There is no insoluble and eternal waste problem as with nuclear power. Renewables generation avoids the destructive mining impacts of coal, oil, and uranium. We know that burning fossil fuels is the foremost contributor to climate change. The sooner we move to renewable micropower technologies, the sooner we can reduce the loading of the atmosphere with industrial gases. By merely meeting demand for new power in the U.S. using fuel cells, renewables, and microturbines, we could cut power plant carbon emissions by fifty percent or more.
Fuel cells are nearly silent, eliminating noise pollution.
Even the current fuel cell prototypes, many using natural gas, produce considerably fewer greenhouse gases than combustion engines. PVs have experienced a quadruple cost decline in the past twenty years, now making them the world's second-fastest growing energy source. Micropower technologies have grown increasingly reliable. The latest reciprocating engines can run for fifty thousand hours without maintenance. Micropower systems have shorter down times, are easier to repair, and are more geographically dispersed.