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Renewable Energy Is Beneficial for the Environment

"Renewable Energy Is Beneficial for the Environment." Renewable Energy, edited by Jacqueline Langwith, Greenhaven Press, 2009.

"Renewable energy, also called 'green energy,' or 'clean energy,' does not deplete natural resources and creates little to no pollution when it is generated."

In the following viewpoint, Science Clarified discusses the benefits of renewable energy and claims that the use of fossil fuels (coal, oil, and natural gas) for energy production is harmful to the environment and depletes natural resources. According to Science Clarified, humans must seek environmentally friendly alternatives to fossil fuels, and limitless and virtually pollution-free renewable energy offers the best hope for our future energy needs. Science Clarified is an online encyclopedia.

As you read, consider the following questions:

According to Science Clarified, what percentage of the world's nitrous oxide emissions come from burning fossil fuels?

According to Science Clarified, how many barrels of oil were consumed in the year 2000?

What are the key benefits of renewable energy when compared to burning fossil fuels, according to Science Clarified?

Weighing the benefits and drawbacks of one power source versus another is a complicated process. There are many factors to consider, including everything from understanding the environmental effects of a particular type of power production and consumption, to addressing the power needs of the people and finding methods for delivering the power. Throughout this process, decision makers rely upon scientists to supply the necessary data to make informed decisions. What forms the basis of this science includes the knowledge that carbon dioxide, which is released into the atmosphere when fossil fuels are burned, is creating a lot of harm to the planet and its systems.

Burning Fossil Fuels Emits Harmful Gases

Gases that form the atmosphere completely surround the planet. A part of the atmosphere called the ozone layer acts as a sort of shield from the sun, filtering out harmful radiations. Today, human activities release about 433,000 metric tons of nitrous oxide into the atmosphere each year. Nearly 40 percent of the world's nitrous oxide emissions come from burning fossil fuels. The atmosphere has a certain amount of nitrous oxide naturally, but too much nitrous oxide causes a depletion of the ozone layer. Over the last decade scientists have reported that the hole in the ozone layer is growing rapidly.

Carbon dioxide is another harmful gas released into the atmosphere. It comes back to the surface as acid rain, poisoning water supplies, killing plants and animals, and eroding and blackening buildings. In addition, carbon dioxide reflects light and heat back to the planet's surface. As the carbon dioxide levels increase in the atmosphere, more heat from the sun is held in, changing the climate of the entire planet by making it warmer. This is called the greenhouse effect and is considered a form of pollution. [Naturalist] Laughton Johnston claims that, "Carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere are at their highest in 20 million years."

The planet Earth operates on delicate systems of natural balance. Scientists believe warming the atmosphere by even a few degrees could cause enormous changes to the environment. Some scientists also believe an increase in the temperature of the planet, brought on by the greenhouse effect, will lead to more weather-related natural disasters such as tornadoes, floods, droughts, and hurricanes. Scientists also predict a significant rise in sea level, which will reduce land size. Considering that half of the human population lives near a coastline, the effects could be dramatic. In the future, many nations may need to struggle with the question of where all of their people should live if their towns and cities become submerged under oceanic water.

For example, according to a report released by the British Broadcasting Corporation in 2003, the Arctic ice cover is shrinking by an area the size of the Netherlands every year. The Arctic ice cap has thinned from an average thickness of more than nine feet to less than six feet in...thirty years. In 2002, for the first time in recorded history, a twelve-thousand-year-old ice shelf the size of Luxembourg came adrift from the Antarctic and melted into pieces in just thirty-five days. The glaciers of Kilimanjaro, a mountain in Africa, and of the tropical Andes mountains in South America are melting so fast that experts believe they could disappear within...twenty years. In October 2001 about eleven thousand people in Tuvalu, a group of nine islands in the Pacific Ocean, tried to abandon their homes because of the rising ocean. The Australian government refused to let them into Australia and so most of the people have remained on the islands, living in fear of being submerged in the ocean.

Burning fossil fuels for energy releases much of the harmful gases that exist today. Scientists estimate that about 35 percent of the greenhouse gases, such as carbon dioxide, being released into the atmosphere are from the United States. With only about 5 percent of the world's population, the United States consumes about one quarter of the world's energy production. At this rate, according to [space engineer] Ralph Nansen, "we will destroy both the breathable air and the energy reserves of our only home." In fact, according to a recent BBC Radio Scotland report on global climate change, if the rest of the world consumed energy at the same rate as the United States, "we would need at least two more planet earth's to sustain us all."

