When people hear the term renewable energy resources, many people think about fossil fuels. It is not that they can or cannot prove whether or not oil is actually a renewable energy source but that many people simply accept it on faith that it is. Reports back as far as the nineteen seventies indicated that we would be out of oil today and yet here we are, burning oil in even greater quantities and still not running on empty just yet. However, when people talk about renewable energy resources these days, it is hoped that at least someone will steer them towards truly renewable resources like wind power, solar power, hydroelectric power and other more natural methods of producing and generating electricity.

Hydroelectric power is very practical as evidenced by the Hoover Dam but it takes great rivers to produce electrical power sufficient enough to supply even small segments of the population. The environmental issues associated with dam building also make hydroelectric power questionable as a viable renewable energy source for anything more than limited and generally local use. While it is quite efficient, it is not the ideal solution for utilizing new alternative energy resources and will not likely provide enough power to reduce the reliance on fossil fuels to any great extent.
Geothermal power is regularly produced in many areas but again there are geographical limitations that prevent it from being a viable replacement for oil and coal. When discussing renewable energy resources, this has to be taken into consideration as the ultimate goal is to produce zero or as little as possible of the electricity that is consumed using fossil fuels.
The most viable method for using renewable energy resources to totally replace the dependence on fossil fuels is using a combination of wind and solar powers. Still, even the solar power generators have issues and create more environmental controversy so perhaps even that is only going to be of very limited use in replacing the energy production currently undertaken by burning fossil fuels. This leaves one very promising alternative. When it comes to renewable energy resources, solar power is among the most viable of all of the options. At present, there may be some limitations due to restrictions of space and the size needed to create a solar energy farm of any real merit but those obstacles are quickly being overcome with new solar energy technology.
The new solar power technologies of today already provide extremely efficient solar panels that produce more electricity in much less space than their predecessors did. The use of improved photovoltaic cells has increased efficiency to the point that solar power may very well be the ultimate replacement for fossil fuels. For renewable energy resources to be a viable alternative, they have to be able to replace energy that is dependent on fossil fuels altogether. The sun currently produces over four thousand times the amount of energy being consumed by all of humankind. The only difficulty is that this energy is not currently being harvested and utilized. As solar energy and solar power technologies become more advanced, more energy will be generated in less and less space. When speaking about renewable energy resources, solar power may just be the talk of the town and the answer to our current energy crisis.



