Advantages and Disadvantages of Renewable Energy - Essay Example

Raw materials are sometimes not difficult to access and the states around the world are always struggling to assemble as many raw materials as they can to facilitate the normal operation of firms categorized under different industries in the economy. Renewable energy is energy generated from resources that are naturally refilled on a human timescale such as rain, geothermal heat, waves, sun, and wind (Harvey and Brown 41).

Advantages of renewable energy
The cost of generating hydropower is low making it the most preferable source of the world’s renewable energy. Further, hydroelectric plants are said to have long economic lives with some plants having the ability to be in service for over 50 years. The cost of operation is not high since plants are automated and have few people on-site during normal operations. In addition, hydro energy is a more flexible source of power or electricity because plants can be ramped or inclined up and down to adapt to transforming energy needs.

Once a hydropower dam is constructed, the project generates no direct waste to the ecosystem and has a lower production of greenhouse gases than fossil fuels (Somma 46).
It is vital to note that many nations recommend energy sources such as hydropower, wind, and sun because they do not emit any harmful chemicals and gases such as carbon dioxide and it is not a major contributor to global warming via carbon dioxide. An energy source such as hydropower is a renewable source of energy or power because rivers and streams are naturally available. Further, hydropower is not expensive as compared to energy produced from nuclear energy or fossil fuels. The advantage of hydroelectric reservoirs is that they can tackle daily, seasonal, and peak loads. For instance, when the demand for electricity falls, the reservoirs or dams store water while some installed electricity generators are used to store excess energy (Harvey and Brown 33).

Biofuel production revolves around the fact that biofuel is a renewable source of energy. Biofuels have a source material and unlike oil, which often takes thousands of years for fossil fuels to be produced, biofuels are renewable because new crops can often be grown and the waste material collected for the production of oil. Biofuel production has helped so much in economic stimulation given that biofuels can be produced locally, which enables most manufacturing firms to employ a large number of workers. This means that the plants are creating new jobs in the rural areas. Biofuel production also increases the demand for suitable biofuel crops and consequently provides economic stimulation to the world’s most lucrative agricultural industry (Scot and Laschuk 66).

Disadvantages of renewable energy
There are several disadvantages of renewable energy. Some energy sources such as hydropower negatively affect the environment because of the digging involved. This in turn affects the ecosystem where some marine animals are forced to move from their habitat.

There also exist several negative effects on the environment. These occur when biofuels are banned and they release carbon IV Oxide into the atmosphere. It can be argued that the burning of Carbon IV oxide constitutes one of the reasons why there is global warming. However, the carbon that is produced from biofuels is not as toxic as that which comes from oil. This is because this carbon is a part of the natural carbon cycle and the carbon that had been taken in by the plants during the growth period is the same carbon that is expelled when the biofuel is burned (Somma 78).
In conclusion, the rising need for alternative sources of energy grants biofuel, hydropower, wind, and sun energy production a better chance of meeting the energy demand. Read More