How does renewable energy affect the environment

If not, the developer is required to complete a post-construction assessment. In recent years, numerous environmental disputes have arisen over the construction of waste incineration power plants.

For example, protests by nearby residents against the construction of the Liulitun waste incineration power plant in Beijing had a significant social impact at the time. Since then, a mechanism for public participation has been introduced. For controversial projects that are environmentally sensitive, local governments are responsible for explaining the project to the public and for holding public hearings, if necessary.

Like other economic sectors, the electric power sector generation, transmission, and distribution facilities in the United States is covered by a wide range of land-use and environmental regulations that encompass the development and construction of new facilities, facility operation, and decommissioning and site restoration.

Project developers must typically attend to layers of local, tribal, state, and federal regulations and deal with multiple agencies and permitting processes. Thus the complexities of planning and permitting may be multiplied in terms of approval steps and timelines due to the number of parties involved. Special protections or bans on development may apply to lands including privately owned land with special designations, including historic sites, prime farmland, and wilderness and roadless areas.

Where federal. Federal NEPA requirements apply for any electrical generating facilities or transmission lines on federally managed public lands or offshore. Approximately 30 percent of the land in the United States is federal public land, and public lands are especially prevalent in the western United States, where significant wind, solar, geothermal, and hydropower resources are located.

The American Wind Energy Association has compiled a guidance document that outlines the types of local-scale environmental impacts that can arise and the corresponding regulatory framework that governs the development of wind energy projects AWEA, Projects developed on private lands face an array of local, tribal, state, and federal land-use and environmental review and permitting requirements designed to ensure that potential impacts are identified and mitigated.

Siting and land-use regulations for privately owned land are usually the purview of state, tribal, or local governments, and hence vary widely across the country. In some states, public utility or state energy siting boards have jurisdiction to review and authorize new electricity generation facilities. State environmental quality and wildlife conservation agencies may implement requirements for environmental review.

In other states, or for relatively small projects, siting decisions may be left to municipal or county agencies. Whether or not state-level approval is required, almost all projects on private land require local review for compliance with zoning restrictions and ordinances limiting height, setbacks, and noise.

Renewable energy projects that release contaminants into air or water or thermal pollution to surface bodies of water may also be subject to state and federal regulations. The primary laws governing air and water pollution in the United States are the Clean Air Act and Clean Water Act, both of which include direct federal regulations as well as programs that are mandated and enforced by the federal government but administered by states or tribes. Compliance with air pollution regulations under the Clean Air Act is required for biomass combustion and geothermal facilities that release pollutants to the atmosphere during operation; other renewable projects that entail clearing land or construction of new roads may also have to address concerns about vehicle or construction equipment emissions and fugitive dust.

Biomass, geothermal, and solar thermal power plants that discharge cooling water to lakes or rivers face regulation for thermal pollution as well as contaminant discharges. Discharge permits may also be required for renewable energy projects that use water during exploration or production phases, including for sanitation and dust suppression.

Confronted with multiple pressures, such as the need for economic development, expanded employment, and mitigation of GHG emissions, the Chinese government has promulgated policies and implemented laws on energy conserva-. However, to avoid or mitigate environmental, cultural, ecological, and scenic impacts, the development of renewable energy projects is subject to other national laws and regulations. Specifically, projects that involve feed-in power generation from renewable energy must secure administrative permits and submit information in conformance with relevant laws or provisions of the State Council.

Western China, for example, is the birthplace of Chinese civilization. Throughout history, people of many nationalities have developed and created a rich and valuable cultural heritage, and artifacts in the region are the historical testimony that people of all ethnic groups developed the region and lived there together.

Since the adoption of the Renewable Energy Law, additional environmental regulations have appeared in China specifically to address environmental impacts of biomass power generation. In accordance with the new provisions, the construction and operation of waste incinerators must meet national or industry standards such as GB Solid Waste Incineration Pollution Control Standard , and the quantity and quality of garbage must be guaranteed. At present, to qualify as a biomass power generation project, the proportion of conventional fuel fed into the furnace by mass must be limited to 20 percent when a fluidized bed incinerator is used to deal with solid waste.

Some local governments faced with economic development pressures, a lack of modern technology, and a shortage of capital have been lax in implementing or enforcing laws and codes, although this situation is improving. Lessons from the experience of developed countries and increased capital investment can further improve the implementation of standards.

As public awareness of and interest in environmental issues increases in China, there are likely to be projects that attract public opposition. In comparison to fossil fuels, renewable sources of electricity such as solar, wind, and geothermal can offer substantial environmental benefits, especially with. When life cycle emissions are considered, all forms of renewable electricity production are expected to have significantly lower GHG emissions per unit of electricity produced than generation from conventional coal and natural gas plants.

With the exception of emissions of NO x and carbonaceous materials from biomass combustion, rates of life cycle emissions of conventional air pollutants from renewable electricity generation are also sharply lower than from coal and natural gas plants.

Although renewable energy sources have major advantages over fossil fuels, they also raise some environmental concerns. Many renewable energy technologies are ready for accelerated deployment, but research and development are still needed to reduce their environmental impacts. While wind, solar PV, and some geothermal plants have very low water requirements, biomass, concentrating solar thermal, and some geothermal plants generally have requirements comparable to those of other thermoelectric facilities.

