This climate science blog,
is based on real science,
not the climate astrology
of a "coming" climate crisis,
predicted by many scientists
since the 1970's,
that never arrives,
but keeps their
paychecks coming !
CO2 is the staff of life,
if you believe
in real science.
CO2 is a pollutant,
if you believe
in junk science.
In fact, adding
more CO2
to the atmosphere
(using modern
pollution controls),
benefits our planet,
for the same reason
CO2 enrichment
systems used
inside a greenhouse,
benefits the plants
growing there.
More CO2 leads to
faster growing, larger
"C3" plants that
people and animals
eat, along with
people and animals
eat, along with
the additional benefit
of reduced water
requirements for
the larger plants !
Our planet
has already
warmed at least
+2 degree C.
since the late 1600's
"Little Ice Age".
That +2 degrees C.
warming was
not a "crisis",
it was a blessing.
I reject the use of
nuclear power simply to
reduce CO2 emissions.
However, nuclear power
is a clean energy system
that should have replaced
coal many decades ago.
A large percentage of
electricity in France
is from nuclear power,
and has been for a long time,
and that choice has been
a success.
For other people,
who strongly believe
that CO2 emissions
are very dangerous,
nuclear power is the
right answer for them,
NOT using expensive,
intermittent solar and
wind energy, that need
fossil fueled backup,
and will disrupt
the electric grid.
(see next post)
Unlike those people
frightened of CO2,
I am not afraid
of the possibility,
that in 10 years,
the temperature
I face every day
might be warmer by
+0.1 to +0.2 degrees C.,
( +0.2 to +0.4 degrees F. )
than today,
and if there
is slight warming
in the future.
then most of it
is likely to
be at night,
if past trends
continue !
To dingbats,
like AOC,
that is an
"existential
threat".
THE BIG PICTURE:
According to the IAEA,
around 70% of the world's
electricity currently comes
from burning fossil fuels.
If you believe CO2 levels
control the climate,
which I certainly do not,
based on real science
... by 2050 around 80%
of all electricity will need
to be low carbon, to meet
the Paris Agreement goal,
of limiting the increase
in global temperatures
above pre-industrial
levels to well below
+2 degrees Celsius.
Nuclear power plants
emit practically no greenhouse
gas emissions, nor air pollutants
during their operation.
Over their life cycle, they are
the second-lowest emitting
source of electricity,
after hydropower.
30 nations currently operate
449 nuclear power reactors,
generating about 10%
of the world’s electricity
( and one-third of all
low-CO2 emissions
electricity ).
Two-thirds of today's
nuclear power plants
are more than
30 years old
so action is needed
to extend their
operation or build
replacement plants.
Nuclear power plant
CONSTRUCTION
times average
five to seven years,
but 27% of reactors
that started operation
since 2016 were built
in fewer than five years.
In the five years
from 2016 through 2020,
there are due to be
47 new reactors online
in 11 countries,
of which two
are newcomers
to nuclear power.
47 new reactors only add 15%
to global nuclear capacity.
From 2016 to 2020,
the construction rate
doubled from a trend
of less than 5 gigawatts
per year, to 10 gigawatts
per year.
Global efforts
to reduce
CO2 emissions
are futile
as long as
opposition to
nuclear power
persists, the
delegates heard
at the opening
session of the
"International Atomic
Energy Agency's
International
Conference
on Climate Change
and the Role of
Nuclear Power."
550 participants, representing
79 countries, and 18 international
organizations, were involved
in the weeklong event.
The nuclear industry's goal
is to add 1,000 GW
of new capacity by 2050.
That's feasible ONLY
if "environmentalists
stop opposing
nuclear power !
DETAILS:
The IEA produced a May 2019
report on nuclear energy
and its importance
in tackling climate change.
"Our numbers show that today nuclear power is the second largest clean electricity source, following all other renewables put together and that in the most advanced economies it is number 1 - 18% of total electricity generation. ...
The nuclear fleet around the world is aging and we don’t see major new activity in most of the developed countries, and even the lifetime extensions are becoming a major challenge.
Our numbers show that without the right policies of advanced economies, then this 18% in the total electricity generation will go down sharply to 6% ... "
Fatih Birol, executive director of the
International Energy Agency (IEA),
said, in a video message:
"Global energy demand last year increased the strongest in the last 10 years - about 2.3% - and, even more importantly, electricity demand increased even two times more than energy demand. This is an on-going trend and we expect this trend to continue and the growth of electricity is very pertinent and much higher than energy demand, and as such we believe electricity is the future,"
"But in 2018, despite the growth in renewable energy - in solar, wind and others - we saw that global emissions increased and reached a record high. As such, the key message is that there is a growing and dangerous disconnect between the climate ambitions - the reports, the meetings and government intentions - and what is happening in real life. There have been more and more reports, stronger ambitions, more speeches, and we have seen that emissions are still increasing. Therefore, we believe very strongly at the IEA that we have to look at all clean energy technologies and to make the most of those options. Renewable energy - solar and wind - are definitely important parts of this picture, but we also think that nuclear power, carbon capture, utilisation and storage, and other clean energy technologies are important."
"We think there is a role for governments, those governments especially who take climate change and electricity security seriously, to provide support for the existing power plants, providing the framework conditions for lifetime extensions, and also for all countries around the world to look at new technologies, such as SMRs, which are very promising technologies, and they can be of great help for developed and developing countries in meeting their growing electricity demand.
"We believe the challenge of climate change is a great one, a difficult one, especially looking at the numbers today for CO2 emissions. In the electricity sector, we need all technologies to be part of the game. Some of us favour one and some another but we do not have the luxury to select our favourite technologies."