Why Nuclear will Sustain our Low-Carbon Future

Uranium (Nuclear Minerals) / Nuclear Power - Economics, Design, & Industry

Date posted: 11/03/15

J. Scott Peterson opines that changing the world from consuming 70% fossil fuels to 80% low-carbon energy would be hard enough. But he says that we will need to make that transition even as global energy demand nearly doubles in the next three decades. What links our aspirations of a greener energy future with the need to sustain global growth is simple: nuclear energy. As America and the world look to cap an eventful year in climate policy, the time to think about the nuclear energy role in our global energy future is now. When negotiators arrive for the Paris climate talks in December, 2015, they will attempt to hammer out a pact to slash carbon emissions such that global temperatures do not rise more than 2 degrees Celsius by 2050. Negotiating a binding agreement on how nations will reduce carbon emissions would be the first of its kind. In the U.S., the Obama administration Clean Power Plan aims to reduce emissions from power plants by one-third by 2030. That is like eliminating emissions of 75% of the cars currently on the roads in the next 15 years. Clearly, this is an ambitious goal. Industry is working with the EPA and state environmental officials as they develop compliance plans to meet this challenge. Nearly 100 existing reactors and new nuclear plants scheduled to come online by 2020 are vital to a lower carbon electricity portfolio. Nuclear energy provides more than 60% of the U.S. carbon-free electricity. Without nuclear energy, the Clean Power Plan falls apart. Globally, nuclear energy accounts for one-third of all carbon-free electricity generation. The role of nuclear energy in the Clean Power Plan has been acknowledged by everyone from Energy Secretary Ernie Moniz to EPA Administrator Gina McCarthy. Even though renewable sources like wind and solar are growing every year, they can not provide the scale and reliability needed to power our digital economy.