Eco friendly power

During my childhood I’ve read story of a Genie that should be kept busy else it will finish our life.  It is a very good story that I could relate with the current nuclear power reactors.  Nuclear reactors are good and friendly until they meet a mishap, once met we can’t even go near them, more importantly we can’t even just abandon them.

The era of Nuclear reactors could be classified as Before Fukushima and After Fukushima.  Even though Three Mile Island (1979) and Chernobyl (1986) were Fukushima’s immediate predecessors in terms Major nuclear incidents, Fukushima (2011) nuclear disaster has prompted to rethink of nuclear energy policy in many countries.  Germany decided to close all its reactors by 2022, and Italy has banned nuclear power.  Following Fukushima, the International Energy Agency halved its estimate of additional nuclear generating capacity to be built by 2035.

Ok lets consider various source of power generation [other than Nuclear] at a high level.

Fossil: Do you know Coal, Petroleum or Natural Gas power generators could cause hazardous impacts that are equally dangerous as Nuclear power?  “Coal fired power plants are the single largest stationary source of pollution in any country.  The toxins this coal fired power plants produce severely damage both human health and the environment and contribute to a reduced quality of life.  Greenhouse gas emissions result from fossil fuel based electricity generation.

How about the renewable power sources? 

Hydro Electricity: It is hard to digest that Hydroelectricity could cause ecosystem damage and loss of land.  Large reservoirs required for the operation of hydroelectric power stations result in submersion of extensive areas upstream of the dams, destroying biologically rich and productive lowland and riverine valley forests, marshland and grasslands. The loss of land is often exacerbated by the fact that reservoirs cause habitat fragmentation of surrounding areas. 

Wind energy is not enough to feed our need.  Additionally it requires huge real estate and it cannot sustain the amount of power thus generated.  However this is also impacting the ecology.  A study estimates that wind farms are responsible for 0.3 to 0.4 fatalities per Giga Watt-hour (GWh) of electricity generated.  Additionally the most obvious problem is the noise pollution.  The wind turbine syndrome also includes sleep problems, irritability, and depression.

Solar this is one of the most prospective areas where in we can generate power without any or very less ecological impact.  If we think so we are mistaking.  Solar energy could cause fire hazard, biodiversity hazard and human hazard.  It’s easy to think that solar panels can do no wrong— after all, they will help lead us out of our energy crisis, right? Unfortunately, these shining beacons of hope produce toxic e-waste just like cell phones, TVs, and computers.

There are other renewable sources are Agricultural biomass, Geothermal, Tidal.

Now which source of energy is Safe and eco friendly?

This is far difficult than electing the right lawmakers.  Scientists and big corporations that employ them, stand to profit greatly by highlighting the benefits of sources that they propose to be safe.  Hence no wonder they try to hide the dangers of the technology and suppress any open discussion of them.

Each source of energy has its own risks and of course every technology has risks.  We might be willing to tolerate some small risk—if solar energy really represented a permanent solution to our energy problems. However that is not the case.  At best, solar energy is only a temporary band-aid.  Recent calculations indicate that the "Sun Will Go Out in a Billion Years As Its Fuel Runs Out".  As that calculation was made about 15 years ago, we now have only nine-hundred ninety-nine million, nine-hundred ninety-nine thousand, nine-hundred and eighty-five years left during which we could use solar energy.  Wouldn't it be better to put our human resources and scientific brains to work to find a safer and more permanent solution to our energy needs?

Conclusion: If you know what are the risks of the technology and have a clean disaster recovery/management plan then any source of energy is safe.  However we could minimize the impact by optimally using the electricity only where and when required.  Exorbitant utilization of energy leads to wastage of the resources and cause serious side effects.