Renewable energy, often known as green energy, is energy produced from renewable natural resources that can be recovered. This is in contrast to being made from non-renewable, finite resources like coal, natural gas, and oil.
These non-renewable resources cause a lot of damage to our climate, health, and ecosystem by destroying the wildlife – never to make its return.
That’s why we must invest heavily in clean energy as soon as possible before we will be unable to recover from the effects of climate change.
Wind power and solar power are some examples of clean energy solutions that we will be discussing in this article. Here are some of the reasons why renewable energy is the best option for our future.
Disaster Proof
Considering how wind and solar are distributed and customizable, they are less prone to large-scale failure.
Since distributed systems are dispersed across a vast geographic area, a severe weather incident in one area will not knock out power for the entire region.
Even if a portion of the system’s equipment is damaged, the rest usually continues to function.
Hurricane Sandy, for instance, wreaked havoc on New York and New Jersey’s fossil-fueled electric generation and distribution infrastructure, knocking out millions of people without power. In the Northeast, on the other hand, renewable energy systems coped well during Hurricane Sandy.
Infinite resources
Unlike renewable energy, the resources needed to produce electricity are limited and are soon to run out in the near future. Even worse, additional resources are needed to support these non-renewable energy resources, resulting in serious damage to our environment.
For instance, non-renewable power plants such as nuclear, coal, and natural gas plants depend on water for cooling, causing severe droughts and heatwaves.
Wind and solar photovoltaic systems generate power without the use of water and can run dependably in conditions that would otherwise force a fossil-fuel-powered plant to shut down.
Good for public health
Burning coal emits significant amounts of pollutants into the atmosphere, which can have a variety of detrimental health effects. Air pollution has been linked to harmful health effects in both short and long-term exposures.
Some of these harmful effects include lung cancer, heart problems, and respiratory infections.
Those who are already sick are affected more severely. Children, the elderly, and the underprivileged are among the most vulnerable.
The majority of these negative health effects are caused by pollution in the air and water, which clean energy technologies do not produce. Wind, solar, and hydroelectricity generate electricity without emitting any pollutants into the atmosphere.
Furthermore, because wind and solar energy do not require any water to function, they do not damage water resources or put a burden on supplies by competing with agriculture, drinking water, or other critical water uses.
Create Jobs
According to a study by academics in Canada and Europe, jobs in the energy sector will grow from 18 million to 26 million by 2050 if the world cuts carbon emission to meet the Paris Agreement of reducing the global temperature by 2°C. In 2050, renewable energy will account for 84 percent of all energy jobs, mostly in wind and solar manufacturing.
The renewable energy business is more labor-intensive than fossil fuel technologies, which are often automated and cost-intensive. Workers are required to install solar panels, while specialists are required to maintain wind farms.
This indicates that for each unit of power generated from renewable sources, more jobs are created on average than from fossil fuels.
Faster Installation
One of the many distinguishing features of renewable energy is that the installation procedure for its infrastructure can be completed much faster than that of nuclear power and fossil fuels can.
While nuclear power plants can take anywhere from 5 to 20 years to build, solar power farms and wind turbines can be built in a matter of months to a year (depending on the size).
It’s amazing how quickly renewables can be built and put into service. For example, China installed 53 GW of solar power in 2017, and it’s expected that they’ll be able to install as much as 403 GW in the next ten years.
The Bottom Line
Overall, we can see how beneficial it is to start increasing the usage of renewable energy resources by investing in more wind turbines and solar panels.
We can then slowly start eliminating the usage of non-renewable resources as we continue to build more renewable energy sources which are sufficient to cater to the existing and future population.
By acting now, we will be prepared to face current and future natural disasters with enough power to support our homes and businesses with fresh running water and electricity in the midst of natural disasters and pandemics.