Fossil Fuel Supplies Depleted

Not only are these high levels of consumption causing equally high levels of pollution, but the world's fossil fuel supplies are quickly being used up. For example, [the] total oil supply is estimated at between 2,000 and 2,800 billion barrels. About 900 billion barrels of oil have already been consumed, 28 million barrels of that just in the year 2000. Addressing resource depletion is not an easy task. As Tom Hansen, vice president of Tucson Electric Power, says, "It is like trying to change the wings of an airplane while you are in flight." He describes a difficult process, but one with what he considers a great payoff. "We have to wean ourselves off traditional fuels, because it is going to get harder for us to build more power plants and install more transmission lines."

The future of energy production will certainly determine what the overall health of the planet will be. Most scientists agree that the choices that support fossil fuel use will only worsen the environmental damage that has already occurred. Instead, choosing to look to renewable energy sources and energy conservation techniques offers the potential to improve the health of the planet. This belief concerning the future of renewable energy is voiced by author Melvin A. Benarde in his book, Our Precarious Habitat. "There are no instant cures, no ready-made solutions," Benarde writes. "This does not mean there is no hope for a future. On the contrary, there is a great deal; but it will take time and money—lots of money—and a willingness on the part of the people to see it through."

Renewable Energy Does Not Run Out

Because energy is usable power, the form that the energy is in can be used up. When a combustion engine car runs out of gasoline, it loses its power and can no longer operate until more fuel is put into the system. If a power plant that generates electricity by burning coal runs out of coal, then it can no longer generate electricity until more coal is put into the power plant burners.

Renewable energy, on the other hand, is energy that is replaced at the same rate that it is used. Renewable energy is replaced through natural processes or through sound management practices, and so it is a source of power that does not run out. A perfect example of renewable energy is energy from the sun, which comes in an abundant supply every day.

Other examples of renewable sources of energy include the wind, the waves and tides, the gravitational pull of the earth, the heat at the earth's core (geothermal energy), landfill gases, and, to a limited degree, trees and plant material. Many of these renewable sources of energy can be used in their raw form. They are natural forces that create energy without the help of humans. All that is needed is for someone to decide how that energy can be used. Building a sail for a boat makes use of the wind. Building a waterwheel on a river makes use of the flowing water that is pulled downhill by the earth's gravity. Building a house out of glass—a greenhouse—traps the heat from sunlight inside, providing warmth and allowing plants to grow where they might not otherwise grow.

Renewable Energy Creates Little or No Pollution

Renewable energy, also called "green energy," or "clean energy," does not deplete natural resources and creates little to no pollution when it is generated. Throughout history, renewable sources of energy have been used by various peoples to supply power for their specific needs, but always on a small scale. The unique challenge of today is finding a way to supply renewable energy to entire populations. Large-scale energy production requires specialized equipment such as energy storage and transmission facilities. The technology for generating the power must also be efficient and cost-effective to produce and operate.

In the face of big-oil-company interests and the politics of government, it has taken a long time for renewable energy options to even be considered on a large scale. The scientific and technological development of solar power, for example, looked promising when in 1977 President Jimmy Carter initiated a plan to develop solar energy and other alternative fuels. His goal for the nation was to have 20 percent of its power coming from solar power generation by the year 2000, and he started by putting solar panels on the White House. By the late 1970s, however, big oil companies had bought up most of the patents for the solar technologies being developed. The Reagan administration took the solar panels off of the White House and spent billions of dollars on the military, foreign aid, and for research and production of atomic weapons instead of on renewable energy.

Since that time, government support for the research and development of renewable energy has not been easy to get, and the technology has been slow to come into its own. Despite these setbacks, independent companies are now making renewable energy products that, while still costly to purchase, offer cheap, clean, renewable energy to the consumer. In his book Charging Ahead, writer, teacher, and environmental science and policy consultant John J. Berger says of renewable energy sources that "modern science and engineering technology have of late made them much more efficient, convenient, and economical." Steve Kretzmann, coordinator for the Greenpeace Global Warming Campaign, shares a similar point of view: "One of the greatest myths surrounding clean energy is that it is not ready to do the job. Renewables are ready—the technical barriers are almost entirely removed. The true barriers to energy reform are now, and always have been, political."

Many experts agree that renewable energy would provide numerous benefits. Berger, for example, says that:

Because renewables do not use fossil fuels (most are entirely fuel-free) they are largely immune to the threat of future oil or gas shortages and fossil fuel price hikes. For the same reason, because most renewable technologies require no combustion, they are far kinder to the environment than coal, oil, and natural gas. Smog and acid rain could be eliminated with renewables. The collective lungs of America could breathe a sigh of relief.

In addition to being virtually nonpolluting, renewable energy is thought to be cheaper for producers and consumers. As reported in a book commissioned in 1992 by the United Nations Solar Energy Group on Environment and Development, "Given adequate support, renewable energy technologies can meet much of the growing demand at prices lower than those usually forecast for conventional energy." As the human population continues to increase and the energy needs of the world climb, renewable energy is seen more and more as the only alternative.