ABSTRACT
The most extreme and controversial environmental limits on continued use of conventional fuels could theoretically come to pose an absolute brick wall to their continued development. Environmental problems associated with conventional fuels may severely limit, or even halt, their future contribution to our energy supplies. A solar energy transition offers a viable and environmentally beneficial alternative path. Solar energy sources––wind, water, biomass, and direct sunlight––hold substantial advantages over the alternatives. All of the solar energy forms require processed materials for the collection and conversion of the available solar, wind, hydro, or biomass energy. The global climate is influenced by solar flux, cloudiness, carbon dioxide, airborne particles, sea and surface temperature, and the reflectivity of the earth's surface, among other things. Fossil fuel combustion always adds carbon dioxide to the atmosphere.
