Is Renewable Energy Bad For The Environment Yes Or No?

Introduction

The thesis of this article is that while no energy source is completely without environmental impacts, renewable energy such as wind, solar, hydropower and geothermal results in significantly fewer harmful impacts compared to fossil fuels. Renewable energy has lower greenhouse gas emissions, reduces pollution, and utilizes fewer water resources overall. However, all energy sources require land, materials, and create some waste. Overall, the environmental benefits of renewable energy outweigh the downsides, leading to the conclusion that renewable energy is not bad for the environment compared to fossil fuels.

Types of Renewable Energy

There are several major types of renewable energy sources that are in use today. These include:

Solar energy – This comes directly from the sun’s rays and is harnessed through solar panels and solar thermal collectors. Solar energy can be used to produce electricity, provide light and heat water. https://www.un.org/en/climatechange/what-is-renewable-energy

Wind energy – The wind turns large turbines to generate electricity. Wind farms consisting of many turbines in one location can provide power to the grid. https://www.nationalgrid.com/stories/energy-explained/what-are-different-types-renewable-energy

Hydroelectric power – Flowing water such as in dams, rivers, and tidal waves can be used to turn turbines and generate electricity.

Geothermal energy – This taps into the natural heat beneath the earth’s surface for heating, electricity generation, and other applications.

Biomass – Organic plant and animal waste can be used as a fuel source through direct burning, conversion to biogas, or processing into biofuels.

Greenhouse Gas Emissions

Renewable energy sources produce far fewer greenhouse gas emissions compared to fossil fuels. According to the UN, renewable energy sources emit little to no greenhouse gases and could reduce emissions by nearly 90% compared to fossil fuels (https://www.un.org/en/climatechange/raising-ambition/renewable-energy). The MIT Climate Portal explains that most types of renewable energy like solar, wind, and geothermal produce no CO2 emissions during operation, while fossil fuels emit significant amounts of CO2 and other pollutants when burned (https://climate.mit.edu/explainers/renewable-energy). The World Resources Institute analyzed studies showing that over their lifetime, renewable sources typically emit about 50g or less of CO2 per kWh, compared to over 500g per kWh for natural gas and over 800g per kWh for coal.

Wildlife and Habitat Impacts

Renewable energy sources can have negative impacts on wildlife and their habitats. Utility-scale wind and solar projects in particular can lead to habitat fragmentation and loss [1]. Wind turbines can directly kill birds and bats through collisions. Solar projects may disrupt desert tortoise and other wildlife habitats [2].

According to a report from Defenders of Wildlife, wind turbines were responsible for between 140,000 and 500,000 bird deaths per year in the U.S. as of 2019. Solar power stations can impact desert environments and disrupt native wildlife. Large-scale hydroelectric dams flood habitats upstream and alter downstream river flows, disrupting fish populations [3].

While renewable energy development presents some challenges for wildlife conservation, solutions like proper siting, habitat restoration, and impact mitigation can reduce the effects. Overall, renewable energy has significantly less habitat impact than fossil fuels.

Materials and Mining

Many renewable energy technologies rely on minerals and metals like lithium, cobalt, nickel, copper, and rare earth elements. These materials are needed to manufacture components like batteries, solar panels, and wind turbines. Therefore, scaling up renewable energy will require a massive increase in mining of these raw materials.

According to the MIT Climate Portal, more than 80% of mining areas worldwide target materials critical to renewable energy production (https://climate.mit.edu/ask-mit/will-mining-resources-needed-clean-energy-cause-problems-environment). Mining these metals and minerals can have environmental impacts, including habitat destruction, water and air pollution, and greenhouse gas emissions. However, a 2020 report from the International Energy Agency found that emissions from extracting minerals are tiny compared to those created by burning fossil fuels (https://climate.mit.edu/ask-mit/how-does-environmental-impact-mining-clean-energy-metals-compare-mining-coal-oil-and-gas).

Strategic planning and proper environmental regulations can help mitigate the impacts of increased mining. But mining sufficient quantities of rare earth metals and minerals in a sustainable way remains an important challenge for rapidly scaling up renewable energy.

Waste and Recycling

One concern with renewable energy sources like solar and wind is the waste created when equipment reaches the end of its useful life. Solar panels typically last around 20-30 years before efficiency begins to decline. Wind turbines have a lifespan of around 20-25 years as well. Proper disposal and recycling of old solar panels and wind turbine blades is important to limit environmental impacts.

