Renewable energy sources cannot run out and causes so little damage to the environment that its use does not need to be restricted. No energy system based on mineral resources is renewable because, one day, the mineral deposits will be used up. This is true for fossil fuels and uranium. The debate about when a particular mineral resource will run out is irrelevant in this context. Renewable energy sources are replenished continuously.
Renewable energy sources—solar, wind, biomass (under specific conditions), and tides—are based directly or indirectly on solar energy. Hydroelectric power is not necessarily a renewable energy source because large-scale projects can cause ecological damage and irreversible consequences. Geothermal energy heat is renewable but must be used cautiously to guard against irreversible ecological effects.
There is no shortage of renewable energy because it can be taken from the sun, wind, water, plants, and garbage to produce electricity and fuels. For example, the sunlight that falls on the United States in one day contains more than twice the energy the country normally consumes in a year. California has enough wind gusts to produce 11% of the world’s wind electricity.
Clean energy sources can be harnessed to produce electricity and process heat, fuel, and valuable chemicals with less effect on the environment than fossil fuel would cause. Emissions from gasoline-fueled cars and factories and other facilities that burn oil affect the atmosphere through the greenhouse effect. About 81% of all U.S. greenhouse gases are carbon dioxide emissions from energy-related sources.
At the International Climate Convention in Kyoto (1997), it was agreed that the developed nations of the world must reduce greenhouse gas emissions. The European Union (EU) committed to reducing emissions of carbon dioxide (CO2) by 8% from 1990 levels by the year 2010. The United States was to reduce emissions by 6% and Japan by 7%. These agreements are laid down in the Kyoto Protocol and aim for a society that uses renewable energies, not fossil fuels.
Because every source is more or less intensive in what it produces, special measures have to be considered when considering global energy solutions. These include availability, capability, extraction costs, emissions, and durability.
Ironically, the atomic energy industry seems to be profiting from concerns about greenhouse gases and global climate change. Nuclear energy does not emit greenhouse gases, but its waste is stored in long-lasting containers and thrown into the sea in underground caves. Nevertheless, in the developed northern hemisphere, nuclear energy has little political or social support. The United States has not built a single reactor since the accident at Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, in 1979. In addition, there are no moves toward expanding nuclear power generation in any European Union member state that already has nuclear power stations. On the contrary, there is support for reduction in and closure of their atomic programs. Eight Western European countries (Denmark, Iceland, Norway, Luxembourg, Ireland, Austria, Portugal, and Greece) have never had a nuclear energy program and have instead favored the alternative programs of renewable energy. Outside Europe, only China, South Korea, Japan, Taiwan, and South Africa aspire to expand the share of nuclear power generated in their countries.
Today, the atomic energy industry is targeting developing countries, and the Kyoto Protocol is paving the way. The protocol provides for the use of ‘‘flexible instruments,’’ which were introduced so that wealthy nations could achieve their emission reductions in other countries by paying royalties to compensate for pollution levels. One instrument is the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM). The CDM facilitates the financing of clean technologies (through investment in solar energy, wind turbines, hydroelectric power stations, and energy-saving technologies) and the transfer of these technologies from the northern to the southern hemisphere. Wealthy nations can use emission reductions achieved via the CDM to meet their Kyoto commitments, but the same cannot be said with respect to developing nations. Developing countries gain access to clean, endemic sources and compromise their future in much the same way as did the northern hemisphere. Is this the ideal win–win solution? The atomic energy industry claims that nuclear energy can be used as an effective solution in the struggle to prevent climate change.
From socioeconomic and environmental points of view, renewable energy increases supply security, has the lowest environmental effect of all energy sources, allows for local solutions, and offers sustainable energy system development worldwide. Renewable energy also offers wider opportunities for investment, avoided fuel costs, CO2 emissions savings, and new jobs. Generally speaking, renewable energy technology are important because of the income that results from manufacturing, project development, servicing, and in the case of biomass, rural jobs and income diversification for farmers.©
