17. Materials and means of production

Materials are needed to build the systems that harness energy sources: wind turbines, photovoltaic panels, nuclear power plants, etc. But for the same material, the greater the quantity used, the greater the environmental impact. But for the same material, the greater the quantity used, the greater the environmental impact. It is interesting to compare a few energy sources in this respect. Table 4 shows the quantity of concrete and steel required to produce 1 GWh/year from a number of energy sources. It should be noted that this is in terms of energy produced, not installed capacity. These estimates were made in the reference ...