The United States and China would benefit from efforts to further improve cost effectiveness and efficiency of low water-use cooling systems to help expand their utilization. Also, as a result of evaporation, water consumption associated with large-scale hydropower plants and other uses of associated reservoirs is particularly high.

LCA is a valuable method of comparing environmental impacts of alternative electricity generating technologies and identifying where improvements are most likely to pay off. LCA shows that increasing system efficiencies and operating lifetimes will reduce environmental impacts for all renewable energy technology.

The life cycle GHG emissions benefits of renewable energy are generally high, but improvements are possible in some areas.

In particular, research and development are needed to reduce life cycle GHG emissions for emerging storage options, such as batteries and compressed air energy storage, and to reduce GHG emissions and electricity use in PV manufacturing.

To minimize waste in the modified Siemens process for polycrystalline silicon production, the toxic silicon tetrachloride SiCl 4 produced as a by-product of trichlorosilane decomposition must be recycled. Several tons of SiCl 4 are produced per ton of polysilicon, and unless it is recovered and sold as a by-product or recycled in the polysilicon production process, a large share of the silicon feedstock is wasted.

However, because the components of the tail gas are very complex, separation and recycling are difficult. News reports e. Additional research is needed on the life cycle impacts of thin-film technologies, which comprise different processes and inputs than silicon flat-plate PV Fthenakis, Both countries will need to reduce air pollution emissions from biomass combustion. As shown in the LCA section of this chapter, the majority of energy consumption and emissions associated with biomass power generation is in the plant cultivation stage.

Both the United States and China are currently focusing on using waste biomass and should continue to do so.

Even with waste biomass,. The combustion of municipal solid waste can produce dioxins and release heavy metals that must be captured. Therefore, some biomass fuels can produce more NO x emissions than coal does for the amount of heat it produces. The production of NO x from the nitrogen in biomass is not well understood, because the forms of nitrogen are different from those in coal.

Therefore, research is needed to minimize pollutant emissions during biomass power generation processes. Land use is also a significant issue with some renewable energy technologies, especially as we envision scaling them up in the future. Research will be necessary to understand the impacts that renewable power installations have on plants and wildlife in various geographies, and to develop effective ways to mitigate these impacts. Land-use impacts can be reduced by the use of previously developed sites, co-occupation with other land uses, using military and government sites, and encouraging distributed generation technologies to minimize the need for more transmission lines.

Renewable power development will have to be restricted in areas with sensitive ecosystems or high cultural or scenic value, and public involvement will be invaluable for helping to identify these areas.

Additional research is also needed to understand impacts of large-scale e. It is evident that, in both countries, large-scale renewable energy installations will also require new transmission infrastructure that entails environmental impacts.

Siting and constructing new transmission requires similar processes, in terms of impact assessments, licensing, and permitting. Project developers may need to plan for this up front, and work with regulatory agencies, environmental and civil society groups, and transmission utilities to identify ways to mitigate transmission impacts.

Opportunities include: identifying areas of common transmission corridors for use by a number of projects, addressing the need for new substations for interconnection and power transmission, and enlisting local support for transmission projects that enable more renewable energy technologies to be deployed. Finally, recognizing that renewable energy facilities and the installed generation technologies will have a finite lifespan, both countries will have to pay more attention in the next decade to decommissioning, recycling, disposal, and site restoration.

Scientists and engineers in both countries should work together to solve key technical challenges in waste treatment and recycling of components. Opportunities include reducing or reusing silicon tetrachloride and other toxic byproducts of polysilicon production, and recycling PV panels and wind turbine blades. For biomass power generation, the priority should be on reducing combustion emissions and using available waste resources rather than dedicated energy crops , including municipal solid waste and agricultural residues.

The United States and China are the world's top two energy consumers and, as of , the two largest economies. Consequently, they have a decisive role to play in the world's clean energy future. That's because renewable energy sources such as solar and wind don't emit carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases that contribute to global warming. Clean energy has far more to recommend it than just being "green. All of those factors have contributed to a renewable energy renaissance in recent years, with wind and solar setting new records for electricity generation.

For the past years or so, humans have relied heavily on coal, oil, and other fossil fuels to power everything from light bulbs to cars to factories. Fossil fuels are embedded in nearly everything we do, and as a result, the greenhouse gases released from the burning of those fuels have reached historically high levels. As greenhouse gases trap heat in the atmosphere that would otherwise escape into space, average temperatures on the surface are rising.

Climate change encompasses not only rising average temperatures but also extreme weather events, shifting wildlife populations and habitats, rising seas , and a range of other impacts. Of course, renewables—like any source of energy—have their own trade-offs and associated debates.

One of them centers on the definition of renewable energy. Strictly speaking, renewable energy is just what you might think: perpetually available, or as the U. Energy Information Administration puts it, " virtually inexhaustible. It also doesn't encompass other low- or zero-emissions resources that have their own advocates, including energy efficiency and nuclear power. Hydropower: For centuries, people have harnessed the energy of river currents, using dams to control water flow. Hydropower is the world's biggest source of renewable energy by far, with China, Brazil, Canada, the U.

