Posted: November 16th, 2022

Alternative Energy Positively Impacts of Environment

Unit 3: Module code PM511 BLSS, Group XXX

Alternative Energy Positively Impacts of Environment
Strictly speaking, all energy sources have, to some extent, negative impact on the environment. Fossil fuels including oil, natural gas and coal do more significant harm on the environment by all measures than alternative sources of energy encompassing water and air pollution, wildlife and habitat loss, damage to health, land and water use and global emissions. Renewable energy provide many substantial environmental benefits, benefits for climate, health and the economy. Alternative energy also called renewable sources of energy include solar, wind, geothermal, hydroelectric and biomass. I strongly contend that investment in the alternative energy sources will impact positively on environmental issues. This essay will argue that alternative energy sources emit reduced volumes of greenhouse gases compared to other energy sources, reduces exhaustion of the non-renewable energy sources due to its low cost hence preserving the environment from degradation and is a major deterrent posed by disruptive environmental events including droughts, hurricanes, severe wildfires and heat waves as a result of global warming. Each renewable energy sources has specific cost and environmental benefits that emanate from it usage.
Research recommends that increasing the supply of renewable energy would permit us to supplant more carbon-producing energy sources and considerably lower global warming. For instance, a 2009 UCS study found that a 25 percent by 2025 national renewable power standard would bring down power plant CO2 outflows 277 million metric tons yearly by 2025 which is an equivalent of the yearly output from 70 run of the mill (600 MW) new coal plants (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), 2011). Additionally, the U.S. Department of Energy’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory has forecasted that the environmental impacts of generating 80 percent of the U.S from the renewable sources to be capable of reducing global warming caused by current electricity generation by nearly 81 percent (Energy Information Agency (EIA), 2012). This means that by adopting the use of alternative energy, the country will be able to eliminate related negative environmental impacts that results from emission of greenhouse gases and hence positively impact on the environment.
The life-cycle global warming caused by emission of greenhouse gases that arise from the generation of renewable energy comprising installation, manufacturing, operation and maintenance and decommissioning are quite minimal. According to Deyette and Freese (2010), evidence from the data extracted from the International Panel on Climate Change reveal that compared to natural gas emitting up to 2 pounds of carbon dioxide, roughly CO2E/kWh or coal emitting up to pounds of CO2E/kWh, solar emits only up to 0.2, wind 0.04, geothermal 0.2 and hydroelectric only emits 0.5 tons. Alternative power generation from biomass may have varied range of impacts on the environment depending on the amounts of global warming emissions which largely depends on the resources used and the harvesting method. Biomass that is sustainably sourced emit reduced volumes of greenhouse gases whereas unsustainable sources of biomass emit considerably large volumes of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere capable of causing global warming.
The alternative energy sources are also vast and inexhaustible creating a situation where the benefits of green energy can be sustained almost indefinitely. Throughout the United States, for example, the presence of sunny skies, strong winds, heat from earth, fast flowing water and plant residues can provide and replenish a vast green energy sources. The many sources of energy have technical capacity to surpass the supply of energy required for the nations. The technical potential of various sources of energy are estimated based on certain environmental and technological constraints and their availability. According to the findings of research carried out by NREL in 2013 to estimate the capacity of the renewable energy sources, all the renewable energy sources combined capability was 482247 billion kilowatt-hours annually (p.8). This amount of energy is far much more than 100 times the energy currently consumed by all sectors of the United States economy. Nonetheless, all these technical potential cannot be harvested due to conflicting land use, relatively expensive shorter costs of these resources, restrictions caused by public acceptance among other challenges. Worldwide, the renewable energy sources currently provide just a small fraction of their full potential but majority of studies have indicated that renewable energy sources can be deployed rapidly to contribute to a larger portion of the future energy requirements in the phase of the aforementioned constraints.
From another point of view, proponents of the use of renewable energy are optimistic that the continually growing low prices of renewable energy will greatly reduce stress on other related resources like the use of charcoal and as a consequence, positively impact on the environment. The cost of alternative energy sources have recently dropped steadily and are projected to fall even more. The price of solar panels leading this trend by a significant drop in its cost, approximately 60 percent from its cost in 2011(SEIA, 2012). On the other hand, the cost of wind power generation decreased by 20 plus between 2010 and 2012. This advantage becomes even more pronounced in areas with strong winds in which the cost of wind power generation competes that of fossil fuels successfully. As the markets expand, stabilized and tap into the advantages of economies of scale, there is no doubt the cost of renewable energy generation will fall even further. This means that the pressure on environment due to the use of other sources of energy will greatly reduce with many people around the world being capable to afford alternative power. This is made possible by the fact that once the renewable sources of energy are installed and established, they operate at low cost and most technologies operate on free fuel. Therefore, the prices of the renewable energy are always relatively stable. Renewable energy resources are currently affordable throughout the nation and will thus reduce pressure on other resources used to produce energy.
The effect of wind turbines on wildlife, most remarkably on birds and bats, has been broadly studied and contemplated upon. A late National Wind Coordinating Committee (NWCC) audit of associate evaluated research discovered proof of birds and bat dying from impacts with wind turbines and because of changes in pneumatic force brought on by the turning turbines, and also from land disturbance (American Wind Energy Association (AWEA). 2012a) The NWCC presumed that these effects are generally low and don’t represent a risk to animal types populaces. Moreover, a study of wild life behavior and development in wind turbine innovation have lessened the deaths of birds and bat. For instance, natural life scientists have found that bats are most dynamic when wind rates are low. Utilizing this data, the Bats and Wind Energy Cooperative reasoned that keeping wind turbines still amid times of low wind velocities could diminish bat deaths by more than half without fundamentally influencing power generation. Other wildlife effects can be alleviated through better siting of wind turbines. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Services has assumed an authority part in this exertion by gathering a counseling bunch including delegates from industry, state and tribal governments, and charitable associations that made thorough proposals on proper wind ranch siting and best administration hones.
The risk posed by the disruptive environmental events including droughts, hurricanes, severe wildfires and heat waves as a result of global warming will also reduce greatly when alternative sources of energy are used. For example, hurricane Sandy fuel power generation plants and its distribution systems in New Jersey and New York leaving many in blackout and without power (Unger, 2012). By contrast, renewable energy sources can partially withstand such wild winds with little disruption. The Northwest, for instance, gnarled hurricane sandy with much reduced disruptions and damages. Wind and solar energy are not prone to large-scale failure since they are distributed and modular which are spread out over a large geographical area. As such, in the event of occurrence of a severe weather, power disruption will not cut-off the supply to the entire region. The solar power generators are compost of numerous solar arrays while the wind generators have many wind turbines. These two equipment can typically remain functional even when some of the sub-equipment are damaged. Renewable energy sources are more resilient compared to coal, nuclear power plants and natural gas in the case of extreme weather events.
In conclusion, investing in the alternative energy sources will significantly positively impact on environmental issues. Researchers estimate that by 20000 the amount of global warming emissions will be more than 100 times less if we invest in renewable sources of energy. Additionally, the global warming emissions are currently less for alternative sources of energy compared to non-renewable sources of energy. The use of alternative sources of energy has increased the base of the population that can afford to power their homes effectively due to its low cost hence reducing strain on other environmental resources, including forests hence preserve the environment. The risk posed by the disruptive environmental events including droughts, hurricanes, severe wildfires and heat waves as a result of global warming will also reduce greatly when alternative sources of energy are used. The alternative energy sources are also vast and inexhaustible creating a situation where the benefits of green energy can be sustained almost indefinitely. Undeniably, investing in the alternative energy sources will impact positively on our environmental issues in the sense discussed. In future, the government and the private sector alike should invest heavily on alternative energy sources so as to reap from its benefits fully.

