Can Green Energy Be Economically Viable: Pros and Cons
All you need to know about renewable power sources as told by investor
Electric energy is one of the most important forms of energy that supplies our world as more than 80% of households depend on electricity. Thanks to scientists and technology, this form of energy is going to run the electric range vehicles in the future on the regular basis. Even at this moment, we have an electric car or an electric SUV that through electric charging charges and to run instead of the fuel that is toxic to the environment.
As technology makes progress, our society is slowly gravitating towards renewable and economical energy. Electric vehicles are slowly becoming a standard way of transportation. It is the same with the green energy — the demand for green energy is rising, which reduces its cost of installation and maintenance.
Thus, the economic potential, which is based on several data metrics (including photovoltaics, wind, geothermal, biomass and hydropower resources), is huge and it is going to increase exponentially every year. But, can it be viable in the long run? Looks like it can — not only from the perspective of the clear and safe environment but also as it will expand the job market and introduce some new work-spaces. Still, things are far from perfect, but the main concept is good and worthy.
What Do Economists and Ecologists Say?
Rob Jeffrey, a council member of the Fossil Fuel Foundation, noted that the renewable sources were the main cause of political backlashes both in the UK and the US. At the same time, these sources may lead to reduced energy availability but also to poverty as people may lose jobs after the technology changes. Still, this is not something that should be taken for granted.
On the other hand, the Governments and countries like the idea of the renewables as these make space for subsidies and fixed rates. Governments impose different taxes on renewable energy programs and therefore collect money aside. The reason for this is that all renewable sources of energy could reduce global warming, but also stability in the long term, especially if inflation happens.
But what happens if we have a wind-powered plant and suddenly there is no wind? Or if your solar installation does not get enough sunlight? How to charge your solar panels? Looking from one side, economists may be right when they say that the whole concept is unstable (because of the mentioned problems) but there is a solution in the form of smart metering or storage batteries that would serve as the backup.
Therefore, it would be easier to accumulate solar energy and get more solar power from your solar roof than to use electrical equipment to generate electricity. Thanks to this, the cost of these systems is going to be even lower due to the competition and the entire structure of the energy structures is going to change.
The thoughtless country’s interventions that have a goal of decarbonization increased the electricity’s cost and people end up paying a high price for the electricity. However, as the new concepts arrive with greater efficiency solar features and lower start-up costs, the concept of green energy is going to become more affordable, especially when large countries like the UK or the US implement these and encourage other countries to apply it. The damage we had done to our environment is much greater than the price our children would pay for the powered systems.
What are the Benefits of Renewable Energy From Scientists’ Perspective?
The first and obvious benefit from the scientists’ perspective is the less pollution that is harmful to all living beings. Of course, there are some pollutions but this is not as harmful as it is today with the existing technologies. Once the process of catalysis is researched better and we find the appropriate agents that would not emit the harmful gases or byproducts, the pollution will be decreased to zero, which is the ultimate goal and the main principle of the alternative energy sources.
Solar price is not going to be high as the process of building solar powered structures is not expensive nor hard to maintain. Therefore, in terms of building and maintaining, it’s much better than the regular systems for the production of electricity.
Placing such a system in the area where the wind blows more than 80% of the year is bingo streak as there is no need for any additional power supply. As long as the wind blows, your plant is able to operate and produce electricity. So, you invest 100% and you get 90% in return, which is more than good math.
The second benefit is that we will not run out of the solar energy as long as Sun exists. According to the scientists, the Sun will remain to exist for the next 5 billion years, which is, let’s be honest, more than enough to find a totally new way of renewable energy. The only problem that might arise is poor weather, which can influence the amount of accumulated/produced energy. But all areas that have 250+ sunny days throughout the year can produce enough energy to rely on this system.
In addition, you can save on your electricity bill in this way, especially if you have a surplus amount of energy that you return back to the grid. So, if you generate more energy with the solar equipment that you spend, you might even earn some money aside!
What are the Benefits in the Long Term?
Since there is no pollution (or it’s reduced to a minimum, at least), our environment stays healthy and we make its lifespan longer. Therefore, the concept of green energy is more than profitable in the long run. Not only in terms of ecology and the environment. As I mentioned, a lot of countries give subsidies and get tax return on these programs, which is what every stable country needs.
Therefore, the economic part will be healthy, especially when the installation costs get in the normal price range of commercial use. Not to mention that all the energy will be 100% available, 24/7 round a clock.
