What’s the controversy with Renewable Energy?
Thursday, September 24th, 2009 at
7:26 pm
I have to give a presentation on the controversial topic renewable energy and i wanted to know exactly what is controversial about it? I am specifically doing wind energy so anything specifically about that would help also. thanks.
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Buying a renewable-energy credit allows an individual or business to financially support wind energy even if it is not available locally. The credits technically represent the environmental benefits of using renewable energy instead of traditionally produced power.
To understand how the complicated concept works, it’s helpful to realize that the various attributes associated with producing electricity can be separated into partsIn the case of wind power, there is the actual electricity generated — which is fed into a power grid where it is mixed with electricity that may have been generated by coal, natural
gas or even nuclear reactions — and there are the environmental benefits of the way the electricity is produced.
Unlike burning fossil fuels, wind generation does not produce dangerous particulates, sulfur dioxides, nitrogen oxides or carbon dioxide. Renewable-energy certificates represent the value of not dumping those pollutants into the atmosphere.
Separating the electricity from the environmental benefits allows people who are actually receiving the wind power — but who don’t want to pay the added costs of renewable energy — to pay the same rate they would pay for traditionally generated electricity. It also gives people who do not have direct access to wind-generated power the ability to purchase renewable-energy credits, which helps the wind company to stay competitive even without willing customers in the area of the wind farm.
One renewable-energy credit is created for each kilowatt-hour of energy generated from a wind farm. Those credits are often sold by the wind farm to a third-party broker, who then resells it to customers for a profit.
Businesses or residents who buy the same number of kilowatt-hours’ worth of renewable-energy credits that they use each month often say they are 100 percent wind-powered. The electricity they actually are using, however, probably comes from traditional sources, such as coal or natural gas.
What the critics are saying:
Renewable-energy credits are just a form of checkbook environmentalism, which allow people with money to soothe their consciences without making any real efforts to reduce environmental problems.
Many companies aren’t transparent about where the RECs are coming from and how much of the consumer’s money actually makes it back to the wind farm.
They allow the middle man to make a handsome profit without substantially benefiting the wind farms.
They advertise benefits that aren’t real in the short term — like eliminating carbon dioxide and adding new wind power to the grid.
What supporters are saying:
Renewable-energy credits provide important revenue for wind farms, which must compete with the heavily subsidized oil and gas industry.
They are a first step for the concerned public in the fight against greenhouse gases — they give the individual some power instead of waiting for the local utility to develop renewable energy.
Once you’ve taken all the energy-efficiency measures you can, it makes sense to buy credits to cover the electricity you have to use.
They are bringing the discussion about wind energy into the mainstream dialogue.
Some big names
buying RECs:
The University of Colorado purchased 11.2 million kilowatt-hours’ worth of RECs from Community Energy, which roughly equates to between 9 percent and 12 percent of the school’s energy use.
Vail Resorts, based in Broomfield, bought 152 million kilowatt-hours from Renewable Choice Energy, which officials say offsets 100 percent of the conventionally produced electricity they burn at all five of their mountain resorts in a year.
Whole Foods Market purchased 458 million kilowatt-hours to offset all the energy used in its stores, facilities, bake houses, distribution centers, regional offices and national headquarters in the United States and Canada.
some say their more expensive, but after you take into account the amountt of energy saved by non conventional ways they practically pay for themselves over time. i don’t see what the big deal is.
You can get a lot of controversy about renewable energy
My take on the fact is that wind & tidal which works on the same principal as Wind
Anyway it works & everythings fine, just i suppose there could be times where there is no wind at,
Solar Towers also work on a heat traveling up a tower to turn the turbines, should be easy to look up
Satelites are being condsidered as viable energy sources using solar power, if you can find it on the web it basically, power or electricty can be zapped from space using microwaves transmitters & reciever dishes on earth, it worked on a practice set up on earth just a actauall space based trial is yet to be done,
On the very far reaches of what the government should be ushing for a break through in is Nuclear Fussion, basically the same process the sun use’s to create it’s energy, It’s so green that a bathtub of water creates all the fuel need to power the whole USA from basic Duetrium & Tritium molecules, the only waste may be a bit of escape steam in the process, no cabon smoke No Nuclear waste
Buying a renewable-energy credit allows an individual or business to financially support wind energy even if it is not available locally. The credits technically represent the environmental benefits of using renewable energy instead of traditionally produced power.
tq