois has 30 megajoules of energy per kilogram, but it has long been a tiny fraction of our overall coal production, and has been in decline for over half a century.

Our supposedly vast reserves are mainly of lower-quality bituminous coal, delivering 18 to 29 megajoules of energy per kilogram, and subbituminous coal and lignite, delivering a mere 5 to 25 megajoules of energy per kilogram

Whether we like it or not, the age of conventional fossil fuels is quickly coming to an end. So we have two choices: We can continue to chase an energy economy that's simply unsustainable, and ultimately a long-term failure, or we can use this coming energy crisis as an opportunity to profit from the only other choice we have for power generation: alternative energy.

Focusing primarily on renewable energy – which is essentially energy produced from sustainable resources that are naturally replenished – we can see the only form of energy that will exist beyond oil, coal, natural gas and nuclear, because the resources used for renewable energy generation are infinite. Moreover, despite the avalanche of misinformation that's constantly spewed from naysayers and mainstream media, we can actually generate enough renewable energy to satisfy all of our energy needs. Take a look:

• Solar: Enough electric power for the entire country could be generated by covering about 9 percent of Nevada with solar power systems. This is a plot of land roughly 92 miles by 92 miles.

• Wind: According to the U.S. Department of Energy, wind could provide 5,800 quads of energy each year. That's about 15 times the current global energy demand.

• Geothermal: According to MIT, there are over 100 million quads of accessible geothermal energy worldwide. The world consumes only 400 quads.

• Marine Energy: The Electric Power Research Institute has estimated that wave energy along the U.S. coastline at 2,100TWh per year. That's half the total U.S. consumption of electricity.

• Biogas: Your local landfill could be powering your home right now with biogas.

• Conservation and energy efficiency: Aggressive energy conservation can save enough electricity every year to avoid building 24 new power plants.

Of course, most of this information won't be found on any of the dozen or so cable news networks. You'd also be hard-pressed to read about this stuff in most newspapers or magazines. But this is the information that Green Chip investors (investors who consistently profit from the integration of renewable energy) have been using for years to make smart investment decisions – decisions that have ultimately produced fortunes.

So what are we following now? Here are a few renewable energy projects and technologies that we're looking to capitalize on over the next few years. . .

• Offshore wind farms that could soon power the entire East Coast of the United States, though they're so far removed from the shore you'll never even see them.

• Geothermal power plants that haven't even been built yet, but already have long-term power-purchase agreements with the utilities.

• Commercial-scale renewable energy systems that produce biogas from agricultural livestock.

• Energy management systems that conserve enough energy to close down dozens of outdated coal-fired power plants.

• Future biofuel feedstocks that can grow in the desert for years, with little or no water.

• Electric vehicles that will never require a single drop of gasoline or diesel.

And there are plenty more to come, too.

So stay tuned!

To a new way of life, my friend – and a new generation of wealth!