Title

Can We Rely On Renewable Energy Sources To Overcome Global Warming?

Keywords

Energy sources; Global warming; Renewable energy; Sustainable development

Abstract

Greenhouse gas emissions, resulting from burning non-renewable energy sources, are recognized as the major cause of global warming. Hence, reducing carbon footprint of energy uses through replacing non-renewable energy sources with renewable ones is believed to be an efficient method for combating climate warming. However, not all renewable energy sources may be appropriate as while they can reduce carbon emissions efficiently, they may be inefficient when it comes to other criteria such as water footprint. For instance, some bio-fuels may consume up to 400 times more water than conventional non-renewable energy sources, which in turn can increase the energy uses of the water sector, resulting in an increased indirect greenhouse gas emissions in long run. This paper discusses that carbon footprint should not be considered as the sole criterion for selecting energy sources. By simultaneous consideration of three different criteria (1- carbon footprint, 2- water footprint, and 3- economic cost), this paper determines the overall efficiency of different non-renewable and renewable energy sources to show how the ranking of energy sources changes when carbon footprint is not considered as the sole criterion for determining efficiency of energy sources for climate change mitigation. © 2011 ASCE.

Publication Date

7-21-2011

Publication Title

World Environmental and Water Resources Congress 2011: Bearing Knowledge for Sustainability - Proceedings of the 2011 World Environmental and Water Resources Congress

Number of Pages

3319-3326

Document Type

Article; Proceedings Paper

Personal Identifier

scopus

DOI Link

https://doi.org/10.1061/41173(414)346

Socpus ID

79960392578 (Scopus)

Source API URL

https://api.elsevier.com/content/abstract/scopus_id/79960392578

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