What will finally be the main energy source of the world?

Answer 1

The earth has an abundance of two sources of power. The Sun and Water. The United States started the use of Solar Panels when Kennedy sent man to the moon. It is settled fact in Space that all Space Stations must use to some degree solar panels and rechargeable batteries. Again, this has been developed in space for the last 40 years. The Ancients used water as a souce of power, effectively. They were limited to be near a body of water to make it work, but nonetheless, Turkey has a rich and storied history around water power. Leonardo DaVinci executed mechanically sound water power uses. Water has been a power source for centuries and like solar we can do this, today. Relatedly, geothermal heating and cooling is a combination of solar and liquid use to regulate temperatures in houses and buildings. The issue we have is that the U.S. infrastructure (manufacturers of energy) BP, Shell, Citgo are able to make a living on limited supply and demand. The public is in the unorthodox position of this old technology being cost prohibitive becausevery few supports/repairs these devices. We are dependent and will remain dependent on oil and gas reserves because of our industries lack of commitment and our lack of access to what leading countries are doing in this area. France a country the size of Texas is nuclear powered and farms out it's electricity to other European countries. According to the Military Channel, the U.S. and Britan has nuclear powered submarines (Trident Class), aircraft carriers and ships that can be out to Sea for 50 years non-stop. Brazil is totally energy independent, they use sugar cane for their ethanol. The German Government is committed to solar power and is causing a shortage on solar panel availability in this country. Even the Vatican is now commited to solar power for it's buildings. The world as we know it must have sunlight and water, it is "The Source" of human life. Ultimately, this is where we stand.

Answer 2

You got it spartaworld. You've been doing your homework.
The future energy will be ether power as Nicola Tesla demonstrated and we would have had it by now had it not been for lines companies and oil giants. Tesla was stifled as has many others that have come up with fuel saving devices that really work. You only have measure the volts collected by your TV antenna to see that ether power is real. The right amplification and you have a useful energy source. Take an inverter for instance, 12 volts DC to 110 or 240 AC and you can run a whole house off a battery. The energy in the atmosphere could be tapped for all of us to use and would've been had Tesla not lost his financial backing. It won't be until all other forms of energy are exhausted or priced off the market that we will see this technology embraced .

Answer 3

Well define how long from now is "finally." A million years?

We cannot replace fossil fuels as fast as we are using them, or at least it doesn't look like we can.

Solar and batteries--sorry, but power storing technology of that magnitude doesn't look possible, but who knows eventually we may be able to beam the solar energy (via space mirrors)... whatever.

Wind--possible.

Hydro--limited by rain, and by water use by us.

Geothermal--I don't know.

Wave/Tidal--not sure we can power the entire planet this way.

Oh, and we have to have a way to power vehicles that is portable (unless we are going to electrify every road).

Fission--sorry, even Uranium is limited.

Fusion--I personally doubt it but remember the fuel isn't unlimited and it does produce radioactive waste.

Magnetism is NOT a source of electricity, sorry.

Biomass--it's really solar, just converted from sun to food or products then burned.

Please remember that batteries take chemical energy and create electrical energy and then must be either recharged, or the chemicals replaced--they are not efficient sources of energy because if you are recharging them, they aren't SOURCES.

Answer 4

First off, I want to give props to FredHH. I like your reasoning!

I actually don't think there will be one main energy source throughout the world. There are so many alternative sources of energy that only work in specific locales: windy, sunny, near waves, near thermal heat, etc. What works in one area will not work in another. Rather than storing and transporting, I think individual countries/states/provinces etc will just embrace what works best for them. There is no panacea energy solution.

Answer 5

Don't know about "finally" because our galaxy could be sucked into a traveling black hole and be reduce to nothing, but I have my eyes are on Geothermal Power for the near future.

Geothermal Power is more efficient, more available, give more power and lower production cost than solar, hydro and wind energy. Sci-Pod recently reported that scientists are able to extract these energy efficiently at a very low cost and a lot of electric companies are looking into it.

There has been exciting development with wireless power using resonance (sound wave/vibration) at MIT. They are able to power a light bulb 20 inches away with sound. Maybe we will be able to fuel our car with our iPod in the future. Nice!

Answer 6

Water vapor is a greenhouse gas, but it does not force climate change. If you were to saturate the air with water vapor, it would all precipate out in a few weeks, and equilibrium would be quickly restored. If you were to remove all water vapor from the air, evaporation from the oceans would quickly replace it, and once again equilibrium would be restored in a few weeks. But CO2 stays in the air for decades or centuries. There are natural sources and sinks for CO2, but they take a long time to operate. So CO2 does force the climate, and we are absolutely correct to be concerned about it. Even worse is that the largest natural sink for CO2 is the surface water of the ocean. But the ocean is currently becoming saturated. At the current rate of atmospheric CO2 increase, the oceans will be saturated by 2050, and will flip from being a natural sink to being a natural source. If we haven't done anything significant about CO2 emissions by that time, we're all screwed.

Answer 7

In this country it just about has to be Nuclear and Clean Coal as the primary, with as much Wind, Hydro, and Solar as we can do cost effectively.

Nuclear is the only proven source That is reliable with enough production to make a difference. The others are still expensive and unreliable.

Answer 8

Eventually it would have to be something to replace present day energy sources. A clue was when Tesla conducted a wireless test to send messages through the air. He tapped into the magnetic field of the Earth and sent it to another location. The tremendous power created earthquakes in the region. An instrument to tap magnetic energy could give all the electrical usage across the country.
Spartawo...

Answer 9

Fusion power because the fuel for it is nearly unlimited and it produces no carbon pollution. It is relatively clean, safe and the most efficient form of energy production known to man. It is the power of the sun in a controlled environment. Scientist estimate that the first generation of fusion based reactors could go online within the next fifty years. Until then we will probably have to rely on a variety of energy sources.

Answer 10

hydroelectric has been found to cause problems due to disrupting the flow of rivers. There are now efforts to restore natural flow and the natural ecology in or around many rivers.

In essence.. the people who protested Hoover Dam being built because of the potential for ecological harm were right... (yes, they had people protesting that in the 1930's)

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In the long view.. ALL energy except nuclear power can be attributed to solar energy. Sunlight getting absorbed by plants and those plants plus the animals eating them decomposing is the ultimate source of fossil fuels...

But.. the Sun is just a HUGE nuclear reactor... so all of our energy is.. nuclear.


Eventually... if we are smart... (that's debatable) we'll use solar, wind and wave energy to generate electricity to supply most of the needs of civilization.

But until those technologies are developed to the point of being economical to use... we'll use fossil fuel and nuclear power.