As many people know, fossil fuels are detrimental to the environment. When they’re burned, they release Carbon Dioxide (CO2), which is a greenhouse gas that traps heat in our atmosphere. That’s why we have global warming, which leads to a multitude of negative impacts for our planet. But fossil fuels get used all the time to produce energy, in the forms of natural gas, coal, and oil. The production and usage of all these forms of energy are very harmful and include practices such as fracking and mining. Fossil fuels have overruled the energy market since the Industrial Revolution and still have a strong hold.

However, a new type of energy is rising in popularity: Renewable energy. These are energy sources that are infinite, meaning they don’t deplete the natural resources of the Earth. Also, they are much less harmful to the planet because they don’t rely on fossil fuels. The most well-known forms of renewable energy are solar and wind power, which use solar panels and wind turbines to generate energy, but there are other types that come from rain, waves, geothermal heat, etc. Aside from the environmental benefits of this, it also means that we wouldn’t need to extract resources from other countries for energy, a huge cause of war and poverty.

There are many ways we can implement renewable energy globally. In fact, the technology exists for it to be possible for the world to run 100% on renewable energy. This article, however, is going to focus solely on ways in which you can use it in your own house. They are cheaper, cleaner methods for all your energy needs. One of the main things you can do is install solar panels on your roof. This can save you a lot of money, and it’s much more sustainable. Unfortunately, though, this method will only supply you energy when the sun is up, so you may need to look into other energy sources for nighttime. Another thing you could try is a geothermal heat pump, which extracts heat from the ground to warm up your house in the winter, and then takes it out again to cool your house in the summer. The last suggestion for this article is a simple clothesline. These seem pretty old-fashioned, but they are great examples of how you can use the sun as energy. These are obviously very easy and cheap to install.

It is also important that there is policy supporting renewable energy on local, state, and federal levels so that it gets implemented on a larger scale. The issue of fossil fuels and energy consumption definitely isn’t the fault of average citizens in this country, but using renewable energy whenever possible is a good way to help the environment.

Sources: Energy.gov, Union of Concerned Scientists