Conclusion

Renewable energies cannot reverse the impacts of global warming and global climate change.¹ However, the combination of multiple renewable energies can provide success for future generations though no energy source can achieve significant reductions in green house gas emissions independently.³⁶ With more advanced storage techniques and more communities offering their willingness to support, the world will undoubtedly be in good hands.

Common Pros:³⁷

Renewable energy promises stable energy prices while minimizing or eliminating greenhouse gas emissions when compared to nonrenewable energy sources. Renewable energies are available in remote areas like homes and businesses and are a continual energy source offering reliability, lower operation costs and more job creation.

Common Cons:³⁷

The common issues with renewable energy are high development costs, the requirement of large areas for maximum efficiency, and they are commonly vulnerable to weather and specific climates/locations.

A predominant issue with renewable energy  is the inability to produce energy in large quantities. “Energy generated during the off-peak hours must be stored to meet peak-hour demand.”²⁰ This issue mainly arises because of the use of rare earth metals which are termed “rare” for a reason. Many renewable energy technologies require rare earth metals for the success of energy production and energy storage in batteries. With current patterns of advancing and promoting renewable energies, they are becoming endangered by shortages of rare earth metals and rare earth permanent magnets used in batteries. Most rare earth deposits are located in China and, needless to say, China is running low not only from meeting their own demands but from meeting global demands as well. The problem could be resolved with increased mining globally but, one, accelerated mining will lead to accelerated depletion and, two, the process of mining pollutes the air, water and soil nearby.³⁸ Renewable energies still raise a lot of questions and though it is not a new study, one could argue that they are definitely understudied but making progress.

A possible solution to the issue of energy storage and availability of rare earth metals could be to store excess energy as potential energy at the top of a hill. During low production times, the potential energy stored at the top of the hill can be utilized. The concept has been tested and efforts to scale up the project are in the works.³⁹

Click the image below to watch a demonstration of the future of storing renewable energy.