What are some environmental problems that energy production has caused in the past?

Question

What are some environmental problems that energy production has caused in the past?

Answer 1

In about 1900 New york had to remove 4 million tons of horse manure each year

Answer 2

Pollution of the Air, Water, and Land.  

Air - Smog in cities with high population density, from coal fired electricity generation, as well as due to industrialization.

Water - Heavy metal leakage to the water table whenever they cleaned their cooling towers.  Oil spillage on the high seas like Exxon Valdes.

Land - Strip mining of coal, and sand mining of oil in Canada for energy generation use.

Alvin

Answer 3

carbon particulate layering the planet, including the poles, causing greater retention of solar energy and accelerating the melting of the ice caps

carbon emissions retaining heat

pollutants causing cancer

ozone depletion from secondary effects of products produced from the production of energy, to include the products for producing energy

the release of contaminant byproducts from mining operations

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Producing energy using solar power produces less than 1/100th of 1% of the the pollution as produced by fossil fuels.

The Sun imparts more than 1 kilowatt of power upon each square meter of ground near the equator.  That means the Sun can provide more power in one year than all the known resources for fossil fuels burned in the World.

Space based solar concentrators can further increase energy production that surpasses the total production of energy many times over the combined energy used worldwide; while simultaneously producing the means to control weather globally.  Allowing us to maintain our environment regardless of natural or man-made destructive tendancies.

Answer 4

The Exxon Valdez oil spill caused  a lot of damage.

Answer 5

Contaminated water aquifers, stripped land from strip mining, loss of wildlife habitats, and upsets in ecosystems due to chemical spills resulting in mass deaths of wildlife to name a few.