How renewables help fight pollution

There are many reasons for humanity to adopt renewable sources of energy. One of the main purposes of using renewable energy is to provide power with reduced emissions of greenhouse gases. The concentration of CO2 in the atmosphere remained below 280 parts per million (ppm) for 800 thousand years until the start of the Industrial Revolution in the 18th century. The concentration has risen from 280 ppm in 1780 up to 403 ppm in 2016. The effects of this trend on our future environment are unknown, but scientists are debating the effects of these trends and the likelihood of reaching dangerous tipping points that are difficult to reverse.

A look at renewable energy sources

Adopting renewable energy technologies is one recommended way of reducing the environmental impact of our energy generation. However, we must always consider the environmental impact of any renewable energy technologies we adopt. There are environmental costs to most of the renewable energy technologies so let’s look at each form of energy.

Wind turbines

Wind turbines convert the power of the wind into electricity. Wind power produces no toxic pollution or global warming emissions in use. However, in some locations, there are objections to the unsightly nature of wind turbines – especially in areas of outstanding natural beauty. The government has tried to respond to these objections by offering large subsidies to those who install wind turbines. This is not a solution for some taxpayers who are effectively being required to pay for turbines to which they object strongly on environmental grounds. There are also objections from taxpayers who are required to subsidize turbines that are rarely used at more than 35% of their potential capacity.
Some animal lovers are upset about the impact on birds, bats, and other creatures. Then there are objections from those who have to endure the noise of the turbine blades. 

Photovoltaic

Photovoltaic arrays convert sunlight to energy used to produce electricity. The environmental impacts involved here are the use of scarce resources in manufacturing and the inefficiencies of operation. This sometimes requires substantial taxpayer subsidy to encourage the uptake of PVs.

Biomass

The good news is that burning biomass is an alternative to burning fossil fuels. The limitation is that burning biomass releases 66% more CO2 than burning gas for the equivalent amount of heat generated. Incomplete combustion yields carbon monoxide – a poisonous gas – soot and particulates, the precursors of acid rain Some experts believe that only waste biomass should be counted – because growing biomass, merely to burn it, prevents land being used for food production.

Hydroelectric

Hydroelectric stations generate electricity from utilizing the natural forces of gravity and meteorology. Some ecological issues have been raised about altering the natural environment and loss of habitat for certain species.

Solar thermal and asphalt solar collectors

Solar thermal panels generate hot water from the natural energy in sunlight. The environmental impact is small, although some people object to the visual impact, especially on historic houses.An asphalt solar collector also generates hot water from the natural energy in sunlight. The technology is embedded into roads and is invisible. There is no environmental cost of collecting heat from roads.

There has never been a better time to install a solar energy system!

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