Renewables environmental impact

As crude oil reserves dwindle, the marketplace will either transition to the electrifying of the transportation system (electric and fuel-cell vehicles and electric railways), with the electricity being produced by coal, natural gas, nuclear and renewables, or see the development of an industry to produce liquid fuel substitutes from coal, oil shale, and tar sands. It might also turn out to be a combination of both. The transition will vary by nation and will be dictated strongly by the fuels available, the economic and technological efficiencies of competitive systems, the relative environmental impacts of each technology, and the role government takes in the marketplace. 

Biodegradable films made from edible biopolymers from renewable sources could become an important factor in reducing the environmental impact of plastic waste. Proteins, lipids, and polysaccharides are the main biopolymers employed to make edible films and coatings. Which of these components are present in different proportions and determine the properties of the material, as a barrier to water vapor, oxygen, carbon dioxide, and lipid transfer in food systems (Gomez-Guillen et al. 2002 and 2009). 

Hydro-electricity is the most developed renewable resource worldwide, even if it has to face social and environmental barriers [29]. In fact societal preferences are difficult to predict, while hydro-sites are often difficult to reach, which results in high transmission and capital investment costs. These are difficult to be accepted by private power companies. The global economic hydropower potential ranges between 7000 and 9000 TWh per year. Particularly mral communities without electricity appear to be convenient for small (<10 MWe), mini- (<1 MWe), and micro- (<100 kWe) scale hydro schemes. They have low environmental impacts, and generation costs are around 6-12 c/kWh. Emissions of GHG linked with hydro-electricity operation are due to flooding of land upstream of a dam that can imply a loss of biological carbon stocks and can produce methane emissions due to vegetation decomposition. 

Biomass energy offers an increased supply with a positive environmental impact. If grown on a sustainable basis, it causes no net increase in carbon dioxide and the use of alcohol fuels reduces carbon monoxide emissions. Biomass is renewable as long as it is grown on a sustainable basis. 

The increasing cost of fossil fuels and the concerns related to their environmental impact and greenhouse gas effect, as well as the need of securing energy supplies, are accelerating the transition to a bio-based economy. Various R D tools need to be provided to realize this transition. The replacement of fossil fuel by bio-mass has been addressed in recent years worldwide. The EU, for example, has defined a target to double the share of renewable energy from 6% in 1997 to 12% by 2010 (COM 1997 599). 

Many benefits for EU industry, consumers and the environment derive from the use of renewable raw materials (a) increased competitiveness from products having tailor-made performance compared with, or in combination with, conventional materials (b) a more stable and secure source of supply (c) a reduction in environmental impact (d) new and growing markets, providing economic benefits to industry as well as and (e) employment opportunities in processing industries and the agricultural sector. 

The biomass is a renewable resource with no apparent negative environmental impacts. 

The replacement of timber products by nonrenewable materials is an unfortunate development, since it has been repeatedly shown that the use of timber does have associated environmental benefits compared with the use of nonrenewables (e.g. Marcea and Lau, 1992 Hillier and Murphy, 2000 Bowyer etal., 2003 Lippke etal., 2004). Timber has a lower embodied energy content (and hence a more favourable carbon emission profile) compared to most other building materials and can provide other benefits, such as improved thermal properties. It and the products made from it (in common with other renewable materials) can be used as a repository for atmospheric carbon dioxide. Wood is derived from a renewable resource, albeit potentially an exhaustible one unless it is managed correctly. Disposal of wood can be readily achieved with little environmental impact (subject to how the wood has been treated prior to disposal). 

Akella, A.K., Saini, R.R, Sharma, M.R 2009. Social, economical and environmental impacts of renewable systems. Renew Energy 34 390-396. 

This work is clearly one in a row of projects originating from the Swedish Parliaments Energy Bill in 1981, which stated energy systems are to be developed, which are primarily based on lasting, preferably renewable and domestic energy sources with the smallest possible environmental impact. This bill was a consequence of the oil crisis in the mid 70 s, which was a shock for the Swedish society and showed how dependent Sweden was on imported oil. [4]... 

Abstract The telomerization of butadiene with alcohols is an elegant way to synthesize ethers with minimal environmental impact since this reaction is 100% atom efficient. Besides telomerization of butadiene with methanol and water that is industrially developed, the modification of polyols is still under development. Recently, a series of new substrates has been involved in this reaction, including diols, pure or crude glycerol, protected or unprotected monosaccharides, as well as polysaccharides. This opens up the formation of new products having specific physicochemical properties. We will describe recent advances in this field, focusing on the reaction of renewable products and more specifically on saccharides. The efficient catalytic systems as well as the optimized reaction conditions will be described and some physicochemical properties of the products will be reported. 

According to the National Energy Policy the USA will lead the world in the development of clean, natural, renewable and alternative energy supplies [8], Renewable and alternative energy supplies not only help diversify energy portfolio they do so with few adverse environmental impacts. While the current contribution of renewable and alternative energy resources to America s total electricity supply is relatively small—only 9 percent— the... 

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