Renewables “Beat” Nuclear–But Is That a Good Thing?
2020 was the first year in which renewable power generation (excluding hydro) surpassed nuclear power generation.
Now, proponents of renewables, and I’m certainly one, may find that a heartening statistic. But it’s not.
Considering the growth in demand for energy, it’s going to be very difficult, probably impossible, for low carbon energy sources to ramp up fast enough without nuclear. Most clean energy advocates denounce nuclear as dangerous, but this is simply incorrect; nuclear has had fewer fatalities than any other energy source, and it’s getting better and safer every year.
“Advanced nuclear,” whether than means thorium as a feedstock, or some sort of fusion, will obsolete renewables overnight when it becomes available.
Of course, we’ve been hearing about “advanced nuclear” since I was a little boy in the early 1960s. Today we’re told that it’s about 30 years away. That’s what I heard when I was learning fractions and decimals.
And here’s a coincidence: this article on nuclear fusion just published today.
In the interim, let’s keep developing solar, wind, and anything else that makes sense. The price of energy from renewable resources is falling like a stone, and let’s drive it even lower.
We’re in a race against the consequences of our own actions, and those systems and product streams we’ve designed and permitted to prosper, and the errors and ignorance (willful and not) of past generations. I hope that as a species we are able to find and implement effective solutions in time. As we are painfully learning, Mother Nature doesn’t negotiate.
Good stuff. Excellent point on “Mother Nature.”