Alternative Energy and Environmental Health

Tina Dang
January 27, 2016

Alternative Energy and Environmental

Health

Have you ever wondered whatever that generates your electricity at home, could damage the
environment youre living in and also to your health? The current energy source were mostly using is the
non renewable source, fossil fuels. Power plants that burn fossil fuels generates the most electricity we
use. Luckily theres alternative energy thats renewable and can be replenish unlike fossil fuels. Some
alternative energy sources include solar, biomass, wind, and geothermal sources.

What is the problem/topic?

Alternative energy is something thats been hidden in the corner and not very known to the
public. For example, geothermal is one of the renewable energy sources that extracts heat from earth
and uses that to generate electricity (Union of Concerned Scientists, 2014). This means that since
geothermal uses heat from the earths core, its replenishable, you cant run out of the heat that's coming
from the earth. In addition, this is cleaner than burning fossil fuels. According to another source, solar
energy is also one of the renewable source. Solar energy is using solar panels to extract the light from
the sun to convert to electricity. (California Energy Commission & California Public Utilities Commission,
2015). This reveals that solar energy creates no pollution whatsoever. Furthermore, you cant run out of
sunlight because the sun will always be there. Therefore, this type of energy is very renewable. Thus, the
combined evidence provides us with a better understanding of the two out of the four main alternative
energy sources and how its better than fossil fuels.

Why alternative energy is better than fossil fuels?

Even though fossil fuels are the leading energy source in our world, the alternative energy
sources is surprisingly much cleaner and better for our health. A study shows that due to the coal thats
burning, it links to health problems like, breathing problems, neurological damage, heart attacks, and
cancer. (Union of Concerned Scientists, 2013). This shows that getting rid of fossil fuels and replacing it
with renewable energy sources, will get rid of these health problems that are caused by fossil fuels.
According to the same source, burning fossil fuels releases carbon dioxide into the atmosphere, which is
one of the greenhouse gas that contributes to global warming. This shows one of the downsides of fossil
fuels that alternative energy doesnt have. Of course, there are cons to alternative energy but they dont
contribute to air pollution or global warming like fossil fuels does. Fossil fuels being the leading source, it
actually creates more problems then you wouldve thought. Having alternative energy, you wont have
the same problems.

What are the impacts to the environment/ to global or

local communities/personal health?

However, alternative energy does have its own impact both
positive and negative on the environment. According to, Carol Stewart,
the locations that you need to extract heat from the earth, it damages
natural features. It can pollute waterways with arsenic poisoning. Also,
because of the extraction of the geothermal fluids, it causes the
underground pressure to decrease which leads to the land sinking. In
extreme cases it can also cause earthquakes. Another example would
be, wind turbines creating a lot of noises (Wind Energy Development
2

Programmatic EIS, n.d.). Also, wind and solar energy creates land disturbance. Wind turbines and solar
panels needs a large area of land for them to use wind and light to generate electricity. Because of this
land disturbance it results in soil compaction, changes in wildlife and habitats, and the biodiversity (Solar
Energy Development Programmatic EIS, n.d.). From the Green Fact Organization, they also states that
biomass, damages the soil because of the removal of plant residue.
In addition to the land disturbances, the conversion from forest to
farmland it destroys biodiversity. Because of the low genetic
diversity, theres a higher chance of disease. From these sources,
you can tell that alternative energy isnt perfect and they do have
major impacts on the environment and local communities.

What are the pros?

Were going to step away from the negativity and focus a
bit on the positive side of alternative energy. The pros of using solar panels is that the larger solar system
is more resilient to the extreme weather. Also, rooftop panels produces the most energy when energy is
needed in hot conditions (Union of Concerned scientists,2015). Unlike fossil fuels, one damage to the
system, the whole system will crash. Solar systems can crash but only sections
of it, but entirety still functions. One of the benefits of geothermal is its potential
of 2 terawatts. Its also good for heating and cooling and it has less cost than
fuel (Maehlum, 2013). Because it cost less than fuel, it creates the stability in
electricity prices. Although, it is expensive upfront because of the cost of power
plants and its very selective locations. Last but not least, wind energy doesnt
have any pollutions. The wind turbines fuel is absolutely free because its fuel is
the wind. When you have wind, youre powering the turbine which then
generates electricity. Despite the noise and the land disturbance, wind doesnt
do any other damage to the environment or the local communities. Overall of
the benefits of alternative energy, has more benefits than fossil fuels.

Whats causing the problems/ what are

current solutions?

There are, however problems that comes with some alternative energy. For example, biomass
needs large farming area to grow the crops, that can be turn into biofuel. Growing these crops causes
them to use up the soils nutrients. (Greenfact Organization, 2015). This can be a huge problem because
it will make the farmland not usable. Another problem would be solar system neighborhood produces
more than the neighborhood actually uses. The feeder lines cant handle the electricity flowing in
opposite directions. (Union of Concerned Scientists Experts, 2015). Also solar systems interferes with
the existing land because of its need for large areas of land. (Solar
Energy Development, n.d.) With these problems in mind about
alternative energy it might make you rethink about everything that
was talked about. These problems occur because of the lack of
experience in the technology field of the solar panels and electricity.

Also, plants grow because of the nutrients that they absorb from. With the same plant growing at the
same location for a long period of time could not only damage the crop but also the soil.

What are new solutions?

Fortunately, there are solutions to these problems. To solve the problem of biomass using up the
nutrients in farmland, its recommended that crop rotation needs to be adapted. Adapting crop rotation
will give the nutrients in the soil time to replenish itself. Therefore, the crops wont ruin the farmland by
extracting the nutrients faster than it can replenish. For solars problem, the Union of Concerned
Scientists recommended that there should be batteries that helps with the solar energy storage. On high
production days, with these batteries it would help the feeder lines handle the electricity flowing. These
batteries will save up the energy that wasnt being used for lower production days. With the problems
that we have with these specific energy, recommendations from these scientists should help solve the
problems. There are of course more problems out there about alternative energy and more solutions.
These are just examples so you can gain a better understanding.

Final Remarks

Based on what was researched, alternative energy is cleaner and better for the environment than
fossil fuels. It is renewable and you can never use it up if the energy is properly managed. Despite its
problems, there are solutions to them. Alternative energy might become the main energy we will use
once fossil fuels runs out because it is non renewable. There are other paths out there that is better than
what were used to. We just have to be open minded and willing to try things that would have changes in
our environment and health for the better.

Reference Page
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