Solar lasers, ocean power and volcanoes: unusual energy sources of the future
From volcanoes to wave power and even algae, researchers are looking far and wide for viable energy alternatives to power the planet after oil, gas and coal reserves run out. We take a look through some of the more interesting, promising and downright unusual possible energy sources of the future. Gallery by Matthew Ponsford
STORY HIGHLIGHTS
- Researchers are looking for alternatives to fossil fuels
- Former NASA engineer John Mankins plans to put solar power plant into space
- UK, France, Portugal and U.S. world leaders in wave power
- Danish inventor Jens Dall Bentzen creates biomass furnace that can burn wet wood
(CNN) -- Fossil fuels are going to run out. This much we know. No one is entirely certain when they will run out exactly, but we know it will happen eventually.
Some estimates suggest we have about 70 years of coal, gas and oil left; the fossil fuel industry itself insists that we have significantly longer. But everyone agrees they will run out in due course.
So how will the world be powered when we can't rely anymore on fossil fuels? Why with volcanoes, waves, wet wood and solar power from space.
To compensate for the decline of traditional energy sources, researchers around the world are developing innovative new technologies that -- between them -- may provide a long-term solution to our rapidly growing energy needs. Some are familiar, some may seem far-fetched, and some could potentially pose as much of a threat to the environment as fossil fuels themselves.
CNN takes a look through some of the more interesting and unusual energy technologies currently under development.
Solar energy from space
The idea of collecting solar power from space has been under consideration since the 1970s. Putting solar panels into orbit offers a few obvious advantages over regular solar power such as not having to deal with atmospheric interventions (cloud cover and atmospheric gasses) and not losing any productivity at night.
In the past, trying to get a power plant to the edge of the Earth's atmosphere seemed deeply unlikely. But John Mankins, a former NASA engineer now with the Artemis Group has been working on a project that he believes will make such an audacious idea simple:
"The basic concept of the Solar Power Satellite (SPS) is to deploy a large platform in space near Earth," Makins says, "typically in a high orbit where the sun shines almost constantly, where it would harvest sunlight, convert it into electricity and then transmit it to receivers on Earth for use."
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