Need To Use Renewable Energy Sources: Environmental Safety

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Need To Use Renewable Energy Sources
The high growth in population as well as increased industrial civilization has led to a high competition in energy resources around the globe. This has led to the emergence of several problems that have impacted the globe negatively. The problem of environmental pollution and climate change due to the greenhouse gases is a manifestation of the negative effects of the nonrenewable sources of energy. Umair’s research reveals that there is a shortage in supply of nonrenewable energy which has led to increased demand for energy especially in developing countriesCITATION Uma12 \p 1 \l 1033 (Umair 1). This has prompted countries like the USA to opt for other renewable sources of energy. The adoption of the renewable sources of energy has been considered an expensive adventure especially among the developing nations across the world. These costs also entail the costs of the relevant technology system for implementing this type of energy source. Also, other protagonists have argued that the renewable sources of energy tend to be weather dependent which is unreliable in most occasions such as the solar energy. Despite this, the introduction of the renewable energy will introduce a new energy mix which will eventually stabilize the prices of other sources of energy. It also contributes to a healthy environment and contributes to the economy greatly. Accordingly, this paper proves that the use of renewable energy sources is the ultimate solution for sustainable energy needs.
Public Health and Environmental Safety
Utilization of renewable sources of energy such as the employment of electricity generated from renewable energy resources rather than fossil fuels offers essential public health benefits. The environmental pollution created through the application of fossil fuels such as coal and the natural gas could be eliminated. These energy sources contribute significantly to health problems such as breathing problems, heart attacks, neurological damage, and cancerCITATION Sur11 \p 1520 \l 1033 (Surendra, Kaushik and Panwar 1520). The health care burden of fossil fuel report revealed that replacing fossil fuels with the renewable energy sources has been found to reduce premature mortality and the lost work days. In addition, it reduces the overall costs of healthcare. Surendra et. al (1520) revealed that the aggregate national economic impact associated with the fossil fuels is between $361.7 and $886.5 billion. The solar, wind and hydroelectric systems produce electricity with no air pollution-related emissions. Geothermal and biomass energy systems on the other hand emit some air pollutants but much lower than those of coal and natural gas-fired power plant.
Wind and solar energy do not necessarily need water to operate; they, therefore, do not pollute water resources or restrain supply by competing with agriculture, drinking water systems and other uses of water. On the other hand the utilization of both natural gas and coal pollute sources of water. Extraction of natural gas by hydraulic fracturing requires a lot of water. Also, thermal power plants including those powered by coal, gas, and oil, withdraw and consume water for coolingCITATION Nel08 \p 7 \l 1033 (Nelson and Vaughn 7).
Jobs and Other Economic Benefits
In comparison to fossil fuels that are typically mechanized and capital intensive, the renewable energy industries are more labor intensive. In this regard, on average, more jobs are created for every unit of electricity generated from the renewable sources than from fossil fuels. Nelson and Vaughn study reveals that in the United States of America, for instance in 2011, the wind energy industry directly employed a total of 75,000 full-time equivalent employees in a variety of capacities. Some of these include: project development, manufacturing, construction and turbine installation, operations and maintenance, transportation and logistics, and financial consulting and legal servicesCITATION Nel08 \p 6 \l 1033 (Nelson and Vaughn 6).
Also, the jobs created directly in the industries utilizing renewable energies create a positive economic growth. Another crucial importance entails the local governments collecting property and income taxes and other payments from these renewable energy projects owners. The revenues aid in vital public services, especially in rural communities where projects are often located. Reports indicate that the owners of the land on which the wind projects are built also receive lease payments ranging from 3,000 to 6,000 US dollarsCITATION Arm16 \p 52 \l 1033 (Armaroli, Nicola and Balzani 52).
Stable Energy Prices
Renewable sources of energy provide affordable electricity across the globe currently and also can help to stabilize energy prices in future. The costs of renewable energies have declined steadily and are projected to reduce even more. According to information aggregated by international panel of climate change, the average price of solar energy in 2011 had dropped by over 60%, whereas the cost of regener...