AS IF helping to spare us from the worst effects of climate change were not enough, renewable energies may also curb injuries and deaths in the energy sector.
So says Steven Sumner, a physician at Duke University Medical Center in Durham, North Carolina, who believes that renewable energies such as wind and solar power are, on balance, safer to work with than fossil fuels (Journal of the American Medical Association, vol 302, p 787).
While supporting studies are scarce, a 2005 found working with wind power was safer than working with coal or oil. Few industries are deadlier than mining; oil and gas extraction account for 100 deaths each year in the US, and coal another 30.
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Solar panels and wind turbines, on the other hand, are unlikely to take as much of a toll on the workers who build and maintain them, Sumner says.