On the surface, the answer to the question sitting atop this blog post is\nrather simple:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But such a simple answer downplays the complexity of how electricity is\nfirst generated and then distributed to homes and businesses across the\ncountry. This is why, if you want to be an educated electricity consumer who\nmakes good energy decisions, you need to ask yourself:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
What exactly powers our homes and businesses,\nand does it matter if that power comes from regular or renewable energy?<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n In short, yes \u2013 it does. So, while you don\u2019t have to be an expert, you should understand the basics of why and how conventional energy differs from green energy, especially in terms of how your choices can impact the world around you.<\/p>\n\n\n\n As you might imagine from the name, fossil fuels are created by animals\nand plants dying, decomposing, and being transformed into a carbon-based source\nof power over millions of years. There are four fossil fuels currently being\nprocessed:<\/p>\n\n\n\n Humans have mined the first three for hundreds and thousands of years, as multiple civilizations around the globe and throughout history have used them as fuel and lighting. Orimulsion is the newest development, as it\u2019s a trademark fuel derived from bitumen (asphalt) sourced from the Orinoco Belt in Venezuela. Once obtained from the earth, the fossil fuels are then processed into a usable form that can then be consumed to spin the generators that create electricity. <\/p>\n\n\n\n As the global population grows and modernizes, an increasing amount of fossil fuels must be mined, processed, and burned to generate enough electricity to power all those homes, businesses, buildings, and electronic devices. The problem with that increased generation is two-fold: we\u2019re slowly running out of all those fossil fuels sitting below the earth\u2019s surface, and the pollution caused by that generation (in the form of carbon dioxide and other substances) points toward possibly irreversible climate change. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Similar to fossil fuels, humans have used renewable forms of energy for millennia, from biomass and solar used in cooking to wind energy powering sailing ships and hydropower in sawmills. But the technology necessary to generate electricity from renewable energy sources<\/a> is less than 50 years old. While green energy rose in popularity in the \u201870s as part of the growing environmental movement, only in this millennium has green energy made true inroads to someday outpace and maybe supplant fossil fuels as the main power source used in electricity generation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n As we\u2019ve discussed before, green energy<\/a> takes several forms, including:<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nA Primer on Fossil Fuels\n\n\n\n<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
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\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nA Primer on Green Energy\n\n\n\n<\/h3>\n\n\n\n