At the moment, the UK produces around 20% of the entire energy throughout the renewable sources and it is possible that it will increase up to 80% by 2030. The whole thing makes everything more stable and economically secure. The same way some job occupations will disappear with the existence of the cost solar system, the new jobs will be introduced which makes the solar price affordable and profitable. It is estimated that by 2030, we will have 77GWs of wind-generated energy, while 28GWs will come from the solar systems.
These statistics pave the road for energy export as well as for the new companies that will regulate the export of energy. Translated into the jobs — there will be 7.8 million jobs available in wind and 9.7 million jobs in solar installation and maintenance. Getting a piece of this cake would skyrocket the domestic economy and make the country more advanced.
Pros
Speaking of pros, the first pro is the technological advancement that will improve the existing principles or even replace them completely. This means that pollution will not be a problem anymore and we will not ruin our nature with the deadly poisons and gases. The innovations in the fields of quantum physics and nanotechnology would lead to the point where the car battery replacement will not be the case as it will be impossible to empty your battery.
Instead of the ion batteries, we could have the next-level technology-based battery that will work all the time, until you plug it off from the car. The possibilities are endless as the technology will so advance that we will not be able to understand the present concept of energy production and use.
The current concept for electricity grids is highly expensive for maintenance and one of the strongest characteristics of renewable energy is the low maintenance cost. There are no moving parts that are always problematic, which means there is no wear and tear. The only thing you would need to replace is the inverter that constantly converts sunlight into the electricity, which should be replaced after some 5 to 10 years. In addition, the cables might need a replacement as well. But other than that, there is nothing that could break and stop the system.
The remote and rural areas where the power grid does not exist suffer a lot and the renewable energy systems could solve this problem once for all. The remote areas often have a lot of sunny days, which is perfect for solar systems. Not only these areas could get the electricity and other features that go along, but they could also use the same system for water filtration. Or even to power the satellites! Therefore, it could lead to a bigger civil advancement that would bring global growth.
Cons
The first con is the huge amount of space that we need for building the plants and factories that would use solar/wind energy to produce electricity and offer other sustainable solutions. It means that some parts of wildlife would suffer as we would need to take its space, which is the last thing we need. Then, we have the ruining of wild life’s harmony. Once you penetrate into the wild life’s territory, it makes permanent damage to the wilderness, which can cause the disappearing of some endemic species. The efficiency-solar panels take cca 100 square feet for the production of 1kW of energy, in the ideal conditions. Therefore, the solar factory would need probably more space as it is more complex and therefore our wildlife territory could suffer.
The next con is air pollution, which has been a serious global problem for the last several decades. The air pollution is inevitable as we would create various chemical processes that could ruin the environment and quality of life. Of course, it would not be anywhere near what we do today, but still, the effects of greenhouse gases would be evident.
Just analyze the transportation of the equipment and you can realize that we make pollution before we even start healing it. In addition, during the production of photovoltaic systems, various toxic materials are used for the manufacturing process. Also, the level of carbon dioxide’s emission is going to decrease with the use of electric cars. Tesla battery for example could see the redesign as the plan is to use renewable electricity to split water and produce hydrogen-rich fuel that would run the car.
The renewable electricity, with the power of solar/wind energy, would help us to store this hydrogen-rich fuel in the fuel cells. This way, we use both solar and wind to produce electricity that would “charge” our batteries and improve battery capacity. But, the main problem is in water as it requires a lot of energy to split it so it could be appropriate for fuel. This could be solved by adding Iridium or Ruthenium noble metals, but due to their high costs, this could not be a commercial solution.
Therefore, the biggest con is the lack of right catalysts that are cost-effective and environment-friendly. There are some researches that are giving a glimpse of hope that the ideal catalysts will be produced, but we are still waiting for the concrete evidence and details that would replace the ion battery.
What Can We Expect in the Future?
As I said, the perfect implementation of renewable energy systems does not exist at the moment, but the advancements are made every day both in solar and wind researches. Each step is a huge leap in the process of making the world a more sustainable place, starting from battery electric cars, to the wind-powered plants that filter water.
The major countries of the world invest a lot of resources in the researches of alternative energies and making the green energy available for commercial use is going to take some time. But, the leaf battery will become our reality that we will embrace with both hands. The future is not only about us, but also about our environment and wildlife. Before the electrical battery cost drops down, we need to research more and perform solar experiments.
Therefore, at the moment, green energy may not be 100% economically viable, but it will become in the future as the experiments and researches reveal new things in the field of solar energy. The new jobs will replace the ones we have today, a more economic approach to the electricity use will redefine the entire concept of using/producing it, while the wildlife should remain unaffected. So, we definitely can expect green energy to be economically viable, especially in the long run.
