Social, economical and environmental impacts of renewable energy systems A.K. Akella a, * , R.P. Saini b , M.P. Sharma b a Electrical Engineering Department, National Institute of Technology, Jamshedpur 831014, India b Alternate Hydro Energy Centre, Indian Institute of Technology, Roorkee 247 667, India article info Article history: Available online 19 September 2008 Keywords: Renewable energy GHG Emission factors Baseline CDM abstract Conventional energy sources based on oil, coal, and natural gas have proven to be highly effective drivers of economic progress, but at the same time damaging to the environment and to human health. Keeping in mind, the social, economical and environmental effects of renewable energy system have been dis- cussed in this paper. The uses of renewable energy system, instead of, conventional energy system, to control the social, economical and environmental problems have been discussed. The results show that the trends of total emission reduction in different years, which is exponentially increasing after the installation of renewable energy system in remote areas. Ó 2008 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. 1. Introduction Conventional energy sources based on oil, coal, and natural gas are damaging economic progress, environment and human life. These traditional fossil fuel-based energy sources are facing increasing pressure on a host of environmental fronts, with perhaps the most serious challenge confronting the future use of coal being the Kyoto Protocol greenhouse gas reduction targets. Renewable energy sources currently supply somewhere between 15 percent and 20 percent of world’s total energy demand. The supply is dominated by traditional biomass, mostly fuel wood used for cooking and heating, especially in developing countries in Africa, Asia and Latin America. New renewable energy sources (solar energy, wind energy, modern bio-energy, geothermal energy, and small hydropower) are currently contributing about two percent. A number of scenario studies have investigated the potential contri- bution of renewables to global energy supplies, indicating that in the second half of the 21st century their contribution might range from the present figure of nearly 20% to more than 50% with the right policies in place [1]. The potential of renewable energy sources is enormous as they can in principle meet many times the world’s energy demand. Renewable energy sources such as small hydropower, wind, solar, biomass, and geothermal can provide sustainable energy services, based on the use of routinely available, indigenous resources. A transition to renewable-based energy systems is looking increasingly likely as the costs of solar and wind power systems have dropped substantially in the past 30 years, and continue to decline, while the price of oil and gas continue to fluctuate. In fact, fossil fuel and renewable energy prices, social and environmental costs are heading in opposite directions. Furthermore, the eco- nomic and policy mechanisms needed to support the widespread dissemination and sustainable markets for renewable energy sys- tems have also rapidly evolved. It is becoming clear that future growth in the energy sector is primarily in the new regime of renewable, and to some extent natural gas-based systems, and not in conventional oil and coal sources. Financial markets are awak- ening to the future growth potential of renewable and other new energy technologies, and this is a likely harbinger of the economic reality of truly competitive renewable energy systems. These systems can have dramatically reduced as well as widely dispersed environmental impacts, rather than larger, more cen- tralized impacts that in some cases are serious contributors to ambient air pollution, acid rain, and global climate change. Keeping in mind, the social, economical and environmental effects of renewable energy system have been discussed in this paper. 2. Aspects of renewable energy systems The social aspects of human needs have been subjected to considerable debate as the term ‘basic’, which is understood within different contexts for improving the economy of the developing countries. It is also necessary to list different social aspects such as: (i) the disparity in income, (ii) the disparity in raw material and energy resources and sources, the technical progress favoured by the standard of living, the educational level, the climatic conditions, (iii) the demography, and (iv) the difference between an urbanized industrialized society, where the agricultural sectors represents * Corresponding author. E-mail addresses: akakella@indiatimes.com (A.K. Akella), rps@iitr.ernet.ac.in (R.P. Saini), mps@iitr.ernet.ac.in (M.P. Sharma). Contents lists available at ScienceDirect Renewable Energy journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/renene 0960-1481/$ – see front matter Ó 2008 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. doi:10.1016/j.renene.2008.05.002 Renewable Energy 34 (2009) 390–396