Impacts of energy on the environment - A few examples to illustrate

The production, transport and use of energy generate waste and effluents in widely varying quantities and types.

Waste is a substance that cannot be used or recovered by the person who produced it. The aim is to reduce the quantities of effluent and waste produced in the energy sector, and to make this waste as harmless as possible.

Pollution is an unfavorable change in the natural environment. In the energy sector, this can mean the emission of toxic gases, the release of noxious liquids, and so on. Pollution can directly affect the health of humans and other living beings. It can also affect them indirectly through the food chain. To pollute is to dirty, to soil, to degrade the environment... Man-made pollution has existed since man first appeared on earth, but it has increased over the last two centuries with the industrial revolution and the rapid rise in population (in two hundred years, the population has multiplied by seven, whereas it had remained more or less stable for 800 years).

Environmental impacts can be observed from energy production to energy use. Air, water and soil are affected to varying degrees. Other types of pollution are also observed, such as light pollution from night-time lighting, noise that can become unbearable, visual pollution when beautiful landscapes are altered by unsightly energy installations, and odours that can sometimes prove very unpleasant.

Pollution isn't a modern phenomenon; it's been around for thousands of years, and cities have long been polluted by sewage streams and household waste (there was no such thing as a sewer system, or refuse collection). Cities in those days were far more polluted than they are today. The population was also smaller (two hundred years ago, the French population was half of what it is today). Over time, some pollutants increase or decrease, and new ones appear.

To illustrate these changes, let's take a look at the evolution of road transport. The replacement of horses by automobiles in the early twentieth century greatly reduced pollution in major cities. At that time, there were 175,000 horses in New York. Each animal produced between 10 and 15 kg of excrement per day, i.e. some 2 million tons for all horses. These were collected and often discharged into waterways. They were the source of respiratory and intestinal diseases, as they were present in the dust outside. What's more, 15,000 horses died every year in the city, and the corpses were not immediately removed. The transition to the automobile initially helped to reduce pollution, before bringing in new pollution as it became more numerous.

This article presents some of the impacts of energy sources and their use on the environment....