Are you being fooled by “renewable” energy?

The green energy movement comes with its own unique language. Words like “renewable” are often thrown around without wondering if people actually understand them. Turns out most of today’s “renewable” technologies aren't all that – well, renewable.

Are you being fooled?

When I say “renewable” energy, I’m talking about energy that doesn’t increase pollution, doesn’t deplete natural resources, and can be produced within the planet’s annual solar budget. By this broad definition, practically none of today’s existing “renewable” energy sources strictly qualify. In some instances, renewable alternatives could never be viable sources of energy without the fossil fuel inputs on which they’re based. In such instances, these alternatives aren’t truly “renewable” due to their fossil fuel dependence.

Take wind turbines, for example. The turbines themselves are made of steel, which is produced courtesy of coal. They’re anchored by concrete, the production of which is a major contributor of greenhouse gas emissions.

Wind turbines, as well as solar panels, are produced with limited rare earth elements. Even crops for fuel production are typically grown with pesticides and herbicides derived from petroleum and fertilizer made from natural gas.
“What about corn-ethanol?” you ask. “Isn’t that all-natural and renewable?”

Well, corn-ethanol is produced using electricity generated from natural gas or coal, and processed with steam derived from natural gas. Biodiesels in general are normally produced using an oil feedstock derived from methanol. Many advanced biofuels depend on hydrogen, which is made almost exclusively from natural gas.

Turns out these “all-natural” sources of energy aren’t so “all-natural” after all.

Technology that consumes limited resources, degrades topsoil, depletes aquifers faster than they can be revitalized, or causes pollution to build up in the ecosystem is frequently called renewable, but it isn’t practically sustainable.

And that’s what the world needs – a sustainable plan for the future.

As with most things in life, we have to make trade-offs when it comes to green energy technology. Generally those trade-offs are economic. We’re forced to consume fossil fuels during the production of renewable alternatives in order to keep consumer prices stable. But renewable energy that depletes resources will ultimately pose the same threat as fossil fuels. It’s time we turned “renewable” into “sustainable.”

NRGLab is heavily invested in making green energy technology sustainable for the entire world. For information on projects like the polycrystalline SH-Box, or the SV-Turbine for the efficient conversion of agricultural waste into useable fuel, visit nrglab.asia.

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