The Impacts of Different Power Plants on Climate: Evidence from Fossil-fuel, Hydroelectric & Wind Power

Wuhan Foreign Language School, 430022 Wuhan, China

^* Corresponding author: wangzhoufu@wust.edu.cn

Abstract

Contemporarily, global anthropogenic climate anomalies are severe and tend to continue to increase. The large number of power plants built around the world is to blame for this. The largest and most used power generation technologies in the world today are thermal, hydroelectric and wind power. The physical principles and climate impact factors of these three power plants are reviewed and compared, and their respective characteristics and limitations are analysed from a climate perspective. The conclusion is that thermal power plants have the greatest negative impact on the climate and wind power plants are the cleanest and most environmentally friendly. Overall, the current forms of power generation are still very limited and need to be further developed, and more research is needed in the field of power generation technology to protect the earth's natural resources and climate. This paper introduces the climate impacts of each of the three major power plants, provides an overview of current human power generation technologies, and provides an outlook for future developments.