Sustainable energy sourcesEnergy is life. Life on this planet depends on a fixed amount of energy. Modern industrialized energy sources such as coal and oil were originally used for their apparent promiscuity and high energy yield per unit volume. The world has now become painfully aware of how limited oil reserves are, not to mention the political complications associated with dependence on foreign countries for energy supplies. To add insult to injury, limited oil resources are not the most pressing problem, their polluting by-products are. The enormous quantities of waste byproducts spreading into our environment are having effects the magnitude of which not even the most renowned experts can determine. Economically speaking, oil will soon become more expensive to find and use than reasonable alternatives, bringing its costs far above its benefits. Some may already point out that social and environmental costs have never been adequately weighted in the cost/benefit analysis of oil and that the benefits associated with burning oil have rarely if ever exceeded its costs. This point will gain painful clarity in the years to come if the predictions of some meteorologists come true and the effects of global warming are felt. For years, developing societies have taken enormous amounts of potential energy locked in pressurized biomass that took millions of years to store in the Earth's crust and released into today's world. The Earth is a relatively closed system, and the enormous release of expended energy and its polluting byproducts will have untold effects on societies for generations to come. The boldest...... middle of paper......echreview/www/articles/july95/Smith.html) Absorbers, their coating and performance, The global directory of suppliers and services RENEWABLE ENERGY, 1996Solar Glass and Transmissivity World Directory of RENEWABLE ENERGY Suppliers and Services, 1996 Overview of Solar Water Heating in the Caribbean, Griffin R. Carrison, REIA Conference '94 (http://www.solarenergy.net/ tsen/database/griff.html) Institute of Space and Astronautical Science Solar Power Satellite Working Group, 1997 (http://www.reston.com/nasa/solar.sats.html) Chemistry 4th edition, Steven S. Zumdahl, 1997 , Houghton Mifflin Company, New York http:/ /www.eren.doe.gov (United States Department of Energy)http://www.solarenergy.net/ (Solar Energy Network)http://www.hawaii. gov/dbedt/ert/ert_hmpg.html (State of Hawaii, Department of Business, Economic Development and Tourism)