Environmental Impacts of Renewable Energy Technologies Essay

Environmental Impacts of Renewable Energy Technologies - Essay ExampleBiomass flame and geothermal plants expelling glasshouse gases in qualities that are comparable to coals was well as sulfur and northward dioxides which pollute the air and cause acid rain. Finally, there is nuclear power, which poses catastrophic threats in case of accidents and the release of radioactive water and gases into the atmosphere in addition to the production of GHG from emergency diesel engines. Figure 1 Fig 1.1 World primary energy consumption and CO2 emissions. (Hung 2010) Introduction In most of the domain of a functions countries, the primary sources of energy are degree Celsius based fogy fuels, this are however mortal considering the fact that it takes millions of years for them to form although they are depleted in substantially less time. They are step by step becoming harder to extract as well as more expensive and this has in retrospect resulted into semipolitical conflict as nations battle each other in competition for these resources (Asif and Muneer, 2007). In addition, the environmental impacts of fossil fuels have proved dire owing to the inevitable production of GHGs, which follows their combustion. The corollary has been a non-finite of negative environmental effects such as a marked increase in the greenhouse gasses in the atmosphere that is threating to drastically change the global climate. In addition, the CLC that are also byproducts of burning carbon fuels have depleted the ozone layer and this exposes the world to perilous infrared shortwave radiation, which poses a plethora of health danger for life on earth (Drabyk, 2001). More direct and short term impacts of fossil fuel complicate massive pollution of air and water the former resulting in acid rain, health problems such as Asthma and the latter mainly merging in oil seepages and leakages in water bodies. The innumerable problems attributed to fossil fuels and their apparent finiteness has nec essitated a shift to renewable energy that many tout as the all feasible source of energy. While conceding that renewable energy sources such as wind, solar and hydroelectric power portend bracing and efficient energy, they are not a silver bullet and precisely like the non-renewable sources, they come with their share of environmental impacts (Letcher, 2008). This is in view of the fact that the new energy sources collect significant investment in terms of resources and infrastructure to harvest them and this ultimately results in certain leg for the environment that are however not very widely researched owing to the popular opinion that they are the embodiment of eco- friendly power Figure 2 Fig 2 Shares of energy sources used in electricity production, 2007. (Lenzen 2010) Solar power The sun is a source of a considerable amount of clean renewable energy that is arrested finished solar panels and used to power machinery and generally provide energy twain for industrial and domestic use. Notwithstanding, solar power plants have the potential to significantly impact the environment through land use habitat loss and environmentally hazardous materials that are used in the manufacturing of the hardware. double scale solar power plants have raised concerns about the land degradation and power loss, typically the amount of land that wil be require often depends on the topography or an area and the