This note is a part of my Zettelkasten. What is below might not be complete or accurate. It is also likely to change often.
22nd July, 2020

Renewable Energy and Sustainability

Problems with all renewable energy sources

  • Creating photovoltaic cells, windmills and batteries needs a lot of fossil fuel energy and costly supply chains for rare metals
  • All renewables equipment is created in asia and transported using fossil fuels
  • Intermittency
    • The energy generated from renewable sources is often very variable
    • Energy needs to be stored when excess and used when needed. Storage is not yet upto task.

Windmills

  • Finitude: Addresses at a local level
  • Fragility:
    • Wind turbines cause a lot of noise pollution
    • Create problems for wildlife - the noise causes increased aggression
    • Increased bird-kills
  • Fairness:
    • Reduces damage caused by coal mines
    • Often built on agricultural land forcibly acquired from farmers.