Renewable Energy

 

 

• In the last 10 years installed wind capacity has increased by nearly 880%.

• Solar installations in the US have become much more widespread, increasing seventeen fold since 2008.

 

• Unlike wind, solar, tidal energy, geothermal energy is available at all hours of the day, providing cities and industry a continuous supply of electrical power. While geothermal may not scale as well as other renewable resources, it can be used in combination with intermittent sources (like energy and wind) to supply additional power when demand is high.

Downsides

• Geothermal energy which can be used to generate electricity has side effects too. It can bring toxic chemicals beneath the earth surface onto the top and can create environmental changes.

 

 

 

 

 

• Today, hydroelectric generation provides roughly 6% of the United States’ electricity.

• Hydroelectric energy provides us with a pure form of energy but building dams across the river which is quite expensive can affect natural flow and affect wildlife.

• Large scale hydroelectric plants can also have a negative impact on human populations. The Three Gorges Dam in China displaced more than 1.2 million people, flooding 13 cities, 140 towns, and 1,350 villages.

 

• Biomass (plant material and animal waste) is the oldest source of renewable energy, used since our ancestors learned the secret of fire. It's first known use was in South Africa in 1.8m BC.
• Biomass comes in many forms and is easily adaptable to a variety of settings and environmental conditions. The United Nations Environment Programme estimates that the nearly 140 billion metric tons of biomass is generated every year from agriculture can provide renewable energy to 1.6 billion people in developing countries, many of whom lack access to electricity. 

• Energy harnessed from biomass is inexpensive compared to coal and oil. Typically they cost about 1/3 less than fossil fuels doing the same job. This means you can spend 1/3 less every year on heating your home and after 10 or 15 years that adds up to a considerable saving. 

      How we benefit from renewable energy sources

 

1) It improves public health.

       Generating electricity from renewable energy rather than fossil fuels offers significant public health benefits. The air and water pollution emitted by coal and natural gas plants is linked to breathing problems, neurological damage, heart attacks, and cancer. Replacing fossil fuels with renewable energy has been found to reduce premature mortality and lost workdays, and it reduces overall healthcare costs. The aggregate national economic impact associated with these health impacts of fossil fuels is between $361.7 and $886.5 billion, or between 2.5 percent and 6 percent of gross domestic product (GDP).

2) Job creation

       Compared with fossil fuel technologies, which are typically mechanized and capital intensive, the renewable energy industry is more labor-intensive. This means that, on average, more jobs are created for each unit of electricity generated from renewable sources than from fossil fuels.

Whether blue-collar, white-collar, or green-color (workers employed in the environmental sector of the economy), the solar and wind industries are putting more people to work per megawatt hour (MWh) of energy than the fossil fuel industry. Just take a look at the chart below.

       The chart comes from the Department of Energy’s job data (in blue) and the Energy Information Administration’s electricity data (in orange) for the year 2016. This graph tells us two things:

• First, the U.S. Solar industry currently employs more people than the US fossil fuel industry for electricity generation.

• Secondly, there are 7 jobs per GWh of solar energy and about 0.5 jobs per GWh of wind energy, whereas there is only 0.1 jobs per GWh of fossil fuel energy used for electricity generation. 

       As you can see there are many reasons that energy conservation is important, ranging from the environment to the economy. The cost of energy is rising every year and the world's dependence on fossil fuels is creating a problem that will affect generations to come. While most of us cannot yet afford solar panels or fuel efficient cars, we can still reduce those impacts by consuming less energy. 

Below are a few initiatives we can take to help conserve energy.

1      Today, Americans dump more than 100 million tons of trash into landfills annually. Even though modern sanitary landfills are safer and less of a nuisance than the open dumps of the past, no one likes having a landfill around. In heavily populated areas, landfill space is scarce. Where space is plentiful, filling it with garbage isn't a very good solution to the problem. Today, recycling efforts in the United States divert 32 percent of waste away from landfills. That prevents more than 60 million tons of garbage from ending up in landfills every year 

 

2      For a natural resource that most of us have access to for minimal cost, water is doing pretty well as a revenue generator. The bottled version of the stuff is currently an $8 billion industry in the United States alone and produces 2.7 million tons of plastic worldwide. A simple alternative is drink tap water. However, if you don’t like the taste, filters such as PUR or Brita can achieve a similar level of purity to bottled purified drinking water, but at a much cheaper cost and without the negative environmental effects of bottling. 

