Most of the articles in this blog have been about the benefits of alternative energies. However, there are also many downsides to solar, wind, and hydroelectric powers.
First of all, wind power is useful because it does not produce any air or water pollution. However, there are some major concerns over wind power. The public is concerned about the visibility and noise of the relatively large and unsightly wind turbines. There are also some that note that building wind turbines would cause many wilderness areas to be developed. The large wind turbines take many fossil fuels to make and transport to the field. Lastly, wind power is also one to one and a half times more expensive than the electricity generated from fossil fuels.
Next, solar power is a great source of renewable energy because they generate no emissions while in use. However, just like wind turbines, they require a substantial amount of fossil fuels to make and install. The solar panels also have many ill health effects for those that come into contact with them because of the arsenic and cadmium that are used in the panels. John Holdren also said, "Using sunlight to make electricity with photovoltaic cells remains 3 to 5 times more expensive than fossil-fueled electricity generation, despite very substantial reductions in the costs of photovoltaics over the last two decades."
Geothermal energy has come under fire in the last few years for causing many environmental problems. Acquiring geothermal energy is associated with pollution of water and air as well as unsafe disposal of hazardous wastes. The plants that produce the geothermal energy also need a large amount of water for cooling purposes. This could be a problem for the plants that are not close to a water sources, as they have to haul in the water, most likely using fossil fuels.
Hydropower is often criticized for destruction of natural habitats. In fact, existing dams are often attacked by environmental groups because they sometimes cause some of the native plant and animal species to become endangered. Also, the reservoirs that the dams create often damage existing forests, farmlands, and wildlife habitats. Lastly, hauling the enormous amounts of concrete and other materials that are necessary for construction of the dam uses a large amount of fossil fuels.
Clearly, there is no cure-all type of alternative energy. Every type has its positives and negatives. In the future, some of these negatives must be addressed to ensure that our environment is protected as much as possible.
Sources:
http://www.ucsusa.org/clean_energy/technology_and_impacts/impacts/environmental-impacts-of.html
http://www.masterresource.org/2009/01/john-holdren-on-renewable-energy-problems-part-v-in-a-series-on-obamas-new-science-advisor/
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2 comments:
I found this post really interesting because it's nice to know about both sides of alternative energy methods. I agree that alternative energy can't be perfect, and I understand what you are saying about it being more expensive. While I feel that using alternative energy is better than nothing, I also agree that it is a pretty flawed system that still needs to be worked on. Thank you for this informative post!
It is always good to see the ups and downs of every topic. I was glad to see that someone took this to heart and posted this post. However no matter the problems of alternative energy we have to keep working with it. The Earth's fuel supplies will not last forever and we need to have an alternative before that time comes. Until we are able to come up with a perfect alternative (which there probably won't be one) we need to have something when the time comes to help with the energy crysis. Overall though it was good to point out the problems of the most common alternative energy sources we use today so that everyone knows no matter how pretty something looks at first there are always downsides.
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