Renewable and nuclear heresies
Author(s) -
Jesse H. Ausubel
Publication year - 2007
Publication title -
international journal of nuclear governance economy and ecology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
eISSN - 1742-4194
pISSN - 1742-4186
DOI - 10.1504/ijngee.2007.014671
Subject(s) - renewable energy , nuclear power , competitor analysis , biomass (ecology) , harm , wind power , scale (ratio) , environmental economics , environmental science , natural resource economics , business , commerce , economics , engineering , ecology , electrical engineering , physics , marketing , biology , quantum mechanics , political science , law
Renewables are not green. To reach the scale at which they would contribute importantly to meeting global energy demand, renewable sources of energy, such as wind, water and biomass, cause serious environmental harm. Measuring renewables in watts per square metre that each source could produce smashes these environmental idols. Nuclear energy is green. However, in order to grow, the nuclear industry must extend out of its niche in baseload electric power generation, form alliances with the methane industry to introduce more hydrogen into energy markets, and start making hydrogen itself. Technologies succeed when economies of scale form part of their conditions of evolution. Like computers, to grow larger, the energy system must now shrink in size and cost. Considered in watts per square metre, nuclear has astronomical advantages over its competitors.
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