References
American Wind Energy Association (AWEA). 2012a. AWEA U.S. Wind Industry Annual Market Report: Year Ending 2011. Washington, D.C.: American Wind Energy Association.
Deyette, J., and B. Freese. 2010. Burning coal, burning cash: Ranking the states that import the most coal. Cambridge, MA: Union of Concerned Scientists. Retrieved from http://www.ucsusa.org/clean_energy/smart-energy-solutions/decrease-coal/burning-coal-burning-cash.html#.V3AZeKKGvIU
Energy Information Agency (EIA). 2012. How much of the U.S. carbon dioxide emissions are associated with electricity generation?
Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). 2011. IPCC Special Report on Renewable Energy Sources and Climate Change Mitigation. Prepared by Working Group III of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change [O. Edenhofer, R. Pichs-Madruga, Y. Sokona, K. Seyboth, P. Matschoss, S. Kadner, T. Zwickel, P. Eickemeier, G. Hansen, S. Schlömer, C. von Stechow (eds)]. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, United Kingdom and New York, NY, USA, 1075 pp. (Chapter 9).
NREL. 2013. U.S. Renewable Energy Technical Potentials: A GIS-Based Analysis. retrieved from http://www.nrel.gov/docs/fy12osti/51946.pdf
SEIA. 2012. Solar Market Insight Report 2012 Q3. Reterived from http://www.seia.org/research-resources/solar-market-insight-report-2012-q3
Unger, David J. 2012. Are renewables stormproof? Hurricane Sandy tests solar, wind. The Christian Science Monitor. November 19. Retrieved from http://www.csmonitor.com/Environment/Energy-Voices/2012/1119/Are-renewables-stormproof-Hurricane-Sandy-tests-solar-wind.

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