While hydropower is theoretically a clean energy source replenished by rain and snow, it also has several drawbacks. Large dams can disrupt river ecosystems and surrounding communities , harming wildlife and displacing residents. Hydropower generation is vulnerable to silt buildup, which can compromise capacity and harm equipment. Drought can also cause problems. In the western U.

Even hydropower at full capacity bears its own emissions problems, as decaying organic material in reservoirs releases methane. Dams aren't the only way to use water for power: Tidal and wave energy projects around the world aim to capture the ocean's natural rhythms. Marine energy projects currently generate an estimated megawatts of power —less than one percent of all renewables—but the potential is far greater.

It is found that economical, technical, reliability, availability of renewable energy resources, and financial risk are the important factors for selection and ranking of renewable energy technologies. The study prioritizes the renewable energy resources as wind energy, biomass, solar photovoltaic, and solar thermal energy.

Further, wind energy and biomass were preferred for power generation in Pakistan [ 21 ], and energy review of Pakistan is shown in Figure 1. These resources also provide social benefits like improvement of health, according to choice of consumer, advancement in technologies, and opportunities for the work, but some basic considerations should be taken for the benefit of humans, for example, climate conditions, level of education and standard of living, and region whether urban or rural from agricultural point of view.

Social aspects are the basic considerations for the development of any country. The following social benefits can be achieved by renewable energy systems: local employment, better health, job opportunities, and consumer choice. The study concluded that the total emission reduction is exponentially increasing in different years after the installation of renewable energy projects in remote areas [ 23 ].

Social impacts of each resource with its magnitude are listed in Table 3. Social impacts assessment for different renewable energy sources [ 7 ]. It was discovered that renewable energy projects provide benefits in economic point of view because they utilize local labor from rural areas, local material and business, local shareholders, and services of local banks. In addition, the renewable energy projects have facilitated the communities by establishing a trust fund that aims to invest the money earned by selling electricity in local economy.

This makes it easy for a few communities to invest money on any small business of their own choice [ 4 ]. Biofuel projects created large number of jobs; however, very low jobs were created by solar power plants, as the ratio of people working in different companies increase that will create more jobs for others by using the part of their economy for entertainment, leisure, restaurant, etc.

The consumers will be provided with electric power at a low cost as compared to that of conventional energy sources, and overall economy will be enhanced because there will be multiple options to generate power using different renewable energy sources present in that region [ 23 ]. Renewable energy projects have also contributed in improving environmental impacts such as reduction of carbon dioxide gas, awakening community about the climate change.

The study observed very small impacts on the people living in a particular area, tourism, cost of energy supply, and educational impacts. Significant impacts were observed in improvement of life standard, social bonds creation, and community development. They also observed that the renewable energy projects are complex to install and are local environmental and condition sensitive. Their forecasting, execution, and planning require more consideration and knowledge as compared to other projects [ 4 ].

The two main aspects of environment are air and water pollution, normally created by the discharged water from houses, industries, and polluted rain, and discharge of used oils and liquids contains poisonous chemicals and heavy metals like mercury, lead, etc. Along with water pollution, natural resources can be maintained and greenhouse effect and air pollution can be mitigated by the proper usage of renewable energy sources [ 23 ] as shown in Table 4.

Carbon dioxide emission with the generation of electric power using different energy resources is given in Figure 2. Summary of environmental effects [ 24 ]. Carbon dioxide equivalent emission during power generation [ 7 ]. Various greenhouse gases in atmosphere is being increased by humankind by doing many economic activities. The role of greenhouse gases and current situation are given in Table 5. Role of different substances in greenhouse effect [ 15 ]. Solar panels are usually installed at the roofs of the buildings that increase the job opportunities in the PV system fabrication and installation.

This increases the regional development and reduces the usage of energy from nonrenewable energy projects. It is very useful at the regions where there is no access of electricity. The major problem with solar system is the high investment and maintenance cost. Biomass energy projects have great contribution in the local job creation and the development of rural areas. Such types of power plants have large opportunities of jobs in construction of plants, management, maintenance of plants, production, and preparation of biomass.

Only the noise production and unpleasant smell are the negative impacts of these plants. Fuel cells have slow implementation because of their high cost of plant construction and energy generation. Their construction and operation create jobs in almost all technical activities. In hydro power plants, the major sociopolitical problem is the shifting of the people from the areas where the plant is going to be constructed. These plants provide significant jobs for local community and also play an important role in the economic development of the community.

The construction of tidal energy plants has no effect on humans, and they have better contribution in the local and official employment.

The chart below shows that most of the electricity in the United States is generated using fossil fuels such as coal and natural gas. A small but growing percentage is generated using renewable resources such as solar and wind. The emissions caused by electricity generation vary across the country due to many factors, including:. Use EPA's household carbon footprint calculator to estimate your household's annual emissions and find ways you can cut emissions.

Use Power Profiler to generate a report about the environmental impacts of electricity generation in your area of the United States. All you need is your zip code.