The Advantages and Disadvantages of Renewable Energy

The world is transitioning towards renewable energy to help it become carbon neutral. If achieved, this will help halt the temperature from getting warmer. These technologies offer humanity a variety of benefits we can take advantage of.

Yet, there is no denying that there are some drawbacks. As such, while the world is transitioning and the total amount of renewable energy grows yearly, there is opposition to this transition for many reasons.

Today, we are going to take a look at the advantages and disadvantages of renewable energy.

What Is Renewable Energy?

Renewable energy is energy that comes naturally from the environment and will replenish itself. It is often referred to as green energy or clean energy, but not all things considered green or clean are renewable.

Examples of renewable energy include solar, wind, hydropower, and more. Most modern nations today rely on these types of energy sources to meet demand.

Renewable energy is known for not producing emissions such as carbon dioxide (CO2) and other greenhouse gases that get trapped in the Earth’s atmosphere. As a result, they do not heat the planet like more traditional energy sources like oil.

Effects of Renewable Energy Across the Globe

Renewable energy has been increasingly adopted worldwide due to its numerous advantages, though it also comes with certain disadvantages.

In the United States, a study published in Cell Reports Sustainability highlighted that the country has gained significant financial benefits from the increased use of renewable energy sources.

Between 2019 and 2022, the production of wind and solar energy rose by 55%, meeting around 14% of the nation’s electricity demands by 2022. This shift led to a substantial reduction in greenhouse gas emissions, equivalent to removing 71 million cars from the roads annually, and provided $249 billion in climate and health benefits by reducing pollutants like sulfur dioxide (SO2) and nitrogen oxides (NOx).

In Alberta, Canada, the government introduced new renewable energy policies following a seven-month moratorium on large-scale projects. These policies prioritize agricultural land use, establish buffer zones to protect scenic views and require reclamation security for renewable energy projects.

These measures aim to balance the development of renewable energy with the protection of agricultural and natural landscapes.

Globally, renewable energy capacity has been expanding rapidly.

According to the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA), renewable energy sources accounted for 26% of the world’s electricity in 2019, with this share expected to reach 30% by 2024.

Solar energy, in particular, is projected to grow significantly, with global solar capacity expected to increase by 600 gigawatts (GW) by 2024. This growth is driven by falling technology costs and rising environmental concerns.

Renewable energy also offers significant job creation potential. It is estimated that renewable energy creates five times more jobs than fossil fuels.

For instance, clean energy jobs outnumber fossil fuel jobs by more than 2.5 to 1 in the United States. This job creation is crucial for local economies, as renewable energy projects often require local labor for installation and maintenance.

However, renewable energy is not without its challenges.

One major disadvantage is its dependence on weather conditions. Solar panels, for example, are less effective on cloudy or rainy days, and wind turbines require sufficient wind speeds to generate electricity.

Additionally, the efficiency of renewable technologies is generally lower compared to traditional fossil fuel-based power plants. Solar panels, for instance, have an efficiency rate of 15-20%, whereas coal and natural gas plants can reach efficiencies of up to 40-60%.

Another challenge is the high initial cost of renewable energy technologies. The manufacturing and installation of devices like photovoltaic (PV) panels can be expensive, and while operational costs are lower, the upfront investment can be a barrier for widespread adoption.

Governments often provide grants and subsidies to offset these costs and encourage the development of renewable energy projects.

Despite these challenges, the benefits of renewable energy are substantial. It enhances energy security by diversifying energy sources and reducing dependence on imported fuels.

Renewable energy sources like wind and solar are abundant and widely available, making them a reliable and sustainable option for power generation.

Additionally, renewable energy projects can help mitigate the impacts of climate change by reducing greenhouse gas emissions and improving air quality.

In terms of real-life examples, Japan has been expanding its wind energy capacity, particularly offshore wind turbines, to replace nuclear reactors. This shift is part of the country’s efforts to enhance energy security and reduce its reliance on fossil fuels.

Similarly, California has mandated that new homes and buildings up to three stories must have solar panels installed, further promoting the use of renewable energy.

The future of renewable energy looks promising, with continued advancements in technology and increasing investments.

The International Energy Agency (IEA) predicts that renewable energy will account for a significant portion of global electricity generation by 2050, with solar power potentially becoming the world’s top power source.

This transition will require substantial investment and policy support to overcome existing barriers and fully realize the potential of renewable energy.

