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Hydropower is a flexible source of electricity since stations can be ramped up and down very quickly to adapt to changing energy demands. [31] Hydro turbines have a start-up time of the order of a few minutes. [37] Although battery power is quicker its capacity is tiny compared to hydro. [2]
Hydropower is an attractive alternative to fossil fuels as it does not directly produce carbon dioxide or other atmospheric pollutants and it provides a relatively consistent source of power. Nonetheless, it has economic, sociological, and environmental downsides and requires a sufficiently energetic source of water, such as a river or elevated ...
Renewable energy is more evenly distributed around the world than fossil fuels, which are concentrated in a limited number of countries. [28] It also brings health benefits by reducing air pollution caused by the burning of fossil fuels. The potential worldwide savings in health care costs have been estimated at trillions of dollars annually.
The above-mentioned underestimation of hydro, wind and solar energy, compared to nuclear and fossil energy, applies also to Enerdata. The 2021 world total energy production of 14,800 MToe corresponds to a little over 172 PWh / year, or about 19.6 TW of power generation.
Biofuels are different from fossil fuels in regard to carbon emissions being short term, but are similar to fossil fuels in that biofuels contribute to air pollution. Burning produces airborne carbon particulates, carbon monoxide and nitrous oxides. [83] The WHO estimates 3.7 million premature deaths worldwide in 2012 due to air pollution. [84]
While renewable energy is almost exclusively produced in Germany (99.2%), there is a high and risky dependence on imports for fossil energy in some instances. [15] To reduce or avoid these monostructures, diversification must change the energy mix so that one-sided import and export dependencies with individual countries are entirely or ...
Fossil fuel divestment or fossil fuel divestment and investment in climate solutions is an attempt to reduce climate change by exerting social, political, and economic pressure for the institutional divestment of assets including stocks, bonds, and other financial instruments connected to companies involved in extracting fossil fuels.
Large hydropower provides one of the lowest cost options in today's energy market, even compared to fossil fuels and there are no harmful emissions associated with plant operation. [16] However, there are typically low greenhouse gas emissions with reservoirs , and possibly high emissions in the tropics.