528 Clean Energy
Benefits and Costs of Clean Energy
Clean energy is energy that can be made with few negative
social, cultural, health, and environmental effects. Clean energy is
also called renewable or sustainable energy, because it is produced
from sources that do not run out, such as:
wind
(page 536)
falling water from small dams
(page 534)
sunlight (page 537)
human bicycle
power (page 543)
biogas and other biomass
(page 540)
By using clean energy, we reduce harm to both human health and the
environment caused by finding and using fossil fuels and other forms of
polluting, nonrenewable energy. Clean energy can provide power in rural
villages, in big cities, and in factories without causing harm.
Each way of making clean electricity has advantages and disadvantages.
And each depends on local conditions such as how much wind, sunshine, or
falling water there is in each place. Electricity, even clean electricity, may be
too costly for many people to afford. But as more and more people use clean
energy, and as the ways to make clean energy are improved, it will likely
become easier and less costly to make and use.
A Community Guide to Environmental Health 2012