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The Future of Energy

Spanish Translation

By Andrea Delbanco

Americans consume 21 million barrels of oil every day to fuel our cars, heat our homes and power our farms, factories and cities. In this country, people are nearly as dependent on oil as on the air they breathe. Luckily, air is unlimited. But oil, one of the most critical natural resources, is not. The world won't run out of oil anytime soon. But lately, as the price of oil has gone up, many experts worry that it will only become more difficult and expensive to tap the world's underground oil supplies. That is why scientists are searching for other ways to meet the nation's energy needs.

Alternative solutions such as capturing the power of the sun and wind are already being used across the country and around the world. The search for renewable energy sources is picking up steam. Here are some creative ways that humans can harness nature's power.

Catch a Wave
Rushing water is an important energy source. Dams are used around the world to channel rivers in order to produce electricity. But the future of water power may lie in harnessing the motion of ocean waves and the rise and fall of tides along the shore.

Tom Denniss and his company, Energetech, are trying to figure out the best ways to do this. One of their projects in Australia uses a four-story-high floating power plant that turns the motion of waves into electricity. Other projects are under way in Rhode Island and Israel. "Wave energy," Denniss told TIME, is "more consistent, predictable and concentrated than wind. It's also inexhaustible." Having studied the ocean's power all of his life, he believes the sea's mighty waves will soon be turning on our lights.

A Sweet Ride in Brazil
Who would have thought that cars could develop a sweet tooth? Drivers in Brazil are filling up with fuel that comes from sugarcane. A new kind of car, called a Flex car, is gaining popularity in the South American country. Flex is short for flexible, which describes the vehicles' fuel needs. They run on either regular gasoline or ethanol, a kind of alcohol that can be produced from sugarcane. Sugarcane is a crop that is grown all over Brazil.

The cars look and work like regular vehicles. Volkswagen, Ford, Fiat and GM all produce Flex lines. In May, for the first time, sales of Flex vehicles outnumbered sales of gasoline models in Brazil. "People see Flex cars as the car of the future," sugarcane-fuel booster Alfred Szwarc told TIME.

Pigpen Power
Animal waste stinks! But it can also be useful. Machines called biogas digesters can turn poop into a power supply. The smelly waste is put into a tank where tiny bacteria break it down into simpler substances, including methane gas. The gases that are produced can be burned to heat homes and generate electricity. The technology has been used for many years in places such as Nepal, China and India.

Digesters keep getting easier to use and less expensive. One at-home system that produces gas for cooking as well as fertilizer costs only $180. Last year, more than 1,700 units of this digester were installed on farms in China's Yunnan province. Digesters are also being used in some village schools to make sure that students' waste is not wasted. Biogas keeps the lights turned on at Myeka High School in South Africa.

Soaking Up the Strength of the Sun
People around the world already turn the sun's strength into usable energy. Special rooftop panels absorb sunshine and turn it into electricity that can be used to run factories, heat water or cool homes. This alternative energy source is being used on a smaller scale too. Solar-powered backpacks that can juice up cell phones and iPods are on the market. In the works is clothing that could one day keep a laptop computer humming anywhere that the sun shines.

The U.S. military is also using solar power to lighten soldiers' loads. Troops now carry heavy electronic equipment on their backs. The batteries for these devices can weigh as much as four pounds. New lightweight, rechargeable solar equipment is replacing the old bulky battery packs.

THINK!
Would it change your everyday life to use one of these energy sources? Would it help the world?

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