Green Power: What's The Real Cost?

In the midst of the enthusiasm about the new forms of green power, it's necessary to inject a sober note of caution. While these green technologies will indeed help the climate and generally result in a cleaner world, they sometimes have impacts almost as disturbing as more "dirty" technologies. The cost associated with developing these renewable electricity sources must be evaluated honestly, to avoid creating even more environmental problems. And one cost, of course, will involve users' pocketbooks, which may create the first difficulty if they don't want to pay.

Add to this the fact that the green power technologies, while saving vast amounts of energy when they're used to generate power, often require equally large amounts of energy as they themselves are manufactured. If a green technology uses as much "dirty" energy to produce as it would save during its lifetime, this leads to questions about whether there is any energy saving at all in using it. Then one must consider the fact that the materials used in the production of some of these new energy sources may be toxic. Does a solar panel that contains some of these materials end up in a landfill, or is there a way to recycle it?

Questions about materials lead to another disturbing fact connected to the manufacture of green energy technologies. Many of these new tools for generating power, such as solar panels, wind turbines, and powerful, lightweight batteries, depend on rare earth metals for their special properties. And most of these metals, at the moment, are found mainly in China. They are often mined in a destructive way that harms the environment and adversely affects farmers.

If the rest of the developed world must depend on these metals to create their renewable energy sources, will they turn a blind eye to the high cost the Chinese people might pay so they can feel virtuous?

It's easy to talk about the benefits of green power, how it's less destructive to the environment, and how its energy efficiency stacks up when it's finally manufactured and being used. But for all these green energy solutions there is some kind of cost. It's true that no living thing can create or use anything without having some sort of impact on the world around them. The question is how to weigh the costs of creating and using green energy realistically against the costs of not doing so.