I read an article dated Sep 25th in the automobile section of the Nation, Thailand newspaper on Thailand search for alternative energy resources to resolve global fuel crisis. The crisis is here to stay and increasing the cost of everything around us and almost everyone is talking about it.

According to the article, current problem comes from depleting resources, crude oil and coal that mother earth cannot replenish. Once these runs out, we will be in trouble. Since we know that this problem is looming, we need to tackle the problem now than wait for things to happen. Some of the alternative energy resources named that are infinite are solar, wind, and other fuel that can keep growing back such as ethanol, biodiesel and biogas from plant products.

It was mentioned that solar and wind energy is both expensive with their own problems, it is banking on Thailand’s strong agriculture base to produce plants that can be used to produce alternative fuels, namely ethanol and biodiesel. From other reports that I have read, researchers have reported that the production of ethanol consumes more energy than it yields. And this also leads to the food versus fuel debate.

Anyway, I would like to speak up on the use of solar energy as a form of alternative energy. Although it may be expensive to at this point in time, it all boils down to supply and demand and also the efficiency of current solar modules to convert energy from the sun.

While debate and search for alternative energy resources is ongoing, I believe solar energy is the kind of energy that can solve earth’s energy problem. After all, the sun delivers equivalent energy in an hour used by humans in a year!