Conservation of Energy Resources for Sustainable Development: A Big Issue and Challenge for Future

Energy is a form of power that we require to light our houses, buildings, offices, streets, to run our vehicles, to run industries, and for many other functions. There are two main sources of energy: renewable and nonrenewable. Our energy demands are mostly fulfilled by nonrenewable energy. Most of the nonrenewable energy we use comes from fossil fuels, such as coal, natural gas, and petroleum. Uranium is another nonrenewable source, but it is not a fossil fuel. Uranium is converted into a fuel and used in nuclear power plants. Once these energy sources are used up, they are gone forever. The combustion of fossil fuel releases a huge amount of greenhouse gases and this excessive amount leads to environmental concerns such as global warming and acid rain. Many renewable forms of energy are available, such as solar energy, wind energy, hydro energy, biomass energy, and geothermal energy. These are forms of energy that can be used over and over again, and produce less pollution during production and storage in comparison with non-renewable energy resources. Solar energy comes from the sun, wind energy is used to run windmills to produce electricity, hydro-energy is used to produce electricity by constructing dams on rivers. All these forms of energy no doubt fulfil our energy needs, but all of them have a negative side, which leads to environmental concerns because wherever these energy generation plants are launched, they disturb the local flora and fauna, and also affect the habitat of the local population. Now, rehabitation is becoming a social concern in those areas. This chapter focuses on different kinds of energy resources, their production, future prospects, and social and environmental concerns.