Conventional and renewable energy sources and the carbon footprint

Abstract

It is accepted that energy is among the main, if not the most important, anthropogenic source of carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions. It is for this reason that many efforts are aimed at finding alternative, non-CO2-emitting energy sources. For several decades, large-scale projects have been invested in the construction of solar and wind power plants, which are claimed to be the most environmentally friendly way to obtain energy. Today, the European Green Deal and international climate policy are currently among most actual topical political and economic topics. How true is this and is this energy capable of solving the “greenhouse effect” problem? Is it capable of meeting our needs for reliable, consistent and cheap energy? Is the “greenhouse effect” caused by human activity at all? These are questions that this article seeks to answer. I am well aware that I am going to violate the purportedly consensual, common understanding of these matters I am also aware of the existence of certain, albeit unwritten, limitations in expressing opinions on these issues. But I am convinced that science is a sequence of stated hypotheses, their denial, challenge, improvement, modification and so on. That is, science is not a place for searching for consensus, but for a productive dispute leading to the correct conclusions.