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A common argument used by opponents of nuclear energy is that a significant amount of coal is required in the overall process of producing nuclear energy. This argument is not treated seriously by nuclear advocates, partly on the basis that the amount of fossil fuel energy used in the process is a tiny fraction of the amount of energy produced, and furthermore that there is nothing about the process that requires that energy input to be based on fossil fuels.
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Production in biofuels has increased exponentially in the mutually reinforcing wakes of high oil prices and the need to reduce carbon emissions. However, critics argue that biofuels do more harm than good through negative environmental effects such as deforestation, and negative social impacts such as increasing the cost of food.
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Nuclear energy has safety challenges with respect to avoiding reactor meltdown, transporting and storing nuclear waste, and mitigating terrorist threats.
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Nuclear energy is potentially economically competitive with other major current sources of energy. Compared with coal plants, the cheapest of all energy sources, nuclear plants have a lower fuel cost but a higher initial capital cost. However, certain factors make such comparisons more difficult - with nuclear additional costs are incurred from decommissioning plants and waste disposal, while with coal, additional costs may be incurred due to carbon taxation or dealing with climate change.
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The cost-benefit analysis of nuclear power is complex. Its primary benefit compared with fossil fuels is that it is carbon free. Its primary benefit compared with alternative energy is that it has proven to scale effectively, with approximately 15% of the world's electricity coming from nuclear energy today. Its primary drawback is its safety concerns, including reactor safety, waste disposal, and nuclear proliferation.
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Thorium is an alternative nuclear fuel to uranium. Its advantages are that it's more abundant than uranium and nuclear reactors based on thorium produce less waste. Research and development in thorium energy has rekindled in recent years driven by the need for a safe alternative to fossil fuels.
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Theoretically, the sunlight hitting the surface of the earth amply meets human energy requirements. A 92-by-92-mile square grid in the Southwest of the United States could generate enough electricity for the entire country. However, some doubt whether solar energy sources can be constructed cheaply and quickly enough to significantly replace other energy sources. In addition, to meet base load demands, solar innovation must be coupled with substantial innovations in energy storage.
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As oil becomes scarcer and more expensive the world will have to adapt to new energy sources. A common fear is that this adaption will not be fast enough, sending our increasingly energy thirsty world into an economic downward spiral. Skeptics suggest that there is no shortage of raw energy sources and that the problem is fundamentally economic, and that the degree to which the problem exists is proportional to the economic incentive to solve it.
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The primary reasons the US Government gave for invading Iraq in 2003 was to rid the country of Weapons of Mass Destruction and to free the Iraqi people from the tyranny of Saddam Hussein. However, many critics of the US believe its government was significantly motivated by a need to secure a cheap supply of oil.
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World Nuclear Association
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 IEA projects that, even with continued subsidy and research support, these new renewables can only provide around 6% of world electricity by 2030. ... nuclear energy is the only proven option [to] produce vastly expanded supplies of clean electricity on a global scale.
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Ray Kurzweil
[we are] confident that we are not that far away from a tipping point where energy from solar will be [economically] competitive with fossil fuels. ... We also see an exponential progression in the use of solar energy. It is doubling now every two years. Doubling every two years means multiplying by 1,000 in 20 years. At that rate we'll meet 100 percent of our energy needs in 20 years.
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Bill Gates
[Bill Gates is betting that algae will provide the answer to our future fuel needs by investing in Sapphire Energy.]
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Jean Ziegler
...the effect of transforming hundreds and hundreds of thousands of tons of maize, of wheat, of beans, of palm oil, into agricultural fuel is absolutely catastrophic for the hungry people. ... So it's a crime against humanity to convert agricultural productive soil into soil [which] will be burned into biofuel. ... What has to be stopped [is] the growing catastrophe of the massacre [by] hunger in the world.
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Caroline Lucas
And I think really there's a moral question at the bottom of this: are we really going to put petrol into our cars that comes from biofuels, that comes from other people's food, that comes from other people's plates, that other people are actually dying now just to enable us to be able to run our cars? The UN food rapporteur said essentially that biofuels was a crime against humanity and he wasn't joking when he said it.
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Steven Chu
[I Announce Nearly $800 Million from Recovery Act to Accelerate Biofuels Research and Commercialization.] Developing the next generation of biofuels is key to our effort to end our dependence on foreign oil and address the climate crisis -- while creating millions of new jobs that can't be outsourced. With American investment and ingenuity -- and resources grown right here at home -- we can lead the way toward a new green energy economy.
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Michael Neumann
...big oil and big business have never been supporters of the war. Bush I, who was much closer to big oil than Bush II, never wanted to invade Iraq. ... Why then did the US go into Iraq? To my mind it was because the US had to show the world that it was powerful after the humiliation of 9-11, and especially after the equally great humiliation of failing to capture or kill Bin Laden and the Mullah Omar.
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Bill Gates
...renewable sources... have some disadvantages. ... The density of energy gathered in these technologies is dramatically less than a power plant... ...they are also intermittent sources... ...we have transmission challenges... ...there's this storage problem... ... if you're counting on it for a 100% you need an incredible miracle battery... ...this shows up when you try to get the intermittent source to be above 20% to 30% of what you're using [as a ratio of total energy usage].
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World Nuclear Association
Some 'green' assertions get quoted frequently, despite [being] nonsense. [One of them is that] nuclear power is far from emission-free on a lifecycle basis, and the energy inputs from fossil fuels negate any advantage from reduced direct emissions of CO2. The figures are not supported by evidence, and a typical energy input for nuclear power amounts to about 2-3% of output, and even if this were all fossil fuel sourced, the impact is trivial.
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