RE: Why is renewable energy not as clean and green as we think it is?
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In burning biomass, we could generate electricity by burning agricultural waste and convert methane into less-potent CO₂. We can have a net negative carbon footprint, but it may be more harmful than burning coal when cutting down a forest without replanting it for us to have electricity. Although using human and animal waste to produce electricity reduces carbon emissions, it increases dangerous methane emissions. Kevin Fingerman pointed out that we can't have a blanket statement of its efficacy due to huge variability in how we sourced the fuels and their type. Biogas can significantly contribute to reducing greenhouse gas emissions. We must pay attention to undesired emissions of methane and nitrous oxide. We must have proper biomass storage and management.
Dear @juecoree , I agree with you! The production cost of renewable energy is often higher than that of fossil energy.
The scale of waste of resources and environmental destruction for renewable energy production was also greater than expected.
Solar panel recycling is an ongoing issue and may reach new heights if not mitigated. Solar recycling plants only remove the valuable metals and burned the contaminated glass and plastic casing in a cement oven to recycle it. In some cases, people opt out to dump it in a landfill or export it to a third-world country; hence it is cheaper and more convenient. Besides, we can have health risks with solar waste due to leaching out of heavy metals like lead and cadmium.
The tropics and deserts are advantageous for solar energy development, but Korea is disadvantageous because it has rainy seasons and winters.
Solar power generation is not popular in Korea because the cost and environmental pollution incurred when disposing of solar panels is also serious.
Since the Philippines is a tropical region, it will be advantageous for the development of solar power, but Korea is different.
Yes, it is favorable to the Philippines to have solar farms, but we have a dilemma. One key issues is that we need to convert agricultural lands that is not a better solution neither cutting down our forest to do so.
You are right! In Korea, there is an increasing number of people who oppose solar power generation due to the problem of constructing solar panels on agricultural land.
So, we pay attention to nuclear power again.
That is a possibility that we will rely more on nuclear for the time being rather than going full on renewables. Nuclear still has the best chance to meet demand and cleaner than fossil fuel, except for the waste.