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Introduction

We all know what renewable energy is and what are its benefits in the betterment of our environment but many of us still don’t know about the hidden disadvantages, so what are the disadvantages of renewable energy and will it affect the overall quality?

 Renewable energy or green energy is one which will produce again and again on its own nature and is free from any pollution regarding global warming.  

Being an Energy and Environmental Engineer, I am in the favor of green energy and social awareness regarding global warming or ocean pollution because green energy is the key to the future for a better and clean (free from greenhouse gases) environment which will lead us to a better ecosystem, free from global warming or any unwanted climate change.  

All being said, there are some disadvantages of renewable energy which are not that catastrophic, but we should know them before choosing renewable as our primary source of energy. I have researched some disadvantages that are not that catastrophic as I said above but you should know them. 

1. Not every powerplant of renewable energy is commercially feasible 

Some of the forms of renewable energy need a specific location for its production in a bulk, I can take an example of solar energy, for an instance, if a company want to produce 5 MW of solar power they must install all those solar arrays and the transmission cables, the installation will require fossil fuel driven machines and to utilize that solar power, transmission cables must be installed which are also costly and all the process will require large fossil fuel driven machines to carry out the operation. Other renewable energies like; Hydro, Wind energy from wind farms, Geothermal, Tidal.

 All above green energy systems must require a massive investment which includes fossil fuels and transmission cables to harness the power.   

2. some forms of renewable energy are bound to a location 

one of the disadvantages of renewable energy is it is bound to a location. 

In our homes, we use solar panels and wind turbines to produce independent power which is environmentally friendly and not that costly but some areas or countries in the World don’t have the necessary natural location to harness renewable energy.  

Solar energy is highly dependent on sunlight and temperature and like in YUMA (USA) which experiences an average 4,015 hours of sunshine per year which is not a lot so is it possible to generate large amounts of solar power in these regions.  

Wind energy is also bound to locations, turbines will not operate in less windy areas and will likely to break in high wind areas. 

Geothermal energy depends on tectonic activities and volcanic areas to pop steam from the ground. 

Tides are unpredictable, we can gain tidal energy only in the sea or at the shore. This all shows us that renewable energy highly depends on a location, unlike the fossil fuels.   

  3. It requires storage 

One of the major disadvantages of renewable energy is that some of its forms require storage to use that energy in the night or later. 

If we take the example of solar energy, it is a great source of free electricity without any environmental pollution or smoke, but it depends on sunlight and bearable temperature. Solar energy cannot be produced without the absence of sunlight, so we use huge batteries to store the power, batteries are not that cheap, and they require storage and maintenance. 

Similar case is with the wind energy, wind turbines will only rotate in the presence of normal wind they will not produce any power in no wind, low wind or high wind because in no wind or low wind turbine will not rotate and in the high wind season, there is a chance that blades can bend and break or breaking system can fail which will result in the failure of turbine.  

Wind turbines also need storage so that we can access power in the unlikely situation and wind turbine can only operate in the windy area in the first place.  

 4. Solar and wind farms require enormous space 

Commercial power plants like coal, gas or oil power plants are huge in size and area but they produce an equivalent amount of power as their size, on the other hand, if we want to generate the same amount of electricity from wind or solar, we must find an enormous space to install solar or wind farm. 

According to Nei Nuclear Notes: 

“If solar provided one-third of Americans’ electricity in 2050, it would require 4,000-11,000 sq.-km [1500-4250 square miles]”. Similar for the wind energy: “Powering one-third of the country's projected 2050 electricity demand with wind energy could take a land area spanning on the order of 66,000 sq.-km… [25,480 square miles].  A 1,000-MW wind farm would require approximately 85,240 acres of land (approximately 133 square miles). Accounting for a range of capacity factors (32-47 percent), between 1,900 MW and 2,800 MW of wind capacity would be required to produce the same amount of electricity as a 1,000-MW nuclear plant in a year.  The land needed for wind energy to produce the same amount of electricity in a year as a 1,000-MW nuclear plant is between 260 square miles and 360 square miles.  A 1,000-MW solar photovoltaic (PV) facility would require about 8,900 acres (approximately 14 square miles).

Accounting for a range of capacity factors (17-28 percent), between 3,300 MW and 5,400 MW of solar PV capacity is required to produce the same amount of electricity as a 1,000-MW nuclear plant in a year. The amount of land needed by solar to produce the same generation as 1,000 MW of nuclear capacity in a year is between 45 and 75 square miles.” 

That much land will resist any crop field if we are talking about solar because it will cover all the space and sunlight will not reach the crops but we can installed wind turbines because they are vertical and will not resist any sunlight, even though large companies avoid vegetation or crops in wind farms due to maintenance and frequent work issues, they just can’t bear any farmer interference in their project.   

