Renewable Energy has been under debate for a long time. Technology has advanced enough to provide us with an alternate source of energy that can improve our lives in the short and long run. Although it isn’t perfect, implementing cleaner energy sources is a smart move.

  Non-renewable energy is limited, and we will run out. When that happens, we’ll be forced to get our energy elsewhere. If we don’t change this, until that day, we’ll just be wasting on borrowed time and polluting our environment. Fossil fuels are not environment-friendly, and release greenhouse gases into our atmosphere. So, why wait to make a change?

  Using renewable energy, even partially, would cut down on greenhouse gases tremendously, and improve the quality of the environment. Switching to cleaner sources would also eliminate some problems caused by foul emissions from nonrenewable energy sources. Pollution from fossil fuels have been linked to breathing problems, neurological damage, heart attacks, and cancer, according to ucsusa.org. (Union of Concerned Scientists).

  In 2012, the National Renewable Energy Laboratory calculated that renewable energy has the potential to produce 482,247 billion kilowatt-hours of electricity each year. That’s nearly 118 times the electricity we nationally consume!

  Now, like anything, renewable energy has its setbacks. Some forms of natural energy are heavily based on the weather, and how temperamental it is at certain locations. If you don’t get much wind, you can’t exactly put mills up outside of town and expect your home to be powered well. The same goes for if you’ll only have sun for a set time each year.

  Setting up solar panels, wind turbines, and hydropower turbines would also be costly, and require a large amount of land to operate on. Another inconvenience is that an abundance of energy couldn’t be created at once, as it can be with nonrenewable sources.

  This barely scratches the surface of this debate, but going renewable is the right choice. Even with its drawbacks, switching to better sources of energy, even partly, would be a big win, and a big step in helping clean up our environment and moving us away from harmful fossil fuels.