The article Renewable Energy’s Environmental Paradox, is about some of the major conflicts with using renewable energy. In theory, using renewable energy to decrease pollution and help the environment sounds like the perfect solution, but there are many concerns with this up-and-coming industry. Disrupting habitats and wildlife refuges to build wind farms seems to go against wanting to preserve the earth and make it more livable for every creature on it. A good example of this paradox is the SunZia solar and wind power project. This transmission line will link central New Mexico with Arizona and carry 3,000 megawatts of power between the states. If built, the 460-mile line will cut across grasslands and go around two national wildlife refuges. Although the line will not go through the refuges, it will disrupt the habitats of species inside the refuge. The line would be right next to a national wildlife refuge where the sandhill crane migrates in the winter, potentially disrupting the migratory patterns. The effects of renewable energy on the environment have been looked into more closely now that the Obama administration has made it a priority to explore different types of energy. The biggest concern is that building for renewable energy takes up much more land than other conventional sources such as coal-burning power plants. Not only is it much more expensive, but it severely cuts down on the amount of power plants able to be built. It is said that it can take up to “300 times as much land to produce a given amount of energy from soy biodiesel as from a nuclear power plant” (Washington Post). A team of scientists, some working for the Nature Conservancy, predict that by 2030, an additional 79,537 square miles will be occupied by energy production.
It sounds like, in a rush to reduce our carbon footprint, no one thought about the environmental factors in renewable energy. The most talked about in regards to renewable energy was the high cost and the clean air it would give. It seems stupid to try to save the environment from pollution by disrupting habitats and taking over large areas of land to do so. It would be like working to build something that no one will get to use. I think that renewable energy is the next biggest thing, but we have to be smart about it and weigh all the costs and benefits when deciding what kind of renewable source to use and where to build the plants.
--Erin Hysan
