If renewable energy is so awesome why haven’t
we pulled the plug on fossil fuels yet?
Hey there light bulbs, Julian here for DNews.
If you watch this channel regularly, you’d
know that climate change is a serious looming
problem.
In case you don’t watch often, I’ll catch
you up real fast: we’re burning too many
fossil fuels, releasing too much carbon dioxide
into the atmosphere, raising the planet’s
average temperature.
As it goes up we see melting ice caps, sea
level rise, changes in rainfall patterns,
the works.
If burning fossil fuels is at the root of
the problem, why haven’t we kicked the dirty
habit yet?
You won’t be surprised to learn it’s complicated.
Firstly, there’s the fact that power sources
like coal and natural gas are so entrenched.
Edison built the first practical coal plant
in the United States in 1882.
By 1961, coal was the major source of electricity.
Americans haven’t really been able to get
off coal since.
We have scaled it back; it generated 53% of
our power in 2000 but just 34% in 2015.
But the ground coal gave up was taken over
by another fossil fuel: natural gas.
New extraction techniques like fracking made
it cheaper, helping it take over some of coal’s
load and about 32% of our energy needs.
While these sources are at the root of the
greenhouse gas problem, they do have certain
advantages over renewables.
Namely they can ramp up output to meet demand.
Solar and wind can’t do that; you only get
energy when the sun is shining and the wind
is blowing so we have to build capacitors
and batteries to store energy for when we
need more.
Otherwise we’ll have to have some fossil
fuels or nuclear plants to meet demand.
If renewables are going to pick up the torch
from fossil fuels completely, we’re going
to have to invest a lot of money.
Happily as technology advances, investing
in renewables is looking more and more attractive.
We’re getting to the point that building
and running new wind or solar facilities will
be competitive with coal and natural gas plants
over their lifetime.
They’re more expensive up front, but their
fuel costs $0, so they become more reasonable
over time.
The United States Department of Energy estimates
that a natural gas plant entering service
in 2018 will cost about $50 per Megawatt hour
of electricity generated, while a wind farm
will cost around $58.
Photovoltaics are more expensive, at nearly
$81 per megawatt hour.
That will translate to a higher electricity
bill, but a study from 2012 found most Americans
would accept an increase of up to $199 to
their annual electricity bill if it meant
going all renewable.
Still, renewables will need a bit of help
by way of tax credits and subsidies to be
truly competitive.
While that may sound unfair, keep in mind
that coal received over a billion dollars
in subsidies in 2013, while natural gas and
petroleum received 2.3 billion.
Fossil fuels also have hidden costs associated
with them; because of the health issues like
chronic bronchitis, asthma, and premature
mortality caused by dirty air.
The National Research Council reported in
2010 that natural gas was responsible for
740 million dollars in expenses per year.
And coal?
That was 62 Billion.
With a B.
This was before the cost of impacts from climate
change were factored in, which makes these
energy sources even more expensive.
The bottom line is, investing in renewables
may be expensive and difficult now, but it’ll
pay off big time in the long run.
And if we save the planet as we know it that’s
a nice bonus to.
If you think climate change won’t cost money
you may change your tune if your house becomes
a swimming pool.
To find out what’s going to be underwater,
check out Tara’s video here.
And we were all about the US in this video
but there are some places that run entirely
on renewables already!
Check out Seeker daily’s vid on that here.
So are you on board the renewable hype train
or are you stopped at fossil fuel station?
Let us know why in the comments, subscribe
for more and I will see you next time on DNews.
