Net-Zero Emissions by 2050? - Not Without Nuclear Power - 2021

Nuclear Power Industry

Saucier reported on May 1, 2021 that in the quest to reach net-zero emissions of energy-related carbon dioxide by 2050, a longtime goal of the United States, other world governments and energy agencies, no one is even close to achieving it. Despite 2020’s largest decline in emissions as a result of less energy usage during the COVID-19 pandemic, the U.S. Energy Information Administration anticipates “a rapid rebound in energy demand and emissions” this year. Furthermore, the EIA projects that by 2050, U.S. energy-related emissions will be 5-percent higher than 2020 levels.

Globally, emissions also are expected to increase by at least 0.6 percent each year through 2050. “What happens to energy demand and emissions in 2021 and beyond will depend on how much emphasis governments put on clean energy transitions in their efforts to boost their economies in the coming months,” the agency stated in a March 2 report titled, “Global Energy Review: Global Emissions in 2020.”

In an effort to turn the emissions curve downward more quickly, President Joe Biden announced at the April 22 Leaders Summit on Climate that the United States should aim to cut 2005 level emissions (which peaked at just under 6 billion tons of carbon dioxide) by half by 2030. It’s a lofty goal, leaving many to question whether or not it’s doable.

Fossil Fuel Dominance

Fossil fuels currently dominate the global grid because the world needs energy and its population continues to grow toward a projected 10 billion, said AAPG Member James Conca, a 33-year Earth and environmental scientist and consultant for federal and state environmental and energy agencies as well as industry. While it might seem ironic, access to energy will be the world’s best environmental protection. Studies, such as the United Nation’s Human Development Index, have shown that 3,000 kilowatt hours per person, per year, results in lower birthrates.

“People become prosperous enough to not depend on their children to feed them in their old age,” Conca said. “You can’t save people and the planet without energy.” Yet that energy must be clean, sustainable and – at this point – include a significant presence of nuclear power, said Conca, who is also a member of the Uranium Committee of AAPG’s Energy Minerals Division.

Moving backward in its goal to reach net-zero emissions by 2050 and 3 billion tons by 2030, the United States must play a major game of catch-up. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, the International Energy Agency, the U.N. Sustainable Development Solutions Networks and the Global Commission on the Economy and Climate are encouraging tripling the amount of nuclear energy in the world to stabilize global carbon emissions.

After five decades of significant strides in safety, efficiency and cost, nuclear is a major key to making net-zero emissions more than “a pie in the sky” idea, said Conca, who specializes in geologic disposal of nuclear waste, energy-related research, planetary surface processes and radiobiology.

Although wind and solar have dominated mainstream discussions about clean energy, nuclear has been quietly advancing to become a power fuel that can most effectively serve large and growing populations while simultaneously lowering emissions.

See the link for the rest of the story ..... or

[For the on-line version of the article in the May Issue of the AAPG Explorer, see (pp. 10 & 11 - here).]