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Promoted as a safe alternative to replace fossil fuel-run power plants, many believe large solar and wind energy projects are a perfect solution. But it's not entirely true. The renewable energy sector has its drawbacks.
In order to measure the environmental impact of renewable energy generation, a team of researchers has mapped the locations of major solar and wind energy farms operational in the world. The mapping of these projects has been done for the first time to quantify the consequences of these projects on ecology and wildlife.
Most of the green energy units require a large patch of land; some of them encroach on the habitat of wild animals or require land clearing. Large wind farms have been responsible for killing birds and noisy turbines have triggered protests from local communities.
"While global land planners are promising more of the planet's limited space to wind and solar energy, governments are struggling to maintain geospatial information on the rapid expansion of renewables," said Sebastian Dunnett, lead researcher of the study published in the journal Nature.
"Most existing studies use land suitability and socio-economic data to estimate the geographical spread of such technologies, but we hope our study will provide more robust publicly available data," he added.
Much of the adverse impact of renewable energy projects could be resolved by selecting the right site such as abandoned land. But some damages are inevitable, including loss of habitat, biodiversity and also land disputes.
The researchers feel that by accurately mapping the development of farms, they can provide an insight into the footprint of renewable energy on vulnerable ecosystems and help planners assess such effects.
According to the study, Europe, North America and East Asia dominate the renewable energy sector, and results correlate extremely well with official independent statistics of the renewable energy capacity of countries.
"This study represents a real milestone in our understanding of where the global green energy revolution is occurring," said Felix Eigenbrod of Geography and Environmental Science at Southampton.
"It should be an invaluable resource for researchers for years to come, as we have designed it so it can be updated with the latest information at any point to allow for changes in what is a quickly expanding industry," Eigenbrod added.
(Cover Image: An anti wind turbine sign stands in the front yard of a farmhouse, Wednesday, Jan. 24, 2018, in Glenville, Minnesota, U.S. /AP)
