Disadvantages Of Alternative Energy

As we stepped into the 21century the rate of energy consumption has raised dramatically due to the advancing of technologies. People start to realize the importance of environmental protection, and an alternative way of producing energy has become a necessity. The goal of “an 100% clean and renewable future for energy supply” has been adopted by many countries around the world. However, is this goal feasible? I will discuss the question “how far can the alternative energy replace fossil fuels efficiently?” within this essay by comparing the advantages and disadvantages of both energy resources, and the local, national and global perspectives combining with my own opinions then draw out the conclusion.

To start with I would like to introduce

From an economic perspective, renewable energy power plants can be significantly more expensive than traditional power plants due to the costly price of specific building materials that they require. e.g. highly concentrated polysilicon for solar panel. According to research, of 53,535 gigawatts (GW) of new electrical energy generation sources to be built, onshore and offshore wind turbines would supply 19,000 GW (35.4%), solar photovoltaic (PV) plants would supply 17,100 GW (32%) and Concentrated Solar Power plants (CSP) would supply 14,700 GW (27.5%). This would cost $100 trillion, or $3,571 for every household on the planet. *This could cause immense economic dislocation and hardship for many peripheral countries, as this will be an enormous burden on their already unstable economy. People’s living standards could fall rapidly if the country was forced to make the transition yet its economic strength doesn’t allow it to do so. More people will even become homeless as the living costs has been pushed up by the rising cost of electricity. Firms and industries may close down as people’s living standard falls and products being produced are stocked as unsold goods and services. Not to mention that there are still countries in the world who suffered from political problems such as civil war and terrorism, and their economies are simply disabled of making such a change. On the other hand, fossil fuels has become an important part of the world’s economic chain. Coal and oil is the main output for many countries, such as Russia. The export of these raw materials has made up a huge sector of the country’s balance of trade and their GDP, sudden shift from fossil fuels to renewable energy could affect, even distort, their economic