The Nuclear Option
Solar energy production has been all the rage lately. Tesla bought SolarCity and unveiled a rooftop solar panel. New solar projects are booming basically everywhere in the world. This all makes sense, right? Wind energy depends on weather and hydro/geothermal energy depends on location. Solar energy, though, seems like it should be abundant everywhere to some degree.
It’s easy to get swept up in the excitement and not realize something crucial: the energy produced by photovoltaics is still really far from meeting our needs. Solar only accounted for 0.6% of U.S. energy output in 2015, compared to 20% from nuclear and over two-thirds from fossil fuels.
Nuclear energy is another enticing short-term option. It does have a small risk of nuclear meltdown, and it produces radioactive waste. However, these downsides can be contained, and on net its environmental footprint is far lower than that of coal and fossil fuels. Nuclear reactors only release steam into the atmosphere, which is far less harmful than the methane and carbon oxide emissions produced by fossil fuels.
So you would think that the most urgent response to climate change should be to shift towards nuclear energy, at least for those who are skeptical about renewables. It’s the highest-output clean source that we have right now. The problem? I can’t just go and set up a nuclear power plant — governments regulate nuclear energy. Moreover, maintenance and cleanup of byproducts are large costs that an aspiring nuclear plant owner must endure, all while competing with low oil prices.
This brings me back to solar. It’s the next best thing we have. There’s some reason for hope here: the private sector is pretty much free to innovate and deploy better solar tech, unencumbered by government obstacles. Moreover, the cost of producing solar panels is getting really low, to the point where it’s almost as cheap as coal. The only way forward with less efficient technology like solar is to deploy a lot of it, which is now feasible due to these falling costs.
Alternatively, we could hit a breakthrough in nuclear fusion tech. That would be nice. Ideally that happens before the melted ice caps submerge half our cities.
