Environmental Drawbacks of Renewable Energy: Real or Exaggerated?(green energy: hydroelectric, biomass, geothermal, wind power, and solar power)(Statistical Data Included)

Green energies are increasingly under attack by those claiming they do more harm than good

Long considered a novel concept, renewable energy technologies are finally becoming a mainstream energy option. Deregulation has opened the door to competition and new power generation options are becoming entrenched in the North American electricity infrastructure.

Renewable energy has always been seen as one of the answers to the pollution caused by fossil fuel-based power. Now some technologies have come under attack for creating the very environmental harm that they were supposed to prevent. The question remains: Is the opposition warranted, or is it unfounded?

Renewable energy includes wind, solar, biopower, geothermal, and small hydropower. Along the path to full competition, renewable energy has encountered numerous barriers, including legislative inadequacies, high production costs, and powerful fossil fuel lobbies. Perhaps the most unusual opposition, however, comes from those groups, including environmental ones, that claim renewable energy has detrimental effects on the environment.

It's not that any one group has been denouncing all renewable energy sources. Rather, separate claims have been made regarding specific technologies; some scientific studies have been seen as bolstering these claims.

Hydroelectric Power

Hydroelectric power is one of the nation's oldest sources of renewable power. Its classification as renewable, however, has come under attack. As a source of renewable power generation, it is often overlooked. Many state renewable standards call for the development of non-hydroelectric power and most definitions of renewable energy do not include large hydropower (systems greater than 15 or 30 megawatts [MW], depending on the source). Additionally, new constraints imposed on hydropower operation have led to more stringent trends in relicensingi, resulting in a loss of capacity.