Most people now agree that more must be done to offset the negative impact of civilization on global climate change trends. The push to pursue green energy resources has spread all over the world.

Green energy is clean and many green energy sources are renewable. Oil that is easily refined (sweet light crude) is becoming increasingly difficult to come by and at the same time, is only rising as the reason for regional wars and political conflict.

Though it will take billions upon billions to begin establishing a large-scale green energy source infrastructure, from a strategic standpoint, the eventually benefits will outweigh the initial costs. In addition, it will benefit the environment, and with that, bring other benefits to the economy.

As a young, new industry, it could also bring economic benefits to certain areas and reinvigorate our educational system.

For some, turning to green energy sources sounds all well and good, but then they point out the downsides to such a pursuit.

While it is true that various types of green energy sources are renewable, often the power generation is inconsistent, particularly in the case of solar or wind power systems, due to variations in weather conditions.

Both solar and wind power systems have restrictions in terms of where they can be built. As energy transferring devices, solar panels and wind turbines not only take up large amounts of space, they can only be placed where their usefulness is maximized, i. e. where they can gather maximum amounts of sunlight and wind.

While promising, other sources of renewable energy present their own problems in terms of access and utilization. Harnessing the power of ocean waves can only happen if the waves reach large heights of 16 feet or more. Geothermal energy, while abundant, is expensive to access and generally restricted to areas where the earth's tectonic plates meet.

However, looking at such arguments, places that cannot use one form of green energy source can often turn to another. If wind turbines need more space, they can be installed near the coast instead of putting them on already-developed and currently occupied land. A study shows that wind turbines generate more electricity while these are in the ocean, and this may end up being a more productive location anyway.

Some days will be more sunny than others, this is a given. A solar power system must take into account such periods and be constructed with this in mind. As a part of such a system, battery capacity should be ascertained as well, in order to provide backup power when none is being generated by the sun.

More often than not, green energy detractors choose to not join in the effort to move away from oil dependency and instead put forth narrow-minded arguments. An intelligent discussion, in fact, can lead to solutions. We must move beyond the notion of a simple "one energy source" solution. Research for multiple renewable energy sources continues in many countries.

A good example of ongoing research is happening in Japan and Hawaii, where, on a small scale, they are generating electrical energy with a technology called "Ocean Thermal Energy Conversion (OTEC)" which takes advantages of differences in ocean water temperature. There are some energy experts who believe that OTEC could produce billions of watts of electrical power if it could become cost-competitive with conventional power technologies.

Energy consumption in the U. S. has been going up while domestic energy production has been in a long-term decline. This is due largely to the dependency upon fossil fuels and the diminished supply of domestic fossil fuel resources (oil in particular). To continue down this path means to increase our dependency upon foreign resources, and more than likely, never-ending wars. Would it not be smarter to massively redirect capital towards building a renewable energy infrastructure?

There is an abundance of renewable, green energy resources around us waiting to be exploited. We can generate power from biomass, biodiesel, geothermal, solar, water and wind. Sources of energy that can keep our environment clean and allow us to be energy independent once again. It is a big challenge, but one that can be met if we can find the will.

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