When we talk about energy, we tend to think of the immediate impacts of the choices we make. For example, fossil fuels are still fairly cheap, but they’re harmful to the environment. Solar and wind energy, while not currently able to step in and immediately replace these fossil fuels, are clearly a more acceptable, long-term solution.
Fostering energy efficiency in the long-term is referred to as energy sustainability.
What is Energy Sustainability?
When most people think of sustainable energy, they’re thinking of green energy-electricity produced from solar, wind, hydro-electric, tidal generation and other sources of naturally occurring power. That’s a piece of energy sustainability, but the most important aspect of an energy type to qualify is its sustainability. Or, its ability to be maintained at a certain rate or level.
Fossil fuels are not sustainable, for example, because there’s a finite amount of them. Even if it were possible to drill every well and mine every bit of coal without doing extreme damage to the environment, eventually, those resources simply run out.
Resources like wind or sunlight are different. While the wind does die down and the sun sets, those resources are infinite. Not only that, they are plentiful. The challenge is harnessing them in a way that is not harmful to the environment that will allow us to shrink our environmental footprint over the coming years.
Fortunately, though, that’s a challenge we seem to finally be meeting.