3      Many gadgets, electronic devices and appliances draw power even when they're switched off or not in use, just by being plugged in, and though it may seem trivial, it can add up over time. This waste of energy is known as a “phantom load”. All together, phantom energy can account for about 10 percent of an individual home's electricity use. Plugging bundled devices-think TV, DVD player, and DVR, or computer, monitor, and printer- into the same power strip and then turning off the power strip will prevent this waste of energy.

4      Because CFLs use 75 percent less energy, swapping one incandescent bulb for a CFL reduces carbon dioxide by 500 pounds a year; replacing 17 has the equivalent effect of taking one car off the road for a year. 

5      Underinflated tires decrease fuel economy by up to three percent and lead to increased pollution and higher greenhouse gas emissions. Underinflation also increases tire wear, so it will save you money in the long run if you're good about checking your tire pressure.

11     Today, Americans dump more than 100 million tons of trash into landfills annually. Even though modern sanitary landfills are safer and less of a nuisance than the open dumps of the past, no one likes having a landfill around. In heavily populated areas, landfill space is scarce. Where space is plentiful, filling it with garbage isn't a very good solution to the problem. Today, recycling efforts in the United States divert 32 percent of waste away from landfills. That prevents more than 60 million tons of garbage from ending up in landfills every year   

21     For a natural resource that most of us have access to for minimal cost, water is doing pretty well as a revenue generator. The bottled version of the stuff is currently an $8 billion industry in the United States alone and produces 2.7 million tons of plastic worldwide. A simple alternative is drink tap water. However, if you don’t like the taste, filters such as PUR or Brita can achieve a similar level of purity to bottled purified drinking water, but at a much cheaper cost and without the negative environmental effects of bottling.

31      Many gadgets, electronic devices and appliances draw power even when they're switched off or not in use, just by being plugged in, and though it may seem trivial, it can add up over time. This waste of energy is known as a “phantom load”. All together, phantom energy can account for about 10 percent of an individual home's electricity use. Plugging bundled devices-think TV, DVD player, and DVR, or computer, monitor, and printer- into the same power strip and then turning off the power strip will prevent this waste of energy.

41    Because CFLs use 75 percent less energy, swapping one incandescent bulb for a CFL reduces carbon dioxide by 500 pounds a year; replacing 17 has the equivalent effect of taking one car off the road for a year. 

51     Underinflated tires decrease fuel economy by up to three percent and lead to increased pollution and higher greenhouse gas emissions. Underinflation also increases tire wear, so it will save you money in the long run if you're good about checking your tire pressure.

12     Today, Americans dump more than 100 million tons of trash into landfills annually. Even though modern sanitary landfills are safer and less of a nuisance than the open dumps of the past, no one likes having a landfill around. In heavily populated areas, landfill space is scarce. Where space is plentiful, filling it with garbage isn't a very good solution to the problem. Today, recycling efforts in the United States divert 32 percent of waste away from landfills. That prevents more than 60 million tons of garbage from ending up in landfills every year.

22     For a natural resource that most of us have access to for minimal cost, water is doing pretty well as a revenue generator. The bottled version of the stuff is currently an $8 billion industry in the United States alone and produces 2.7 million tons of plastic worldwide. A simple alternative is drink tap water. However, if you don’t like the taste, filters such as PUR or Brita can achieve a similar level of purity to bottled purified drinking water, but at a much cheaper cost and without the negative environmental effects of bottling. 

32     Many gadgets, electronic devices and appliances draw power even when they're switched off or not in use, just by being plugged in, and though it may seem trivial, it can add up over time. This waste of energy is known as a “phantom load”. All together, phantom energy can account for about 10 percent of an individual home's electricity use. Plugging bundled devices-think TV, DVD player, and DVR, or computer, monitor, and printer- into the same power strip and then turning off the power strip will prevent this waste of energy.

