How solar helps reduce climate change

How is the transition to renewable energy sources going? The answer is not encouraging as climate scientists discover that we are in much bigger trouble than previously believed. Solar panels and wind turbines are an increasingly common sight. But is it too little, too late? What are the benefits of renewable energy sources? How do they improve our health, environment, and economy? This article explores the many positive impacts of clean energy, including the benefits of wind, solar, geothermal, hydroelectric, and biomass.

Less global warming with solar power

Our atmosphere has been overwhelmed with carbon dioxide and other global warming emissions resulting from human activity. These gases act like a blanket, trapping and absorbing heat. The result is a network of significant and harmful impacts, from bigger, more frequent storms, to drought, sea level rise, and extinction of various species of animals. Nearly a third of global warming emissions originate from the electricity sector in the United States. Most of those emanations come from fossil fuels like coal and natural gas.

Improved public health through alternative energy

Virtually everyone knows that fossil fuel use contributes significantly to human health difficulties. Pollution emitted by coal and natural gas plants is linked to breathing problems, neurological damage, heart attacks, cancer, premature death, and several other serious problems. The pollution affects everyone. One Harvard University study estimated the life-cycle costs and public health effects of coal to be an estimated $74.6 billion every year. That’s equivalent to 4.36 cents per kilowatt-hour of electricity produced—about 33 percent of the average electricity rate for a typical US home Many negative health impacts originate from air and water pollution that clean energy systems simply don’t produce. Wind, solar, and hydroelectric systems generate electricity with no added air pollution emissions. Geothermal and biomass systems emit some air pollutants, though total air emissions are much lower than those of coal and natural gas-fired power plants. Solar and wind energy require virtually no water to operate and thus do not pollute water resources or strain supplies by competing with agriculture, drinking water, or other important functions. By contrast, fossil fuels can have a huge impact on water resources: both coal mining and natural gas drilling can pollute sources of drinking water, and all thermal power plants, including those powered by coal, gas, and oil, gather and consume water for cooling.

Inexhaustible energy of solar

Sunny skies, strong winds, abundant plant matter, heat from the earth, and fast-moving water can each provide a vast and constantly replenished supply of energy without pollution. A relatively small fraction of US electricity currently comes from these sources, but that could change relatively soon. Studies have regularly shown that renewable energy can provide a considerable share of future electricity needs, even after accounting for potential restrictions.

Jobs and other economic benefits of renewables

The renewable energy industry is generally more labor intensive compared to fossil fuel technologies which are more capital intensive. Solar panels require humans to install them; wind farms need technicians to maintain them. More employment opportunities are created on average, for each unit of electricity generated from renewable sources than from fossil fuels.

In 2016, the solar industry employed more than 260,000 people, including jobs in solar installation, manufacturing, and sales. That's a 25% increase over 2015. The hydroelectric power industry employed about 66,000 people in 2017]; the geothermal industry employed 5,800 people.

Clean energy is truly the wave of the future (and the present)

Clean energy provides affordable electricity across the country right now and can help maintain energy prices in the future. Renewable facilities require upfront investment to construct and, they can then operate at a very low cost (for most clean energy technologies, the “fuel” is free). As a result, renewable energy prices can be comparatively stable over time.

For more information relating to going solar, don't forget to visit our solar blog section for more handy guides and articles.

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