Check out this article in the American Enterprise Online. In it, William Tucker intereviews Larry Kamerski of the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) in Golden, Colorado. Kamerski is director of photovoltaic research and one of the world’s leading experts on solar electricity.
When Tucker asked Kamerski what he thinks the "ultimate solution" will be, he was surprised and delighted by the answer. Kamerski said:
Maybe we should enlist Kamerski's help in convincing the environmentalist groups that insist we can't have renewable energy and nuclear power that they are dead wrong.
When Tucker asked Kamerski what he thinks the "ultimate solution" will be, he was surprised and delighted by the answer. Kamerski said:
You’re probably not going to believe this...but around here we think it should be nuclear and solar. We’re big nuclear enthusiasts, although we don’t broadcast it much. I think we need nuclear to cover our base load of electricity and solar for peaking power. Solar’s best right when we need it—on hot summer days. If we do that, we can retire the fossil fuels—‘conserve’ them at least. It’s the only way we’re going to beat global warmingI'm not certain about solar being the best peaking source, but hey, I'm all for it if he can do it. He also has some interesting things to say about solar power in Europe.
Maybe we should enlist Kamerski's help in convincing the environmentalist groups that insist we can't have renewable energy and nuclear power that they are dead wrong.
Comments
Granted, nuclear energy could relieve all the base load power natural gas is now used for.
But you need peaking power and there are only a few alternatives. Natural gas is good because it is so easy to turn on and off. But it emitts CO2 and as far as I am concerned it should be banned by law.
Hydroelectricty also work, but the number of sites are limited.
Pumped hydro works but is expensive. Also large parts of the world (including parts of the the US) are rather arid and you can't have lots of water just lying around for pumping.
The third is solar. It should work excellent, as peak load is often at the same time as the sun shines most intensly.
You can't run nuclear power for peaking power as you need to maximize reactor capacity factors to make good profits.
The view on conserving petroleum and natural gas for other energy demands or other finished materials is right on. NG is a readily transportable fuel well-matched to end uses like space heating and cooking. There are just so many other uses for petrochemicals in a modern industrial society that it seems almost a crime to be burning them up.