Does Concrete Negate Renewable Benefits?

Written By Teacher: Elizabeth Ward

My name is Elizabeth Ward. I am a former Early Childhood, Elementary, and English as a Foreign Language educator. I have taught third grade Science and Social Studies as well as Kindergarten in both urban and rural Oklahoma public schools. I taught online EFL to students of all ages in China for four years. I also have experience in curriculum development and content design for teachers in the physical and digital classroom. As a former teacher I have a passion for supporting teachers and making their jobs easier. I currently live in the greater Houston area with my husband and four dogs. 

Teaching about the pros and cons of renewable energy structures helps students critically evaluate the trade-offs in addressing climate change. Building wind turbines and solar farms reduces carbon emissions, but the construction process requires carbon-intensive materials like steel and concrete. By asking “Is it worth it?” students can explore how the benefits of clean energy outweigh the environmental costs. This topic helps students understand the complexities of tackling climate change and the balance between progress and sustainability. For more information, check out these resources on renewable energy and climate change: Renewable Energy and Engineering Lesson and Renewable Energy Learning Lab Lessons.

Written By: MIT Environmental Solutions Initiative

The MIT Climate Change Engagement Program, a part of MIT Climate HQ, provides the public with nonpartisan, easy-to-understand, and scientifically-grounded information on climate change and its solutions.

To slow and stop climate change, the world needs to build many wind turbines, solar farms, and other pieces of clean energy infrastructure. But creating them—like all massive construction projects—requires carbon-intensive materials, like steel and concrete. The carbon emissions associated with steel and concrete are truly enormous: steel creates 1.5 tons of carbon emissions for every 1 ton of the metal produced, says Donald R. Sadoway, MIT’s John F. Elliott Professor of Materials Chemistry, and concrete production accounts for a whopping 8 percent of world CO2 emissions.1 Clean energy technology like solar panels and batteries also require materials like copper and rare earth metals, whose mining and refinement also creates carbon emissions. 

With all these emissions, is clean energy still a good thing for the climate?

The short answer is yes, says Sadoway. That’s because the emissions avoided by using clean energy in place of fossil fuels is greater than the environmental costs of these construction materials. When you look at it that way, he says, it’s clear that clean energy is worth it.