Renewable energy sources

The Advantages and Disadvantages of Renewable Energy

The Advantages of Renewable Energy

• Renewable energy facilities usually require less maintenance than the traditional power generators. Their fuel is derived from natural and locally available resources, which reduces the costs of operation.

• Which is even more important: during the use of renewable energy there is little or no waste produced, so it has a minimal impact on the environment. Among such waste are CO2 and many other chemical pollutants.

• Renewable energy projects could also bring various economic benefits to many regions. It becomes possible since most of these projects are located far from large urban centers and even suburbs of capital cities. Both local economy and population could benefit from increased demand on different services and from growing number of tourists.

The Disadvantages of Renewable Energy

• By using the sources of renewable energy, it is more difficult to produce high quantities of electricity compared to using of generators which work on traditional fossil fuels. This means that we either need to reduce the volume of energy consumption or simply build more energy facilities. It also indicates that a balance of different sources of energy may be the best solution of the world’s current energy problems.

• The significant disadvantage of renewable energy sources is reliability of supply. Particularly, renewable energy often relies on the weather. Hydropower stations need a rain to fill dams and to supply flowing water; wind turbines need a wind to turn the blades; solar collectors are dependent on sunshine.

• Many of renewable energy’ technologies cost much higher than traditional systems of power generation.

Conclusion 

The aim of my study was to review various types of alternative energy sources –such as solar, wind energy, biomass energy, nuclear power and hydropower. Each of the named sources has its own advantages and disadvantages. Selection of the exact source of energy depends on many factors – incl. climate, location, set of mineral resources, number of sunny days and their correlation with rainy ones.

In conclusion I should mention that – despite some disadvantages – renewable energy has a vast amount of advantages. Among them are very important ones: efficiency and a number of environment-friendly features. Also, we must not forget that the reserves of traditional energy sources, such as oil and natural gas, decrease every year.

I would to name the major reasons why people should use the renewable energy sources more widely:

• The need to fight for a better environment.
• New opportunities to improve the quality of life.
• Participation in international development of advanced technologies.
• The desire to improve the energy efficiency of economic development.
• The convenience of international cooperation – and others.

All these considerations confirm the necessity of more intensive national efforts to create greener energy and thus to move towards the low-carbon economy. 
Therefore I think that efficient and rational use of renewable energy sources is economically sound. In other words, the use of renewable energy sources will help states, companies and individuals to save a lot of money and yet protect the environment.

Bibliography

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