Most solar panels are made of glass, polymer, aluminum, copper and semiconductor materials that can be toxic if not disposed of properly. Less than 10% of solar panels get recycled today. The rest are incinerated, sent to landfills or left to decay in the open. Burning releases toxic fumes while landfilling risks leaching chemicals into groundwater over time https://recyclingfirst.org/renewable-technologies-recycling/. Similarly, wind turbine blades are made of fiberglass, carbon fibers and other hard-to-recycle composites. There is limited capacity to recycle old blades today, with most getting disposed in landfills. As the number of wind farms and solar installations grow, the waste generated will also increase unless recycling is improved.

Land Use

Renewable energy often requires more land area than fossil fuel power plants. This is especially true for solar and wind projects, which can sprawl across many acres of land. According to a report by the Nature Conservancy, utility-scale solar projects require on average 7.3 acres per megawatt of energy produced, while wind farms require around 60 acres per megawatt ^[1]. In comparison, natural gas and coal plants only need 0.06-2.8 acres per megawatt.

The large land footprint of renewables has raised concerns about habitat loss and fragmentation, especially in ecologically sensitive areas. Solar and wind projects are often sited in deserts and plains, which support unique plant and animal communities. According to one analysis, solar and wind energy could impact up to 32 million acres in the western U.S. by 2030 ^[2]. Careful siting and mitigation measures are needed to reduce the environmental impacts.

However, it’s worth noting that the current fossil fuel-based energy system also uses a significant amount of land for mining, drilling, pipelines, processing, and transportation. So while renewables have a larger land footprint per unit of energy, transitioning to them could potentially reduce the overall land footprint of our energy system. But their unique land use challenges must be managed carefully.

Water Usage

Water is a critical resource needed for most types of energy generation, including renewable sources. The main water needs for renewable energy include:

Geothermal – Geothermal plants use water for cooling and to pump underground to extract heat. They consume about 1,500 to 5,000 gallons per MWh, more than natural gas but less than coal or nuclear. Proper management is needed to avoid depleting groundwater supplies (1).

Hydroelectric – Dams and reservoirs are needed to generate electricity from flowing water. This can impact fish migration and alter downstream water flows. However, hydroelectric overall has a lower water footprint than fossil fuels (2).

Biomass – Crops for biofuels require substantial irrigation and water inputs during cultivation. For example, corn-based ethanol has a higher water footprint than petroleum-based gasoline (3).

While renewable energy can increase water demand in some cases, it provides an opportunity to improve water sustainability if properly managed. The transition to clean energy can incentivize more responsible water usage across the energy sector.

1. https://www.mckinsey.com/industries/electric-power-and-natural-gas/our-insights/managing-water-and-climate-risk-with-renewable-energy

2. https://www.iea.org/commentaries/clean-energy-can-help-to-ease-the-water-crisis

3. https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/renewable-energy-saves-water-and-creates-jobs/

Reliability

One common concern with renewable energy sources like wind and solar is that they are intermittent – they only generate electricity when the wind is blowing or the sun is shining. This is in contrast to fossil fuel power plants which can generally produce electricity whenever it is needed. However, studies show renewable energy can be integrated into the grid reliably. According to the U.S. Department of Energy, “Using more renewable energy resources—solar, water, wind, geothermal, and bioenergy—and energy storage gives us more ways to keep the power on or bring it back after an outage” (1). While fossil fuel plants may seem more reliable because they can be dispatched at any time, they are also prone to unexpected outages and failures. Renewable sources coupled with storage, transmission connections, and grid modernization can provide consistent and reliable energy.

Conclusion

Based on the evidence presented in this article, it seems clear that renewable energy is not inherently bad for the environment. While renewable energy does have some negative environmental impacts, like all energy sources, the overall effects are substantially less damaging than continued reliance on fossil fuels. Renewable technologies like solar, wind, geothermal and hydropower generate far fewer greenhouse gas emissions over their lifecycle compared to coal, oil or natural gas. With thoughtful planning and proper siting, the wildlife and habitat disruption caused by renewable projects can often be avoided or minimized. Though materials mining and manufacturing of components does have environmental effects, renewable energy equipment generally has lower toxicity and shorter energy payback times. While waste and land use are valid concerns, they do not make renewable energy fundamentally worse for the environment than conventional sources. With the right policies and more innovation, even these issues can be further mitigated. Renewable energy offers a cleaner and more sustainable path forward for our energy needs. While not perfect, renewable sources are our best option for powering society while protecting the planet.