When it comes to energy production, there’s no such thing as a free lunch, unfortunately.
As the world begins its large-scale transition towards low-carbon energy sources, it is vital that the pros and cons of each type are well understood and the environmental impacts of renewable energy, small as they may be in comparison to coal and gas, are considered.
In two papers — published today in Environmental Research Letters and Joule — Harvard University researchers find that the transition to wind or solar power in the United States would require five to 20 times more land area than previously thought, and if such large-scale wind farms were built, would warm average surface temperatures over the continental United States by 0.24 degrees Celsius.
"Wind beats coal by any environmental measure, but that doesn't mean that its impacts are negligible," said David Keith, the Gordon McKay Professor of Applied Physics at the Harvard John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences (SEAS) and senior author of the papers. "We must quickly transition away from fossil fuels to stop carbon emissions. In doing so, we must make choices between various low-carbon technologies, all of which have some social and environmental impacts."
Read more at Harvard John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences
Photo Credit: Ernesto Andrade via Wikimedia Commons
