Top 14 Potential Alternative Energy Sources That Could Change the World

In the energy sector, fossil fuels are the main source of energy due to their relatively low cost. However, our energy needs are expected to increase in the future and we can no longer rely on finite and polluting energy sources.

Solar panels, onshore and offshore wind turbines, and hydropower are some of the alternative energy technologies that will supply our future energy needs. Our dependence on natural gas and oil is the biggest cause of environmental destruction and in the energy sector alone. Accordingly, alternative energy sources will be a major focus to prevent the effects of climate change on this planet.

Potential alternative energy sources

With the population expected to grow to 9.7 billion by 2050, more widespread use of large-scale solar farms may not be the ideal solution, as they take up a lot of land. Minimizing land use is key, or designing more efficient technologies, such as wind energy converters.

Wind power is currently one of the most important alternative energy sources in the UK. Offshore wind is still underdeveloped due to its high maintenance costs and deep water location, but in the future we will be able to generate energy more efficiently from the oceans and deep water.

Design flaws in current wind turbines limit their potential for harnessing wind energy, with the inability to reach high altitude winds. Future Airborne technology could improve this by extending the range to 500m, where winds are stronger and more consistent.

One of the more expensive early-stage projects involves sourcing solar power from space. The prototype includes an optical reflector, photovoltaic cells that convert sunlight into energy, and a circuit that converts the electricity into radio frequencies. An integrated antenna would then transmit the energy back to Earth.

In the future, this innovative alternative energy source could meet the energy needs of our growing population without limit, by using continuous sunlight from space.

The problem of storing energy efficiently

The issue of efficient energy storage is crucial to the wider adoption of alternative energy sources. Solar photovoltaics rely on direct exposure to sunlight, which means that a large amount of energy is either unused or wasted due to the lack of integrated solar energy storage batteries.

Hydrogen will be a major energy source in the future . Currently, most of it is produced from fossil fuels. However, surplus alternative energy is also used to produce hydrogen gas. The uses are flexible – hydrogen gas can be fed into the natural gas grid or converted into electricity using fuel cells. Hydrogen could be widely used in the transport sector, when we can come up with less expensive solutions to widely deploy such alternative energy sources.

Hydrogen has the highest density of any fuel, making it better distributed and stored. Its stable chemistry also means it can hold energy better than any other medium.

In the future, creating a supply and storage infrastructure will allow for more efficient use of hydrogen. Future plans for hydrogen include building an underground storage system, such as excess wind power that can be converted into hydrogen through electrolysis.

Our current global infrastructure is powered solely by fossil fuels. Building a new one would take years and a huge amount of resources. In recent years, off-grid technologies based on alternative energy have been used to power remote locations in the form of microgrids or local grids.