5. Some pollution is still generated. 

We normally mention renewable energy as they are invincible and completely environmental pollution free but that’s not the case, Biomass generated energy (biogas/biofuel) generate similar pollution as fossils but less in quantity. 

According to Vittana.Org:

 “ Renewable energies are cleaner than most fossil fuels, but “cleaner” and “clean” are very different terms. A resource like biomass still burns waste products and puts pollution into the atmosphere. This includes carbon and methane, which are classified as greenhouse gases. The technologies and facilities that are used to build renewable energy resources require fossil fuels, as do the transportation and distribution networks. In many instances, renewable energy relies on fossil fuels, whereas fossil fuels do not rely on renewable.”

 One of the major disadvantages of renewable energy is that not all of them are clean to make renewable energy invincible or a perfect source in the public eye. 

  6. Subsidies often required 

According to Vittana.Org: 

“In the United States, an emphasis on biofuels and renewable energy led to the creation of ethanol as a crude oil replacement. Despite taxpayer-funded subsidies in place for this corn-based fuel, only 430,000 barrels per day were produced in 2007. That was enough to replace 2% of the oil that was being consumed while corn prices skyrocketed because of the crops being funneled into this renewable fuel”. 

That was then, and this is now but some projects still need subsidies to carry on because renewable energy is still new.   

7. Disadvantages related to wind and solar alone 

I will try to summarize the disadvantages into bullets point to make it easy.  Solar farm generates enormous heat in the surroundings and it gets worse in the summers.

Wind blades are very dangerous for migrating birds and each year hundreds of birds die when they strike wind blades during their flight.  Material that is used in solar panels can cause pollution despite amazing lifespan of solar panels, ultimately, we must dispose of them, and it will cause some serious problems which are overlooked. 

High capital cost is required to install solar panels. 

There is a problem with solar panels regarding efficiency, people think that 15% 20% is not enough, efficiency must be close to 100% which is not the case, efficiency depends on the space required by the device to generate electricity and solar panels require a huge amount of space. 

 Large wind turbines are extremely costly and the dependency on wind makes them more expensive. · Noise pollution is a serious and annoying problem regarding large wind turbines or even smaller ones.   

Can we fix these disadvantages of renewable energy? 

Above disadvantages of renewable energy are noticeable but curable, they are not that severe like fossil fuels which are the primary source of environmental pollution.  

If we look into our modern Earth, many species are on a brink of extinction, oceans have been polluted, global warming is slowly eating our planet and fossil fuels will likely to be exhaust in near future. After digesting all these things, renewable energy is the key to the green environment, the disadvantages of renewable energy are only linked to economy politics, there is no any severe environmental impact of renewable energy which the main part is.  

However, there are some remedies for the above disadvantages: 

Spherical sun power generator: 

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Major disadvantages of solar power are space and efficiency, to generate a certain amount of power, a huge amount of space is required with very little output (efficiency). The spherical sun power generator is a Rawlemon technology, it is a glass sphere which works on diffused rays of the sun while channeling all the rays onto a smaller surface area of a solar panel producing 10 times more power than commercial solar panels and it works even in the night. It is small and vertical in shape with a very beautiful structure. 

Tesla solar roof

 Solar panels installed on roofs are costly and less efficient in Many ways and let’s be honest, they destroy the look of our roofs, Tesla has a solution for that. Tesla solar roof is an ongoing project by Tesla, small tiles made of strong material are solar tiles which are installed on the rooftop to provide 10 times more efficient than solar panels and are stronger than ordinary tiles. Solar tiles cover the entire roof and are enough to produce independent electricity for an entire home (based on the energy requirement of the house), they have a lifetime guarantee.      

 Solar panels in space 

Japanese space agency (JAXA) is working on solar panels in space which will transfer wireless electricity via beam technology. This will save space and pollution and it is a revolutionary experiment, this project will be launched in 2030.   · 

Eco Whisper wind turbine 

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This is an Australian design, a bowled shaped blade coupled together, it is soundless wind turbine with 30% more efficient than ordinary wind turbines and flexible in high winds which makes it almost prone to storms. Their size is small and is shorter in size so that makes them less dangerous for the migrating birds.   

Conclusion 

The disadvantages of renewable energy are something that we should know before trusting a source and there should subsidies for an ongoing renewable project that is yet to be commercialized. 

All the disadvantages of renewable energy are not that severe or a threat to our ecosystem like solar and wind energy which require only large space to construct a wind/solar farm, hydro, tidal or geothermal are costly and all the forms of renewable energy are unpredictable and some of them require storage and some are bound to location and weather.

 There is a solution to everything, with the advancement of technology and evolving science, we are countering these problems and we are lucky that all the problems are not a threat to our ecosystems like fossil fuels which are triggering Global warming or Ocean Pollution.