Fossil fuel prices often fluctuate wildly. That’s because they’re vulnerable to supply chain issues all the way from the ground to the gas tank, with disruptions like limited availability, transportation shortages, and spills influencing their worth at any given time. Additionally, because of the physical nature of oil and gas, countries can stockpile and withhold fossil fuel stores to further drive up demand, wielding energy as a political weapon. That’s why renewable energy leads to greater cost stability.
Current Energy Trends
In 2021, fossil fuels made up around 82% of primary global energy use, down from 85% in 2017. It’s a slow but significant decline, and will likely decline even faster as more people make the switch to renewable energy. In fact, 2021 saw a 15% increase in global renewable energy consumption.
The pandemic and the Russo-Ukrainian War spurred renewed interest in renewable power. People saw the direct environmental effects of taking cars off the road, and many countries wanted to generate more of their own power to lessen their reliance on Russian oil. Additionally, massive spikes in gas prices prompted people to rethink the need for gasoline, spurring a wave of electric car sales.
In addition to being better for the environment, renewable energy leads to more economic stability.
How Renewable Energy Stabilizes Costs
Renewable energy has a few qualities that make it more stable than conventional fuel sources.
Reliability
Though overcast and windless days are part of life, they’re temporary, making solar and wind reliable energy sources overall. Wind and solar farms are often set up in areas that maximize the amount of wind and sun they receive, and the energy is then transferred to homes and businesses.
Batteries allow people to store the generated electricity for use at night or in less-than-favorable weather conditions. Unlike oil, renewable energy sources can’t accidentally be spilled or catch fire.
Inexhaustibility
As long as Earth exists, the planet will never run out of wind and sunlight. What’s more, renewable resources belong to everyone – you can’t hoard sunlight and use it as a negotiating tool, doling out small amounts at inflated prices. Renewable resources are an inalienable right. Their inexhaustible nature leads to greater cost stability.
If fossil fuel consumption continues at the current trend, eventually, oil and gas will reach a point where they become scarce. This will lead to further cost instability as the price increases.
Accessibility
As renewable energy technology becomes more widely available, it’s also become more accessible to the average consumer. The price of solar panels and wind turbines has fallen dramatically in the last several years and will likely become even lower as time goes on.
Renewable energy increases cost stability through the use of residential solar panels. Individuals can generate their own reliable electricity with solar panels on their roofs or in their yards. This often generates enough power that the homeowners don’t have an energy bill, letting them avoid the headache of fluctuating monthly prices.
Often, solar panels generate enough electricity to cover a household’s needs even during heat waves or winter storms. So, while other people’s bills are going up during times of peak demand, people using renewable energy have stable costs – usually just the price of a monthly service fee.
Longevity
Once a wind or solar farm is installed, it can continually gather energy in one place. Solar panels last an average of 25 years and wind turbines generally have a life span of 20 years.
When they do eventually need replacing, they can simply be swapped out. There’s no need to find another operable site, drill a well, deplete the resources there, and repeat the process in a new location. This makes renewable energy plant installation more cost-effective than extracting oil and gas.
Ease of Maintenance
There’s also no need for a large paid labor force to continually work on extracting energy from wind and solar farms.
Factoring in situations like labor shortages, wage fluctuations, and bad-weather days that make it hard to work, oil and gas extraction becomes even less cost-stable. Aside from routine maintenance, solar panels and wind turbines do practically all the work themselves.
Flexibility
Renewable power plants can be set up almost anywhere.
Solar panels are so non-disruptive that they can be placed directly on buildings, yet also durable enough that they can withstand being placed in a scorching desert or floating on a lake. Wind turbines can be set up anywhere from a pasture to far off the ocean’s coast. This versatility makes renewable energy a more stable energy source, leading to predictable costs.
The Many Benefits of Renewable Energy
Due to their versatility, ease of setup, longevity, reliability, and inexhaustible nature, renewable energy sources lead to greater cost stability. Right now, they’ve only just begun finding their place next to coal, oil, and natural gas, but soon they will overtake fossil fuels as the standard form of energy. It’s only a matter of time.