Renewable Technology

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RENEWABLE TECHNOLOGY (The only alternative to secure a better future!)

Name : Shubham Kotkar ICWS i.d.: KOTSC1401 (688848) Subject : Environmental Awareness

Introduction : Human beings have already realised that a serious damage has been caused to the global

environment. As our civilisation entirely depends up on it, this realisation can become a cause

of paralysing despair. In order to avoid the catastrophe, which will unfold on this planet in the

near future, man has started making dramatic changes. According to a report by BBC, the

majority of experts working on the climate crisis state that man still has time to avoid the worst

by adopting various alternatives. One of them is ‘Renewable Energy’. They also believe that

adoption of these alternatives can change mankind’s fate.

As the name suggests, ‘Renewable Technology’ means it is the technology which harvests

energy which will never get exhausted. e.g.] solar,geothermal, wind, hydroelectric, biomass,

tidal, etc. . Where as, fossil fuels and coal are non-renewable sources of energy.

The most commonly used are as follows :

• Solar PV

• Wind Power

• Hydro Power

• Biomass Power

The government organisations of various countries is encouraging their citizens to use these

technologies. They are also offering financial incentives for the people who install these

facilities in their locality or properties. These technologies not only have advantages but also

disadvantages. There is a famous saying which will be appropriate in this context ;

“ Everything you want in the life has a price connected to it. There’s a price to pay if you want

to make things better, a price to pay just for leaving things as they are, a price for everything.”

- - Harry Browne.(Writer, Politician, Investment analyst)

Before using these technologies, man should be aware of its disadvantages. In order to create

awareness and do my bit for the society, I have written this report. Referring to various case

studies, I carried out an independent research which is focused on the points such as;

environmental impact, costs involved and load balancing.

Figure 1 : Information referred from case study done by Dr.Rob Bryant.

Figure 2. : Solar panels (Photovoltaic)"!

• Environmental Impact : Today’s competitive market offers various types of PV panels. Each panel has a different harmful component. But the most common are ; crystalline silicon, sulphur hexafluoride, other chemicals which are used to clean the silicon and cells. Silicon is one of the major components of most of the solar PV panels. Its manufacturing process involves harmful toxic chemicals. According to a study conducted by (http://info.cat.org), if the chemicals are not regulated and controlled carefully, they may cause damage to the environment.!

• Costs involved : Solar panels are very expensive and in order to keep the supply continuos, they require batteries and inverters which increase the price considerably.!

• Load balancing : Solar PV does not function in the absence of the sun. It means they will not generate electricity at night and during cloudy and rainy weather.

Disadvantages :

1.) Solar PV (Photovoltaic) :

Figure 3. : Windmills."Windmills are one of the major technologies used to harness wind power. It is on of the cleanest ways to generate electricity as it does not release any kind of harmful toxics or gasses. But it has some disadvantages and they are as follows : !

• Environmental impact : Land consumption is a major issue during installation of windmills. Even if the windmills don't occupy the whole land, they need to be placed 5 to 10 meters apart.(according to case study done by http://www.ucsusa.org) It also impacts on the local wild life. The main reason behind people debating on this topic is visual and acoustic impacts.!

• Costs involved : The windmills are very expensive. Long distribution/transmission lines and large amount of land requirement increases the costs considerably.!

• Load balancing : Windmills are dependant on very particular landscape. As there are variations in the intensity of the wind, the generation of electricity is not consistent. !!!!!!!!!

2.) Wind Power :

Figure 4. : An image of Hoover Dam (Hydroelectric project), Nevada, USA."

• Environmental Impact : !i. Destruction of forest, agricultural land, wild life habitat and scenic land.!ii. Anaerobic decay of plant in the region where it is flooded will result in production of methane.!iii. Restriction for the natural downstream flow of soil and nutrients.!iv. Barrier for migrating fish.!v. Release of significant amount of CO2 during the construction of dam.!vi. Global warming emissions are produced during the installation and dismantling on the

hydroelectric power plant. !

• Cost involved : !i. Construction of dam is very expensive as it includes acquisition of land, cost of motors,

construction cost and in some cases demolition costs. !

• Load Balancing : !

3.) Hydro Power :

i. Some rivers are unpredictable, as they can change their beds. Some times the weather patterns change. This can result in potential halt of the hydroelectric project.!

Figure 5. : An Animated image of a biomass power plant."

• Environmental Impact : !i. Biomass power plants require approximately the same amount of water for cooling as coal

power plants. (according to http://www.ucsusa.org) !ii. The air quality is compromised during the generation of electricity in the power plant. !iii. Significant amount of land is consumed in order to store or grow a type of energy crop.!iv. Growing, harvesting, transporting and burning the feedstock results in global warming

emissions.!!!!!

4.) Biomass Power :

After doing an extensive research, I have concluded that even if man starts relying completely on these renewable technologies, global warming is not going to stop. These technologies have certain drawbacks but, most of the drawbacks are short term and the benefits are long term. Hence I prefer renewable technologies over the traditional methods. !!!

!• http://www.ucsusa.org/clean_energy/our-energy-choices/renewable-energy/environmental-

impacts-wind-power.html!

• http://www.ucsusa.org/clean_energy/our-energy-choices/renewable-energy/environmental-impacts-hydroelectric-power.html !

• http://info.cat.org.uk/questions/pv/what-environmental-impact-photovoltaic-pv-solar-panels!

• Dwan Stover. (2011). The myth of renewable energy. retrieved November 22, 2011, http://thebulletin.org/myth-renewable-energy!

• Dr. Rob Brynt. (2013). Renewable Technology. retrieved March 20, 2014, http://learning.icws-uk.co.uk/moodle/course/view.php?id=36!!!!!!!

Conclusion :

References :

Task 2