Let’s take a look at the pros and cons of renewable energy.

The Advantages of Renewable Energy

Renewable energy is often hailed as the solution to climate change. This is due to the unique benefits it provides the world when compared with more traditional energy sources like oil and natural gas.

1. It Won’t Run Out

One day, the world will run out of fossil fuels like oil, natural gas, and coal. When that is, we cannot say for sure, but it is inevitable. This will render all technology that relies on them to become obsolete.

Renewable energy does not have this problem. And this will dramatically impact their prices. Instead, the ability of these energy sources to naturally replenish themselves is without a doubt their strongest advantage.

Thus, unlike a coal plant that needs a constant influx of coal to produce energy, a solar farm simply needs sunlight. This also makes them price resilient. The prices of fossil fuels will fluctuate based on availability, which doesn’t happen with renewables.

For instance, our sun will continue to provide energy for the next 4.6 billion years. When it’s gone, life as we know it will cease to exist anyway.

2. No Emissions

The biggest reason the world is desperately racing towards renewable energy sources is because they do not produce emissions. Non-renewables like coal, oil, and natural gas all produce greenhouse gas emissions that get trapped in the earth’s atmosphere.

These gases trap heat sent from the sun, which ultimately raises the temperature of the planet. This has the potential to disrupt agriculture, displace over one billion people, and cause a mass extinction event.

Renewable sources do not produce any emissions during their lifespan because they use naturally occurring resources. Thus, by switching to renewables, we can slow down the main culprit of climate change to preserve our planet for future generations to enjoy.

3. No Pollution

Fossil fuel sources produce far more than just energy and greenhouse gas emissions. Pollutants that come from these plants lower both the air and water quality in those regions. Renewable energy sources do not do this.

In fact, it is the exact opposite. Hydroelectric plants are famous for ensuring clean drinking water is available for nearby residents. It also prevents the build-up of stagnant water, which lowers the risk of disease.

If you were to look at the air quality index of places like China or India, you would see firsthand how detrimental relying on coal plants is for society. This has caused dangerous levels of smog to become a regular event in those regions.

4. It Is Cheaper And Price Resilient

Perhaps one of the biggest misconceptions about renewable energy is the price. While renewable energy has higher initial costs, which makes it harder for projects to get greenlit, once they are built, the energy produced is cheaper than coal, oil, or natural gas.

The reason behind it is quite simple; to produce power in a coal, oil, or natural gas plant, you need the necessary fuel. The coal, oil, or natural gas prices fluctuate, which can result in huge price changes. That doesn’t happen with renewables.

The input of solar, wind, or water, is free. Thus, over a lifetime, renewables are much cheaper. And the upfront costs continue to fall. According to the United States Department of Energy and The National Renewable Energy Laboratory, solar has been cheaper since 2017.

5. Reduce Waste

Renewable energy has the potential to help solve part of our waste problem. Firstly, the majority of components that go into renewable energy systems are recyclable. That way they can be reused to create new equipment.

This will ensure that less raw material will be required as it can be reused. However, a more direct way it can help is through the use of biomass energy. This is a renewable energy source that burns organic material to produce energy.

Organic materials include things like vegetable oil, soybean byproducts, and food scraps in general. Normally, these excess materials will just end up in landfills, but now there is the potential for them to power our homes.

6. Less Reliance on Other Nations

Being reliant on foreign powers for your energy is a risk for every country. Yet, due to many nations having no oil reserves of their own, many have no other options. And quite recently, we have seen how it can impact those nations.

Many European nations saw the effects in real-time as they made a collective decision to stop buying Russian oil, and instead obtain their energy from other sources. This caused nations like Germany to struggle to meet energy demands.

Renewables fix this problem entirely as countries can limitlessly generate energy off of their land. This helps prevent all countries from being impacted by geopolitical issues within their regions.

7. Creates Jobs

Renewable energy is a rather labor-intensive industry. Building large-scale projects like hydroelectricity plants, offshore wind farms, geothermal facilities, and more requires a lot of manpower.

Yet, even more importantly, these devices require maintenance regularly to operate at peak efficiency. As such, renewable energy has more job potential than simply maintaining fossil fuel sources.

And any data available will back up this claim, as I mentioned above. Nearly every continent has a similar split in labor between fossil fuel and renewables. Yet, while fossil fuel jobs are declining, renewables continue to increase yearly.

