There are many environemtal issues with energy...
...of all kinds including renewable energy such as solar power or biofuels. On this page I'll list the popular
energy sources and the adverse environmental effects each of them has. There are more energy sources than this
but these are the major ones.
Nuclear:
Air pollution with carbon-14 and iodine-131
Nuclear waste that can't be recycled or disposed of
Fossil fuels used for mining uranium and plant production
Waste heat goes into local streams/rivers
Minor risk of nuclear accidents which carry major negatives
Coal:
Air pollution with sulfur/nitrogen oxides, carbon dioxide, and many other chemicals
Air/land pollution with mercury
Air pollutants lead to acid rain, global warming, smog, ozone depletion
Major air pollutor makes all other energy sources pale in comparison
Fossil fuels used for mining
Scrubbers produce toxic sludge
Natural Gas:
Air pollution with nitrogen oxides and carbon dioxide
Mining damage but with smaller footprint than coal/nuclear mining
Methane air pollution
Wind (how wind power works):
Lower bird populations
Noise pollution
Large land usage
Solar (how solar power works):
Large land usage
Battery production can result in pollution
Unrecycled panels can result in toxic waste
Hydro (how hydro power works):
Changes to downstream morphology of riverbeds
Changes to downstream water quality
Reservoirs are less biodiverse than previous land
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