Renewable energy sources: Advantages and disadvantages

According to Directive 2009/28 / EC of the European Parliament, energy from non-renewable non-mineral sources is considered to be: wind, solar, aerothermal, geothermal, hydrothermal and ocean energy, hydroelectric, biomass, the gases emitted from landfills, gases from sewage treatment plants and biogas.

The term "mild" refers to two key characteristics:

1) Their exploitation does not require any active intervention, such as mining, pumping or incineration, as is done with the energy sources used so far, but simply the exploitation of the already existing energy flow in nature.

2) These are "clean" forms of energy, very "environmentally friendly", which do not release hydrocarbons, carbon dioxide or toxic and radioactive waste, like other energy sources that are used on a large scale.

"Renewable sources" are generally considered to be alternatives to traditional energy sources such as oil or coal, such as solar and wind. The term "renewable" is somewhat abusive, as some of these sources, such as geothermal energy, are not renewable for millennia. In any case, RES have been studied as a solution to the problem of the expected depletion of non-renewable fossil fuel stocks.

In recent years, new policies for the use of renewable energy sources have been adopted by the European Union, but also by many individual Member States, which promote similar internal policies for the other Member States.

RES are the basis of a new model of economic development of the so-called green economy and a central focus of the School of Ecological Economics, which to some extent affects the global ecological movement.