Energy from renewable sources – who knows how much its harvesting cost?

Power systems execute, by power dispatch, a strategy of lowering the costs of electricity and reducing the impact of its production on the environment. The development of renewable energy sources seems to be in contrast to this strategy, however. The cost of harvesting energy from renewable sources is a compound of various factors, such as the environmental impact, the use of the Earth’s resources, development, maintenance, to finally include social and political implications. It looks like the media are a dominating factor in decisions on renewable sources development. This article will show a few examples that support this impression. Moreover, renewable sources are supported by incentives from states’ budgets. It disturbs free market mechanisms. Wind and solar energy do not cost, so in public perception, their use should reduce energy bills. However, the former president of the European Union (EU) Council said recently that bills for electricity in the EU ar e 2.5 times higher than in the US. He blamed EU policy towards reducing CO2 emissions for that. Government subsidies are not visible, moreover, in bills for electricity. Their increase could be only the tip of a huge iceberg. Consequently, the questi on: “Who knows how much harvesting renewable sources costs?” is legitimate and deserves investigation.