ALTERNATIVE ENERGY FOOT PRINT ANALYSIS

An energy footprint is a measure of land required to absorb the CO2 emissions. This
approach focusses on the outcome of energy use, that is CO2 emissions, to highlight
the problem and pave the way for corrective action to be taken.

In many regions, environmental problems that are both local (for example, high rates
of urbanization, industrial activities, land use changes, or agricultural practices,) and
global (for example, desertification, or deforestation) have considerably reduced the
ability of land to absorb CO2.

"The total size of the energy footprint in 1999 was 6.72 billion hectares. The earth
has about 11.4 billion hectares of biologically productive space [this includes the
actually used crop land as well as the additional potential crop land], and the total
global ecological footprint in 1999 was 13.65 billion hectares. So energy use
comprises about half of humanity’s footprint on the earth ... The energy footprint
increased from 2.5 billion hectares in 1961 to 6.7 billion in 1999, the fastest-growing
component of the overall footprint—and, by the end of the period, very much the
biggest." [Living Planet Report, 2002]

Increasing plant growth (sequestration) is one of the key ways in which the energy
footprint can be reduced, besides the use of renewable energy sources such as solar
and wind.

The energy footprint, like its bigger cousin - the ecological footprint, is an indicator
of progress that can be used as a means of mobilizing action at the local level. It is
an easily understood concept as it scales the message down to the level of an
individual. It also helps to justify partnerships and collaboration among different
stakeholders to find new, sustainable and less damaging solutions.
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.

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. 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.

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. The hydroelectric power
industry employed approximately 66,000 people in 2017; the geothermal industry
employed 5,800 people.
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.

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

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.
 [Source: WWF International]

Different sources of energy produce different amounts of heat-trapping gases.

[Source: Union of Concerned Scientists]

 BIBLIOGRAFÍA
The Global Development Research Center. (19 de 02 de 2019). The Global
Development Research Center. Obtenido de
http://www.gdrc.org/uem/footprints/energy-footprint.html

Union or Concerned Scientists. (19 de 02 de 2019). Union or Concerned Scientists.

Obtenido de Union or Concerned Scientists: https://www.ucsusa.org/clean-
energy/renewable-energy/public-benefits-of-renewable-power

US EPA. (27 de 11 de 2018). United States Environmental Protection Agency.

Obtenido de United States Environmental Protection Agency:
https://www.epa.gov/statelocalenergy/local-renewable-energy-benefits-and-
resources