It’s safe to say that our civilization officially took off with the discovery of energy. Over the centuries, advancements in energy, from simple fires to fossil fuels and the more recent solar and wind energy have allowed us to build skyscrapers and travel to the moon. However, while beneficial to us, fossil fuels aren’t kind on the environment.
Fossil fuels are without a doubt the most damaging to the ecosystem. According to the World Health Organization (“WHO”), the Centers for Disease Control (“CDC”) and the National Academy of Science, fossil fuels and biomass cause the most adverse health effects. Energy death print refers to the number of people killed by one kind of energy per kWhr produced and coal has the worst, killing 7 million people every year.
In China alone, the average deaths per trillion kWhr is 170,000 while the global rate is 100,000 per trillion. The U.S., which uses scrubbers, has a rate of only 10,000 per trillion kWhr.
Hydropower, on the other hand, has a mortality rate of just 5 per trillion kWhr in the U.S. and 1,400 per trillion kWhr globally. Hydropower coupled with coal account for more than half of the world’s electricity production. The U.S. credits its low energy death print to the Clean Air Act which was passed in 1963. It covers issues such as improving operational safety and limiting harmful emissions.
The Act requires new coal-fired plants to capture 98% of sulphur dioxide produced and 90% of toxic nitrogen oxide emissions. The hydropower sector is bound by rules for licensing, constructions and monitoring of hydropower plants and the Division of Hydropower Administration and Compliance assesses the plants once they are in operation.
Despite what you might think, solar energy comes with a degree of danger as well. The conventional solar panel produces 6 amps or more, and all it takes to kill you is 1 amp. If solar panels aren’t embedded in the shingles or installed using robots, the chances of someone getting hurt increase exponentially. Nuclear and wind power do not have this risk.
However, wind turbines, especially those in areas surrounded by humans or wildlife, can also cause injury. While quite rare, a faulty turbine might lose a blade while spinning, making it very dangerous for anyone in the vicinity. Of all the forms of energy we have, nuclear energy is probably the safest with 330 times fewer deaths than coal, 250 times less than oil and 38 times fewer than gas.
On top of that, nuclear energy is clean, efficient and doesn’t produce harmful emissions and it doesn’t require daily consumption of fuel like coal. Experts wonder what entities like Net Element (NASDAQ: NETE) can do to increase the use of the types of energy with higher safety profiles.
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