Renewable Sources of Energy

Renewable energy is reliable and plentiful and will potentially be very cheap
once technology and infrastructure improve. It includes solar, wind,

geothermal, hydropower and tidal energy, plus biofuels that are grown and
harvested without fossil fuels. Nonrenewable energy, such as coal and
petroleum, require costly explorations and potentially dangerous mining and
drilling, and they will become more expensive as supplies dwindle and demand
increases. Renewable energy produces only minute levels of carbon emissions
and therefore helps combat climate change caused by fossil fuel usage.
Accessibility
Coal, natural gas and oil reserves are finite and hidden. An unknown and
limited amount of each resource is buried deep underground or under the
ocean. As more is harvested, finding new sources becomes more difficult and
more expensive, and exploiting them becomes more challenging and
sometimes dangerous as well. Marginal reserves, such as oil sands, require the
burning of huge amounts of natural gas to refine them into usable oil . Drilling
under the ocean floor can lead to catastrophic accidents, such as the British
Petroleum oil spill of 2010 .Renewable energy, by contrast, is as easy to find as
wind or sunlight.
Renewable energy can be locally produced and therefore is not vulnerable to

distant political upheavals. Many of the safety concerns surrounding fossil
fuels, such as explosions on oil platforms and collapsing coal mines, do not
exist with renewable energy.
Pollution
Renewable energy is far cleaner than fossil fuels. Coal mining and petroleum
exploration and refinement produce solid toxic wastes, such as mercury and
other heavy metals. The burning of coal to produce electricity uses large
quantities of water, often discharges arsenic and lead into surface waters and
releases carbon dioxide, sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxides and mercury into the
air (see References 4). Gasoline and other petroleum products cause similar
pollution. These pollutants cause respiratory illnesses and death in humans,
produce acid rain that damages buildings and destroys fragile ecosystems, and
deplete the ozone layer.
Renewables can offer lower costs and stable energy prices. There also are
opportunities for the development of local industry, and
increased job opportunities. Renewables can bring increased reliability and
resilience of the energy system and energy supply, including resilience to
weather-related impacts of climate change.
Investing in renewable energy can also have a massive impact on the

government’s expenses. For example, Germany is a major net importer of
power. As per estimations, the country could be using only renewable energy
by 2050 that could help it save billions of dollars as it would not need to import
energy.
. Increase in Jobs
Making the switch from fossil fuels to renewable energy sources could provide
the much-needed kick to the economy. According to a 2007 study from the
University of Tennessee, the state of Pennsylvania could generate about
44,000 new jobs and increase net farm income by $460 million by adopting
renewable energy.
Among all renewable sources of energy, bioenergy arguably has the most
lasting influence, locally and regionally. This could be due to the fact that the
fuel is created, prepared and transported within a small area. It is
also extremely labor-intensive.
Hydropower and wind power constructions create most jobs during the project
development and construction phase. After the system is completed and
commissioned, only a few personnel are required to carry out the limited
operational work.
Data released by a trade association of wind and marine energy providers

suggest that three to four indirect jobs were generated for every person
employed directly within the wind industry.
Transforming rural economy
The main source of livelihood for the majority of the population in the Sahel is
agriculture, which is almost exclusively rain-fed, small-scale farming and
livestock-keeping, combined with a range of off-farm activities. Even though
farming constitutes the primary engine of rural economic development, no
comprehensive energy strategy has ever been developed for this key sector,
which continues to rely on human and livestock muscle as the main source of
power. As women comprise a large proportion of the labor force on
smallholder farms, modern energy access in the agriculture value chain can
greatly contribute to their economic empowerment and gender equality in the
rural labor force. The condition of women will greatly improve by providing
renewably powered energy services for processing crops, milling grain,
irrigating fields, cooling and heating systems for product storage, and
transporting them to market. The small-scale farm sector will be the key focus
of the Sahel renewable energy program, alongside the related food value
chain.
Most renewable energy is ultimately solar energy. The sun’s energy can be
used directly for heat or electricity. Hydropower comes from falling water,
which occurs because solar energy evaporates water at low elevations that
later rains on high elevations. The sun also creates wind through differential
heating of the earth’s surface. Biomass energy comes from plant matter,
produced in photosynthesis driven by the sun. Thus biomass, wind, and
hydropower are just secondary sources of solar energy. Non-solar renewable
energy sources include geothermal energy, which comes from the earth’s core,
in some combination of energy left from the origin and continued decay of
nuclear materials. Tidal energy is another non-solar renewable energy source,
being driven by the moon. Though nuclear power from fission is not
renewable, there is great debate about whether nuclear power should be part
of the post-fossil-fuel energy mix (see Box 1).
Barrier and solution for biomass
How much land can be made available, and at what price? Using land for
biomass energy production always has an opportunity cost, since the same
land could be used to produce food or fiber, or to preserve wilderness
Barrier and solution for wind energy?
Like all energy sources, wind power has its own externalities. The main ones of
concern are aesthetic impact of the wind turbines, which are commonly over
400’ in height; noise related to wind in turbine blades, which can be
troublesome in close proximity to wind turbines; and bird mortality from
collisions with turbine blades.
Noise and bird mortality may be mitigated by appropriate siting of wind

facilities, though wind power is not completely flexible in siting, given the need
to be in the windiest locations. Aesthetic impact is not easily mitigated, as wind
power requires large structures that are not easily hidden. But perhaps all
beauty is subjective, and some of us find wind turbines attractive, in part
because of the renewable energy transition they represent. Offshore wind
energy is a renewable energy resource with the potential for fewer negative
externalities than onshore.
Problem
By their nature, most renewable energy supplies cannot be matched to

demand as easily as fossil fuels. Natural sources of energy cannot be conjured
up in each moment that we need energy: some days the wind does not blow,
and the sun does not shine. Hydropower may be unavailable during drought
periods, and biomass crops experience crop failures (just like food crops). Most
renewable energy sources have low capacity factors and are less consistent
than fossil fuels, which increases cost.
Solution
Energy diversity is one approach to intermittency. For example, solar energy is

strongest in the summer, while in most places wind energy is strongest in the
winter. A combination of the two can provide more consistent year-round
electricity generation than either one individually. If this diversity of sources
would be chosen in a given area anyway, there is no cost to using diversity as a
way to correct intermittency. It also is possible to store electricity. For
example, remote solar houses can store electricity in batteries. Battery storage
must be at least sufficient for nights, ideally with some additional storage for
cloudy days and/or periods of high electricity use. This same technology could
be deployed on a broader scale, with individual buildings having on-premise
battery storage. Renewable energy could be taken from the grid as it was
available, and used as needed.
Prob + solution
At times of low wind, water, and solar energy availability, the marginal cost of
renewable energy will be very high. Variable electricity pricing implemented
with smart electric meters could charge consumers a higher price for electricity
at times when the renewable electricity supply was limited. Consumers could
then make choices to limit electricity use, or to program appliances to only
operate at certain price points. For example, water heaters could be
programmed to only operate in low-price time periods, since water in an
insulated tank stays hot for many hours.

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Renewable energy is reliable and plentiful and will potentially be very cheap

once technology and infrastructure improve. It includes solar, wind,

Renewable energy can be locally produced and therefore is not vulnerable to

Investing in renewable energy can also have a massive impact on the

Data released by a trade association of wind and marine energy providers

Barrier and solution for biomass

Noise and bird mortality may be mitigated by appropriate siting of wind

By their nature, most renewable energy supplies cannot be matched to

Energy diversity is one approach to intermittency. For example, solar energy is

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