Realism about Energy

Clean electricity from 'new renewables' - solar, wind, biomass and geothermal power - deserves strong support. But the collective capacity of these technologies to produce electricity in the decades ahead is limited. The International Energy Agency projects that, even with conitnued subsidy and research support, these new renewables can only provide around 6% of world electricity by 2030.

Environmentalists have played a valuable role in warning that catastrophic climate change is a real and imminent danger. It is crucially important that they be equally realistic about solutions. Even with maximum conservation - and a landscape covered by solar panels and windmills- we would still need large-scale source of around-the-clock electricity to meet much of our energy needs.

Nuclear power - like wind, hydro and solar energy - can generate electricity with no carbon dioxide or other greenhouse gas emissions. The critical difference is that nuclear energy is the only proven option with the capacity to produce vastly expanded supplies of clean electricity on a global scale.

Far from being competitors, nuclear power and 'new renewables' are urgently needed as partners if the world's immense clean energy needs are to be met.

The International Energy Agency of the OECD is the intergovernmental body that analyses global energy demand. In the private sector, the World Energy Council performs similar assessments. The projections by both organisations point inexorably to the same conclusion: Our world cannot meet its expanding energy needs - cleanly - without a sharp expansion of nuclear energy

Further Reading
WNA Climate Change Portal
Greenhouse Gas Emissions from Power Generation 

World Energy Needs and Nuclear Power
Renewable Energy and Electricity
Sustainable Energy
Energy Balances and CO₂ Implications