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The 21st century has seen the US face many challenges, especially as far as climate change is concerned. However, it has successfully managed the shift from a mainly carbon-intensive economy to one that is highly green. The global climate change reality due to the rise in carbon emissions has made it inevitable for the US economy to cut its traditional fossil fuel consumption dramatically, the main source of carbon to the environment, causing global warming. The country is thus changing its energy provider and saving money. As the US continually adopts more and more renewable energy, it is worth pausing to reflect on whether this investment has its economic benefits. Searching for investment advisors online can be very beneficial for understanding the economic benefits of renewable energy. One can always get reputable platforms in review sites such as ReviewsBird. One platform that can prove handy being Motley Fool.Typically, increased use of wind, solar, and other renewable energy sources have been associated with economic benefits such as creating local jobs, lower electricity generation cost, avoiding costly externalities typically liked with the emissions from, for example, the burning of fossil fuels, among others. This article explores these economic benefits that accompany the adoption of renewable energy.
It mitigates the externalities that sources such as carbon present.
One of the main economic benefits associated with renewable energy is that it comes with avoided future costs. The costs that accompany power plants that are powered by fossil fuels are very high. These plants also emit sulfur dioxide, nitrous oxide, carbon dioxide, and particulate matter, which have negative environmental effects. By negatively affecting regional, local, and national water and air quality, this results in various health problems, including premature death and irreversible and massive changes to the climate.Typically, these adverse effects will cost communities and governments additional amounts of money to mitigate them. On the other hand, renewable energy produces electricity that is free of emissions. By generating electricity through the utilization of the wind or the sun, countries avoid burning fuels, thus avoiding emissions. Even when the entire lifecycles of renewable energy sources are accounted for, including the manufacturing, installation, decommissioning, and shipping, for example, solar panels, this Still results in emissions that are 96% lower than when the same unit of energy are generated by for plants that are powered by coal. The US hasn’t yet placed a fixed price at a national level for emissions from carbon. However, methods have been devised on how to calculate the externalities that are linked with the burning of fossil fuels. From such arithmetic evidence, renewable energy proves to be highly economical.
Renewable energy is a steady and predictable way of producing low-cost electricity.
One of the major advantages that renewable energy technologies present is the cost of generating electricity. Once built, solar farms, wind turbines, among other renewable energy methods, produce electricity at affordable rates. This is usually in great contrast to electricity that is generated from plants that are fossil fuel-powered. Typically, utility companies must purchase the coal and natural gas that will be burned in the plants to run a coal or natural gas power plant. The prices of these fossil fuels fluctuate in the process from year to year and season to season, constituting a major component of the US electricity system’s cost. These fluctuations can have great effects on the economic viability of a type of electricity source. For example, due to the boom in shale gas, natural gas has become relatively cheap for a very long period of time. This has resulted in electricity generated from natural gas plants being cheaper than that generated from coal, which has caused many coal power plants in the US in the last five to ten years to close. The characteristically volatile price of fuel commodities can cause unexpectedly high electricity costs, which will eventually be borne by the end consumer. Renewable energy sources, on the other hand, don’t involve the burning of any fuel to run. Thus apart from the upfront capital expenditure of installing solar panels or building a wind turbine, there are no ongoing associated costs, maintenance, and operational costs are very minimal. This permits renewable sources to offer low-cost, predictable electricity costs, which helps mitigate future increases in consumers’ electricity costs.
Renewable energy leads to the creation of local jobs.
Investing in renewable energy leads to the direct creation of jobs. Specifically, on a per megawatt basis, the installation of renewable energy sources results in more jobs than it would be with the traditional sources of energy. The most important aspect is that these jobs are not only available in the short term; in fact, the installation of solar systems in residential homes in the US have remained stable for quite some years, with utility installations also increasing significantly.
In conclusion, with these advantages that accompany renewable energy sources, it is no doubt that they bring significant economic benefits to the country.