42     Because CFLs use 75 percent less energy, swapping one incandescent bulb for a CFL reduces carbon dioxide by 500 pounds a year; replacing 17 has the equivalent effect of taking one car off the road for a year. 

52     Underinflated tires decrease fuel economy by up to three percent and lead to increased pollution and higher greenhouse gas emissions. Underinflation also increases tire wear, so it will save you money in the long run if you're good about checking your tire pressure.

14     Today, Americans dump more than 100 million tons of trash into landfills annually. Even though modern sanitary landfills are safer and less of a nuisance than the open dumps of the past, no one likes having a landfill around. In heavily populated areas, landfill space is scarce. Where space is plentiful, filling it with garbage isn't a very good solution to the problem. Today, recycling efforts in the United States divert 32 percent of waste away from landfills. That prevents more than 60 million tons of garbage from ending up in landfills every year.

24     For a natural resource that most of us have access to for minimal cost, water is doing pretty well as a revenue generator. The bottled version of the stuff is currently an $8 billion industry in the United States alone and produces 2.7 million tons of plastic worldwide. A simple alternative is drink tap water. However, if you don’t like the taste, filters such as PUR or Brita can achieve a similar level of purity to bottled purified drinking water, but at a much cheaper cost and without the negative environmental effects of bottling. 

34     Many gadgets, electronic devices and appliances draw power even when they're switched off or not in use, just by being plugged in, and though it may seem trivial, it can add up over time. This waste of energy is known as a “phantom load”. All together, phantom energy can account for about 10 percent of an individual home's electricity use. Plugging bundled devices-think TV, DVD player, and DVR, or computer, monitor, and printer- into the same power strip and then turning off the power strip will prevent this waste of energy.

44     Because CFLs use 75 percent less energy, swapping one incandescent bulb for a CFL reduces carbon dioxide by 500 pounds a year; replacing 17 has the equivalent effect of taking one car off the road for a year. 

54     Underinflated tires decrease fuel economy by up to three percent and lead to increased pollution and higher greenhouse gas emissions. Underinflation also increases tire wear, so it will save you money in the long run if you're good about checking your tire pressure.

15     Today, Americans dump more than 100 million tons of trash into landfills annually. Even though modern sanitary landfills are safer and less of a nuisance than the open dumps of the past, no one likes having a landfill around. In heavily populated areas, landfill space is scarce. Where space is plentiful, filling it with garbage isn't a very good solution to the problem. Today, recycling efforts in the United States divert 32 percent of waste away from landfills. That prevents more than 60 million tons of garbage from ending up in landfills every year.

25     For a natural resource that most of us have access to for minimal cost, water is doing pretty well as a revenue generator. The bottled version of the stuff is currently an $8 billion industry in the United States alone and produces 2.7 million tons of plastic worldwide. A simple alternative is drink tap water. However, if you don’t like the taste, filters such as PUR or Brita can achieve a similar level of purity to bottled purified drinking water, but at a much cheaper cost and without the negative environmental effects of bottling. 

35     Many gadgets, electronic devices and appliances draw power even when they're switched off or not in use, just by being plugged in, and though it may seem trivial, it can add up over time. This waste of energy is known as a “phantom load”. All together, phantom energy can account for about 10 percent of an individual home's electricity use. Plugging bundled devices-think TV, DVD player, and DVR, or computer, monitor, and printer- into the same power strip and then turning off the power strip will prevent this waste of energy.

45     Because CFLs use 75 percent less energy, swapping one incandescent bulb for a CFL reduces carbon dioxide by 500 pounds a year; replacing 17 has the equivalent effect of taking one car off the road for a year. 

55     Underinflated tires decrease fuel economy by up to three percent and lead to increased pollution and higher greenhouse gas emissions. Underinflation also increases tire wear, so it will save you money in the long run if you're good about checking your tire pressure.