Why Choose Renewable Energy?
Let’s start with two words and one thought.
The two words? Supply chain.
The one thought? The way that a business gets its resources in order to conduct normal operations.
The supply chain answers some important business questions: Where does a business get the raw materials or resources that they use to make the products they will sell? What kinds of contracts will a business have with its partners in order to guarantee a continuous supply of those resources in order to provide the products? And what kind of energy will a business use to build and/or make those products?
Energy, renewable energy, is an innovative source of electricity and power for the future of business and community. Renewable energy revolutionizes the supply chain by reducing the links between the beginning of electricity generation to the makers and machines that create our products. It’s new, and exciting.
The alternative to renewable energy is traditional energy, or fossil fuels. Fossil fuels — fuels that are used by burning oil or natural gas — are useful, but fossil fuels take up a lot more resources to turn into viable energy. A fossil fuel is the comes from actual fossils, bits and pieces of decaying organic matter. Fossils are made up of once living organisms that died, fell to the ground, and eventually decayed into other materials, usually hydrocarbons. Once upon a time, we found these fossil fuels, and put them in combustion engines to fire the cylinders that powered our society.
Fossil fuels require that we dig up the ground to find it, and we have to dig deep. This comes in the form of crude oil, or some other form of material that still has to be processed through other steps in order to be burnt for energy. This means we have to move that crude oil to another facility. Then once it is processed, we can move it to the power stations or the homes to be used to generate heat or energy. Great! Here is a simplified supply chain for fossil fuels.
1. Dinosaurs, forests, and other living things die and go into the ground — ->
2. All that stuff in the ground takes a looooonnngggg time to turn into something close to crude oil — ->
3. Industrious humans dig to find that crude oil, dig, dig, dig — ->
4. We find the oil! Begin fracking (and often increasing risk of earthquakes because of the fracking process, and also damaging the water sources) — ->
5. Transport the crude oil to a facility — ->
6. Process the crude oil at the facility using dangerous chemicals, turn it into fossil fuels such as gasoline or natural gas — ->
7. Transport gasoline or natural gas to local facilities for consumers to buy, use, or purchase. — ->
That is a lot of work for all that energy. Fortunately, the renewable energy supply chain is getting easier and easier compared to fossil fuels. Here is a sample of the supply chain for renewables
1. Locate a place where wind or sun will be, make sure it doesn’t cause too much trouble for other living things →
2. Put solar panels or wind turbines where the sun or wind is →
3. Connect those panels and turbines to the electric power grid →
4. Deliver that electricity to your homes or cars!
This is where a consumer’s support comes in, and their demand for access to renewable energy in the free market. Supporting renewable energy means working smarter, and supporting some innovative green jobs that will fuel the smart growth in our communities and our wallets.
Green technology contributes to a renewable energy market that is steadily growing stronger. Electric engines and battery technology are improving, we are seeing a lot of new materials and technology almost ready for commercial scale activity in many industries. In fact, some newer electric lawnmowers are comparable to high powered gas mowers.
Choosing renewable energy takes up less of people’s time, and times are changing. Its best to keep the fossils where they are, and digging requires you to call Dig Safe anyways, who wants to be put on hold when there are other things to do?
Thanks, and we hope your day is Green!
