Imagine a land area that was once pristine, with no human invasion or the effects of natural disasters. But now, imagine it as a huge waste facility. There is toxic, metallic sludge oozing out of large pipes. There are discarded plastic sheets and broken concrete blocks. There are broken magnets and long, burnt out wires. If you look down the river, you can see towns underwater near where a dam used to be. All of this could happen in the future if we don’t accomplish advancing to new technology. Therefore, we must take action now and begin improving our green energy.

Wind energy is not as clean as it seems. Although wind will always exist, it is not always blowing. It must be strong enough to turn the rotor blades of wind turbines and must come from the correct direction. Otherwise, it is useless for creating electricity. Wind turbines can also break in strong weather conditions, ripping apart in powerful winds or getting damaged from hail. They require many non-renewable resources to build, too, which is controversial. This includes the concrete and steel for the construction of the turbine along with the magnets needed for the formation of the generator.

In addition, for every wind farm that is built, a backup generator must be built in order to constantly meet the demand. The backup generators are fossil fuel based because as of our current technology, it is the most reliable source that we have. Unfortunately, these backup generators cannot be turned on and off, so they operate at all times. For this reason, some studies have shown that wind power creates more carbon dioxide emissions than our traditional coal burning power plants. The backup fossil fuel generators are forced to run at inefficient levels, causing them to create more pollution than the coal burning power plants.

Currently, the creation of solar panels requires many rare-earth materials, so mining for them is needed. This process can be hazardous and expensive. The production of these photovoltaic panels also uses many substances that are dangerous to humans, such as arsenic, lead, and cadmium. California alone yields about 46 million pounds of toxic sludge and contaminated water that must be transported to waste facilities. In addition, solar panels do not work at night and need clear skies. Plus, they only produce a tiny fraction of the United States’s energy consumption: a meager 0.1%.

Even hydroelectric power, the most widely used renewable energy resource, is not that useful. In fact, it creates one of the largest land footprints of all available energy resources. This means that hydroelectricity uses the most land compared to many other energy resources. When dams are built, lakes form because not all of the water can go through the dam together. Some is left behind, and the water accumulates, flooding and destroying habitats or even entire ecosystems. People are forced to move away, and migratory fish (like salmon) that swim up rivers are blocked. They cannot get through the dam, and they die before being able to spawn new fish. Finally, dam turbines are not very efficient, as they require large amounts of water to turn them. Droughts cause much of the water to deplete, rendering the dam useless.

Admittedly, green energy does have some advantages, such as emitting negligible amounts of greenhouse gases. Still, this does not include the greenhouse gases made from mining, production, construction, and ultimately, transporting materials or finished products. This is what causes most renewable resources to have to be long term in order to overcome these environmental costs because the other necessary activities produce much greenhouse gases. Others claim that green energy is good for the environment and us. They can even say that the U.S. Energy Information Administration, or the EIA, estimates that about 10% of world marketed energy consumption is from renewable energy sources as of January 18, 2013. On the other hand, most of this energy comes from biomass and biofuels, which accounts for over nine-tenths of the 10%. This would mean that hydroelectric, geothermal, wind, tide, wave, and solar together account for less than one percent of the world’s energy consumption.

In addition, it is a common misconception that our dependence on foreign countries will end. This is not true because of the simple fact that China owns about 90% of the world’s market of rare-earth metals, and our production of solar panels and wind turbines, our most commonly talked about renewable energy resources, depends on this. Finally, creating green energy plants sometimes have negative effects, like wind turbines killing birds and bats. As said before, hydroelectric power can kill off a species by blocking fish from going upriver. And, solar energy, surprisingly, if built in a desert, can hurt the life in it because of the sun blockage underneath and the space taken up.

In conclusion, although green energy is talked about a lot in today’s society, it is not so beneficial to us and the environment at all. There are considerable disadvantages, but they still can be fixed. We could avoid placing wind farms in the migratory routes of birds or bats, which would greatly reduce their number of deaths per year from wind turbines. In addition, areas should be assessed before being used for hydroelectric or solar power. We could also combine green energy resources rather than use back-up generators that harm the environment. Therefore, to deal with the issue of our green energies not being green enough, we should write to our local politicians or even the federal government. With many opinions voiced, a change could occur, and funding might be provided for the invention of more efficient and safer methods of producing renewable energy. So write a letter to your city, state, and federal politicians, and see how much you can accomplish.