Energy Systems - Renewable

Energy System	Air Pollution	Water Pollution	Land Disruption	Possible Large Scale Disasters
Conservation	Decreased	Decreased	Decreased	None

Water power
(hydroelectricity)	Negligible	Disruption of aquatic ecosystems	Flooding in areas to form lake(s), ecosystem disruption, loss of wildlife and human habitat, disruption of estuary into which river flows.	Dam breaks
Tidal Energy	Negligible	Estuary disruption	Very little	None
Ocean Thermal Gradients	Local climate change	Ocean ecosystem disruption, marine life disruption	Estuary disruption	None
Solar Energy
Low Temperature heating (homes & water)	Negligible	Negligible	Negligible	None
High temperature heating & production of electricity	Negligible except for moderate amount from materials (cement, steel, glass) needed to make collectors	Negligible	Requires land for large farms of solar collectors, disruption of desert ecosystems	Depletion of water resources in arid regions
Wind Energy
Home & neighbourhood turbines	Negligible except for some noise and aesthetic degradation	Negligible	Negligible	None
Large scale power plants	possible local or regional climate changes	Negligible	Negligible	None
Geothermal Energy	Hydrogen sulphide and ammonia, global climate change from carbon dioxide, radioactive materials, noise, local climate change, odour	Dissolved solids (salinity), runoff, excess heat	Subsidence	Depletion and contamination of water resources in arid regions
Biomass
Burning of wood, crop, food and animal wastes	Particulates and hydrocarbons, global climate change from carbon dioxide	Runoff of fertisers and pesticides, sediment from erosion	Large use of land, soil erosion, loss of habitat for wildlife	None
Derived Fuels
Biofuels
Alcohols and Natural gas from plants and organic wastes	Global climate change from carbon dioxide	Runoff of fertilisers and pesticides, sediment from soil erosion	Large use of land, soil erosion, soil salinity and waterlogging from irrigation, ecosystem simplification, loss of wildlife habitats	None
Hydrogen Gas
from coal or water	Depends on source of electricity or heat in the process	None	None	Pipeline or cylinder explosions
Synthetic
Natural Gas - SNG from Coal	Similar to coal but less pollutant	Same as coal plus increased pollution from heavy metals, phenols, hydrocarbons	Same as coal	Same as coal, earthquakes from blasts for underground coal gasification, pipeline explosions
Oil and alcohols from coal and organic waste	Similar to coal but less pollutant	Same as coal except increased pollution from heavy metals, phenols, hydrocarbons	Same as coal	Same as coal, pipeline spills
Urban Wastes
for incineration	Sulphur oxides, particulates (heavy metals), nitrogen oxides, hydrogen chloride, hydrocarbons, hydrogen sulphide, global climate change from carbon dioxide, odour	Leaching of dissolved solids and heavy metals from ash	Decreases solid waste disposal	Fire or explosion in incinerator

Please Note

Particulates - solid particles or liquid droplets suspended in the air. These particles can form what is often called industrial smog comprising of sulphur dioxide that is a product of burning coal and oil for heat, manufacturing and electric power. Sulphur dioxide then reacts with oxygen in the air to become sulphur trioxide. This can lead to what is termed acid rain when over several days water vapour reacts with the sulphur trioxide to form sulphuric acid.

The above table and information might not be as accurate for Australia as it should be with mining corporations and governments amending rules and regulations from time to time. The content has been based on data collated from various sources dating back as far as 1980 and will not necessarily reflect the thinking of every metalurgist, chemists, geologist or those concerned with climate change. No paper will please everyone and debate is good if based on facts and not solely on theories. We encourage dialogue and all suggestions that can improve on the information given. Improvements can be sent to info@energy.edu.au.

The base for many of the ideas used in this and other charts can be found in:
G. Tyler Miller Jr "Living in the Environment", Wadsworth Publishing Company, California 1979, p272 under the penship of Howard T Odum, Professor of Environmental Engineering Sciences at the University of Florida.