Not all alternative energy sources (or systems) are the same. At first this might be obvious, solar is very different from wind, which are both very different from coal, nuclear, or oil sources of energy. But when people say alternative energies are better than coal or nuclear energy is this really true?
Often that statement is said with a specific implication that alternative energy is best. But listen to this. Alternative energy is anything that is not traditional, ie, coal, oil, or natural gas. Renewable energies are energy sources that (by their definition of being 'renewable') are materials that can be continually obtained from the Earth, ie, wood burning, biomass (corn, grass, etc). Finally there is sustainable energy. Sustainable energy comes from sources that are renewable, but also have no harm on the Earth or it's inhabitants.
Solar comes from the sun, which is captured by solar panels or some sort of solar collector. Wind technically comes from the sun's effect on our atmosphere, but blows and whips around the Earth without any human-made cause. Oceanic - let's take tides, will always push back and forth without any aid from anything beyond the moon's pull. Geothermal is natural ambient heat found in the Earth's crust.
All the sources in the above paragraph are sustainable, renewable and alternative.
Renewable energies are only renewable and alternative.
And alternative? That's anything that's not traditional (coal, oil, gas).
Nuclear power is one that can be 'iffy to sort. It's not traditional, but isn't fully renewable, yet is obviously not sustainable. (Haven't you heard of all the nuclear waste resulted from those power plants?)
Hopefully it is clearer now that not all alternative energy is considered sustainable. Tomorrow I will post a graph that visually demonstrates what I've explained here.
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