A System Safety Analysis of Renewable Energy Sources

Abstract

This chapter is focused solely on whether renewable energies can be implemented safely and if they are safer than the technologies they are replacing or supplanting albeit in small quantities at the current pace of implementation. Renewable or sustainable energy sources are necessary due to the ultimate erosion of traditional energy sources and the harmful effects they introduce into the environment and negatively affect our health. Regardless of how you personally feel concerning renewable energy sources, they are here and here to stay. With that simple understanding, we should ensure these systems are safe. This chapter evaluates the hazards associated with renewable energies and compares and contrasts them to those hazards posed by the traditional or legacy fossil fuel energies. The advantages of renewable energies are palpable and discussed in great detail in the other chapters of this book. This chapter focuses specifically on the safety of the renewable energy systems.