How does renewable energy help the environment

On this page:

• Overview
• Benefits of Renewable Energy
• Implementing On-site Renewable Energy Projects
• Tools and Resources

Overview

Local governments can dramatically reduce their carbon footprint by purchasing or directly generating electricity from clean, renewable sources.

The most common renewable power technologies include:

• Solar (photovoltaic, solar thermal)
• Wind
• Biogas (e.g., landfill gas/wastewater treatment digester gas)
• Geothermal
• Biomass
• Low-impact hydroelectricity
• Emerging technologies - wave and tidal power

Local governments can lead by example by generating energy on–site, purchasing green power, or purchasing renewable energy. Using a combination of renewable energy options can help meet local government goals especially in some regions where availability and quality of renewable resources vary.

Options for using renewable energy include:

• Generating renewable energy on-site using a system or device at the location where the power is used (e.g., PV panels on a state building, geothermal heat pumps, biomass-fueled combined heat and power).

• Purchasing green power through through renewable energy certificates (RECs) - also known as green tags, green energy certificates, or tradable renewable certificates – that represent the technology and environmental attributes of electricity generated from renewable resources.

• Purchasing renewable energy from an electric utility through a green pricing or green marketing program, where buyers pay a small premium in exchange for electricity generated locally from green power resources.

Benefits of Renewable Energy

Environmental and economic benefits of using renewable energy include:

• Generating energy that produces no greenhouse gas emissions from fossil fuels and reduces some types of air pollution
• Diversifying energy supply and reducing dependence on imported fuels
• Creating economic development and jobs in manufacturing, installation, and more

Implementing On-site Renewable Energy Projects

On-site power generation provides local governments with the most direct access to renewable energy. In addition to the overall benefits, on-site projects also provide a hedge against financial risks and improve power quality and supply reliability.

However, local governments considering on-site generation may face possible technical, financial, and regulatory challenges. To overcome these challenges, local governments can:

• Assess the availability of local renewable resources
• Consider the costs of different renewable technologies
• Examine the aggregate costs and benefits of on-site green power
• Consider permitting requirements for locations where the facility could be sited
• Involve local stakeholders, particularly concerning siting
• Assess available sources of financing and other incentives

Tools and Resources

• General Renewable Energy
• Biomass/Biogas
• Solar
• Wind

Jobs and other economic benefits

Compared with fossil fuel technologies, which are typically mechanized and capital intensive, the renewable energy industry is more labor intensive. Solar panels need humans to install them; wind farms need technicians for maintenance.

This means that, on average, more jobs are created for each unit of electricity generated from renewable sources than from fossil fuels.

Renewable energy already supports thousands of jobs in the United States. In 2016, the wind energy industry directly employed over 100,000 full-time-equivalent employees in a variety of capacities, including manufacturing, project development, construction and turbine installation, operations and maintenance, transportation and logistics, and financial, legal, and consulting services [10]. More than 500 factories in the United States manufacture parts for wind turbines, and wind power project installations in 2016 alone represented $13.0 billion in investments [11].

Other renewable energy technologies employ even more workers. In 2016, the solar industry employed more than 260,000 people, including jobs in solar installation, manufacturing, and sales, a 25% increase over 2015 [12]. The hydroelectric power industry employed approximately 66,000 people in 2017 [13]; the geothermal industry employed 5,800 people [14].

Increased support for renewable energy could create even more jobs. The 2009 Union of Concerned Scientists study of a 25-percent-by-2025 renewable energy standard found that such a policy would create more than three times as many jobs (more than 200,000) as producing an equivalent amount of electricity from fossil fuels [15]. 

In contrast, the entire coal industry employed 160,000 people in 2016 [26].

In addition to the jobs directly created in the renewable energy industry, growth in clean energy can create positive economic “ripple” effects. For example, industries in the renewable energy supply chain will benefit, and unrelated local businesses will benefit from increased household and business incomes [16].

Local governments also benefit from clean energy, most often in the form of property and income taxes and other payments from renewable energy project owners. Owners of the land on which wind projects are built often receive lease payments ranging from $3,000 to $6,000 per megawatt of installed capacity, as well as payments for power line easements and road rights-of-way. They may also earn royalties based on the project’s annual revenues. Farmers and rural landowners can generate new sources of supplemental income by producing feedstocks for biomass power facilities.

UCS analysis found that a 25-by-2025 national renewable electricity standard would stimulate $263.4 billion in new capital investment for renewable energy technologies, $13.5 billion in new landowner income from? biomass production and/or wind land lease payments, and $11.5 billion in new property tax revenue for local communities [17].

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