8. Quick Deployment

As the global temperature continues to rise, extreme weather events like hurricanes, forest fires, and more become more common. These events often leave thousands without power in the wake of extensive destruction.

Renewable energy sources can be deployed rapidly in the areas that need them the most. Solar in particular is used to power critical infrastructure to ensure that residents have access to drinking water, and lights are on in critical facilities like hospitals.

It is also worth pointing out that renewable sources are added to the grid modularly, which means that they are added to multiple locations. Thus, if one area is impacted by extreme weather, the other site is still able to generate power.

The Disadvantages of Renewable Energy

While there are many benefits of transitioning to renewable energy, that doesn’t mean there are no disadvantages. Many of these technologies have unique problems that impact regions differently.

Let’s go through a few.

1. Reliability

Certain events or conditions, like hosting the Olympics, can dramatically increase the load on the energy grid. As a result, utilities need to produce more energy to meet the demand, yet, renewable energy lacks this ability.

In order to scale up, more panels or turbines need to be erected.

Imagine a traditional natural gas plant. If you need more energy, you simply burn more natural gas to meet the demand. If you were to imagine a wind farm, you can’t produce more wind to meet the demand.

In fact, the wind may not be strong that day, which could result in less energy than normal, creating a deficit. This could lead to rolling blackouts, yet battery storage technology could solve this problem entirely.

With all of this said, it’s worth pointing out that hydroelectricity is considered the most reliable form of energy generation.

2. Higher Initial Costs

While I mentioned that renewable energy has become cheaper than fossil fuels, that is only when comparing the two after the initial construction of the respecting plants. Renewable energy sources have much higher initial costs than fossil fuels.

Part of the problem is that they are typically built in locations without infrastructure.

For example, imagine a typical wind farm. Wind farms are built far away from most areas at higher altitudes to generate more power. This means you need to get all of the materials to these areas, which often involves building other infrastructure like roads to get the components to the desired location.

This is not true for all types of renewable energy, but it is an issue for wind and hydroelectricity.

3. Impacts Wildlife

Building large objects in uninhabited regions will impact the wildlife that lives there. This occurs in a multitude of ways, with one of the more publicized impacts being birds flying into wind turbines. Naturally, they do not survive.

Though, it is worth pointing out that buildings kill roughly one billion birds per year due to collisions. Turbines are the least of their worries, in the grand scheme of things.

A lesser-known impact would be the noise pollution that is produced. Wind turbines produce a lot of noise, which is why they are usually built at least 300 feet from the closest house. Even at this distance, it will still sound louder than the average refrigerator.

Naturally, that means they are much louder where they are built, which can throw off animal senses and even disrupt some of their behaviors. Unfortunately, there is still not enough information to mitigate the effects.

4. Geographical Limitations

Unfortunately, one of the limiting factors of renewable energy is where it can be built. Not everyone can build a wind farm in their backyard, put a solar panel on their roof, or have a body of water suitable for producing hydroelectricity.

Each of these forms of renewable energy has prerequisites before they can be built. For instance, building wind turbines at lower altitudes makes them less reliable as the winds are not as consistent when compared to higher altitudes.

Or perhaps you live in NYC where your house or business may be in the shadow of a skyscraper. Solar is not going to be a good option. As such, each region typically needs to find a renewable source that works for them.

5. Requires More Mining

Renewable energy sources like solar panels require specific materials to be built. These materials often come from mining operations around the world. As the demand for solar and other renewable energies grows, so do mining operations.

Mining operations threaten biodiversity and damage land in an unrepairable way. There are also always pollutants released as a direct result that can impact the air and water quality of the region.

Naturally, if the world needs to fuel the entire global energy sector with renewable energy, the amount of resources it will take is incredible. This will rapidly increase the demand for mining, thus increasing the demand for new mines.

The Benefits Outweigh the Drawbacks

There’s no denying that renewable energy has some drawbacks, but without a doubt, it is going to be our main source of energy in the future. How long it will take to get there depends entirely on governments around the world.

And in most cases, the drawbacks will have solutions made for them as the technology continues to evolve. We can see this firsthand as the price of renewable energy which was once much higher than fossil fuels has now become much cheaper.

Failure to transition will cause irreparable damage to the Earth’s climate, which will not be reversible. As such, the faster we transition, the better off future generations will be.