{"id":5026,"date":"2011-07-28T17:03:19","date_gmt":"2011-07-28T21:03:19","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.energyrefuge.com\/blog\/?p=5026"},"modified":"2017-09-05T17:46:53","modified_gmt":"2017-09-05T21:46:53","slug":"the-benefits-of-renewable-energy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.energyrefuge.com\/blog\/the-benefits-of-renewable-energy\/","title":{"rendered":"The Benefits of Renewable Energy"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Photo: Flickr\/Lumatic<\/figcaption><\/figure>Germany has been a leading light in sustainability for many years. <\/p>\n

More recently, the country once again showed its leadership in the sector by ditching nuclear power and veering towards alternative energy<\/a>, unmistakably and inexorably.<\/p>\n

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A new study by the Fraunhofer Energy Alliance, an organization that researches clean energy, confirms that German is on the right path. It says a transition to renewable energy pays off in the years to come, raising the grosss national product (GNP) in the next decade and creates new jobs.<\/p>\n

According to release published by Science Daily<\/a>, Europe\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s renewable energy sector will be employing around 2.8 million people by 2020. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153The negative impact of a shift to alternative energy is far outweighed by the remaining positive net effect of some 400,000 additional jobs in the EU as a whole. What is more, Europe’s GDP is expected to grow by 0.24 % (some 35 billion Euro)\u00e2\u20ac\u009d, it says.<\/p>\n

The study makes a compelling case for renewable energy a way to secure our energy future and protect the environment. It also makes convincing predictions for its long-term economic feasibility. It does acknowledge the challenge ahead but reinforces it will pay off in the long term. <\/p>\n

Special focus is placed on solar power and wind power. It says that by 2016, solar power generation could be costing around 16 and 20 cents per kilowatt hour. A recent study<\/a> found that in 2010 newly installed solar photovoltaic (solar PV) projects in California were paid an average of approximately $0.34\/kWh, or almost twice as much as the projection estimates the cost will be in half a decade.<\/p>\n

Wind also gets some special attention. It already is relatively inexpensive and in some cases costs 5 and 9 to cents per kilowatt hour. Germany has huge amounts of land that could be used to supply more than half of its energy needs, or 390 terawatt hours of a total generation of 600 terawatt hours.<\/p>\n

The report highlights that a decentralized energy system based on renewable energy<\/a> coming from a large number of sources will require a different grid structure than the ones currently available. Intermittency will have to be compensated for with \u00e2\u20ac\u0153quick intermediate energy supplies and control plants.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n

Follow the link to read the full story<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n

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