Alternative Energy, Why do we address it as Alternative?

The sun is something that has been used for it's energy for much longer than modern day man has walked our planet, cold bloodied animals have used it to warm their blood, plant life uses Photosynthesis to produce energy to grow and humans use it to keep warm.

Why is it then that we see Solar energy as an Alternative Energy Source?

Solar energy is responsible for our global weather, the wind, the rain both rely on the solar energy to drive our weather patterns across the planet.

Currently our technology for creating energy from the sun (Solar Photo Voltaic) is primitive, we are achieving somewhere in the region of 20% efficiency, I believe with better funded research and time we will be able to extract much more power in the form of DC Electricity, maybe nearer to 70% I would imagine this will make Solar PV installations much more common place.

Whilst the Sun shines and the wind blows we should strive to harness our energy needs from these sources, learn to minimise our waste of heat and power and become much more energy efficient.

We can do it, we all just need educating on how to tackle our individual power requirements before we are beyond the point of no return.